Apple has announced its new, most powerful ARM-based custom processor - the M1 Ultra - designed for the Mac Studio desktop computer.
Essentially, the M1 Ultra is two M1 Max chips connected together with a new interconnect architecture, which Apple calls UltraFusion. It uses a silicon interposer that provides 2.5TB/s of bandwidth, reducing the latency and bandwidth concerns compared to having two separate chips connected through the motherboard.
Doubling the configurations of the M1 Max, it features a 20-core CPU, 64-core GPU, and 32-core Neural Engine.
According to Apple, the M1 Ultra offers 90% higher performance for the same power consumption as an Intel Core i9-12900K and can match Intel's peak performance with less 100W. In terms of GPU performance, it consumes 200W less than the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3090 at its peak performance. It also has higher memory bandwidth, reaching 800MB/s.
It is capable of running up to 18 streams of 8K ProRes 422 video at the same time and can support up to five displays - four 6K Pro Display XDRs along with a fifth 4K display.
