Apple MacBook Pro with M1 Max Lags Far behind NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 Laptop GPU in Gaming Tests

[Tsing]

Image: Apple



Benchmarks for Apple’s new M1 Pro- and M1 Max-equipped MacBook Pro models have begun surfacing from various tech outlets. One of the more comprehensive reports comes from AnandTech, which shared some benchmarks offering insight on how the new chips might handle modern games. The metrics reveal that even the more powerful M1 Max with up to 32-core GPU has trouble coming anywhere close to NVIDIA’s GeForce RTX 3080 laptop GPU in games such as Shadow of the Tomb Raider and Borderlands 3, although that might not be shocking considering they’re x86 titles. Other tests such as the GFXBench 5.0 Aztec Ruins benchmark suggest that Apple may not have been exaggerating with its claim of the M1 Max offering graphics performance “comparable to that in a high-end compact PC pro laptop.”



AnandTech on Shadow of the Tomb Raider...

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[Brian_B]

Well, I can't think of any native M1 games that aren't just iOS mobile ports. All of the "OS X" stuff on Steam that is running, is running via x86 emulation.. and even beyond that, many OS X games were created as just a DX -> Metal wrapper similar to Wine: CrossOver comes to mind.

So I would fully expect even if the M1 had a 3080 GPU native, it would still lag behind significantly in this test.

OS X isn't a gaming platform, and hasn't been billed as such since Microsoft bought Bungie. iOS is Apple's gaming platform.

 

[Brian_B]

I was curious and looked it up.

World of Warcraft has a native client. Disco Elysium. And... the list gets really short after that
https://www.macgamerhq.com/apple-m1/native-mac-m1-games/

SoTR is on this list - it is running via Rosetta x86 emulation, but the OS X client does have direct Metal API support (no wrapper). It is reported to have "Average" Performance.

 

[Nanobot]

I remember seeing a story recently that Steam is/will be running natively on M1 soon without Rosetta. Don’t hold me to that, I skimmed it pretty quick.

 

[Brian_B]

I remember seeing a story recently that Steam is/will be running natively on M1 soon without Rosetta. Don’t hold me to that, I skimmed it pretty quick.

Hmm maybe. But I don't think it would take much to re-compile Steam: a good bit of it is just a HTML wrapper and some OS calls for file management. There are things like the streaming server/client that could benefit a good deal... but that stuff works pretty well even in emulation right now. I use Steam Link all the time on my MBP.

That, and just because Steam is native doesn't mean any of the Games will go native.

Don't get me wrong, I'm all for things going native. I often buy games that have native OS X ports just to support the platform. But honestly, OS X is so far behind the gaming scene that it's a lost cause. Linux has pulled ~way~ ahead of OS X, and now that OS X has gone ARM; unless Windows starts going ARM as well in a very big way (which I don't think it will apart from some ultra-mobile devices), it'll just fall even further behind than it already has.

Apple may as well just allow native running of iOS apps and call it good. They kinda sorta had it for a bit and then pared it back.