Apple M2 Max vs AMD Ryzen 9 3950X. Specifications, performance, tests

Background information about the processors being compared, series, generation and market segment.

• CPU group
  Apple M2 AMD Ryzen 3000
• Family
  Apple M series Ryzen
• Generation
  2 3
• Predecessor
  Apple M1 Max (32-GPU) -
• Segment
  Mobile Desktop / Server
• Successor
  - AMD Ryzen 9 5950X
• Form Factor
  - Desktops / Boxed Processor
• Series
  - Ryzen 3000 Series

Core counts, threads, cache and clock modes describe the CPU configuration. Performance depends on the workload and comparable measured results.

• A-Core
  8x Avalanche -
• A-Core Frequency
  3.5 GHz -
• B-Core
  4x Blizzard -
• B-Core Frequency
  2.8 GHz -
• Core architecture
  hybrid (big.LITTLE) normal
• CPU Cores
  12 16
• CPU Threads
  12 32
• Hyperthreading / SMT
  No Yes
• Overclocking
  No Yes
• Base Frequency
  - 3.5 GHz
• Max. Boost Clock
  - 4.7 GHz
• Turbo Frequency (1 Core)
  - 4.7 GHz
• Turbo Frequency (16 Cores)
  - 4 GHz

Internal Graphics does not affect the performance of the CPU, performs the work of the graphics card in its absence or on mobile devices.

• Execution units
  512 -
• Generation
  2 -
• GPU Frequency
  1400 MHz -
• GPU name
  Apple M2 Max (32 Core) None
• GPU Turbo
  No turbo -
• Max. displays
  2 -
• Max. GPU Memory
  32 GB -
• Release date
  Q4/2022 -
• Shader
  4096 -
• Technology
  5 nm -

Built-in codecs used to encode and decode content. Significantly speeds up the required operations.

• AV1
  No No
• H.264 / AVC
  Conflicting source values: Decode | Decode / Encode No
• h265 / HEVC (8 bit)
  Decode / Encode No
• h265 / HEVC (10 bit)
  Decode / Encode No
• JPEG
  Decode / Encode No
• VC-1
  Decode No
• VP8
  Decode No
• VP9
  Decode / Encode No

Types, channel quantity of RAM supported by AMD Ryzen 9 3950X and Apple M2 Max. Depending on the motherboards, higher or lower memory frequencies may be supported.

• ECC
  No Yes
• Max. Memory
  64 GB 128 GB
• Memory Bandwidth
  409.6 GB/s -
• Memory channels
  2 (Dual Channel) 2
• Memory type
  LPDDR5-6400 DDR4
• PCIe
  4.0 PCIe 4.0
• PCIe lanes
  - 20
• PCIe version
  - 4.0

• AES-NI
  Yes Yes

Compare the TDP requirements of TDP Apple M2 Max and AMD Ryzen 9 3950X Power specifications describe different manufacturer limits. TDP, base power and maximum turbo power are separate values; they do not establish measured system consumption.

• Maximum Operating Temperature
  100 °C 95 °C
• TDP (PL1, legacy label)
  45 W 105 W
• TDP (PL2)
  - 142 W
• Default TDP
  - 105 W

Architecture, interfaces, additional instructions supported by Apple M2 Max and AMD Ryzen 9 3950X, virtual machine technologies and process technology.

• Architecture
  M2 Matisse (Zen 2)
• Chip design
  Chiplet -
• Instruction set (ISA)
  ARMv8-A64 (64 bit) x86-64 (64 bit)
• ISA extensions
  Rosetta 2 x86-Emulation SSE4a, SSE4.1, SSE4.2, AVX2, FMA3
• L2-Cache
  36 MB 8 MB
• L3-Cache
  - 64 MB
• Operating systems
  macOS, iPadOS Windows 11 - 64-Bit Edition / Windows 10 - 64-Bit Edition / RHEL x86 64-Bit / Ubuntu x86 64-Bit
• Release date
  Q2/2022 2019-07-07
• Socket
  - AM4
• Technology
  5 nm TSMC 7nm FinFET
• Virtualization
  Apple Virtualization Framework AMD-V, SVM
• Codename
  - Matisse
• L1-Cache
  - 1 MB
• Manufacturer product ID (boxed)
  - 100-100000051WOF
• Manufacturer product ID (tray)
  - 100-000000051
• Thermal Solution (PIB)
  - Cooler Not Included, Liquid Cooling Recommended