Apple M5 Max (18-core) vs NVIDIA RTX Spark N1X (18-core)
92Single-core—
96.6Multi-core—
93.3Efficiencyspec-based56
61.9Platformspec-based51.1
2 spec wins — Apple M5 Max (18-core)1 spec wins — NVIDIA RTX Spark N1X (18-core)
InnoReviews verdict
No overall winner yet: NVIDIA RTX Spark N1X (18-core) lacks the published benchmark results an Inno Score requires, so there is no Inno Score to compare — we don't rank chips on their spec sheet alone. The spec table below still shows every difference we track.
Which would you pick?
Key differences
Reasons to pick the Apple M5 Max (18-core)
- 33% higher Efficiency cores: 12 vs 9
- 18% higher Boost clock: 4.6 GHz vs 3.9 GHz
Reasons to pick the NVIDIA RTX Spark N1X (18-core)
- 50% higher Performance cores: 9 vs 6
General
| Spec | Apple M5 Max (18-core) | NVIDIA RTX Spark N1X (18-core) |
|---|---|---|
| Announced | 2026 | 2026 |
| Process | 3 nm | 3 nm |
| Base TDP | — | 45 W |
| Max TDP | — | 80 W |
Cores & Clocks
| Spec | Apple M5 Max (18-core) | NVIDIA RTX Spark N1X (18-core) |
|---|---|---|
| Cores | 18 | 18 |
| Performance cores | 6 | 9+50% |
| Efficiency cores | 12+33% | 9 |
| Threads | 18 | 18 |
| Boost clock | 4.6 GHz+18% | 3.9 GHz |
| L3 cache | 24 MB | — |
Integrated GPU
| Spec | Apple M5 Max (18-core) | NVIDIA RTX Spark N1X (18-core) |
|---|---|---|
| iGPU | Apple 40-core GPU | NVIDIA Blackwell RTX 5120-core GPU |
| iGPU clock | — | 2,535 MHz |
Memory
| Spec | Apple M5 Max (18-core) | NVIDIA RTX Spark N1X (18-core) |
|---|---|---|
| Memory support | LPDDR5X-9600 | LPDDR5X |
| Max memory | 128 GB | — |
Benchmarks
| Spec | Apple M5 Max (18-core) | NVIDIA RTX Spark N1X (18-core) |
|---|---|---|
| Geekbench 6 (single) | 4,322Top 2% | — |
| Geekbench 6 (multi) | 29,256Top 1% | — |
| PassMark | 57,677Top 2% | — |
| PassMark (single thread) | 5,964Top 2% | — |
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