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

[Ex2bot]

Yes, I've already addressed this elsewhere in this thread. There's more to a laptop than the CPU. You can't honestly tell me you believe that the 2016 to early 2020 laptops were Apple putting their best foot forward.

2016-2019 laptops with the notable exception of the 16" MacBook Pro were decidedly mediocre in perf, definitely. The 16" is rockin.' I don't own a 13" 2020 model, but they're using cooler chips, so they can't be that bad.

 

[dernhelm]

And, an integrated GPU, in an Entry Level machine.

While I agree with this, the iGPU here is incredible, I really wish they hadn't left behind the eGPU on these machines. I'm getting a mini for myself, and the iGPU is way more than I generally need, but I like the warm fuzzy of being able to boost my GPU externally if I need to.

 

[firewood]

Don't a large number of AAA games still support the GTX 1050 Ti? (at lower frame rates of course)

The interesting question is what percentage of major game company's revenues are based on that level of performance. If it's a large percentage, then the game companies (that want to stay in business) might target that revenue opportunity. And if the M1 meets that level (matching a GTX 1050 Ti) of performance, then it falls right into the sweet spot target of game companies trying to maximize customer numbers and revenues.

So this entry level Mac (the Mini is the lowest priced SKU) might put the Mac back into play for AAA game titles. And one of their next 2 or 3 higher-wattage SOCs might put them closer to the top of the heap.

 

[boss.king]

2016-2019 laptops with the notable exception of the 16" MacBook Pro were decidedly mediocre in perf, definitely. The 16" is rockin.' I don't own one, but the 2020 13" models are using cooler chips, so they can't be that bad.

That's fair, the 16" is actually a lot better than the rest of what they've done in recent years.

 

[The Cappy]

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

On M1, everything is integrated. Not even the RAM is separate. The only thing separate will be the secondary storage (the hard drives, essentially)

 

[rainfan]

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

Here is the GTX 1050 Ti playing Assassin’s Creed Valhalla to give you and idea of what the M1 could possibly do.

 

[creediddy]

How does the new MacBooks compare with the available choices for the Macbook Pros in terms of GPU?

Here's your answer:

MBP 16": https://browser.geekbench.com/v5/cpu/4755586
MB 13": https://browser.geekbench.com/v5/cpu/4758466

 

[Falhófnir]

makes you wonder what the M2 big chips will be like, and if it's the end of the discrete graphics chip option.

And that makes me wonder about the future of eGPU support, especially since it was removed from the first models released.

There's some circulating rumours of Apple making their own dGPU, probably for higher configurations of machines like the 16" MacBook Pro and new iMacs. How that (those?) do against Nvidia/ AMD will be the very interesting part

 

[Jimmy James]

This is the budget mobile chipset? It’s great news for a regular user like me who doesn’t game, but wants a good long-term experience on a 4K monitor.

 

[firewood]

I can't believe so many people are making this argument. I suspect there are tons of computer users who don't play games at all and still use a GPU. I mean, it's not even optional anymore. Aren't there ANY non-game applications that depend on the GPU? I'm sure if I thought for a few days, I could think of at least one.

Machine learning training is one of Nvidia's biggest and fastest growing revenue segments. It's GPU intensive (unless you're Google or Baidu, and can design your own TPUs or NPUs).

I can't wait to see the MLPerf numbers for these new M1 Mac mini systems, and see how close they are to being cost competitive compared to dedicated GTX 2080 Super ML training boxes from custom integration vendors.

 

[citysnaps]

And the M1 is Apple’s ENTRY LEVEL entry chip.

Why is every gamer and every data scientist on this site INSISTENT on purposely missing this point??

Because many people can't feel good or have a good day unless and until they take a swing at Apple.

 

[Maconplasma]

What is this nonsense? GTX 1050ti is no not a great card, nobody would put that in their machine.

Really? It's in the Dell XPS, the Lenovo X1E and the Razer. Show me Intel's latest iGPU beating the GTX1050ti. Go ahead I'm waiting.

 

[chivkea]

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

Nvidia will continue to dominate. Have to remember, Apple is able to achieve the speed is because everything is built into one chip. It will never happen in the PC world where everything is modular based.

 

[bklement]

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.

I don't think Nvidia cares at all. They were shipping zero cards for Macs, and he consumer market matters them less and less every year.

