Benchmarks Revealed: M5 Ultra Chip Hits New Performance Peaks!

Revealed at the end of August, the latest high-end Mac Studio introduces the Apple M5 Ultra chip, featuring 36 CPU cores and 80 GPU cores. The initial units are now being tested ahead of the planned release on September 22, and preliminary performance insights are emerging from Geekbench database scores.

So far, the M5 Ultra’s CPU has achieved an average single-core score of 3,759 and a multi-core score of 52,488. This is a significant improvement over its predecessor, the M3 Ultra, which scored 2,906 in single-core (+29%) and 38,972 in multi-core (+35%). Apple had promised a 25% improvement in single-core performance and 30% in multi-core performance; thus, these results not only fulfill but exceed those expectations, positioning the M5 Ultra among the world’s most powerful processors, which typically feature many more cores.

The M5 Ultra’s GPU scores 360,019 on the Metal benchmark, surpassing the M3 Ultra’s peak score of 249,442. This represents a 44% improvement, slightly higher than Apple’s forecast of 40%, and is truly monumental.

These groundbreaking achievements are made on an M5 generation chip, which does not yet incorporate the latest advancements of the M6 generation. The M6, etched at 2 nanometers by TSMC, shows strong initial benchmark performances with a standard M6 chip. It appears there won’t be an M6 Pro, M6 Max, or M6 Ultra version; Apple seems to have ceased their development to focus on advancing the M7 generation. The next generation of Mac Studio, equipped with an M7 Ultra chip, is not expected before 2028, but it is anticipated that it will mark another significant leap forward.