Apple M3 Ultra vs Intel Core i9 9960X
We compared two desktop CPUs: Apple M3 Ultra with 32 cores 4.5GHz and Intel Core i9 9960X with 16 cores 3.1GHz . You will find out which processor performs better in benchmark tests, key specifications, power consumption and more.
Main Differences
Apple M3 Ultra 's Advantages
Released 6 years and 5 months late
Integrated graphics card
Higher specification of memory (6400 vs 2666)
Larger memory bandwidth (819.2GB/s vs 85GB/s)
Higher base frequency (4.5GHz vs 3.1GHz)
More modern manufacturing process (3nm vs 14nm)
Lower TDP (140W vs 165W)
Score
Benchmark
Geekbench 6 Single Core
Apple M3 Ultra
+126%
3247
Intel Core i9 9960X
1432
Geekbench 6 Multi Core
Apple M3 Ultra
+162%
28107
Intel Core i9 9960X
10707
General Parameters
Mar 2025
Release Date
Oct 2018
Apple
Manufacturer
Intel
Desktop
Type
Desktop
ARMv8
Instruction Set
x86-64
Apple M3
Core Architecture
Skylake
-
Processor Number
i9-9960X
Apple M-Socket
Socket
LGA-2066
Apple M3 Ultra GPU (80-core)
Integrated Graphics
N/A
Package
184 billions
Transistor Count
-
3 nm
Manufacturing Process
14 nm
140 W
Power Consumption
165 W
100 °C
Peak Operating Temperature
85 °C
CPU Performance
24
Performance Cores
16
24
Performance Core Threads
32
4.5 GHz
Performance Core Base Frequency
3.1 GHz
-
Performance Core Turbo Frequency
4.4 GHz
8
Efficiency Cores
-
8
Efficiency Core Threads
-
32
Total Core Count
16
32
Total Thread Count
32
45
Multiplier
-
-
L1 Cache
32 K per core
-
L2 Cache
1 MB per core
-
L3 Cache
22 MB shared
No
Unlocked Multiplier
Yes
Memory Parameters
LPDDR5-6400
Memory Types
DDR4-2666
512 GB
Max Memory Size
128 GB
8
Max Memory Channels
4
819.2 GB/s
Max Memory Bandwidth
85 GB/s
No
ECC Memory Support
No
Graphics Card Parameters
true
Integrated Graphics
-
10240
Shader Units
-
640
Texture Units
-
320
Raster Operation Units
-
1280
Execution Units
-
140
Power Consumption
-
Miscellaneous
-
PCIe Version
3.0
-
PCIe Lanes
44
-
Extended Instruction Set
SSE4.1, SSE4.2, AVX-2, AVX-512
