Xeon 654 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 | 131 |
| Place by popularity | not in top-100 | not in top-100 |
| Cost-effectiveness evaluation | no data | 33.68 |
| Market segment | Laptop | Server |
| Power efficiency | no data | 7.39 |
| Designer | Intel | Intel |
| Manufacturer | TSMC | Intel |
| Architecture codename | Arrow Lake-HX Refresh (2026) | Granite Rapids (2024−2026) |
| Release date | 17 March 2026 (recently) | 2 February 2026 (less than a year ago) |
| Launch price (MSRP) | no data | $1,199 |
Cost-effectiveness evaluation
Performance per price, higher is better.
Performance to price scatter graph
Detailed specifications
Core Ultra 9 290HX Plus and Xeon 654 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) | 18 (Octadeca-Core) |
| Performance-cores | no data | 18 |
| Threads | 24 | 36 |
| Base clock speed | 2.7 GHz | 3.1 GHz |
| Boost clock speed | 5.5 GHz | 4.8 GHz |
| Bus rate | no data | 0 GT/s |
| L1 cache | 192 KB (per core) | 112 KB (per core) |
| L2 cache | 3 MB (per core) | 2 MB (per core) |
| L3 cache | 36 MB (shared) | 72 MB (shared) |
| Chip lithography | 3 nm | Intel 3 nm |
| Die size | 243 mm2 | 2x 598 mm2 |
| Maximum case temperature (TCase) | no data | 72 °C |
| Number of transistors | 17,800 million | no data |
| 64 bit support | + | + |
| Unlocked multiplier | + | + |
Compatibility
Information on Core Ultra 9 290HX Plus and Xeon 654 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 | FCLGA4710 |
| Power consumption (TDP) | 55 Watt | 200 Watt |
Technologies and extensions
Technological solutions and additional instructions supported by Core Ultra 9 290HX Plus and Xeon 654. You'll probably need this information if you require some particular technology.
| Instruction set extensions | no data | Intel® SSE4.1, Intel® AMX, Intel® SSE4.2, Intel® AVX2, Intel® AVX-512 |
| AES-NI | + | + |
| AVX | + | + |
| vPro | no data | + |
| Enhanced SpeedStep (EIST) | + | + |
| Speed Shift | no data | + |
| Turbo Boost Technology | no data | 2.0 |
| Hyper-Threading Technology | no data | + |
| TSX | - | + |
| Turbo Boost Max 3.0 | no data | + |
| Deep Learning Boost | - | + |
Security technologies
Core Ultra 9 290HX Plus and Xeon 654 technologies aimed at improving security, for example, by protecting against hacks.
| TXT | + | + |
| EDB | no data | + |
| SGX | no data | - |
| OS Guard | no data | + |
Virtualization technologies
Virtual machine speed-up technologies supported by Core Ultra 9 290HX Plus and Xeon 654 are enumerated here.
| VT-d | + | + |
| VT-x | + | + |
| EPT | no data | + |
Memory specs
Types, maximum amount and channel quantity of RAM supported by Core Ultra 9 290HX Plus and Xeon 654. Depending on the motherboard, higher memory frequencies may be supported.
| Supported memory types | DDR5 | DDR5(6400MT/s) |
| Maximum memory size | no data | 4 TB |
| Max memory channels | no data | 8 |
| ECC memory support | - | + |
Graphics specifications
General parameters of integrated GPUs, if any.
| Integrated graphics card | Arc Xe-LPG Graphics 64EU | N/A |
Peripherals
Specifications and connection of peripherals supported by Core Ultra 9 290HX Plus and Xeon 654.
| PCIe version | 5.0 | 5.0 |
| PCI Express lanes | 24 | 128 |
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 | 2 February 2026 |
| Physical cores | 24 | 18 |
| Threads | 24 | 36 |
| Power consumption (TDP) | 55 Watt | 200 Watt |
Ultra 9 290HX Plus has an age advantage of 1 month, 33.3% more physical cores, and 263.6% lower power consumption.
Xeon 654, on the other hand, has 50% more threads.
We couldn't decide between Intel Core Ultra 9 290HX Plus and Intel Xeon 654. We've got no test results to judge.
Be aware that Core Ultra 9 290HX Plus is a notebook processor while Xeon 654 is a server/workstation one.
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