Core Ultra 9 290HX Plus vs Core i5-9400F
Short answer: which is best?
Core Ultra 9 290HX Plus is 206.1 % stronger than Core i5-9400F. Core Ultra 9 290HX Plus ranks #2 of 55 measured processors at WhatFPS (15,558 CPU score over 3 verified runs). Core i5-9400F ranks #47 of 55 measured processors at WhatFPS (5,082 CPU score over 1 verified runs). The numbers are measured in 4 verified WhatFPS runs — not estimated, not self-reported.
Measured comparison
| Metric | Core Ultra 9 290HX Plus | Core i5-9400F |
|---|---|---|
| CPU score (the processor's own performance) | 15,558 | 5,082 |
| Best rig (GAMING — whole PC) | 10,179 | 4,848 |
| Integer (MT) | 14.6 Gop/s | 2.1 Gop/s |
| Single-thread (1T) | 0.94 Gop/s | 0.46 Gop/s |
| Draw calls/s (DX11) | 11,343,956 | 7,013,036 |
| Cores / threads | 24 / 24 | 6 / 6 |
| L3 cache | 36 MB | 9 MB |
What the numbers mean
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 Core i5-9400F