Gaming on Apple Silicon
GPU TFLOPS and memory bandwidth are the two numbers that matter most for gaming on Apple Silicon. Ray tracing arrived with M3 and improves each generation. More GPU cores push higher frame rates at higher resolutions, while memory bandwidth determines how fast textures and assets stream in.
Laptops
The M5 Max 40-core GPU tops the laptop lineup at 20.5 TFLOPS and 614 GB/s bandwidth—ideal for AAA titles at native resolution. The M5 Pro is a solid mid-range pick for 1080p–1440p gaming. The base M5 and MacBook Neo's A18 Pro handle casual and older titles well, but lack the bandwidth for demanding games.
| Spec | M5 10c CPU / 10c GPU |
M5 10c CPU / 8c GPU |
A18 Pro 6c CPU / 5c GPU |
M5 Max 18c CPU / 40c GPU |
M5 Max 18c CPU / 32c GPU |
M5 Pro 18c CPU / 20c GPU |
M5 Pro 15c CPU / 16c GPU |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Devices |
MacBook Air 15″ MacBook Air 13″ MacBook Pro 14″ iPad Pro 13″ iPad Pro 11″ Apple Vision Pro |
MacBook Air 13″ | MacBook Neo |
MacBook Pro 16″ MacBook Pro 14″ |
MacBook Pro 16″ MacBook Pro 14″ |
MacBook Pro 16″ MacBook Pro 14″ |
MacBook Pro 14″ |
| GPU cores | 10 | 8 | 5 | 40 | 32 | 20 | 16 |
| Execution Units | 160 | 128 | – | 640 | 512 | 320 | 256 |
| TFLOPS | 5.13 | 4.11 | – | 20.53 | 16.42 | 10.27 | 8.21 |
| Ray Tracing | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| CPU Cores | 10 | 10 | 6 | 18 | 18 | 18 | 15 |
| Super Cores | 4 | 4 | – | 6 | 6 | 6 | 5 |
| Performance Cores | – | – | 2 | 12 | 12 | 12 | 10 |
| Memory bandwidth (GB/s) | 153.6 | 153.6 | 60 | 614 | 460 | 307 | 307 |
| Memory type | LPDDR5X-9600 | LPDDR5X-9600 | LPDDR5 | LPDDR5X-9600 | LPDDR5X-9600 | LPDDR5X-9600 | LPDDR5X-9600 |
| Memory options (GB) |
16 24 32 |
16 24 32 |
8 |
48 64 128 |
36 |
24 48 64 |
24 48 |
Desktops
Desktop Macs range from the M4's 10-core GPU in the iMac and Mac mini up to the M3 Ultra's 80-core GPU in the Mac Studio. The M4 Max in the Mac Studio is the sweet spot for serious gaming — its 40-core GPU outperforms the base M4 by roughly 3× in GPU TFLOPS.
| Spec | M4 10c CPU / 10c GPU |
M4 8c CPU / 8c GPU |
M4 Pro 14c CPU / 20c GPU |
M4 Pro 12c CPU / 16c GPU |
M4 Max 16c CPU / 40c GPU |
M4 Max 14c CPU / 32c GPU |
M3 Ultra 32c CPU / 80c GPU |
M3 Ultra 28c CPU / 60c GPU |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Devices |
iMac Mac mini |
iMac | Mac mini | Mac mini | Mac Studio | Mac Studio | Mac Studio | Mac Studio |
| GPU cores | 10 | 8 | 20 | 16 | 40 | 32 | 80 | 60 |
| Execution Units | 160 | 128 | 320 | 256 | 640 | 512 | 1280 | 960 |
| TFLOPS | 4.26 | 3.41 | 8.52 | 6.82 | 17.04 | 13.64 | 28.262 | 21.197 |
| Ray Tracing | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| CPU Cores | 10 | 8 | 14 | 12 | 16 | 14 | 32 | 28 |
| Performance Cores | 4 | 4 | 10 | 8 | 12 | 10 | 24 | 20 |
| Memory bandwidth (GB/s) | 120 | 120 | 273 | 273 | 546 | 409.6 | 819.2 | 819.2 |
| Memory type | LPDDR5X-7500 | LPDDR5X-7500 | LPDDR5X-8533 | LPDDR5X-8533 | LPDDR5X-8533 | LPDDR5X-8533 | LPDDR5-6400 | LPDDR5-6400 |
| Memory options (GB) |
8 16 24 32 |
8 16 24 32 |
24 48 64 |
24 48 64 |
48 64 128 |
36 |
96 256 |
96 256 |