Mac Studio M1 Max: 24 or 32 GPU Cores?

[Cham2000]

Hi all,

I'm considering to get the new Mac Studio M1 Max with the new Studio Display, to replace my very old Macs (old MacBook Pro, and recently died Mac mini). Since I'm on a tight budget, I intend to get the base model with 32GB ram and 512GB SSD only (extra storage can easily be added later with external drives). But I'm still puzzled about the GPU options: 24 cores or 32 cores??

I want this computer to last a good 10 years at the very least, like my previous computers (11 years Mac IIci with System 7, 11 years Mac mini before its HD failed recently, 11.5 years MacBook Pro still running with Snow Leopard 10.6.8 ! And a few more old Macs...). I need my computers to do many intense computations, frequently in parallel (I mean during the same time): Mathematica calculations, LaTeX compilation, internet searching, YouTube, watch movies or play some recent 3D games.

I know that 32 GPU cores could help, but maybe this option is overkill? I don't want to spend money on options I don't really need. What are the advantages of 32 GPU cores over 24 cores? What kind of performance increase could I notice with it, compared to M1 Max with 24 GPU cores?

 

[MRxROBOT]

Hi all,

I'm considering to get the new Mac Studio M1 Max with the new Studio Display, to replace my very old Macs (old MacBook Pro, and recently died Mac mini). Since I'm on a tight budget, I intend to get the base model with 32GB ram and 512GB SSD only (extra storage can easily be added later with external drives). But I'm still puzzled about the GPU options: 24 cores or 32 cores??

I want this computer to last a good 10 years at the very least, like my previous computers (11 years Mac IIci with System 7, 11 years Mac mini before its HD failed recently, 11.5 years MacBook Pro still running with Snow Leopard 10.6.8 ! And a few more old Macs...). I need my computers to do many intense computations, frequently in parallel (I mean during the same time): Mathematica calculations, LaTeX compilation, internet searching, YouTube, watch movies or play some recent 3D games.

I know that 32 GPU cores could help, but maybe this option is overkill? I don't want to spend money on options I don't really need. What are the advantages of 32 GPU cores over 24 cores? What kind of performance increase could I notice with it, compared to M1 Max with 24 GPU cores?

If you needed it, you’d know it. Buy the 24 core or save yourself even more and go with the M1 Pro.

 

[T'hain Esh Kelch]

3D games is the only thing you mention where more GPU cores will help you. In that area, more is always better, so it is really up to you on how much you game contra how much you want to spend. The GPU upgrade is 10% up in price, for a 33% increase in cores, so I am getting it solely for gaming.

 

[Cham2000]

3D games is the only thing you mention where more GPU cores will help you. In that area, more is always better, so it is really up to you on how much you game contra how much you want to spend. The GPU upgrade is 10% up in price, for a 33% increase in cores, so I am getting it solely for gaming.

Is the Mac OS able to use the GPU to accelerate calculations which aren't graphical in nature? If so, it would be a good thing to have more cores.

MRxROBOT said:​

"If you needed it, you’d know it. Buy the 24 core or save yourself even more and go with the M1 Pro."

I don't think there's a M1 Pro option for the Mac Studio.


I would prefer to get the Mac mini (the strong one, not the base model), but it haven't be updated yet.
I need this computer to last a very long time (at least 10 years!). Considering that apps (and games) are asking for more ram and cpu power over time, it's obvious that it's better to get the strongest computer as money can get. But it's not obvious at which point, if we need to save some money...

 

[MarkC426]

Something else to consider, if you get the base (not a slouch by any means) spec, it's shipped in 7-14 days, or you may even pick one up in-store on the 18th.
Any BTO options are 10-12 WEEKS.

 

[Cham2000]

Something else to consider, if you get the base (not a slouch by any means) spec, it's shipped in 7-14 days, or you may even pick one up in-store on the 18th.
Any BTO options are 10-12 WEEKS.

Good point! I can't buy the new setup until two months, so I have time to think about the configuration I need.

I also have to think about the nano-texture glass option for the Studio Display. See this topic:

Studio Display: with or without the Nano-texture glass?

I'm interested in getting the new Studio 27' Display. My work environment is pretty luminous and I hate reflections on the screen. I haven't seen this display in store yet, so I don't know if I should buy the version with the nano-texture glass or without it (especially considering there's a...

forums.macrumors.com

 

[T'hain Esh Kelch]

Is the Mac OS able to use the GPU to accelerate calculations which aren't graphical in nature? If so, it would be a good thing to have more cores.

yes, but the processes would have to be written to support it, which is VERY rare.

