Apple M3 Max 40-Core GPU vs RTX A5500 Max-Q

Primary details

GPU architecture, market segment, value for money and other general parameters compared.

Place in the rankingnot ratednot rated
Place by popularitynot in top-100not in top-100
ArchitectureAmpere (2020−2024)no data
GPU code nameGA103no data
Market segmentMobile workstationLaptop
Release date22 March 2022 (2 years ago)31 October 2023 (1 year ago)

Detailed specifications

General parameters such as number of shaders, GPU core base clock and boost clock speeds, manufacturing process, texturing and calculation speed. Note that power consumption of some graphics cards can well exceed their nominal TDP, especially when overclocked.

Pipelines / CUDA cores742440
Core clock speed585 MHzno data
Boost clock speed1260 MHzno data
Number of transistors22,000 millionno data
Manufacturing process technology8 nm5 nm
Power consumption (TDP)80 Watt53 Watt
Texture fill rate292.3no data
Floating-point processing power18.71 TFLOPSno data
ROPs96no data
TMUs232no data
Tensor Cores232no data
Ray Tracing Cores58no data

Form factor & compatibility

Information on compatibility with other computer components. Useful when choosing a future computer configuration or upgrading an existing one. For desktop graphics cards it's interface and bus (motherboard compatibility), additional power connectors (power supply compatibility).

Laptop sizeno datamedium sized
InterfacePCIe 4.0 x16no data
Supplementary power connectorsNoneno data

VRAM capacity and type

Parameters of VRAM installed: its type, size, bus, clock and resulting bandwidth. Integrated GPUs have no dedicated video RAM and use a shared part of system RAM.

Memory typeGDDR6LPDDR5-6400
Maximum RAM amount16 GBno data
Memory bus width256 Bitno data
Memory clock speed1750 MHzno data
Memory bandwidth448.0 GB/sno data
Shared memory--

Connectivity and outputs

Types and number of video connectors present on the reviewed GPUs. As a rule, data in this section is precise only for desktop reference ones (so-called Founders Edition for NVIDIA chips). OEM manufacturers may change the number and type of output ports, while for notebook cards availability of certain video outputs ports depends on the laptop model rather than on the card itself.

Display ConnectorsPortable Device Dependentno data

API compatibility

List of supported 3D and general-purpose computing APIs, including their specific versions.

DirectX12 Ultimate (12_2)no data
Shader Model6.7no data
OpenGL4.6no data
OpenCL3.0no data
Vulkan1.3-
CUDA8.6-

Pros & cons summary


Recency 22 March 2022 31 October 2023
Chip lithography 8 nm 5 nm
Power consumption (TDP) 80 Watt 53 Watt

Apple M3 Max 40-Core GPU has an age advantage of 1 year, a 60% more advanced lithography process, and 50.9% lower power consumption.

We couldn't decide between RTX A5500 Max-Q and Apple M3 Max 40-Core GPU. We've got no test results to judge.

Be aware that RTX A5500 Max-Q is a mobile workstation card while Apple M3 Max 40-Core GPU is a mobile workstation one.


Should you still have questions concerning choice between the reviewed GPUs, ask them in Comments section, and we shall answer.

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NVIDIA RTX A5500 Max-Q
RTX A5500 Max-Q
Apple M3 Max 40-Core GPU
M3 Max 40-Core GPU

Comparisons with similar GPUs

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Community ratings

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Questions & comments

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