{"id":51138,"date":"2026-03-03T17:15:40","date_gmt":"2026-03-03T22:15:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mjtsai.com\/blog\/?p=51138"},"modified":"2026-03-20T09:39:12","modified_gmt":"2026-03-20T13:39:12","slug":"apple-m5-pro-and-m5-max","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mjtsai.com\/blog\/2026\/03\/03\/apple-m5-pro-and-m5-max\/","title":{"rendered":"Apple M5 Pro and M5 Max"},"content":{"rendered":"

Apple<\/a> (Hacker News<\/a>, MacRumors<\/a>):<\/p>\n

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The chips are built using a new Apple-designed Fusion Architecture. This innovative design combines two dies into a single system on a chip (SoC), which includes a powerful CPU, scalable GPU, Media Engine, unified memory controller, Neural Engine, and Thunderbolt 5 capabilities. M5 Pro and M5 Max feature a new 18-core CPU architecture. It includes six of the highest-performing core design, now called super cores, that are the world’s fastest CPU core. Alongside these cores are 12 all-new performance cores, optimized for power-efficient, multithreaded workloads. Collectively, the CPU significantly boosts performance by up to 30 percent for pro workloads. The GPU scales up the next-generation architecture introduced in M5 to an up-to-40-core GPU. With a Neural Accelerator in each GPU core and higher unified memory bandwidth, M5 Pro and M5 Max are over 4x the peak GPU compute for AI compared to the previous generation.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n

Looking backward, the naming is confusing in that the “super” cores are the same as the M5 performance cores. They could have instead kept the “performance” and “efficiency” names and given the new<\/em> type of core a new<\/em> name. It’s not obvious what would could be, though. Looking forward, the naming does seem to accurately convey that the new “performance” cores are in the middle and closer to “super” than to “efficiency”.<\/p>\n\n

Here’s a summary of the cores situation:<\/p>\n\n
<\/td>Regular<\/th>Pro<\/th>Max<\/th><\/tr>\n
M1<\/th>4p\/4e<\/td>8p\/2e<\/td>8p\/2e<\/td><\/tr>\n
M2<\/th>4p\/4e<\/td>8p\/4e<\/td>8p\/4e<\/td><\/tr>\n
M3<\/th>4p\/4e<\/td>6p\/6e<\/td>12p\/4e<\/td><\/tr>\n
M4<\/th>4p\/6e<\/td>10p\/4e<\/td>12p\/4e<\/td><\/tr>\n
M5<\/th>4s\/6e<\/td>6s\/12p<\/td>6s\/12p<\/td><\/tr>\n<\/table>\n\n

I’m pleased that I can get the maximum number of CPU cores and 64 GB of RAM without having to go Max.<\/p>\n\n

Andrew Cunningham<\/a>:<\/p>\n

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Apple’s approach here is different—for example, the M5 Pro is not just a pair of M5 chips welded together. Rather, Apple has one chiplet handling the CPU and most of the I\/O, and a second one that’s mainly for graphics, both built on the same 3nm TSMC manufacturing process. The first silicon die is always the same, whether you get an M5 Pro or M5 Max.<\/p>\n

[…]<\/p>\n

And now, in the middle, we have a new type of “performance core” used exclusively in the M5 Pro and M5 Max.<\/p>\n

These are, in fact, a new, third type of CPU core design, distinct from both the super cores and the M5’s efficiency cores. They apparently use designs similar to the super cores but prioritize multi-threaded performance rather than fast single-core performance. Apple’s approach with the new performance cores sounds similar to the one AMD uses in its laptop silicon: it has larger Zen 4 and Zen 5 CPU cores, optimized for peak clock speeds and higher power usage, and smaller Zen 4c and Zen 5c cores that support the same capabilities but run slower and are optimized to use less die space.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n

Jesper<\/a>:<\/p>\n

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“Maxing out at over 614 GB\/s of unified memory bandwidth, the M5 Max SoC architecture is more efficient than ever at calculating specular highlights on user interface componentry that needn’t be translucent,” notes Johny Srouji, Apple’s senior vice president of Hardware Technologies.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n

Previously:<\/p>\n