Intel Core Ultra 9 290HX Plus Crushes All Mainstream x86 Mobile CPUs In PassMark; Delivers A Solid ~15% MT Uplift Vs 285HX
Intel Core Ultra 9 290HX Plus Crushes All Mainstream x86 Mobile CPUs In PassMark; Delivers A Solid ~15% MT Uplift Vs 285HX
Sarfraz Khan
•Jan 17, 2026 at 06:45am EST
The Ultra 9 290HX Plus is leading the PassMark mainstream mobile CPU results, easily outperforming its predecessor and the flagship chips from AMD.
Core Ultra 9 290HX Plus Delivers Solid 8% Single-Core and 15% Multi-Threaded Uplifts in PassMark Over 285HX; On Par With Desktop Core Ultra 9 285KIntel isn't just targeting the desktop segment with its refreshed Arrow Lake CPUs, but also the mobile platform, which will receive its own dedicated lineup under the "Plus" family. Intel may not have announced the Arrow Lake Refresh series at CES, but it will soon launch the newer family for both the desktop and laptop platforms. We have been seeing a couple of benchmarks of some of these processors here and there, and if you remember, we recently reported on the flagship Core Ultra 9 290HX Plus a few days ago, which appeared to be similar to the Core Ultra 9 285HX in performance.
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Since it was Geekbench, the results cannot be accurate most of the time, but with the first-ever PassMark benchmark, we now have a clearer picture. As spotted by @x86deadandback, the new flagship Arrow Lake Refresh processor just blew every other mainstream x86 mobile SKU out of the water. With an impressive 5,009 points in single-core (#9 in best single-core perf. on PassMark) and a whopping 66,203 points in multi-core tests, the 290HX Plus is now leading with the highest numbers on the platform.
The processor is nearly 8% better than the 285HX in single-core performance and a good 14.6% faster in multi-threaded performance. This isn't a small jump, especially when the CPU doesn't bring any additional cores to the table. It's still the same 24-core/24-thread processor as the 285HX. PassMark revealed that the 290HX Plus boosted up to 5.45 GHz. Now, this isn't necessarily its official boost clock, and it could be higher. Nonetheless, the CPU does a great job by not just beating every other mainstream mobile SKU like the 285HX and the AMD Ryzen 9 9955HX3D, but also competes head-to-head with the Core Ultra 9 285K desktop CPU.
CPU Results in PassMark
Single-Core
Multi-Core
0
11667
23334
35001
46668
58335
70002
0
11667
23334
35001
46668
58335
70002
Core Ultra 9 290HX Plus
5009
66203
Core Ultra 9 285K
5093
67430
Ryzen 9 9955HX3D
4491
62094
Core Ultra 9 285HX
4635
57752
With such an incredible single and MT prowess, the Core Ultra 9 290HX Plus will make it one of the best choices for enthusiast-grade laptops, but keep in mind that in gaming benchmarks, it probably will still get beaten by the Ryzen 9 9955HX3D.
News Source: CPU Benchmark
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PS
Client brutally competitive.
Sure winner?
ASML.
:-) |
