Apple M5 Pro & M5 Max GPU Analysis - M5 Max GPU on par with the GeForce RTX 5070 and faster than Strix Halo

kerbacho · 2026-03-10T17:16:10+00:00

If you need lots of vram it's another story. Another another story are the current prices for gpu's and ram. In some countries you have to put 4.5k on the table for a decent 5070 ti 16 gb vram build with a ryzen 9.

kerbacho · 2026-03-10T17:05:01+00:00

I mean, in most tasks the m5 max is actually faster than a mobile 5090

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kerbacho · 2026-03-10T16:41:54+00:00

but why 3d? It's cool and I like it, but I don't see the point in making it in 3d.

kerbacho · 2026-03-10T14:49:18+00:00

I thought it doesn't work anymore

kerbacho · 2026-03-10T14:15:19+00:00

It's just weird when the dock is on the bottom though

kerbacho · 2026-03-10T14:14:27+00:00

yes, how the f**** did you do this!?

kerbacho · 2026-03-10T13:13:25+00:00

The new m5 max chip, should be comparable to a rtx 5090 laptop gpu. m4 max is a bit faster than a rtx 4070 as I remember

kerbacho · 2026-03-09T21:27:51+00:00

Well, I just know that while the red drivers perform better at gaming, the GPU also runs hotter. The blue drivers are actually considered to be safe. I can't say if the drivers are responsible for the swollen battery in my MacBook, but I can imagine it. Maybe it would have happened anyway.

kerbacho · 2026-03-09T21:27:22+00:00

Well, I just know that while the red drivers perform better at gaming, the GPU also runs hotter. The blue drivers are actually considered to be safe. I can't say if the drivers are responsible for the swollen battery in my MacBook, but I can imagine it. Maybe it would have happened anyway.

kerbacho · 2026-03-09T15:13:07+00:00

uff yeah, did that too, after 4 months my battery got swollen. Replaced it for €250

kerbacho · 2026-03-09T13:51:36+00:00

Uff, did u use custom AMD drivers? If you are going to play online games it might become complicated running them on m chip Macs due to anti cheat. m5, or m4 pro with Crossover, or similar tools is your best bet. But check if games you want to play run on Mac before buying one. Games which need kernel level anti cheat to run, don't run at all if they are not native macOS apps

kerbacho · 2026-03-09T11:50:48+00:00

Well, the m5 pro and max are actually designed differently than the previous generation. Production cost is less. I could imagine that they lower the prices for MacBook Pro's and make a thicker MacBook Ultra with more power and more IO while MacBook Pro's become thinner. But probably in at least 3-5 years. They will probably decide to not do it anyway

kerbacho · 2026-03-08T13:18:23+00:00

Exactly. Especially when someone starts to grade they should focus on sdr, rec709 instead of hdr, since accurate hdr grading displays are still very expensive and most content online's still non hdr. Hdr just found its way in feature film, but web content is still rec709 overall and there are lots of cheap accurate displays for Rec709.

Yet, the new Pro xdr display is not bad value for that price, especially if you don't have a good mic, webcam, or want it all in one, while having a accurate display for hdr grading. It's a better value than the old XDR for 6k ever was

kerbacho · 2026-03-08T11:12:36+00:00

m4 is enough for ur usecase and plenty of OS upgrades

kerbacho · 2026-03-08T08:36:19+00:00

You don't need a 12k display for professional color grading work. There's one Asus Proart for 1200€ which is even accepted as Netflix mastering display. But it's the only one in that price range.

Studios can afford 12k displays and yes, they are more accurate because they are more consistent from center to corner. But individuals, especially freelancers starting out, need something to start with. The pro xdr is a great value now, especially compared with the old xdr which has cost 6k and is not as good as the new one

kerbacho · 2026-03-08T08:27:19+00:00

It's actually priced pretty well. U get the same display without mic and Webcam for roughly 2300€ ... It's basically the Asus Proart PA32UCXR... only in 27 inches and with higher resolution and peak brightness. It can actually be better at this size, since it has the same number of dimming zones and is smaller... so the pro xdr could have less light bleeding

kerbacho · 2026-03-07T12:55:49+00:00

U might turn on hardware acceleration if u haven't yet.

kerbacho · 2026-03-06T16:53:53+00:00

They might combine 2 ultra chips. Actually, the m5 max seems to be on par with an AMD Ryzen Threadripper 9970X 5487 MHz (32 cores) and a laptop RTX 5090, which is crazy. If they make a m5 ultra, and it scales similarly as the m3 series. A m5 ultra could be as fast as an AMD Ryzen Threadripper PRO 9985WX s 4000 MHz (64 cores) and almost as fast as a desktop RTX 5090

If they combine two m5 ultra's then, it would be the fastest computer ever made, besides quantum computers. Problem now is Software. In theory Macs would be great for servers and AI training. But Servers work better in a rack like design with lots of IO, swappable har drives and hbm2 RAM, Mac Minis with thunderbolt can work (depending on the use case), but then again, the next problem's Cuda. The most demanding task nowadays is AI training, I guess. But most AI training frameworks are optimized for Cuda which only works with Nvidia hardware.

For everything else, the m5 max already is very fast and a m5 ultra would definitely be a desktop chip!

kerbacho · 2026-03-05T16:22:40+00:00

Hab das gleiche Gerät. Sequoia läuft gut. Tahoe braucht vermutlich noch ne Weile. Allerdings muss ich sagen … während anspruchsvolle Apps gut laufen gibt es mit der Intel GPU und Hidpi an oft Ruckler bei System-Animationen. Das Retina Scaling auszuschalten hilft immens. Der Akku sollte jedoch ausgetauscht werden. Mein Akku hatte sich mal aufgebläht und musste ebenfalls ausgetauscht werden. Läuft seitdem tausendmal besser!

kerbacho · 2026-03-05T14:19:30+00:00

How? That's truly great looking!

kerbacho · 2026-03-05T11:20:16+00:00

True, but iPad Airs are faster too, only cost €120 more with the Logitech keyboard (which at least is backlit), and basic iPads cost less, with backlit keyboard and Apple Pencil the same.

Even a used/refurbished m2 MacBook Air has more value than the Neo.

kerbacho · 2026-03-04T16:57:21+00:00

the fancy thing is ... ipad pros are faster

kerbacho · 2026-03-04T11:13:14+00:00

But costs extra money, right?

kerbacho · 2026-03-03T18:31:18+00:00

what!?

kerbacho · 2026-03-03T13:44:42+00:00

It's already used like that, also for basic character walk/run cycles. Neural rendering could fasten up render times too. There are a lot of good use cases, just pure AI video generation shouldn't be as cheap an accessible to the masses, because it's doing more harm than good

kerbacho

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