Apple M5 Max (40-core GPU) vs Intel Core i5 12600K

[ VERDICT ] Winner: Apple M5 Max (40-core GPU) (97/100)

Apple M5 Max (40-core GPU) leads overall with a score of 97/100 compared to Intel Core i5 12600K (58/100), offering superior measured performance and technical specifications.

Why choose Apple M5 Max (40-core GPU):
  • + Higher Efficiency score (92 vs 47)
  • + Higher Performance score (100 vs 72)
[ WINNER ]
Apple M5 Max (40-core GPU)
Apple

Apple M5 Max (40-core GPU)

97/100
View Full Specs →
Intel Core i5 12600K
Intel

Intel Core i5 12600K

58/100
View Full Specs →

Benchmark Performance Comparison

Normalized Lab Scores
Benchmark measurements and scores across compared devices
Benchmark Apple M5 Max (40-core GPU) Intel Core i5 12600K
Efficiency 92.0 Excellent WINNER 47.0 Poor
Performance 100.0 Excellent WINNER 72.0 Good

Detailed Technical Specifications

CPU

CPU specifications comparison
Specification Apple M5 Max (40-core GPU) Intel Core i5 12600K
Base Frequency (E) 4.38 GHz 2.8 GHz
Base Frequency (P) 4.61 GHz 3.7 GHz
E-Cores 12 4
E-Threads 12 4
L1 Cache 192K (per core) 80K (per core)
Multiplier 46x 37x
P-Cores 6 6
P-Threads 6 12
Total Cores 18 10
Total Threads 18 16
Unlocked Multiplier No Yes
Bus Frequency — 100 MHz
L2 Cache — 9728K (shared)
L3 Cache — 20MB (shared)
Turbo Boost Frequency (E) — 3.6 GHz
Turbo Boost Frequency (P) — 4.9 GHz

Cinebench

Cinebench specifications comparison
Specification Apple M5 Max (40-core GPU) Intel Core i5 12600K
Cinebench 2026 (Multi) 9428 —
Cinebench 2026 (Single) 734 —

GeekBench v6

GeekBench v6 specifications comparison
Specification Apple M5 Max (40-core GPU) Intel Core i5 12600K
Background blur 106.1 images/sec 58.9 images/sec
Clang compilation 271.1 Klines/sec 98.7 Klines/sec
File compression 2990 MB/sec 822.6 MB/sec
HTML 5 Browser 811.7 pages/sec 261.1 pages/sec
PDF Renderer 764 Mpixels/sec 347.9 Mpixels/sec
Photo processing 303.8 images/sec 103.5 images/sec
Ray tracing 47.8 Mpixels/sec 22.8 Mpixels/sec
Text processing 457.1 pages/sec 258.5 pages/sec

General

General specifications comparison
Specification Apple M5 Max (40-core GPU) Intel Core i5 12600K
Codename Apple M5 Alder Lake
Instruction Set ARMv9 x86-64
Integrated GPU Apple M5 Max GPU (40-core) UHD Graphics 770
Released March 3, 2026 October 27, 2021
Type Laptop Desktop
Vendor Apple Intel
AMD Equivalent — -AMD Ryzen 5 5600X
Model number — i5-12600K
Successor — -Intel Core Ultra 5 250K Plus

Memory Support

Memory Support specifications comparison
Specification Apple M5 Max (40-core GPU) Intel Core i5 12600K
ECC Support No Yes
Max. Memory Bandwidth 614 GB/s 76.8 GB/s
Max. Memory Size 128 GB 128 GB
Memory Channels 32 2
Memory Types - LPDDR5X-9600 - DDR5-4800- DDR4-3200

Package

Package specifications comparison
Specification Apple M5 Max (40-core GPU) Intel Core i5 12600K
Fabrication Process 3 nm 10 nm
Peak Temperature 100°C 100°C
Socket Apple M-Socket LGA-1700
TDP (PL1) 72 W 125 W
Transistors 28 billions —
Max. Boost TDP (PL2) — 150 W

PassMark

PassMark specifications comparison
Specification Apple M5 Max (40-core GPU) Intel Core i5 12600K
Data compression 689.6 MBytes/sec 342.8 MBytes/sec
Data encryption 40.8 GBytes/sec 18.4 GBytes/sec
Extended instructions 33.4B Matrices/sec 22B Matrices/sec
Find prime numbers 553M Primes/sec 90M Primes/sec
Floating point math 186.1 GOps/sec 67.1 GOps/sec
Integer math 132.6 GOps/sec 87.8 GOps/sec
Physics 6847 Frames/sec 1515 Frames/sec
Random string sorting 84.9M Strings/sec 35.7M Strings/sec

Performance Per Watt

Performance Per Watt specifications comparison
Specification Apple M5 Max (40-core GPU) Intel Core i5 12600K
Blender / Watt 8.1 PPW 1.88 PPW
Cinebench 2024 / Watt 28.8 PPW 7.6 PPW
Geekbench 6 Multi / Watt 419.7 PPW 97.6 PPW
Passmark CPU Mark / Watt 798.1 PPW 220.1 PPW

Recent User Tests

Recent User Tests specifications comparison
Specification Apple M5 Max (40-core GPU) Intel Core i5 12600K
Date Benchmark Benchmark
📘 2026-07-03->Apple lover GeekBench —
📘 2025-03-16(Arirells) — Cinebench 2024
📘 2025-04-26(dalex) — Cinebench 2024
📘 2025-11-15(Ryujin) — Cinebench 2024
📘 2025-12-05(Kierannosaurus) — Cinebench 2024
📘 2025-12-20(Kierannosaurus) — GeekBench
📘 2025-12-28(Jin) — Cinebench 2024

iGPU

iGPU specifications comparison
Specification Apple M5 Max (40-core GPU) Intel Core i5 12600K
Execution Units 640 32
GPU Boost Clock 1620 MHz 1450 MHz
Integrated Graphics Apple M5 Max GPU (40-core) Intel UHD Graphics 770
ROPs 160 8
Shading Units 5120 256
TMUs 320 16
GPU Base Clock — 300 MHz
TGP — 15 W

Misc

Misc specifications comparison
Specification Apple M5 Max (40-core GPU) Intel Core i5 12600K
Official Site — Intel Core i5 12600K official page
PCI Express Lanes — 20
PCI Express Version — 5.0
Technologies — - Compute: ABM, ADX, BMI1, BMI2, CLMUL, F16C, SHA- Performance: EIST, TBT 2.0, TSX- Virtualization: VT-d, VT-x- Security: RDRAND, TXT, XD bit

Looking for More Comparisons?

Browse all available head-to-head comparisons or select new devices in the comparison hub.

Apple M5 Max (40-core GPU) vs Intel Core Ultra 7 270K Plus Apple M5 Max (40-core GPU) vs AMD Ryzen 9 9950X3D2 Apple M5 Max (40-core GPU) vs Apple M5 Pro (18-Core) Apple M5 Max (40-core GPU) vs Apple M5 Max (32-core GPU)
Browse Processors Comparisons → Launch Full Comparison Hub →