A recent Tom's Hardware article comparing Apple's M5 Max to a 96-core Threadripper has sparked debate in the tech community. The piece claims the M5 Max 'destroys' AMD's high-end CPU, but the comparison relies heavily on Geekbench 6 multi-core scores, which many experts consider unreliable for large processors.

Critics point out that Geekbench 6 suffers from severe scaling issues beyond 4-8 cores, with some tests actually showing decreased performance as more cores are added. This fundamental flaw makes the benchmark particularly problematic for comparing CPUs with vastly different core counts, like Apple's 18-core chip versus AMD's 96-core processor.

Industry observers note that Geekbench 6 multi-core testing has been widely criticized since its release, with cloud benchmarking professionals reporting inconsistent results on large CPUs. The controversy highlights how sensational headlines based on flawed benchmarks can mislead consumers about real-world performance differences between competing processors.