Apple M1 Max vs AMD Ryzen 5 6600U

Processor comparisons 21-10-2022

   You may have difficulties with the choice of a CPU, you will solve them by reading the detailed tests Apple M1 Max vs AMD Ryzen 5 6600U and decide which is better for games or simple use for rendering, programming, video editing, streaming, machine learning. Here is useful information from various benchmarks or real streaming and video editing tests. A careful analysis of all the technical characteristics, to make it easier to read, is presented in the form of the table.
   From the video comparison, you can get the results of parallel examination in special test applications like GeekBench 6, 5.2, Blender, 7zip, Blender, PCMark 10, World of Tanks enCore Benchmark, Cinebench 23 (20, 15), Prime95, DaVinci Resolve Studio, Furmark, UserBenchmark, MATLAB, Gears 5, RealBench, 3DMark, VeraCrypt, Handbrake, AIDA64, WPrime, PassMark, Dolphin Emulator, SuperPi.
   And how good the processors are in games:

Apex Legends
Borderlands 3
Red Dead Redemption 2
Cyberpunk 2077
Fortnite
World of Warcraft: Shadowlands
Valheim
Rainbow Six Siege
DOOM: Eternal
Last Man Standing
Death Stranding
Overwatch
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare and Warzone
Valorant
Watch Dogs Legion
Grand Theft Auto V
Assassin's Creed Valhalla
Fallout 76
Halo Infinite

After looking at the data of joint benchmarks and videos, you can already make an briefed decision about which CPU is better to buy for gaming AMD Ryzen 5 6600U or Apple M1 Max.

Summary benchmark results

As a percentage of the maximum value based on a sample from the entire base of all processors
Processor Benchmark

M1 Max

60%

Ryzen 5 6600U

57%

This shows the performance of the processors in single-threaded and multi-threaded mode. In this comparison, M1 Max is 5% better than Ryzen 5 6600U. The data source is several popular tests. More detailed information of the benchmarks is below.

Gaming performance
Summary result of all game benchmarks.

M1 Max

57%

Ryzen 5 6600U

54%

The maximum result in this parameter is 100 percent, which is the performance of the most powerful processor currently available. And it is clear that this is a server processor, on which no one will play games. Because the cost of this processor reaches several tens of thousands of dollars. And if it seems to you that the selected CPU has a small game result, just look at the FPS that it produces in real games in the summary table below.
List of other games in which CPU comparisons were performed: Horizon Zero Dawn, Monster Hunter World, Forza Horizon 4, DOTA 2A, Battlefield V, Counter-Strike: Global Offensive (CS GO), Resident Evil 7 Biohazard, The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt, NBA 2K20, PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds (PUBG), Half-Life: Alyx, Metro Exodus, Hitman 3, Ghostrunner, Microsoft Flight Simulator, Shadow of the Tomb Raider, Control, League of Legends (LOL).

Gaming benchmark

Fortnite	101.3	96.0
Valorant	115.1	109.1
Cyberpunk 2077	64.5	61.1
Apex Legends	108.2	102.5
Call of Duty Warzone	86.3	81.8
Overwatch	93.2	88.3
Red Dead Redemption 2	79.4	75.3
DOOM Eternal	57.6	54.5
Warzone	89.8	85.1
Assassin's Creed	96.7	91.6
Valheim	95.5	90.5

The numbers in this table indicate the maximum FPS that was received on the device with the corresponding processor. Depending on the configuration of the computer (RAM size and Video Card) and graphics quality settings (Ultra, Medium, Normal), the results may differ quite significantly. We recommend that you better study the results of the Cinebench, GeekBench and Passmark becnmarks.
The computers participating in the comparing not only were the equipped with different video cards and different amounts of RAM. But users also tested them at different screen resolutions: 2K, 4K or FullHD. So the game benchmark data is approximate. But all video cards met the average system requirements of games. To be sure exactly how much performance the processor will be in games, if you get acquainted with the benchmarks that are made with the same video card that is installed in your computer.

Power consumption

M1 Max

332%

Ryzen 5 6600U

313%

To make a finishing choice on which processor is better, you should also consider the generation of its core. It is clear that the newer the generation, the better the performance of the processor in games and benchmarks, as well as its energy efficiency. In this case the M1 Max is more energy efficient than the Ryzen 5 6600U since it has less power consumption: 18W vs. 15W. Power consumption is particularly important for laptops. Also, when choosing a processor cooling system, you must know its TDP. It is necessary to count so that the TDP data specified in the cooler specification is greater than the TDP of the compared processor.

