Core Ultra 9 290HX Plus vs Core i7-14650HX

Short answer: which is best?

Core Ultra 9 290HX Plus is 55.5 % stronger than Core i7-14650HX. Core Ultra 9 290HX Plus ranks #3 of 67 measured processors at WhatFPS (15,437 CPU score over 18 verified runs). Core i7-14650HX ranks #22 of 67 measured processors at WhatFPS (9,928 CPU score over 1 verified runs). The numbers are measured in 19 verified WhatFPS runs — not estimated, not self-reported.

Measured comparison

MetricCore Ultra 9 290HX PlusCore i7-14650HX
CPU score (the processor's own performance)15,4379,928
Best rig (GAMING — whole PC)10,3836,017
Integer (MT)13.6 Gop/s8.6 Gop/s
Single-thread (1T)0.94 Gop/s0.62 Gop/s
Draw calls/s (DX11)12,178,90711,214,818
Cores / threads24 / 2416 / 24
L3 cache36 MB30 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 i7-14650HX