Apple’s Latest M3 Pro Chip Has 25% Less Memory Bandwidth Than Previous Generations
Apple has released its latest M3 Pro chip in the new 14-inch and 16-inch MacBook Pro models, boasting impressive speed and efficiency. However, it has been revealed that the M3 Pro chip has 25% less memory bandwidth than its counterparts from the previous two generations.
The M3 Pro series of chips is built on the latest 3-nanometer technology and features a new GPU architecture. According to Apple, the M3 Pro chip is the fastest and most power-efficient evolution of Apple silicon to date. The 14-inch and 16-inch MacBook Pro models with the M3 Pro chip allegedly offer up to 40% faster performance compared to the 16-inch model with the M1 Pro chip.
Despite these improvements, Apple’s own hardware specifications indicate that the M3 Pro chip has 150GB/s memory bandwidth, whereas the earlier M1 Pro and M2 Pro chips had 200GB/s. The M3 Max chip, on the other hand, is capable of up to 400GB/s memory bandwidth. However, this is because the M3 Max chip has a scaled-down version with reduced memory bandwidth compared to its predecessor.
Apple has also made changes to the core ratios of the higher-tier M3 Pro chip. The 12-core M3 Pro chip now has 6 performance cores and 6 efficiency cores, compared to 8 performance cores and 4 efficiency cores on the 12-core M2 Pro chip. The GPU on the M3 Pro chip also has 18 cores, down from 19 on the equivalent M2 Pro chip.
Another notable difference is in the Neural Engine. While the M3 chip has the same number of cores as the A17 Pro chip in the iPhone 15 Pro series, it has a lower maximum achievable throughput. The M3 Neural Engine is capable of 18 TOPS (trillions of operations per second), while the A17 Pro Neural Engine can achieve 35 TOPS. It is speculated that the iPhone 15 Pro requires a higher-performing Neural Engine for computational photography and Face ID, while the M3 chip compensates in other areas like machine learning with its additional GPU cores.
The real-world impact of these changes is yet to be determined, especially considering the new Dynamic Caching memory allocation technology implemented in the latest processors. This technology ensures that only the necessary amount of memory is used for each task.
Apple’s emphasis on comparing the M3 Pro and M3 Max chips to the older M1 Pro and M1 Max chips has left some wondering about the performance gains compared to the more recent M2 variants. Third-party benchmarks will likely shed more light on this matter in the future.
The new MacBook Pro models with the M3 Pro chip are now available for order and will begin shipping and launching in stores on Tuesday, November 7. Customers are encouraged to check out Apple’s MacBook Pro announcement coverage for more details.