Apple M2 Is Surprisingly Better Than AMD Ryzen 7 In Some Aspects

The Apple M2 chip has everyone on the edge of their seats. Tech enthusiasts cannot wait to get their hands on it and try it out.

To test its efficiency, the chipset has gone through multiple benchmark tests against its ‘competition’ and has come out on top in many cases. However, what recently shook everyone was when the Apple M2 outperformed the Ryzen 7 6800U GPU in gaming, but that was pretty much it.

Performance Test of Apple M2

Youtuber HardwareUnboxed put the M2 and the AMD Ryzen 7 6800U, featuring the RDNA 2 iGPU, to the test through Shadow of the Tomb Raider. The M2 outperformed its competitor by 10% on the highest settings and averaged 28 fps at 1200p; meanwhile, the Ryzen 7 went as far as 25 fps. This result remained consistent across low and medium settings, as the M2 reached 33 fps on medium and used 48% less power than the Ryzen.

However, gaming is the only area where it outperformed, as in all other CPU benchmarks; it was outdone by Ryzen’s 6000-series and Intel’s Alder Lake chips. The Handbrake tests bore similar results, as both AMD and Intel beat Apple in the tests. Although M2 was on top of the Ryzen 7 in single-core tests, Intel was still the highest on the list.

The tech giant did claim that the M2’s processing power is 25% better than its predecessor, with an 18% increase in multi-core performance, but these tests make you question those statements. The performance wasn’t as good because Apple is still using the 5nm processor as the M1 chip, and the M2 was expected to be a new 3nm chip. Supply issues in China disrupted production massively and put restrictions on manufacturing.

Apple’s claims

While presenting the new M2 chip, Apple CEO Tim Cook said that the M2 represented a new ‘era’ of gaming for the MacBooks. He explained how Apple wants to charm AAA developers with the new Metal 3 frameworks.

Windows PCs have dominated the gaming market for years, and gamers have ignored Apple’s machines. The M2 chip could leave its mark in the gaming industry. This year, we will also see Resident Evil Village and No Man’s Sky on Mac.

However, one thing to keep in mind is that the M2 chip is the base level next-gen Apple silicon. Just like the M1, it’ll eventually evolve into M2 Pro and M2 Max chips, which could feature another massive performance bump.