M1 Chip Beats GeForce GTX 1050 Ti and Radeon RX 560 for Graphics Performance

[MacRumors]

Apple's M1 processor often surpasses the graphics performance of desktop GPUs, including the Nvidia GeForce GTX 1050 Ti and AMD Radeon RX 560, according to a new benchmark submission spotted by Tom's Hardware.

According to Apple, the M1's octa-core GPU can simultaneously handle close to 25,000 threads and deliver up to 2.6 TFLOPS of throughput. This is the same TFLOPS achieved by the Radeon RX 560, and just below the GeForce GTX 1650's 2.9 TFLOPS.

The GFXBench 5.0 benchmarks were tested under Apple's Metal API, and show that the M1 often performs better than the Nvidia GeForce GTX 1050 Ti and AMD Radeon RX 560 by a fair margin. There is not yet a Metal benchmark for the GeForce GTX 1650 for the sake of comparison.

In the Aztec Ruins Normal Tier test, the Radeon RX 560 achieves 146.2 FPS, the GeForce GTX 1050 Ti achieves 159 FPS, and the M1 achieves 203.6 FPS. Similar results are seen across the board, with the M1 almost consistently surpassing the performance of the two desktop GPUs.

It is worth noting that GFXBench 5.0 benchmarks are primarily used to test mobile devices, and the GeForce GTX 1050 Ti and Radeon RX 560 are older GPUs. Nonetheless, the M1 contains integrated graphics and the fact that it can surpass 75W desktop graphics cards is impressive. More detailed GPU comparisons will likely be coming soon as the first Macs equipped with the M1 arrive to customers this week.

Article Link: M1 Chip Beats GeForce GTX 1050 Ti and Radeon RX 560 for Graphics Performance

 

[Rudy69]

Finally Macs will have good GPUs. With Nvidia's dominance and the spat between them and Apple it's been bad.

 

[Benz63amg]

What about the Vega on the high end iMacs?

 

[ruka.snow]

Quite impressive for a iGPU. Though we need to see if Apple can keep up with things like shaders, ray tracing, and other graphical niceties. 300 FPS is great, but not if that means the game has to miss out on tessellation.

 

[ppetrovic]

Alright, so the graphics is now plenty fast on an ordinary MacBook Air. The only thing left to see is sustained performance of M1 with passive cooling and whether there's thermal throttling involved and when it kicks in specifically and I might be able to switch from a Pro to an Air in due time.

Make me proud, Apple.

 

[Hammerd]

Finally Macs will have good GPUs. With Nvidia's dominance and the spat between them and Apple it's been bad.

Nvidia produces very good GPUs; It's just that apple include their mid tier GPUs and charge a lot for that

 

[Gee4orce]

I'm reminded of this classic quote, when Apple was building the iPhone “We’ve learned and struggled for a few years here figuring out how to make a decent phone. PC guys are not going to just figure this out. They’re not going to just walk in.” -- Palm CEO Ed Colligan

I get the feeling Nvidia aren't expecting Apple to 'just walk in' and make competitive graphics processors, and I get the feeling they might be surprised.

 

[Indiana-Pilot]

So wait... is this integrated graphics performance with the M1?

 

[BornAgainMac]

I think the eGPU concept showed that you can improve performance by getting the GPU closer rather than farther away for better efficiency.

 

[wumpalumpa]

Well they are benchmarking against old generation AMD, ATI cards

those cards had been released at 2017

Nowadays both AMD, Nvidia play muuuch higher

amazing chipsets for a mobile phone, no doubt

Xbox Ones Series S = 4 teraflops at 300 euros (and it includes other hardware apart from the graphic card)

Xbox One Series X = 12 teraflops

Custom PC = 20 teraflops (and isn't the highest you can get with a single video card)

 

[Sasparilla]

For integrated GPU's on low power high efficiency platforms (MacBook etc.), this is great to see. Nice. That said a nVidia 1050 is 2 generations old and then a lowish mid range GPU - just for reference. For integrated GPU's that's still great.

The real test will be the GPU's on the higher end iMac Apple Silicon when it comes out. How far up the GPU performance chain will they go is the question (or will they offer a discreet GPU for that platform)?

