Core Ultra 9 290HX Plus vs Ryzen 5 9600X
Short answer: which is best?
Core Ultra 9 290HX Plus is 37.6 % stronger than Ryzen 5 9600X. Core Ultra 9 290HX Plus ranks #3 of 56 measured processors at WhatFPS (15,275 CPU score over 13 verified runs). Ryzen 5 9600X ranks #12 of 56 measured processors at WhatFPS (11,104 CPU score over 1 verified runs). The numbers are measured in 14 verified WhatFPS runs — not estimated, not self-reported.
Measured comparison
| Metric | Core Ultra 9 290HX Plus | Ryzen 5 9600X |
|---|---|---|
| CPU score (the processor's own performance) | 15,275 | 11,104 |
| Best rig (GAMING — whole PC) | 10,179 | 8,806 |
| Integer (MT) | 13.2 Gop/s | 6.8 Gop/s |
| Single-thread (1T) | 0.94 Gop/s | 0.89 Gop/s |
| Draw calls/s (DX11) | 12,237,707 | 4,660,528 |
| Cores / threads | 24 / 24 | 6 / 12 |
| L3 cache | 36 MB | 32 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 Ryzen 5 9600X