Apple’s new M5 Ultra and M6 chips just had their first GPU benchmark scores posted on Geekbench, and the obvious question is which Nvidia graphics cards they actually compete with. Geekbench 7’s Metal test measures Apple GPUs, and its OpenCL test is the one benchmark that runs on both Apple Silicon and Nvidia hardware, making it the only fair way to compare the two directly. M5 Ultra posted a Metal score of 366,744, and M6 posted 93,217. Neither chip has a published OpenCL score yet, so getting a real answer means calculating one from Apple’s own track record.
Apple’s Own Chips Show a Consistent Conversion Rate
Every recent Apple chip with both a Metal and an OpenCL score on record converts between the two at a fairly predictable rate, though that rate shifts slightly by tier:
| Chip | Metal Score | OpenCL Score | OpenCL as % of Metal |
|---|---|---|---|
| M4 | 58,082 | 38,006 | 65% |
| M4 Pro | 111,119 | 69,867 | 63% |
| M5 | 69,563 | 48,000 | 69% |
| M5 Pro | 141,000 | 87,155 | 62% |
| M5 Max | 232,718 | 145,412 | 63% |
| M3 Ultra | 259,277 | 147,719 | 57% |
Base-tier chips like M4 and M5 land closer to 65-69%. Pro and Max chips settle around 62-63%. The one Ultra-tier data point available, M3 Ultra, converts at a lower 57%, since fusing two dies together doesn’t scale OpenCL performance as cleanly as it scales Metal.
M5 Ultra Lines Up With the RTX 4080
M5 Ultra is a base architecture most similar to two M5 Max dies fused together, so its likely OpenCL conversion rate sits between M3 Ultra’s 57% and M5 Max’s 63%. Applied to M5 Ultra’s Metal score of 366,744, that puts its estimated OpenCL score at roughly 209,000 to 229,000.
Here’s where that range lands next to real Nvidia GPUs, pulled straight from Geekbench’s own GPU charts, along with what those cards actually cost:
| Nvidia GPU | OpenCL Score | Launch Price | Typical Price Now (2026) |
|---|---|---|---|
| RTX 3050 (desktop) | 53,083 | $249 | ~$259 |
| RTX 4060 (desktop) | 100,000 (Geekbench’s own baseline) | $299 | ~$339 |
| RTX 4080 (desktop) | 223,849 | $1,199 | ~$1,700-1,800 |
| RTX 5080 (desktop) | ~265,000 | $999 | $2,000+ |
| RTX 4090 (desktop) | ~320,000-337,000 | $1,599 | $2,300-2,800 |
| RTX 5090 (desktop) | 367,740 | $1,999 | ~$4,600 |
M5 Ultra’s estimated 209,000 to 229,000 range sits right around the RTX 4080’s 223,849. That comparison holds up because it matches the same test on both platforms, OpenCL against OpenCL. A Metal score has no CUDA equivalent to measure against, since Metal is Apple’s own graphics API and Nvidia hardware doesn’t run it. On that shared test, M5 Ultra’s real competitor is the RTX 4080, a card that hasn’t been Nvidia’s flagship since January 2025.
M6 Lines Up With Nvidia’s Entry-Level Laptop Cards
M6 is a base-tier chip like M4 and M5, so its likely conversion rate sits in that same 65-69% band. Applied to M6’s Metal score of 93,217, that puts its estimated OpenCL score at roughly 61,000 to 64,000.
That range sits almost exactly between two real Nvidia GPUs. The RTX 3050 desktop scores 53,083 in the same test, and the RTX 4050 Laptop GPU scores 69,508, the closer match to the top of M6’s estimated range. Both are firmly in Nvidia’s entry-level tier, nowhere near the desktop cards used to size up M5 Ultra.
What This Means at the Register
The M5 Ultra ships inside the Mac Studio, starting at $5,499 and scaling up to a 36-core CPU, 80-core GPU, and 512GB of memory, though that top configuration doesn’t ship until late October. M6 ships inside the Mac mini, starting at $899.
| Apple Chip | Mac It Ships In | Starting Price | Estimated OpenCL | Closest Nvidia GPU | Nvidia GPU Price |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| M6 | Mac mini | $899 | ~61,000-64,000 | RTX 4050 Laptop; RTX 3050 is the closest standalone card | RTX 3050: $249 at launch |
| M5 Ultra | Mac Studio | $5,499 | ~209,000-229,000 | GeForce RTX 4080 | $1,199 at launch, ~$1,700-1,800 now |
A $5,499 Mac Studio costs roughly 4.6 times the RTX 4080’s launch price, but that Mac Studio is a finished, silent, single-box computer rather than one part waiting on the rest of a build. An $899 Mac mini, by contrast, already costs more than three RTX 3050 cards, the closest standalone match for the chip inside it.
