While smartphones and tablets mainly use processors based on ARM architecture, x86 chips are usually used in notebooks and desktops. With the move away from Intel's Core processors and the use of M-SoCs, at least Apple's ecosystem has also made the switch to ARM. A benchmark published by the well-known leaker @9550pro shows impressive performance values for the Apple M2. Apparently @9550pro set up Windows 11 as a virtual machine on a corresponding system and ran the CPU-Z benchmark there.
Comparable performance
While the multi-core score is very low at around 3,800 points, the single-core performance is impressive. The Apple M2 tested reportedly achieved 750 points in this discipline. This puts it on par with AMD's flagship, the Ryzen 9 7950X, and the mid-range models from Intel's Alder Lake generation (Core 12000). Intel's newer Raptor Lake models, on the other hand, maintain a clear lead in the benchmark. However, Apple's M2 outperforms Qualcomm's Snapdragon 8cx Gen 3, an ARM-based notebook SoC, by 41 percent in the single-core benchmark.
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Apple has also been offering a faster SoC with the M3 since the end of last year. In terms of the architectures used, the comparison with the M2 is fairer, as it – like the CPUs from AMD and Qualcomm – still uses a 5 nm process. In addition, the performance values should generally not be overestimated, as CPU-Z has clear weaknesses here. For example, the benchmark only focuses on the FP32 performance and at the same time makes no statement about the now very important jump prediction or the cache system.
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Application benchmarks therefore provide comparatively better information about actual everyday performance. At least in FP32 applications without relevant storage system or instruction prediction requirements, Apple's old SoC can apparently keep up with some younger Ryzen and Core processors. At the end of the year we should also see how the newer Apple M3 performs against the Ryzen 9 9950X, both of which are produced in TSMC's 3nm production.
Those: via Techpowerup