Home / CPU Comparison / Intel Core Ultra 9 290HX Plus or AMD Ryzen 9 9950X3D: What's better?

Intel Core Ultra 9 290HX Plus

vs

AMD Ryzen 9 9950X3D

CPU Comparison Result

Below are the results of a comparison of Intel Core Ultra 9 290HX Plus and AMD Ryzen 9 9950X3D processors based on key performance characteristics, as well as power consumption and much more.

Advantages

Intel Core Ultra 9 290HX Plus

More Total Cores: 24 (24 vs 16)
Higher Technology: 3 nm (3 nm vs TSMC 4nm FinFET)
Newer Launch Date: January 2026 (January 2026 vs March 2025)

AMD Ryzen 9 9950X3D

Larger L3 Cache: 128 MB (36 MB shared vs 128 MB)

Basic

Intel

Label Name

AMD

January 2026

Launch Date

March 2025

Laptop

Platform

Desktop

290HX

Model Name

Ryzen 9 9950X3D

Arrow Lake

Code Name

Granite Ridge AM5

Intel

Foundry

Ultra 9 (Arrow Lake)

Generation

Zen 5

OS Support

Windows 11 - 64-Bit Edition, Windows 10 - 64-Bit Edition, RHEL x86 64-Bit, Ubuntu x86 64-Bit

CPU Specifications

Total Cores

Cores is a hardware term that describes the number of independent central processing units in a single computing component (die or chip).

Total Threads

Performance-cores

Efficient-cores

Basic Frequency

4.3 GHz

Max Turbo Frequency

Up to 5.7 GHz

2.7 GHz

Performance-core Base Frequency

2.1 GHz

Efficient-core Base Frequency

5.4 GHz

Performance-core Max Turbo Frequency

112 K per core

L1 Cache

1280 KB

2 MB per core

L2 Cache

16 MB

36 MB shared

L3 Cache

128 MB

100 MHz

Bus Frequency

FCBGA-2114

CPU Socket

The socket is the component that provides the mechanical and electrical connections between the processor and motherboard.

AM5

Multiplier

Unlocked for Overclocking

Yes

Unlocked Multiplier

3 nm

Technology

Lithography refers to the semiconductor technology used to manufacture an integrated circuit, and is reported in nanometer (nm), indicative of the size of features built on the semiconductor.

TSMC 4nm FinFET

TDP

170W

105 °C

Max. Operating Temperature

Junction Temperature is the maximum temperature allowed at the processor die.

95°C

PCI Express Version

PCI Express Revision is the supported version of the PCI Express standard. Peripheral Component Interconnect Express (or PCIe) is a high-speed serial computer expansion bus standard for attaching hardware devices to a computer. The different PCI Express versions support different data rates.

PCIe® 5.0

5.0

PCIe Version

PCI Express is a high-speed serial computer expansion bus standard used for connecting high-speed components, replacing older standards such as AGP, PCI, and PCI-X. It has gone through multiple revisions and improvements since its initial release. PCIe 1.0 was first introduced in 2002, and in order to meet the growing demand for higher bandwidth, subsequent versions have been released over time.

x86-64

Instruction Set

An instruction set architecture (ISA) defines the instructions a processor can execute. Common architectures include x86-64, ARM and RISC-V. The ISA determines software compatibility, while optional instruction extensions add specialized capabilities.

x86-64

Memory Specifications

DDR5-6400

Memory Type

DDR5

192 GB

Max Memory Size

Max memory size refers to the maximum memory capacity supported by the processor.

256 GB

Memory Channels

The number of memory channels refers to the bandwidth operation for real world application.

102.4 GB/s

Max Memory Bandwidth

Max Memory bandwidth is the maximum rate at which data can be read from or stored into a semiconductor memory by the processor (in GB/s).

Maximum Memory Speed

2x1R DDR5-5600, 2x2R DDR5-5600, 4x1R DDR5-3600, 4x2R DDR5-3600

Yes

ECC Memory Support

ECC Memory Supported indicates processor support for Error-Correcting Code memory. ECC memory is a type of system memory that can detect and correct common kinds of internal data corruption. Note that ECC memory support requires both processor and chipset support.

Yes (Requires mobo support)

GPU Specifications

Intel® Graphics

Integrated Graphics Model

An integrated GPU refers to the graphics core that is integrated into the CPU processor. Leveraging the processor's powerful computational capabilities and intelligent power efficiency management, it delivers outstanding graphics performance and a smooth application experience at a lower power consumption.

AMD Radeon™ Graphics

2000 MHz

GPU Max Dynamic Frequency

300 MHz

Graphics Base Frequency

Graphics Base frequency refers to the rated/guaranteed graphics render clock frequency in MHz.

Graphics Core Count

Graphics Frequency

2200 MHz

Execution Units