Apple M4 8-core GPU vs Apple M4 Pro 20-Core GPU vs Apple M4 10-core GPU

Apple M4 8-core GPU

The 8-core Apple M4 GPU is a graphics adapter built into the smallest Apple M4 series SoC that debuted in October 2024 alongside the new iMac. It isn't clear if this is a 10-core M4 GPU with two cores disabled, or if Apple actually makes an entirely new M4 SoC now that has fewer CPU and GPU cores by design.

A few popular video codecs can be HW-decoded and HW-encoded here but the list is nowhere near as long as what current AMD iGPUs deliver, let alone Intel iGPUs. However, there is a healthy selection of modern technologies such as ray tracing on offer.

Just like the rest of the Apple M4 chip, the graphics adapter is manufactured on a "second generation 3 nm" TSMC process that's still cutting-edge, as of late 2024. It has access to the 16 or 24 gigabytes of fast on-package LPDDR5x-7500 RAM and, apart from the iMac's internal display, allows one to connect one more monitor with an "up to 6K" resolution whereas the 10-core M4 GPU can drive 2 such monitors.

Its performance is slated to be around 15% lower than that of the 10-core M4 GPU. Still, it's going to be at least as fast as the Radeon 760M in many tasks, including gaming.

Apple M4 Pro 20-Core GPU

The Apple M4 Pro GPU (20 cores) is an integrated graphics adapter designed by Apple that's built into the 14-core Apple M4 Pro SoC. It features 20 "cores" and has access to at least 24 GB of fast 273 GB/s LPDDR5x on-package RAM depending on the configuration. As is typical for graphics adapters released in 2024, it has hardware support for ray tracing as well as mesh shading and other modern technologies. It also supports external displays with resolutions as high as "8K" and it can HW-decode a few popular video codecs such as h.264, h.265 and AV1.

Performance

Its gaming performance is at least as good as that of the GTX 1660 Ti Laptop. Please keep in mind that very few games have been compiled specifically for Apple silicon Macs meaning most titles have to be run via emulation layers. Some of them are displayed with visual artefacts as a result, or don't start at all.

• The Witcher 3 1080p Ultra = 53 fps (close to the GTX 1660 Ti Laptop)
• Baldur's Gate 3 1440p Ultra = 42 fps (close to the GeForce RTX 4050 Laptop)
• Cyberpunk 2077 2.1 Phantom Liberty 1080p Ultra = 40 fps (close to the GTX 1660 Ti Laptop)

In synthetic benchmarks, the iGPU is about 30% faster than the old M3 Pro GPU and is even on par with a fast GeForce RTX 4070 Laptop GPU (3DMark Wild Life Extreme Unlimited).

Power consumption

When under heavy CPU and GPU load, the iGPU portion of the 14-core M4 Pro consumes about 32 W according to monitoring software "powermetrics". With no load, it makes do with as little as 1 W to 3 W.

Just like the rest of the Apple M4 Pro chip, the integrated graphics adapter is manufactured on a "second generation 3 nm" TSMC process which is still cutting-edge as of late 2024.

Apple M4 10-core GPU

The 10-core Apple M4 GPU is a graphics adapter built into the 9-core and 10-core Apple M4 processors that has direct access to fast on-package LPDDR5x-7500 RAM (120 GB/s bandwidth) as well as hardware support for ray tracing and mesh shading and other modern technologies. It supports up to 3 displays with an "8K" resolution attainable on a single display. It also can HW-decode a few popular video codecs including first and foremost AVC, HEVC and AV1.

Performance

As our Fall 2024 Mac mini review confirmed, the iGPU is fast enough to run many 2023 and 2024 games at 1080p on low or medium quality settings. It appears its real-world performance is almost as good as the GeForce GTX 1650 Laptop. That being said, very few games have been compiled specifically for Apple silicon Macs meaning most titles have to be run via emulation layers. Some of them are displayed with visual artefacts as a result, or don't start at all.

• Сyberpunk 2077 2.1 Phantom Liberty (1080p, Med): 28 fps

M4-powered iPad Pros will be much slower in long-term GPU-intensive workloads than M4 iMacs, Mac minis and MacBook Pros due to the lack of proper cooling.

Power consumption

In M4 Mac minis, the GPU gets just slightly over a half of the total 40 W power budget allocated to the entire M4 chip. Needless to say, it has to be a lot more modest in iPad Pros where the entire M4 chip can consume ~14 W in short-term tasks and less than half of that in long-term tasks.

Just like the rest of the M4 chip, the graphics adapter is manufactured on a "second generation 3 nm" TSMC process which is still cutting-edge as of late 2024.