 

[SkyRom]

Now to license some games from Nintendo and Activision 🥳

 

[LeeW]

I mean if I was using my PC for the gaming and other uses I keep it for, a GTX 1050ti performs well enough for my needs, so these results are great, for me anyway. I do currently have an RTX2070s, however, one of my kids uses my old machine which does have a 1050ti and they have no issues with it even today.

 

[deputy_doofy]

The M1 is beating the snot out of the Intel CPUs and now some GPUs. Now don't get me wrong. I recognize that these values may not be sustained and only win in the short term. I don't care because, before now, the Intel equivalents (and I mean equivalent in terms of low power chips) were simply pitiful and didn't even pretend to compete.

This is just the beginning. The M1 is the low end chip. Remember that!

 

[ggt]

For someone who doesn’t know much about graphics cards, how far is the M1 behind the PS5? How far are we until we could have next gen graphics in an Apple TV?

 

[Massimo1926]

I just checked on the GFXbench website and the onscreen performance of the M1 (onscreen) is in line with the Radeon Pro 5500 XT of my Aug 2020 iMac. Radeon still leading on offscreen performance (should I care?)

Am still in time to return my iMac and opt for the Mac Mini M1 + external screen instead. Should I do it? I think overall I would be even saving £500 or so.

 

[nezr]

My 2016 MacBook pro has Radeon 455 2, as long as it's better than that I'm good. 👍

 

[norbinhouston]

This is great for an entry level Mac.

 

[ArtOfWarfare]

I'm reminded of this classic quote, when Apple was building the iPhone “We’ve learned and struggled for a few years here figuring out how to make a decent phone. PC guys are not going to just figure this out. They’re not going to just walk in.” -- Palm CEO Ed Colligan

I get the feeling Nvidia aren't expecting Apple to 'just walk in' and make competitive graphics processors, and I get the feeling they might be surprised.

Palm thought they were playing a numbers game - as long as you have the higher performance at a lower price, you're better. They were oblivious that fullscreen multitouch would be game changing.

There's nothing game changing here though. It's a simple CPU/GPU switch - the numbers are everything. Intel might be screwed - they've grown totally complacent over the past 15 years since they've had no competition. But Nvidia has always had competition - they've never had a chance to be become complacent. Also, I've never looked into Nvidia's financials, but I suspect their consumer stuff is a small part of what they do, and Apple probably isn't interested in going after Nvidia's other activities.

 

[Eorlas]

...that’s it? 1050ti is not impressive at all

 

[Serban55]

Well they are benchmarking against old generation AMD, ATI cards

those cards had been released at 2017

Nowadays both AMD, Nvidia play muuuch higher

amazing chipsets for a mobile phone, no doubt

Xbox Ones Series S = 4 teraflops at 300 euros (and it includes other hardware apart from the graphic card)

Xbox One Series X = 12 teraflops

Custom PC = 20 teraflops (and isn't the highest you can get with a single video card)

So you compare almost the highest, with the entry level mac? Ok...

 

[Le0M]

So wait... is this integrated graphics performance with the M1?

That’s correct.

 

[Serban55]

...that’s it? 1050ti is not impressive at all

That means you dont know the diff between an gpu that is build on the chip vs that nvdidia dedicated gpu....
Tell us what integrated gpu build into the chip can come close to M1

 

[PsykX]

This is getting better and better by the day.

I just cannot wait to see the new iMacs with a better version of M1 (M2? M1X?), it'll surely compete pretty well with the latest generations.

I'd be curious to build a custom PC with equivalent parts to the Mac Mini and compare the prices. The time has come when Macs are actually LESS expensive than PCs for equivalent performance.

 

[stringParameter]

Finally Macs will have good GPUs. With Nvidia's dominance and the spat between them and Apple it's been bad.

The GTX 1050 series was a budget card in 2016. I don’t remember it being recommended for gaming even at the time, unless budget was a serious constraint.

In all fairness, Apple are nearly always at the root of every spat. They simply don’t know how to meet other companies half way and while that’s worked out, it doesn’t make it right to go blaming other companies for Apples historically poor graphics offerings.