M1 Pro to M3 Pro for gaming

[mario-64]

Kind of a specific scenario here. I currently have a base model 14" M1 MBP which I use when traveling mainly to play WoW and Apple Arcade games. It handles these fairly well but I would like some more GPU grunt, especially with RE Village and RE 4 now coming soon. My first thought was the base model 14" M3 Max but it seems the fans on that one are extremely noisy similar to a gaming laptop. So I was thinking of stepping down to the 18 GPU core M3 Pro model. Any thoughts on how much of an upgrade that would be in my use case? Thank you.

 

[u2u2]

A few days ago I moved from a 14" M1 Pro 10/16/16GB to an M3 Pro 12/18/18GB to use with Resident Evil and for Zwift (indoor cycling program). The M1 couldn't handle the workload and thermals, same for the M3 Pro although it was somewhat improved. Activity monitor showed the GPU cores maxed out and TG Pro put the GPU and CPU temps as up to 103 degrees. Fans would only go to about 5,000 rpm and not get a handle on the temperatures. Nice machine but a total waste of upgrade money for my desired use.
Exchanged the M3 Pro after three days and got an 14" M3 Max 14/30/36GB. Temperatures shoot up as fast and as high and the fans kick in to just over 5,300 rpm and get a handle on the heat and then back off keeping all cores under 90 for the most part. A little headroom for Zwifting and Resident Evil looks and plays better than my M2 Max Studio with 38 GPU cores. The fan noise is not at all as many describe it in postings here. Much quieter and if you are turning your speakers up much or using head or ear phones you are unlikely to notice them. On a plan or train I doubt you could hear them. Like the M1 Pro if you aren't placing a fair load on the M3 Max the fans stay off.
IMHO upgrading to the M3 Pro will not do for REV and possibly the RE4 release. Go for the base Max.

 

[mario-64]

Great info. Thank you very much

 

[TheRealAlex]

M3 Pro 14" Here the 12 Core Version, 18GPU Cores 1TB SSD 36GB RAM Because Its "Shared" so the GPU is Often Starved. With the M3 Pro Apple Introduced "Dynamic Caching" and Ray Tracing These are HUGE for Gaming.

At Ultra on default resolutions or 1440P to an External monitor. These are my Results.

DOTA 2 Ultra Settings 100+ FPS
Resident Evil Village Maxed Graphic Settings 90+ FPS
World War Z a PC game but with Parallels it's perfect. Ultra settings 100+ FPS

I sold and got rid of 2 PC Laptops because they just can't compete. Also its worth getting the Extra RAM