Core Ultra 9 290HX Plus vs 11th Gen Core i9-11950H @ 2.60GHz

Short answer: which is best?

Core Ultra 9 290HX Plus is 139.5 % stronger than 11th Gen Core i9-11950H @ 2.60GHz. Core Ultra 9 290HX Plus ranks #2 of 108 measured processors at WhatFPS (15,558 CPU score in its best run — best of 2 rigs, 24 verified runs). 11th Gen Core i9-11950H @ 2.60GHz ranks #77 of 108 measured processors at WhatFPS (6,495 CPU score in its best run — 1 rig, 1 verified run). Each part is shown at its best run, picked from 25 verified WhatFPS runs — measured, not estimated, not self-reported.

Measured comparison

MetricCore Ultra 9 290HX Plus11th Gen Core i9-11950H @ 2.60GHz
CPU score, best run (the processor's own performance)15,5586,495
Best rig (GAMING — whole PC)10,3833,675
Integer (MT)14.6 Gop/s3.7 Gop/s
Single-thread (1T)0.94 Gop/s0.5 Gop/s
Draw calls/s (DX11)11,343,9565,567,420
Cores / threads24 / 248 / 16
L3 cache36 MB24 MB

Fragz' verdict

Core Ultra 9 290HX Plus has the higher CPU score, with a 139.5 % lead over the 11th Gen Core i9-11950H @ 2.60GHz. You will see the 11th Gen Core i9-11950H @ 2.60GHz has only been measured in a single rig, so that number is less certain. Since single-thread performance usually sets the FPS ceiling in games, the Core Ultra 9 290HX Plus gives you a massive advantage with 0.94 Gop/s compared to 0.5 Gop/s. It also dominates in draw calls per second at 11,343,956 versus 5,567,420, which matters when there is a lot on screen, and it hits 94.6 FPS in Supernova while the other chip only manages 46.4 FPS. Core Ultra 9 290HX Plus is highest in every performance test we ran.

Generated November 14, 2026 from the 25 verified runs available then. The verdict is never silently rewritten — new numbers get a new verdict.

What the numbers mean

The headline score is the part's best measured run, and the measurements under it come from that same run. It shows what the part has been proven to do — not what an average rig gets out of it. The CPU score is the processor's own performance — that is what we rank on. GAMING is the whole rig's score in the best PC we measured the processor in, and leans heavily on the graphics card. A strong processor in a weak PC gets a low GAMING score without being worse. We show both and never mix them.

All numbers come from our benchmark suite: four hand-built 3D scenes written directly against the graphics APIs in Rust, the same load on every PC. The methodology is open at https://whatfps.com/metodik

All measurements for Core Ultra 9 290HX Plus · All measurements for 11th Gen Core i9-11950H @ 2.60GHz