Comparison between 2 Intel and 2 Apple silicon Macs running vector and matrix functions from Apple’s Accelerate library. Was that new M3 worth the money?
M3
There’s more to getting best performance and energy efficiency on Apple silicon. These vary greatly depending on how apps are coded, as shown here.
How to compare an undocumented if not secret co-processor? Using different tests that use very high power, and can result in strange patterns of core allocation. So how does the M3 Pro fare here?
Comparison with M1 variants, energy use with comparison between M3 Pro and Max, virtualisation, Game Mode, vector processing and matrix co-processing – all in summary.
Assessing throughput using tests of fast Fourier transforms and sparse Cholesky factorisation from the Accelerate library. Is there an AMX there?
Differences in vector processing performance between the M1 Max and M3 Pro, and in their use of power. Their frequency control is more complex.
macOS Sonoma is currently forked into two: one series of builds for M3 Macs, and another for all the rest. How does that affect the user?
Examines two special core allocation modes: for the virtual cores in a macOS VM, and in Sonoma’s new Game Mode.
Looks at power use and energy efficiency in M3 Pro chips, deriving equations for energy use according to numbers of cores used and their role.
Using assembly language test loops to understand the differences between M1 Pro and M3 Pro CPU cores casts new light on their differences.
The Eclectic Light Company 