Software benchmarks

If you plan to use the processor not only for gaming, but also for machine learning, video rendering or video editing, streaming, programming, then first of all you need to pay attention to the performance in multi-threaded mode. In this mode, the processor uses all cores and threads that it has to the maximum to reach maximum performance. You will find out this data from the benchmark tables below. Before you take into account the data from these tests, be sure to check whether the program you are going to use on your computer supports multi-threaded mode. Since there are still many programs that use only one core to work, and all the advantages of multi-core mode are unused.

Cinebench 23, 20 an 15
The results of this benchmark show Single-threaded and Multi-threaded CPU performance

	Apple M1 Max	AMD Ryzen 5 6600U
Cinbench 15 Single-core	313	226
Cinbench 15 Multi-core	1811	2178
Cinbench 20 Single-core	617	525
Cinbench 20 Multi-core	3106	4771
Cinbench 23 Single-core	2360	1356
Cinbench 23 Multi-core	12204	12138

Passmark
This popular benchmark displays Multi-threaded and Single-threaded processor performance

	Apple M1 Max	AMD Ryzen 5 6600U
Single-Core	5344	2902
Multi-Core	34572	23998

GeekBench 6, 5.2
This benchmark shows Multi-threaded and Single-threaded processor performance

	Apple M1 Max	AMD Ryzen 5 6600U
Single-Core	1793	1412
Multi-Core	13028	7815

Comparison of specifications

In the specification comparison table, the processor release date and overclocking capability will be the most helpful. The newer the processor, the longer it will last you. And the easier it will be to upgrade the system later. The same benefits from the presence of overclocking. When the processor can be overclocked, increasing its performance, then it will continue to maintain maximum FPS even in the newest games. The savings are obvious! Accordingly, you do not need to buy a new CPU to enjoy the games any longer.

	Apple M1 Max	AMD Ryzen 5 6600U
Announcement date	October 07, 2021	January 09, 2022
Type	Laptop;Desktop	Laptop
Socket	M1	FP7
Core name	8x Firestorm and 2x Icestorm	Rembrandt
Architecture	hybrid (big.LITTLE)	Zen 3+
Generation	1	6
Turbo Frequency		4.5 MHz
Frequency	3.2 MHz	2.9 MHz
Cores	10	6
Threads	10	12
Bus rate
Bit	64	64
Lithography	5 nm	6 nm
Transistors count	57000 millions	10200 millions
Power consumption (TDP)	18 W	15 W
Memory type	LPDDR5 - Up to 6400MHz	DDR5
Max. Memory	64 Gb
Memory Frequency	6400	3200
Memory bandwidth	409 GByte/s
L1 cache	4MB	384KB
L2 cache	24MB	3MB
L3 cache	48MB	16MB
Overclocking	No	No
Supports ECC	No	No
Part number	APL1105	FP7:100-000000536 FP7r2:100-000000548

In this comparison block, you should pay attention to the differences in clock speed and the number of cores. Here M1 Max is 9% better than Ryzen 5 6600U in terms of CPU frequency. Another difference is that M1 Max has 4 more core than Ryzen 5 6600U. Also keep in mind that high CPU frequency affects battery life through power consumption (relevant for laptops).

Result:
The number of parameters for which Apple M1 Max is better: 28
The number of parameters for which AMD Ryzen 5 6600U is better: 8
Although it should be understood that all the number that you have looked at here do not mean that taking them into account you should entirely trust a simple quantitative comparison. Better to watch benchmarks video and read the opinion of of people who bought Apple M1 Max and AMD Ryzen 5 6600U before deciding which processor to buy for gaming and which not.

Apple M1 Max - all data

• Cinebench r15 score
• Cinebench r20 score
• Cinebench r23 score
• GeekBench 6, 5.2 score

• Apple M1 Max specs and review.

AMD Ryzen 5 6600U - all data

• Cinebench r15 score
• Cinebench r20 score
• Cinebench r23 score
• GeekBench 6, 5.2 score

• AMD Ryzen 5 6600U specs and review.