 

[NT1440]

Because many people can't feel good or have a good day unless and until they take a swing at Apple.

See I just get a cup of coffee to unwind, even if it is decaf these days.

Astounding engineering here to deliver these results at an absurdly low power. I don’t understand how people can’t see this for what it is.

 

[Maconplasma]

I can't believe so many people are making this argument. I suspect there are tons of computer users who don't play games at all and still use a GPU. I mean, it's not even optional anymore. Aren't there ANY non-game applications that depend on the GPU? I'm sure if I thought for a few days, I could think of at least one.

There are lots of non-gaming applications that are GPU-dependent. Apple's own Final Cut Pro X for instance. CAD programs are GPU-dependent. Graphics design and Photo editing softwares are GPU-dependent. The reason you're seeing all these posts comparing gaming is because Apple hasn't been known for gaming on Macs for many years and now they are turning out some amazing benchmarks for their integrated graphics.

 

[bklement]

And somehow can only support two USB c ports??

And one external monitor

 

[Patchwork]

PlayStation 4 Pro APU. Xbox One X APU. Both more powerful and deliver more teraflops than the M1.

I think the fan on my PS4 must use more than 10w based on the amount of noise it makes when it really gets going! The M1 looks a great mobile chip but isn’t competing against desktop class components. Hopefully desktop class M chips will be better, though not sure how much effort Apple will put into them as desktop is a shrinking Mac market.

 

[dtemp]

The M1 graphics look to be roughly on-par with a GTX 1650.

Speaking as someone who does Windows gaming on a GTX 1650 Super, the fact that the integrated graphics on the MacBook Air will be only slightly behind my 125W GPU is crazy awesome. You could probably do gaming at the native screen resolution (full retina) and get frame rates that max out what I assume is a 60Hz panel. (Although you probably need the active cooling of the MBP to keep those frame rates up for long.)

 

[MrCrowbar]

I'm curious to see whether these chips can easily be run in parallel on the same mainboard. Two of them in a high end 16" MacBook Pro maybe?

Imagine a Mac Pro with a whole bunch of those inside... 16 GB RAM per chip, two thunderbolt ports per chip, a whole array of 1050TI comparable GPUs, machine learning cores galore....

You could probably do deep-fakes in real time and finally not have to imagine everyone being naked on conference zoom calls anymore.

 

[ruka.snow]

I'm curious to see whether these chips can easily be run in parallel on the same mainboard. Two of them in a high end 16" MacBook Pro maybe?

Imagine a Mac Pro with a whole bunch of those inside... 16 GB RAM per chip, two thunderbolt ports per chip, a whole array of 1050TI comparable GPUs, machine learning cores galore....

You could probably do deep-fakes in real time and finally not have to imagine everyone being naked on conference zoom calls anymore.

I think that is what you might see on the new Mac Pro. Just a box you plug performance modules into. Almost like a tiny server rack that lets the CPUs and memory pool. Otherwise how are we getting 2TB RAM onto the chip, or are we having fast RAM / slow RAM combinations.

 

[mydarkroom]

Are we really comparing to graphic cards that are 3-4 years old?????

 

[BaltimoreMediaBlog]

My 3.33 GHz 6 core XEON & Radeon RX 580 is somewhat impressed, but still not yet threatened.

 

[Ethosik]

Lets be honest.

First, Apple put crappy GPUs in Airs and even iMacs and Mac Pros.

Second, M1 is good enough for the majority of Air and Mini users, even Macbook pro 13 users.

Third, 1050ti is an old graphics card, so is rx560, we are currently at 3080ti from Nvidia and 6900xt from AMD, which both obliterate M1 GPU power in comparison, however both of them are not intended for mobile computing and Air-like computers.

So in truth you can game on Macbook Air, but not in 8k and/or high frame rates, as this is reserved for 3080ti and 5900xt GPUs, plus if you really want to game, you are better off with PS5, Xbox X or a PC with high end GPU.

However Macbook Air will run Fortnite (I know the legal battle between Epic and Apple) or PubG without any problems and that is fine for most people.

ps: However it will be interesting to see, what the future M chips will bring to Macs (pro and iMac models) and how quickly or even if they will try to close this gap.

You do realize that even the GTX 3080 cannot do 8K. It still struggles to maintain 4K 60 fps constantly.

 

[sdwaltz]

HOW?!

This is just bonkers.