Apple’s new M3 chips will deliver significant GPU improvements
By ForGeeks The company’s new personal computer chips — M3, M3 Pro and M3 Max were unveiled at Apple’s event. They will be installed in the recently introduced 14-inch and 16-inch MacBook Pro laptops, and an entry-level variant — also in the 24-inch iMac.
The chips will be installed in the company’s recently introduced 14-inch and 16-inch MacBook Pro laptops.
The biggest improvements are in the graphics processor, designed to boost performance in professional applications and games. It will support hardware-accelerated ray tracing and mesh shading, a first for an Apple chipset. Another new feature — 3nm process technology, as Cupertino has pioneered the use of the technology in personal computer chips.
Another new feature — 3nm process technology, as Cupertino has pioneered the use of the technology in personal computer chips.
The base M3 features an eight-core processor, with one cluster of four responsible for performance and the other four — for efficiency. The GPU has a new architecture and 10 cores and promises to be 65% faster than the M1 when it comes to graphics. Unified memory of up to 24GB is supported.
Supported.
The M3 Pro features a 12-core processor (six for performance, six for efficiency) and an 18-core GPU that’s 40 percent faster than the M1 Pro. It supports up to 36GB of Unified memory.
The real powerhouse in Apple’s lineup is the M3 Max — a 16-core processor (12 — for performance, 4 — for efficiency), a 40-core GPU and support for up to 128GB of Unified storage. The chip is 50 percent faster than the M1 Max, and graphics performance alone is 80 percent faster, which is a lot considering last year’s M2 Max was 30 percent faster than its predecessor.
The M2 Max is also 50 percent faster than its predecessor.
The support for ray tracing means the M3 chips have finally caught up with the Nvidia, AMD and Arm GPUs used in Windows-based consoles, gaming stations and laptops. Hardware acceleration of mesh shading allows developers to enhance complex scenes in GPU-demanding games and applications.
The M3’s hardware acceleration of mesh shading allows developers to improve complex scenes in GPU-intensive games and applications.
The M3 processor also features dynamic caching, which allocates exactly as much memory as the GPU needs. Apple said it’s an industry first, and developers will love it because they don’t have to build around it — everything happens transparently and automatically. Apple also said the M3, M3 Pro and M3 Max chips have an improved neural engine to speed up machine-learning models, but didn’t give numbers describing the improvement.
Apple also said the M3, M3 Pro and M3 Max chips have an improved neural engine to speed up machine-learning models, but didn’t give numbers describing the improvement.
The energy efficiency of the M3 chips is high thanks to the advanced 3nm process, matching the A17 Pro platform in the iPhone 15 Pro and 15 Pro Max. During the event, Apple compared the M3 processor and GPU performance to a laptop with an Intel Core i7 1360P processor equipped with a basic Iris Xe graphics chip, saying it delivers the same performance while using 25 percent less power.
The M3 chip will be available in iMac models. Along with the M3 Pro, it will be found in the 14-inch MacBook Pro. Both chips will be available in their respective devices starting November 7. The M3 Max will start shipping with the 14- and 16-inch MacBook Pro laptops later in November.
The M3 Max chip will be available in the iMac model, along with the M3 Pro model.
