Home > CPU Comparison > Core Ultra X9 388H or M5 Pro (18-Core): what's better?

Intel Core Ultra X9 388H vs Apple M5 Pro (18-Core)

75 out of 100
Intel Core Ultra X9 388H
VS
96 out of 100
Apple M5 Pro (18-Core)
Intel Core Ultra X9 388H
Apple M5 Pro (18-Core)

We compared two laptop CPUs: the 2.1 GHz Intel Core Ultra X9 388H with 16-cores against the 4.61 GHz Apple M5 Pro (18-Core) with 18-cores. On this page, you'll find out which processor has better performance in benchmarks, games and other useful information.

  1. Review
  2. Differences
  3. Performance
  4. Specs
  5. Comments (1)

Review

General overview and comparison of the processors
Single-Core Performance
Performance in single-threaded apps and benchmarks
Multi-Core Performance
Measure performance when all cores are involved
Power Efficiency
The efficiency score of power consumption
Integrated Graphics
iGPU capabilities for gaming and 3D-intensive tasks
NanoReview Final Score
Choose your main usage scenario to recalculate the Final Score and see which CPU suits your needs.
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Key Differences

What are the key differences between (18-Core) and 388H
Advantages of Intel Core Ultra X9 388H
  • More modern manufacturing process – 2 versus 3 nanometers
  • Supports up to 96 GB LPDDR5X-9600 RAM
Advantages of Apple M5 Pro (18-Core)
  • Around 153.6 GB/s (100%) higher theoretical memory bandwidth
  • 42% faster in a single-core Geekbench v6 test - 4312 vs 3026 points
  • Has 2 more physical cores

Test in Benchmarks

Comparing the performance of CPUs across various tasks
CPU:
Core Ultra X9 388H
vs
M5 Pro (18-Core)

Cinebench

Reputable cross-platform benchmark for high-performance processors
Cinebench 2024 (Single)
Cinebench 2024 (Multi)
Cinebench 2026 (Single) 539 -
Cinebench 2026 (Multi) 5375 9144
Cinebench Scores (86th and 29th place)
Submit your benchmark results

GeekBench v6

The new version of this benchmark emulates common operations often used in real-world apps
Geekbench 6 (Single-Core)
Geekbench 6 (Multi-Core)
File compression 1490 MB/sec 2530 MB/sec
Clang compilation 141.1 Klines/sec 262.5 Klines/sec
HTML 5 Browser 477.4 pages/sec 738.1 pages/sec
PDF Renderer 539.5 Mpixels/sec 744.9 Mpixels/sec
Text processing 323.1 pages/sec 450.7 pages/sec
Background blur 61.5 images/sec 100.3 images/sec
Photo processing 177.3 images/sec 250.8 images/sec
Ray tracing 28.4 Mpixels/sec 46.5 Mpixels/sec
Sources: GeekBench [1], [2]

PassMark

Synthetic test that focuses on raw computational performance for low-level functions
Passmark CPU (Single-Core)
Passmark CPU (Multi-Core)
Integer math 91.2 GOps/sec 132.7 GOps/sec
Floating point math 112.9 GOps/sec 186.8 GOps/sec
Find prime numbers 357M Primes/sec 486M Primes/sec
Random string sorting 43.7M Strings/sec 85.6M Strings/sec
Data encryption 28.4 GBytes/sec 40.8 GBytes/sec
Data compression 360.2 MBytes/sec 697.9 MBytes/sec
Physics 3207 Frames/sec 5687 Frames/sec
Extended instructions 29.7B Matrices/sec 33.3B Matrices/sec
Sources: PassMark [3], [4] – 60 & 138 samples

Blender

3D rendering test that measures CPU performance in 3D modeling tasks (uses all cores)
Blender CPU

Performance Per Watt

Shows the score you get per each watt of PL1 TDP
Cinebench 2024 / Watt 53.7 PPW 27.1 PPW
Geekbench 6 Multi / Watt 701.8 PPW 395.4 PPW
Passmark CPU Mark / Watt 1468.8 PPW 792.3 PPW
Blender / Watt 11.89 PPW 7.41 PPW
These are rough calculations, as most CPUs surpass PL1 TDP wattage even in multicore workloads.

