Apple M3 Ultra (256GB UMA, 72 TOPS)
Overview
Apple M3 Ultra is Apple Silicon's 3rd-generation Ultra flagship, released 2023-12. It merges two M3 Max dies via UltraFusion 2.0, delivering a 32-core CPU (24P+8E), 80-core GPU, unified memory up to 256GB LPDDR5, 800 GB/s bandwidth, and 72 TOPS Neural Engine -- double the M2 Ultra's Neural Engine compute.
Core Specifications
| Item | Parameter |
|---|
| Architecture | Apple Silicon (M3 Max x2, UltraFusion 2.0) |
| Process | TSMC 3nm (N3) |
| CPU Cores | 32 (24P + 8E) |
| GPU Cores | 80 |
| Neural Engine | 32-core, 72 TOPS |
| Unified Memory | 64GB / 128GB / 256GB LPDDR5 |
| Memory Bandwidth | 800 GB/s |
| UltraFusion | 2.5 TB/s |
| TDP | 96-215W |
| Launch Date | 2023-12 |
| Mac Studio M3 Ultra | $5,899 |
Comparison with M2 Ultra
| Metric | M3 Ultra | M2 Ultra | Improvement |
|---|
| Process | 3nm | 5nm (N5P) | New node |
| CPU Cores | 32 (24P+8E) | 24 (16P+8E) | +33% |
| GPU Cores | 80 | 76 | +5% |
| Neural Engine | 72 TOPS | 31.6 TOPS | +128% |
| Memory | 256GB | 192GB | +33% |
| Item | Details |
|---|
| Vendor | Apple Inc. |
| Product | Mac Studio 2023 |
| Mac Studio M3 Ultra | $5,899 |
| Status | Current flagship |
Use Cases
- Local large LLM inference (256GB UMA)
- 8K professional video editing
- 3D rendering and visualization
- On-device AI with 72 TOPS NE
Key Features
- 256GB UMA: enormous unified memory for LLMs
- 72 TOPS NE: double M2 Ultra's Neural Engine
- 80-core GPU: top-tier integrated graphics
- UltraFusion 2.0: improved die-to-die interconnect