Can m1 beat core i9 10900k in single core performance?

[Ibrahim habib]

I was curious to compare new M1 processor with AMD and Intel processors I watch some videos and read some articles on web. In one article I find out that M1 can beat core i9 10900k in single core performance. I don't think it real but can any verify it. 

[Ibrahim habib]

Sorry I forgot to give link of article

But it is 

https://www.cpu-monkey.com/en/compare_cpu-apple_m1-1804-vs-intel_core_i9_9900k-890

[Downkey]

Just now, Ibrahim habib said:

I was curious to compare new M1 processor with AMD and Intel processors I watch some videos and read some articles on web. In one article I find out that M1 can beat core i9 10900k in single core performance. I don't think it real but can any verify it. 

That's geekbench, and geekbench isn't a "great" benchmark. It's more optimized for macs, feel free to correct me if im wrong

[AndreiArgeanu]

It's difficult to say, you're comparing apples to oranges, they're on totally different architectures.

[Chris Fortune]

It would be very dependent on what you are doing, there are probably some M1 wins but I would expect the i9 to be better across a wider spectrum

[Coolmaster]

21 minutes ago, Downkey said:

That's geekbench, and geekbench isn't a "great" benchmark. It's more optimized for macs, feel free to correct me if im wrong

The link he gave also has cinebench scores, which the M1 beats in single core too

[Newbie malaysia]

i think both are good for their own use. I dont think gaming will be great on an arm processor any time soon. Then again I think they are parts of your gpus and even some part of the cpu. Nonetheless, this will be good for consumers. Imagine 4 core 8 threads in 2017 was the highest consumer cpu available (other then the x299 and high prices)

[wall03]

M1 is technically better, yes

[Wheresmehammer]

1 minute ago, wall03 said:

M1 is technically better, yes

Wins however are not made on technicalities, the 10900K floor stomps the M1 into Morrowind and back through the gates of Oblivion.

[Kisai]

2 hours ago, Ibrahim habib said:

I was curious to compare new M1 processor with AMD and Intel processors I watch some videos and read some articles on web. In one article I find out that M1 can beat core i9 10900k in single core performance. I don't think it real but can any verify it. 

 

Geekbench is fine, but you have to understand the shortcomings of synthetic benchmarks

a) They generate binaries for different CPU types, which ARM is Big Endian and Intel is Little Endian, so there are byte-swapping instructions needed when translating between the two, that native doesn't need, but the data used for the benchmark may require to not ship two separate data sets.

b) They generate binaries for different operating systems, which may have different threading schedulers

c) Things like RAM and GPU are not universally comparable.

 

When you compare two CPU's, for CPU performance alone, you're omitting the other parts of the SoC in the ARM chip, so in effect you're penalizing the SoC but not the dedicated CPU.

 

The closest thing the M1 can be compared to is the Intel CPU with it's onboard GPU, and AMD's G parts (eg Ryzen 7 4700G, which these parts are based on the previous generation of CPU core.) So you can not compare them to Xeon's or other Intel parts that do not have GPU's. You have to do a comparison of like-for-like, and that would require using only the OpenCL performance on the CPU + GPU and not the SIMD instructions (eg AVX on x86-64 parts.) That means it will run into driver optimization issues.

 

So while it's easy to compare two CPU's of the same type by eliminating all the different variables, the only way to get a fair comparison is to compare the chips with the same software on the same operating system on the same hardware, which doesn't really exist, and even going the hackintosh route to do so doesn't give you a fair comparison because you can't compare AMD's chips then.

 

Cinebench, likewise is fair to the same extent geekbench is. 

 

I would not make a purchasing decision based on synthetic benchmarks. They only serve to rank CPU's of the same architecture on the same platform, and while it is true the M1 laps some Intel scores, that's not true for every single thing, particularly multicore. When you start comparing things with un-equal CPU cores, not even the thermal conditions are the same.

 

Hence it's only fair to compare the M1 to the ultrabook CPU's, and that is where the M1 laps the Intel parts significantly.

 

https://www.extremetech.com/computing/317304-benchmark-results-show-apple-m1-beating-every-intel-powered-macbook-pro

Quote

The highest-end MacBook Pro 16-inch that Apple has ever sold features a Core i9-9980HK, an 8C/16T CPU with a base clock of 2.4GHz and a 5GHz boost. Measured performance for this CPU is 1149 / 7329 in GB5. Now, this is an older 14nm CPU. Intel doesn’t currently ship an eight-core Ice Lake mobile CPU, but Apple also ships Intel’s quad-core, ICL-derived Core i7-1068NG7. That chip scores 1352 / 4914. Apple is therefore leading in single-threaded performance even against Intel’s Sunny Cove architecture from 2019, and it’s leading in multi-threaded against the highest performing CPU cores that Intel ships in mobile. While Apple is only tying the Core i9-9980HK in multi-threaded, the M1’s Geekbench scores cleanly beat everything below that point, including the Core i9-9880H.

 

When you start comparing it to the desktop CPU's, the sustained performance will not be fair, as mobile parts are designed to stick to a thermal envelope (in this case 15w) where a desktop might pull 20x as much under the same benchmark. Especially with a desktop GPU.

 

[LAwLz]

Yes, the M1 has more powerful cores than the 10900K. There is more to a chip than just single core performance though. 

The Intel processor has far more cores so if you are doing workloads that can scale beyond 4 cores the Intel processor will most likely pull ahead. The M1 however uses less power and has a more powerful GPU, as well as a dedicated NPU. The Intel chip pulls ahead when we look at connectivity (more specifically the number of PCIe lanes). 

 

If we only focus on single core performance and ignores everything else, then the M1 is better. 

[WkdPaul]

* thread moved to the CPUs, Motherboards, and Memory section *