 

[HDFan]

I need this computer to last a very long time (at least 10 years!).

want this computer to last a good 10 years at the very least, like my previous computers (11 years Mac IIci with System 7, 11 years Mac mini before its HD failed recently, 11.5 years MacBook Pro still running with Snow Leopard 10.6.8 !

Not having the latest program and OS security updates is a risk I personally would never take.

 

[Cham2000]

Not having the latest program and OS security updates is a risk I personally would never take.

I'm still using Snow Leopard 10.6.8 on a 11.5 years old MacBook Pro. I never had any trouble with it, and it's still running perfectly (except navigating on the web: several sites aren't showing correctly in the browsers I'm using).

 

[Basic75]

If you needed it, you’d know it. Buy the 24 core or save yourself even more and go with the M1 Pro.

There is no M1 Pro option for the Mac Studio.

 

[Basic75]

It does not sound like your use case benefits from a faster GPU unless some of the "intense calculations" are, or will be, GPU accelerated. Otherwise the 24 core GPU should be more than enough for your use cases. If I were you I would get 64GB of RAM however in order to make sure that all of these computations fit into RAM now and 10 years down the line. As you correctly note, storage can be easily added later, more so for a stationary machine, but RAM has become an important determining factor for the longevity of Apple devices and you have to plan ahead on that.

 

[Sirmausalot]

Hi all,

I'm considering to get the new Mac Studio M1 Max with the new Studio Display, to replace my very old Macs (old MacBook Pro, and recently died Mac mini). Since I'm on a tight budget, I intend to get the base model with 32GB ram and 512GB SSD only (extra storage can easily be added later with external drives). But I'm still puzzled about the GPU options: 24 cores or 32 cores??

I want this computer to last a good 10 years at the very least, like my previous computers (11 years Mac IIci with System 7, 11 years Mac mini before its HD failed recently, 11.5 years MacBook Pro still running with Snow Leopard 10.6.8 ! And a few more old Macs...). I need my computers to do many intense computations, frequently in parallel (I mean during the same time): Mathematica calculations, LaTeX compilation, internet searching, YouTube, watch movies or play some recent 3D games.

I know that 32 GPU cores could help, but maybe this option is overkill? I don't want to spend money on options I don't really need. What are the advantages of 32 GPU cores over 24 cores? What kind of performance increase could I notice with it, compared to M1 Max with 24 GPU cores?

I think the base 32gb RAM is fine, even in to the future, but a larger system drive would be helpful. 1tb if you can do it. And very rare cases would more GPU power make a difference. So that's fine too

 

[boilerdown]

Would the additional GPU cores improve responsiveness in photo editing apps like Capture One? I run dual 4K displays.

 

[ruka.snow]

Would the additional GPU cores improve responsiveness in photo editing apps like Capture One? I run dual 4K displays.

Response is the same in Capture One regardless of you having a 8 core GPU M1 mini, 16 core GPU M1 Pro MBP, 24 core M1 Max Studio, or even the 64 core M1 Ultra Studio. I have all four machines here and they all are equally responsive with editing 45 MP images. The only difference between the 4 machines is in importing and exporting large batches which you get improvements from as you go up the core count on CPU and GPU.

 

[themacobserver]

Response is the same in Capture One regardless of you having a 8 core GPU M1 mini, 16 core GPU M1 Pro MBP, 24 core M1 Max Studio, or even the 64 core M1 Ultra Studio. I have all four machines here and they all are equally responsive with editing 45 MP images. The only difference between the 4 machines is in importing and exporting large batches which you get improvements from as you go up the core count on CPU and GPU.

Except for the MBP, what resolution do your displays have? What preview size did you set in Capture One? I tried using Capture One 21 (supposedly optimized for Apple Silicon) on an M1 iMac 24" 4.5K (8-Core GPU/16GB/1TB) and the performance was rather disappointing. I read the same thing on most forums: high-res displays (4K/5K) need enormous GPU power (read: 2 GPUs) for Capture One to run smoothly.

 

[angelo77]

Response is the same in Capture One regardless of you having a 8 core GPU M1 mini, 16 core GPU M1 Pro MBP, 24 core M1 Max Studio, or even the 64 core M1 Ultra Studio. I have all four machines here and they all are equally responsive with editing 45 MP images. The only difference between the 4 machines is in importing and exporting large batches which you get improvements from as you go up the core count on CPU and GPU.

really? the same response? even doing masking etc?