As the new year unfolds, anticipation mounts for the upcoming launch of Apple’s M5 Pro, M5 Max, and M5 Ultra chipsets, scheduled for the first half of the year. Recent gaming tests have shown that the M5 chipset achieved a remarkable 190 percent higher framerate in *Cyberpunk 2077* compared to its predecessor, the M4, with ray tracing enabled. Such results raise expectations for the M5 Max, which is anticipated to significantly outperform both the M4 Max and even NVIDIA’s laptop version of the RTX 5070 Ti.
A Reddit user, known as Cheap-Ability9453, recently shared a performance comparison analyzing various NVIDIA GPUs alongside the M4 Max and the M5 Max. Testing included two benchmark games, *Cyberpunk 2077* and *Assassin’s Creed Shadows*, with both titles set to 1080p and ultra settings. The user noted that the data was collected from Notebookcheck, suggesting a performance uplift in the M5 Max based on historical improvements seen with previous Apple Silicon releases.
The benchmark results reveal that the M5 Max significantly outperforms the M4 Max, achieving a framerate of 125 FPS in *Cyberpunk 2077*, which is 47 percent faster than the M4 Max’s 85 FPS. In *Assassin’s Creed Shadows*, the M5 Max secured 51 FPS, marking a 54.5 percent improvement over the M4 Max’s 33 FPS. When compared to the laptop RTX 5070 Ti, the M5 Max is slightly faster at 125 FPS versus the RTX 5070 Ti’s 120 FPS in *Cyberpunk 2077*, while it falls just short in *Assassin’s Creed Shadows*, where the RTX 5070 Ti registered 53 FPS against the M5 Max’s 51 FPS. The detailed performance comparison illustrates the M5 Max’s prowess in gaming scenarios.
Performance Comparison Summary
In *Cyberpunk 2077*, the performance results are as follows: the M5 Max leads with 125 FPS, while the M4 Max trails at 85 FPS, and the laptop RTX 5070 Ti follows closely at 120 FPS, making the M5 Max 4 percent faster than the NVIDIA chip. The desktop RTX 4060 comes in at 111 FPS, rendering the M5 Max 12.6 percent faster, while it remains a hair behind the desktop RTX 4070, which achieves 126 FPS—just a 0.79 percent advantage over the M5 Max.
In *Assassin’s Creed Shadows*, the M5 Max also showcases impressive results: it leads with 51 FPS compared to the M4 Max’s 33 FPS and outperforms the desktop RTX 5060, which achieves 43 FPS, making the M5 Max 18.6 percent faster. However, the laptop RTX 5070 Ti slightly edges ahead at 53 FPS, giving it an advantage of 3.77 percent over the M5 Max, while the desktop RTX 4070 holds a narrow lead at 55 FPS, making the M5 Max 7.27 percent slower.
Although the M5 Max’s estimated performance is promising, some skepticism persists regarding its capabilities. Notably absent from the benchmarks is the GPU core count, leaving uncertainties about potential performance limits. While it’s presumed the M4 Max’s 40-core GPU was utilized in these tests, other critical details remain unclear. For instance, it’s unknown whether Apple’s MetalFX upscaling or frame generation were enabled during the gameplay tests, or if ray tracing was active in achieving the reported framerates.
Previous demonstrations of *Cyberpunk 2077* running on the M4 Max at 120 FPS raised similar concerns about performance claims, suggesting the need for upscaling technologies to reach such high framerates. As the gaming community awaits further clarity on the M5 Max’s specifications and capabilities, the excitement surrounding its launch is tempered by a cautious approach to the reported results. Readers are encouraged to remain vigilant and await additional information to fully understand the M5 Max’s potential in real-world gaming scenarios.
