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New benchmark suggests Apple’s M3 Ultra may not be much faster than the M4 Max – only a minor uplift in multi-core performance

March 7, 2025
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  • A new Geekbench 6 benchmark hints at the M3 Ultra for the Mac Studio only being slightly faster than the M4 Max
  • The benchmark reveals the M3 Ultra's supposed 8% performance lead in multi-core processes over the M4 Max
  • Its 80-core GPU may be the highlight, specifically for gaming

Apple has finally introduced a new Ultra chip, not yet for its recent M4 lineup but rather for the M3 family. The new Mac Studio is slated for launch on March 12, with configurations using both the M4 Max and the new M3 Ultra - however, the latter may only be a slightly stronger processor, at least in some ways.

As reported by 9to5Mac, an early Geekbench 6 benchmark of the new M3 Ultra chip suggests it may only be 8% faster than the M4 Max in multi-core performance while being 20% slower in single-core performance. The benchmark indicates that this is the top-end configuration of the upcoming M3 Max Mac Studio (it utilizes a 32-core CPU and an 80-core GPU).

It's important to note that the comparison made here is with the MacBook Pro's M4 Max, with its top-end configuration using a 16-core CPU and 40-core GPU. While we should wait for more benchmarks when the Mac Studio launches, it looks like the M3 Ultra's winnings over the powerful M4 chip could be present in its graphical processes, specifically gaming.

The high-end M4 Max model (using 1TB storage and 128GB of unified memory) is available for pre-order at $3,699.00 / £3,799.00 / AU$6,049.00, while the best M3 Ultra model (using 1TB storage and 96GB of unified memory) is available for pre-order at $5,499.00 / £5,699.00 / AU$9,249.00.

Based on the early benchmark (which should be taken with a grain of salt), the M3 Ultra may not be the ideal choice between the two chips for CPU processes (considering the supposed minor uplift and the significant gap in pricing), but should be right up the alley for gamers - and that may end up justifying its high cost.

a mac keyboard with a playstation controller over it

(Image credit: Shutterstock / Mykola Churpita)

This might be the best Mac gaming experience yet...

While plenty of Apple's Mac devices have provided capable hardware for great gaming performance, it looks like the M3 Ultra Mac Studio may be the best yet.

An 80-core GPU is an exceptional amount dedicated to graphical processing (and its price doesn't surprise me in the slightest), which means it should be able to storm its way through demanding games like Cyberpunk 2077. That's not to say the CPU and unified memory won't matter here, but it's safe to suggest that the GPU will do the heavy lifting for gamers.

Now it's all well and good that gamers will have a monster GPU at their disposal, but there's still more that needs to be done for Mac gaming - games are often optimized for Microsoft's Windows operating system and games aren't coming to Mac devices day one.

The addition of titles like Cyberpunk 2077 is a great sign of the Mac gaming library's rapid growth, and I'm hoping the M3 Ultra is Apple's way of telling us that gaming is now one of its main focuses.

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