Recent User Tests

The latest benchmark tests that have been submitted by users
Intel Core Ultra X9 388H
No benchmark results yet
Add
Apple M5 Pro (18-Core)
DateBenchmarkResult
📘 2026-09-22 (CBass2288)Cinebench 20260 / 9289
Add View all (1)

Specifications

Full technical specification of Intel Core Ultra X9 388H and Apple M5 Pro (18-Core)

General

Vendor Intel Apple
Released January 5, 2026 March 3, 2026
Type Laptop Laptop
Instruction Set x86-64 ARMv9
Codename Panther Lake Apple M5
Model number 388H T6050
Integrated GPU Arc B390 Apple M5 Pro GPU (20-core)
Rival Equivalent - AMD Ryzen AI Max 390 - Qualcomm Snapdragon X2 Elite Extreme (X2E-96-100)
Intel CPU rating (#28th place)

CPU

Performance Cores
P-Cores 4 18
P-Threads 4 18
Base Frequency (P) 2.1 GHz 4.61 GHz
Turbo Boost Frequency (P) 5.1 GHz -
Efficient Cores
E-Cores 12 -
E-Threads 12 -
Base Frequency (E) 1.6 GHz -
Turbo Boost Frequency (E) 4 GHz -
Total
Total Cores 16 18
Total Threads 16 18
Bus Frequency 100 MHz 100 MHz
Multiplier 21x 46x
L1 Cache 192K (per core) 192K (per core)
L2 Cache 3MB (per core) 32MB (shared)
L3 Cache 18MB (shared) -
Unlocked Multiplier No No

Package

Transistors - 28 billions
Fabrication Process 2 nm 3 nm
TDP (PL1) 15-25 W (configurable) 72 W
Max. Boost TDP (PL2) 80 W -
Socket FCBGA2540 Apple M-Socket
Peak Temperature 100°C 100°C
Die Size - 166.85 mm²
Laptop processors ranking (32nd and 3rd place)

iGPU

Integrated Graphics Intel Arc B390 Apple M5 Pro GPU (20-core)
GPU Base Clock 300 MHz -
GPU Boost Clock 2500 MHz 1620 MHz
Shading Units 1536 2560
TMUs 48 160
ROPs 24 80
Execution Units 12 320
TGP 30 W 28 W
iGPU FLOPS
Core Ultra X9 388H
7.7 TFLOPS
M5 Pro (18-Core) +8%
8.3 TFLOPS
More info: Apple M5 Pro GPU (20-core) compared to Arc B390

Memory Support

Memory Types - LPDDR5X-9600 - LPDDR5X-9600
Max. Memory Size 96 GB 64 GB
Memory Channels 2 16
Max. Memory Bandwidth 153.6 GB/s 307.2 GB/s
ECC Support No No

Misc

Official Site Intel Core Ultra X9 388H official page -
PCI Express Version 5.0 -
PCI Express Lanes 12 -

Cast your vote

Choose between two processors
4 (19%)
17 (81%)
Total votes: 21

Competitors

1. Intel Core Ultra X9 388H vs Intel Core Ultra X7 368H (1)
2. Intel Core Ultra X9 388H vs Intel Core Ultra 9 386H
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6. Apple M5 Pro (18-Core) vs Qualcomm Snapdragon X2 Elite Extreme (X2E-96-100) (1)
7. Apple M5 Pro (18-Core) vs Apple M3 Pro
8. Apple M5 Pro (18-Core) vs Apple M4 Max (14-Core)
9. Apple M5 Pro (18-Core) vs Apple M1 Max
10. Apple M5 Pro (18-Core) vs Apple M5 Pro (15-Core)
Compare other CPUs (460+)

Comments

So which CPU will you choose: Apple M5 Pro (18-Core) or Intel Core Ultra X9 388H?
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ComputerNerd March 8, 2026 at 07:55 PM
The Intel Core Ultra X9 388H CPU performance is in an odd spot. It is better than the M3 Pro, but still behind the M4 Pro and M5 Pro in multi-core performance (Cinebench 2024). It does have the benefit of an excellent iGPU and full X86 software compatibility.
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