Intel Core Ultra 9 290HX Plus Benchmarks Show Boosted Laptop Performance

Key Takeaways

1. Intel’s Panther Lake targets slim gaming laptops, while Arrow Lake-HX focuses on high-end laptop performance.
2. The Intel Core Ultra 9 285HX was the fastest chip until leaks about the upcoming Arrow Lake-HX relaunch in March or April.
3. The new Intel Core Ultra 9 290HX Plus features eight performance cores and 16 efficiency cores, similar to its predecessor.
4. The Core Ultra 9 290HX Plus shows slight clock speed improvements, with boost frequencies close to 5.4 GHz, depending on laptop power capacity.
5. Geekbench results indicate a 5.6% increase in single-threaded and a 4.6% increase in multi-core performance compared to the 285HX, but no major architectural changes.

While Intel’s Panther Lake is set to deliver impressive performance for slim gaming laptops, the company still has the Arrow Lake-HX series aimed at achieving the best CPU performance for high-end laptops like the MSI Titan 18 HX. Until recently, the Intel Core Ultra 9 285HX held the title for the fastest chip in its lineup. However, recent leaks from Golden Pig Upgrade suggest that the Arrow Lake-HX series is set for a relaunch around March or April.

New Benchmark Insights

Geekbench has given us an early look at this update, running tests on an Acer Predator PHN18-I71 equipped with the Intel Core Ultra 9 290HX Plus. The benchmark indicates that this new chip features eight performance cores along with 16 efficiency cores, mirroring the configuration of the Core Ultra 9 285HX. Nevertheless, it’s anticipated that the refreshed processor will achieve slightly elevated clock speeds. Geekbench highlights boost clock frequencies just shy of 5.4 GHz, which is 100 MHz less than its predecessor. However, the real clock speeds will largely depend on the power capacity provided by the specific laptop.

Performance Benchmarks

In the Geekbench 6 results, the Core Ultra 9 290HX Plus scored 3,198 points in single-threaded performance and 21,581 points in multi-core performance. This indicates an increase of 5.6% and 4.6%, respectively, compared to the Core Ultra 9 285HX in this benchmark. Thus, while there is some performance improvement, a drastic leap shouldn’t be anticipated, as the new chips utilize the same architecture as the previous Arrow Lake models.

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