M4 Ultra GPU Is Estimated To Beat The RTX 4090 Across OpenGL And Vulkan APIs, But Its Advantage Could Only Be Witnessed In One Benchmark

Apple launched its latest M4-powered MacBook Pro models recently, and we have reported that the devices boast superior performance to the company’s previous flagship chips, including the M2 Ultra. While the company has debuted three variants of the M3 chip, we are anxiously waiting for the M4 Ultra chip, which is slated to produce enormous gains in computational and graphical performance. A YouTuber has now shared his expectations for the M4 Ultra chip and how it would perform against the RTX 4090 in both OpenCL and Vulkan.

The M4 Ultra chip is expected to surpass the performance of the RTX 4090 in OpenCL and Vulkan APIs

The M4 Pro and M4 Max surprised us with their benchmarks recently, with the chips beating Intel and AMD’s flagship processors. We have also covered how the chips handle graphics, and the Metal scores show an impressive picture. The GeekBench 6 compute scores for the M4 Max were reported to be 192,812, and based on the latest numbers, the M4 Ultra could blow the RTX 4090 out of the water.

Vadim Yuryev from the YouTube channel Max Tech shared his expectations of the M4 Ultra, claiming that the chip will feature a score of 330,000, which is a rough estimate based on the company’s M4 Pro and M4 chips. Yuryev states that the “GPU scaling from the leaked M4 Pro score to the M4 Max chip is 78 percent higher performance” assuming the company maintains similar performance scaling.

However, Yuryev accounted for only 70 percent of the scaling for the M4 Ultra chip, expecting a slight shift in the scaling. The score is significantly higher than the RTX 4090 if you account for the entire scaling shift of 78 percent. For instance, a tipster mentioned that the M4 Ultra could get as much as 385,624, and in comparison, the RTX 4090 features OpenCL scores of 317,162 and a Vulkan score of 262,907. With these numbers in hand, we can safely presume that Apple’s forthcoming M4 Ultra chip will surpass RTX 4090 in terms of graphical output.

While these are only speculations based on the company’s previous M4 Pro and M4 Max chips, there are certain factors that users should keep in mind regarding the performance of the chips. Apple’s M4 Ultra, though capable, will not have access to flagship gaming titles on the market, which puts the chip’s performance into perspective. Furthermore, the company could alter the performance ratio further, which could bring the score down, as we have no official information on the matter.

The estimates are also based on a single test, and possibly additional, in-depth comparisons with real-world performance could pose a different picture. The M4 Ultra chip is expected to launch next year with the release of Apple’s highly anticipated Mac Pro and Mac Studio. We will share additional details on the matter, so be sure to keep an eye out.