PRO A8-9600 vs Ultra 9 290HX Plus
Contents
Primary details
Comparing processor market type (desktop or notebook), architecture, sales start time and price.
| Place in the ranking | 18 | 2200 |
| Place by popularity | not in top-100 | not in top-100 |
| Market segment | Laptop | Desktop processor |
| Power efficiency | no data | 1.23 |
| Designer | Intel | AMD |
| Manufacturer | TSMC | GlobalFoundries |
| Architecture codename | Arrow Lake-HX Refresh (2026) | Bristol Ridge (2016−2019) |
| Release date | 17 March 2026 (recently) | 3 October 2016 (9 years ago) |
Detailed specifications
Core Ultra 9 290HX Plus and PRO A8-9600 basic parameters such as number of cores, number of threads, base frequency and turbo boost clock, lithography, cache size and multiplier lock state. These parameters indirectly say of CPU speed, though for more precise assessment you have to consider their test results.
| Physical cores | 24 (Tetracosa-Core) | 4 (Quad-Core) |
| Threads | 24 | 4 |
| Base clock speed | 2.7 GHz | 3.1 GHz |
| Boost clock speed | 5.5 GHz | 3.4 GHz |
| L1 cache | 192 KB (per core) | no data |
| L2 cache | 3 MB (per core) | 2048 KB |
| L3 cache | 36 MB (shared) | no data |
| Chip lithography | 3 nm | 28 nm |
| Die size | 243 mm2 | 250 mm2 |
| Maximum core temperature | no data | 90 °C |
| Number of transistors | 17,800 million | 3,100 million |
| 64 bit support | + | + |
| Unlocked multiplier | + | - |
Compatibility
Information on Core Ultra 9 290HX Plus and PRO A8-9600 compatibility with other computer components: motherboard (look for socket type), power supply unit (look for power consumption) etc. Useful when planning a future computer configuration or upgrading an existing one. Note that power consumption of some processors can well exceed their nominal TDP, even without overclocking. Some can even double their declared thermals given that the motherboard allows to tune the CPU power parameters.
| Number of CPUs in a configuration | 1 | 1 |
| Socket | Intel BGA 2114 | AM4 |
| Power consumption (TDP) | 55 Watt | 65 Watt |
Technologies and extensions
Technological solutions and additional instructions supported by Core Ultra 9 290HX Plus and PRO A8-9600. You'll probably need this information if you require some particular technology.
| AES-NI | + | + |
| FMA | - | + |
| AVX | + | + |
| FRTC | - | + |
| FreeSync | - | + |
| PowerTune | - | + |
| TrueAudio | - | + |
| PowerNow | - | + |
| PowerGating | - | + |
| Out-of-band client management | - | + |
| VirusProtect | - | + |
| Enhanced SpeedStep (EIST) | + | no data |
Security technologies
Core Ultra 9 290HX Plus and PRO A8-9600 technologies aimed at improving security, for example, by protecting against hacks.
| TXT | + | no data |
Virtualization technologies
Virtual machine speed-up technologies supported by Core Ultra 9 290HX Plus and PRO A8-9600 are enumerated here.
| AMD-V | - | + |
| VT-d | + | no data |
| VT-x | + | no data |
| IOMMU 2.0 | - | + |
Memory specs
Types, maximum amount and channel quantity of RAM supported by Core Ultra 9 290HX Plus and PRO A8-9600. Depending on the motherboard, higher memory frequencies may be supported.
| Supported memory types | DDR5 | DDR4-2400 |
| Max memory channels | no data | 2 |
Graphics specifications
General parameters of integrated GPUs, if any.
| Integrated graphics card | Arc Xe-LPG Graphics 64EU | AMD Radeon R7 Graphics |
| iGPU core count | no data | 6 |
| Enduro | - | + |
| UVD | - | + |
| VCE | - | + |
Graphics interfaces
Available interfaces and connections of Core Ultra 9 290HX Plus and PRO A8-9600 integrated GPUs.
| DisplayPort | - | + |
| HDMI | - | + |
Graphics API support
APIs supported by Core Ultra 9 290HX Plus and PRO A8-9600 integrated GPUs, sometimes API versions are included.
| DirectX | no data | DirectX® 12 |
| Vulkan | - | + |
Peripherals
Specifications and connection of peripherals supported by Core Ultra 9 290HX Plus and PRO A8-9600.
| PCIe version | 5.0 | 3.0 |
| PCI Express lanes | 24 | 8 |
Synthetic benchmarks
Various benchmark results of the processors in comparison. Overall score is measured in points in 0-100 range, higher is better.
Passmark
Passmark CPU Mark is a widespread benchmark, consisting of 8 different types of workload, including integer and floating point math, extended instructions, compression, encryption and physics calculation. There is also one separate single-threaded scenario measuring single-core performance. Other than that, Passmark measures multi-core performance.
Pros & cons summary
| Recency | 17 March 2026 | 3 October 2016 |
| Physical cores | 24 | 4 |
| Threads | 24 | 4 |
| Chip lithography | 3 nm | 28 nm |
| Power consumption (TDP) | 55 Watt | 65 Watt |
Ultra 9 290HX Plus has an age advantage of 9 years, 500% more physical cores and 500% more threads, a 833.3% more advanced lithography process, and 18.2% lower power consumption.
We couldn't decide between Intel Core Ultra 9 290HX Plus and AMD PRO A8-9600. We've got no test results to judge.
Be aware that Core Ultra 9 290HX Plus is a notebook processor while PRO A8-9600 is a desktop one.
Other comparisons
We've compiled a selection of CPU comparisons, ranging from closely matched processors to other comparisons that may be of interest.
