Apple M5 Pro (18-Core) vs Intel Core i7 6700K
[ VERDICT ]
Winner: Apple M5 Pro (18-Core) (97/100)
Apple M5 Pro (18-Core) leads overall with a score of 97/100 compared to Intel Core i7 6700K (31/100), offering superior measured performance and technical specifications.
Benchmark Performance Comparison
Normalized Lab Scores| Benchmark | Apple M5 Pro (18-Core) | Intel Core i7 6700K |
|---|---|---|
| Efficiency | 98.0 Excellent WINNER | 41.0 Poor |
| Performance | 100.0 Excellent WINNER | 42.0 Poor |
Detailed Technical Specifications
CPU
| Specification | Apple M5 Pro (18-Core) | Intel Core i7 6700K |
|---|---|---|
| Base Frequency (E) | 4.38 GHz | — |
| Base Frequency (P) | 4.61 GHz | 4.0 GHz |
| E-Cores | 12 | — |
| E-Threads | 12 | — |
| L1 Cache | 192K (per core) | 64K (per core) |
| Multiplier | 46x | 40x |
| P-Cores | 6 | 4 |
| P-Threads | 6 | 8 |
| Total Cores | 18 | 4 |
| Total Threads | 18 | 8 |
| Unlocked Multiplier | No | Yes |
| Bus Bandwidth | — | 8 GT/s |
| Bus Frequency | — | 100 MHz |
| L2 Cache | — | 256K (per core) |
| L3 Cache | — | 8MB (shared) |
| Turbo Boost Frequency (P) | — | 4.2 GHz |
GeekBench v6
| Specification | Apple M5 Pro (18-Core) | Intel Core i7 6700K |
|---|---|---|
| Background blur | 100.3 images/sec | 28 images/sec |
| Clang compilation | 262.5 Klines/sec | 35.7 Klines/sec |
| File compression | 2530 MB/sec | 428.4 MB/sec |
| HTML 5 Browser | 738.1 pages/sec | 116.8 pages/sec |
| PDF Renderer | 744.9 Mpixels/sec | 168.3 Mpixels/sec |
| Photo processing | 250.8 images/sec | 50.9 images/sec |
| Ray tracing | 46.5 Mpixels/sec | 6.53 Mpixels/sec |
| Text processing | 450.7 pages/sec | 152.1 pages/sec |
General
| Specification | Apple M5 Pro (18-Core) | Intel Core i7 6700K |
|---|---|---|
| Codename | Apple M5 | Skylake |
| Instruction Set | ARMv9 | x86-64 |
| Integrated GPU | Apple M5 Pro GPU (20-core) | HD Graphics 530 |
| Released | March 3, 2026 | August 5, 2015 |
| Type | Laptop | Desktop |
| Vendor | Apple | Intel |
| Model number | — | i7-6700K |
| Successor | — | -Intel Core Ultra 7 270K Plus |
Memory Support
| Specification | Apple M5 Pro (18-Core) | Intel Core i7 6700K |
|---|---|---|
| ECC Support | No | No |
| Max. Memory Bandwidth | 307 GB/s | 34.1 GB/s |
| Max. Memory Size | 64 GB | 64 GB |
| Memory Channels | 16 | 2 |
| Memory Types | - LPDDR5X-9600 | - DDR4-2133- DDR3L-1600 |
Package
| Specification | Apple M5 Pro (18-Core) | Intel Core i7 6700K |
|---|---|---|
| Fabrication Process | 3 nm | 14 nm |
| Peak Temperature | 100°C | — |
| Socket | Apple M-Socket | LGA-1151 |
| Transistors | 28 billions | 1.75 billions |
| TDP (PL1) | — | 91 W |
PassMark
| Specification | Apple M5 Pro (18-Core) | Intel Core i7 6700K |
|---|---|---|
| Data compression | 697.9 MBytes/sec | 125.7 MBytes/sec |
| Data encryption | 40.8 GBytes/sec | 3.1 GBytes/sec |
| Extended instructions | 33.3B Matrices/sec | 8.3B Matrices/sec |
| Find prime numbers | 486M Primes/sec | 30M Primes/sec |
| Floating point math | 186.8 GOps/sec | 17.4 GOps/sec |
| Integer math | 132.7 GOps/sec | 28.2 GOps/sec |
| Physics | 5687 Frames/sec | 636 Frames/sec |
| Random string sorting | 85.6M Strings/sec | 15.8M Strings/sec |
iGPU
| Specification | Apple M5 Pro (18-Core) | Intel Core i7 6700K |
|---|---|---|
| Execution Units | 320 | — |
| GPU Boost Clock | 1620 MHz | 1150 MHz |
| Integrated Graphics | Apple M5 Pro GPU (20-core) | Intel HD Graphics 530 |
| ROPs | 80 | — |
| Shading Units | 2560 | — |
| TGP | 28 W | — |
| TMUs | 160 | — |
Misc
| Specification | Apple M5 Pro (18-Core) | Intel Core i7 6700K |
|---|---|---|
| Official Site | — | Intel Core i7 6700K official page |
| PCI Express Lanes | — | 16 |
| PCI Express Version | — | 3.0 |
| Technologies | — | - Compute: ABM, BMI1, BMI2, CLMUL, F16C- Performance: EIST, HTT, TBT 2.0, TSX- Virtualization: EPT, VT-d, VT-x- Security: MPX, SGX, SMEP, TXT, XD bit |
Performance Per Watt
| Specification | Apple M5 Pro (18-Core) | Intel Core i7 6700K |
|---|---|---|
| Blender / Watt | — | 0.9 PPW |
| Cinebench 2024 / Watt | — | 3.1 PPW |
| Geekbench 6 Multi / Watt | — | 55.7 PPW |
| Passmark CPU Mark / Watt | — | 98.2 PPW |
Recent User Tests
| Specification | Apple M5 Pro (18-Core) | Intel Core i7 6700K |
|---|---|---|
| Date | — | Benchmark |
| 📘 2024-09-27(A) | — | Cinebench 2024 |
| 📘 2025-11-08(CRSTN) | — | Cinebench 2024 |
Looking for More Comparisons?
Browse all available head-to-head comparisons or select new devices in the comparison hub.