Apple introduces the M1 Ultra, a SOC with a CPU faster than the i9-12900K and a GPU on par with the RTX 3090 with 200W less

The supposed processor M2 was not presented by Apple at the Peek Performance event. Instead, the Silicon Valley giant showed the world a new SoC still from the M1 family: the M1 Ultrathe most powerful chip made by Apple.

In February it was already rumored that Apple would launch new desktops with the new Apple Silicon (chips manufacturing company). It was speculated that it would be M2 chips, the next generation of the M1 launched the previous year. However, At today’s Peek Performance event, Apple gave the public a sneak peek at the performance of its new processor, the M1 Ultra.still first generation.

The new Apple Silicon is the fusion (relationship) of two M1 Max chips, the lower-performance model of the M1 Ultra. According to Apple, his new chip yields 8 times more than his “basic” M1. Specifications M1 Ultra duplicate those of the M1 Max. And these are its features in detail:

• CPU – 20 cores – 16 performance and four efficiency;
• GPU – 64 nodes;
• Neural Engine – 32 cores – capable of performing 22 trillion operations per second;
• Memory: capacity up to 128GB.

The new M1 Ultra processor is made with a 5nm lithographic process and has 114 billion transistors. His bandwidth is 800GB/s. Its manufacture at 5nm also provides more energy efficiency. Apple claims that your new Apple Silicon CPU consumes 100W less than a PC with a 16-core CPU. As for the GPU, Apple talks about it the M1 Ultra consumes 200 W less compared to a dedicated graphics card.

Jumping right into the performance numbers, Apple has stated that the M1 Ultra can deliver up to 90% more performance than the CPU tope de gama el Core i9-12900K with the same wattage and similar performance with 100 W less. It also claims that the chip offers 90% more performance than a 16-core Intel Xeon chip and 2.5 times faster performance than a 10-core Intel Core i9 desktop CPU.

The same goes for the GPU, which delivers the same performance as an NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 Ti at 1/3 power and similar performance to the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3090 at 200W less power. Apple also showed comparative numbers with a Radeon Pro W6900X on its existing Mac Pros. Mac Studio with M1 Ultra delivers up to 80% faster performance than AMD’s solution.

The first product to equip the M1 Ultra will be the Mac Studioalso featured in Peek Performance and that it will be in the intermediate segment between the Mac Mini and the Mac Pro. Quite interesting this that Apple offers us. Obviously, you have to see the price of the products in the market and compare costs and benefits, but hey, it seems that the Peek Performance this year offers many novelties.

And what do you think of the new Apple chip, the M1 Ultra? Will it be as good as its manufacturers say?