Core Ultra 9 290HX Plus vs Core Ultra 5 125U
Short answer: which is best?
Core Ultra 9 290HX Plus is 100.9 % stronger than Core Ultra 5 125U. Core Ultra 9 290HX Plus ranks #3 of 57 measured processors at WhatFPS (15,437 CPU score over 16 verified runs). Core Ultra 5 125U ranks #33 of 57 measured processors at WhatFPS (7,684 CPU score over 1 verified runs). The numbers are measured in 17 verified WhatFPS runs — not estimated, not self-reported.
Measured comparison
| Metric | Core Ultra 9 290HX Plus | Core Ultra 5 125U |
|---|---|---|
| CPU score (the processor's own performance) | 15,437 | 7,684 |
| Best rig (GAMING — whole PC) | 10,383 | 1,647 |
| Integer (MT) | 13.6 Gop/s | 5.4 Gop/s |
| Single-thread (1T) | 0.94 Gop/s | 0.71 Gop/s |
| Draw calls/s (DX11) | 12,178,907 | 2,457,798 |
| Cores / threads | 24 / 24 | 12 / 14 |
| L3 cache | 36 MB | 12 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 Ultra 5 125U