Apple’s first ARM-based silicon, the M1, will run its next generation of Macs and MacBooks, some of which will be used more than normal computer tasks. Naturally, there are concerns against its performance and tried and tested processors from the likes of Intel and AMD. Early CPU definitions had already proven that M1 could run circles around the MacBook running on the latest Intel chips, and now GPU definitions prove Apple’s claims about impressive graphics performance.
To be clear, these GFX Bench 5.0 scores come from synthetic benchmarks for measuring performance on mobile devices, not desktops or laptops. In addition, the tests use Apple’s own metal API, not OpenGL, which may indicate that Apple’s own hardware may have a home-court advantage. Despite this warning, it still tells us how far Apple has come and the first boxing of new technology like this.
Domin’s hardware was found Apple M1 benchmark and compares it with the Nvidia GeForce GTX 1050D from 2016 and the AMD Radeon RX560 from 2017. Admittedly, these are older GPUs but these are obviously the latest graphics cards tested using Apple’s metal API. However, they are both desktop-quality GPUs, they attract 75W of power, and they can still be expected to beat the silicon of ARM-based integrated graphics today.
Unfortunately for Nvidia and AMD, this is not the case in terms of these scores. The Apple M1 consistently gave higher frame rates in a set of GFX bench tests, despite being closer to the same specs as these older GPUs in terms of DFLOPS (one trillion float-point operations). Even if the Apple M1 is a SoC rather than having a dedicated graphics chip.
Certainly it is difficult to draw conclusions from these scores when many factors such as integrated and unique modern GPUs are still in play. It should also be noted that this is Apple’s own silicone for desktops and laptops and its first punch to the bottom end. One can only imagine how Apple would soon run upside down with the most recent graphics hardware.
