Which Nvidia GPU is equivalent to Apple M5 GPU?

PC gaming mainly revolves around Windows and Linux systems and their components, with Nvidia and AMD graphics cards being the main ones. However, don’t rule out Apple just yet. The M5 chips are among the company’s most powerful processors (although the next-generation M6 and M5 Ultra chips are poised to surpass them). But that raises the question of how the M5 compares to GPUs used by Windows owners.

Surprisingly, testing shows that the M5 can compete with some of Nvidia’s most powerful mobile GPUs, although only the most powerful M5 chips on the market match that performance. When LucasGraphic tested the base M5 chip, it found that the GPU lagged behind the Nvidia RTX 4060 for laptops (Nvidia RTX 3060 for desktops). For example, at 1080p, the M5 achieved 42-63 FPS in “Resident Evil Village” at high settings, while the RTX 4060 delivered 70-85 FPS at the same settings. Meanwhile, the M5 delivered 45-63 FPS in “Baldur’s Gate 3” at medium to high settings, while the RTX 4060 delivered 80-100 FPS at the same settings.

While the base M5 launched in October 2025, the more powerful M5 Pro and M5 Max arrived several months later, in March 2026. And we can’t underestimate the gap in computing prowess between the original M5 and its successors. According to Notebookcheck, the M5 Max is tied with the RTX 5070 for laptops. When this outlet tested “Cyberpunk 2077” on Ultra graphics settings, the M5 hit between 91 and 103 FPS, while the RTX 5070 was between 85 and 107 FPS.

As most PC gamers will tell you, video games designed for (or ported to) computers must take into account a variety of components working together in almost endless combinations. Sometimes a coding quirk causes hypothetically weaker components to outperform more powerful alternatives.

When LucasGraphic tested the M5’s gaming capabilities, the website compared it to several Nvidia RTX laptop GPUs and, more importantly, used a wide collection of titles for testing. Two notable outliers were “Forza Horizon 4” and “Forza Horizon 5.” LucasGraphic played the game on medium to high settings and the M5 achieved 180 to 220 FPS. Meanwhile, the RTX 4060 for laptops only managed 160-200 FPS. In these titles, the M5’s performance was closer to that of the RTX 5060 for laptops (180 to 220 FPS).

One issue we feel compelled to mention is compatibility. Operating systems like Windows and Linux – and by extension AMD and Nvidia GPUs – have maintained their dominance in the PC gaming space because most titles are programmed with them in mind. No matter how many games are ported to macOS, they remain a drop in the bucket compared to titles for Windows and Linux. You can’t even run “Cyberpunk 2077” on a MacBook without an M-series chip with Apple Silicon. Additionally, although applications such as Parallels Desktop can emulate Windows for playing PC games on Apple computers, some Windows titles may not work on MacBooks due to processor architecture conflicts or anti-cheat software, regardless of chipset. In these situations, even an RTX 3060 laptop GPU outperforms the M5, simply because it can actually run games.