The secret is fully revealed: how the Apple M1 Ultra GPU outperformed the Nvidia GeForce RTX 3090

At the beginning of the month, Apple introduced the latest Apple M1 Ultra single-chip system, which was created for the Mac Studio desktop computer. The Apple M1 Ultra is essentially two M1 Max chips fused together with a new interconnect architecture that Apple is calling UltraFusion. This uses a silicon midspan that delivers 2.5 TB/s throughput.

The secret is fully revealed: how the Apple M1 Ultra GPU outperformed the Nvidia GeForce RTX 3090

The specs of the M1 Ultra are impressive, with Apple posting a graph comparing the performance of the M1 Ultra GPU to the Nvidia GeForce RTX 3090, the most powerful PC GPU at the time.

This chart was commented as follows: “For the most demanding graphics-intensive tasks such as 3D rendering and complex image processing, the M1 Ultra is equipped with a 64-core GPU, delivering higher performance than even the most powerful PC GPU while consuming 200 watts less power.”

The graph and the quote point to two things. First, the M1 Ultra is significantly more power efficient than the Nvidia RTX 3090. This part is absolutely correct. Secondly, the M1 Ultra is more productive than the Nvidia RTX 3090. But this is no longer the case. The thing is, Apple achieved this misleading comparison by cutting off the graph before the Nvidia GeForce RTX 3090 GPU got close to its peak performance.

The secret is fully revealed: how the Apple M1 Ultra GPU outperformed the Nvidia GeForce RTX 3090

The M1 Ultra maxes out at 215W, compared to 350W for the Nvidia GeForce RTX 3090. In the chart, Apple is trimming the Nvidia GeForce RTX 3090 to around 320W, severely limiting its potential. When the power reaches 350W, the performance of the Nvidia GeForce RTX 3090 noticeably increases and the card is well ahead of the Apple M1 Ultra GPU, as was proven in The Verge review.

Now the GeForce RTX 3090 Ti has been announced, which runs at up to 450 watts. We haven’t seen benchmarks yet, but it’s clear that the new card will be much faster than the Apple M1 Ultra GPU.

Source: ixbt

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