How many branches can your CPU predict?

Modern processors can predict branches to execute multiple instructions per cycle, but their prediction capabilities vary significantly across manufacturers. Testing revealed that AMD's Zen 5 processor can perfectly predict 30,000 branches, while Apple's M4 handles 10,000 and Intel's Emerald Rapids manages only 5,000. This branch prediction ability dramatically impacts benchmarking accuracy, as processors learn patterns from repeated data sets, making small dataset tests potentially misleading compared to real-world performance.