Why Apple's M6 Chip Can't Hold Its Own Against Any NVIDIA GPU

Apple introduced its M6 chip alongside the new Mac mini, and while the company is promoting the processor as a major step up in CPU and overall performance, the sixth-generation M-series part still trails NVIDIA's dedicated graphics cards in gaming and other real-time graphics work. The M6 is an all-in-one processor with 12 CPU cores and 12 GPU cores. In Engadget's review testing, the Mac mini handled photo editing and 4K video transcoding without trouble.

Comparing the two platforms directly is difficult. NVIDIA GPU performance depends on the specific card and the AMD or Intel CPU it is paired with, while Mac graphics are typically measured through Metal scores that Windows PCs cannot run, since those machines use DirectX 12 or Vulkan. As a workaround, MacRumors notes that the Geekbench OpenCL score for the M5 Ultra, the Mac mini's other processor option, is roughly in line with NVIDIA's GeForce RTX 4080. The M5 Ultra also posts a Metal score of 366,744, while the M6 scores 93,217, nearly four times lower.

That gap matters because the RTX 4080 is last-generation NVIDIA architecture from 2022. RTX 50-series GPUs can already be pushed to their limits in some games, and with real-time 3D graphics continually evolving, the M6 is unlikely to keep pace by 2028, when RTX 60-series cards are rumored to arrive.

For buyers who are not focused on maximum detail or futureproofing, the M6 remains serviceable. The M6 Mac mini averages 55 frames per second in Cyberpunk 2077 at default Mac quality settings, which is smooth, and many games are less demanding. For tasks outside real-time rendering, such as video transcoding, any gap with a comparable NVIDIA-based PC should be minor or nonexistent, and most users are unlikely to mind a video exporting a few seconds faster.

Cost is where the M6 has a clear advantage. The new Mac mini starts at $900, a $300 increase over the previous generation, but an RTX 5060 alone costs more than $450 before the other components needed to build a working PC are added. High-end RTX 5080 cards are selling for over $2,000, enough to buy a MacBook Pro.

Compatibility remains a drawback for all Macs. Productivity apps for macOS are plentiful, but most games are built PC-first, both because of the existing customer base and the greater horsepower available there. For a computer bought primarily for gaming, the $1,050 Steam Machine, which runs most modern games with console-like simplicity on custom AMD hardware, would be a more suitable pick.

More hardware news from TechManNews.