Home > CPU Comparison > Core Ultra X9 388H or Core Ultra 9 386H: what's better?

Intel Core Ultra X9 388H vs Ultra 9 386H

75 out of 100
Intel Core Ultra X9 388H
VS
69 out of 100
Intel Core Ultra 9 386H
Intel Core Ultra X9 388H
Intel Core Ultra 9 386H

We compared two 16-core laptop CPUs: the 2.1 GHz Intel Core Ultra X9 388H against the 2.1 GHz Ultra 9 386H. 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

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 386H and 388H
Advantages of Intel Core Ultra X9 388H
  • More powerful Intel Arc B390 integrated graphics: 7.7 vs 2.6 TFLOPS
  • 4% higher Turbo Boost frequency (5.1 GHz vs 4.9 GHz)
Advantages of Intel Core Ultra 9 386H
  • Supports up to 128 GB LPDDR5X-9600 RAM

Test in Benchmarks

Comparing the performance of CPUs across various tasks
CPU:
Core Ultra X9 388H
vs
Core Ultra 9 386H

Cinebench

Reputable cross-platform benchmark for high-performance processors
Cinebench 2024 (Single)
Cinebench 2024 (Multi)
Cinebench 2026 (Single) 539 502
Cinebench 2026 (Multi) 5375 4687
Cinebench Scores (85th and 102nd 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 1420 MB/sec
Clang compilation 141.1 Klines/sec 118.2 Klines/sec
HTML 5 Browser 477.4 pages/sec 426.1 pages/sec
PDF Renderer 539.5 Mpixels/sec 483.8 Mpixels/sec
Text processing 323.1 pages/sec 286.3 pages/sec
Background blur 61.5 images/sec 65.7 images/sec
Photo processing 177.3 images/sec 157.6 images/sec
Ray tracing 28.4 Mpixels/sec 24.3 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 87.7 GOps/sec
Floating point math 112.9 GOps/sec 109.4 GOps/sec
Find prime numbers 357M Primes/sec 347M Primes/sec
Random string sorting 43.7M Strings/sec 43.6M Strings/sec
Data encryption 28.4 GBytes/sec 27.8 GBytes/sec
Data compression 360.2 MBytes/sec 365.2 MBytes/sec
Physics 3207 Frames/sec 3086 Frames/sec
Extended instructions 29.7B Matrices/sec 30.2B Matrices/sec
Sources: PassMark [3], [4] – 60 & 156 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 49.6 PPW
Geekbench 6 Multi / Watt 701.8 PPW 668.2 PPW
Passmark CPU Mark / Watt 1468.8 PPW 1446.8 PPW
Blender / Watt 11.89 PPW 9.76 PPW
These are rough calculations, as most CPUs surpass PL1 TDP wattage even in multicore workloads.

Specifications

Full technical specification of Intel Core Ultra X9 388H and Ultra 9 386H

General

Vendor Intel Intel
Released January 5, 2026 January 5, 2026
Type Laptop Laptop
Instruction Set x86-64 x86-64
Codename Panther Lake Panther Lake
Model number 388H 386H
Integrated GPU Arc B390 Xe3 Graphics
Rival Equivalent - AMD Ryzen AI Max 390 - AMD Ryzen AI 9 HX 470
Intel CPU rating (28th and 43rd place)

CPU

Performance Cores
P-Cores 4 4
P-Threads 4 4
Base Frequency (P) 2.1 GHz 2.1 GHz
Turbo Boost Frequency (P) 5.1 GHz 4.9 GHz
Efficient Cores
E-Cores 12 12
E-Threads 12 12
Base Frequency (E) 1.6 GHz 1.6 GHz
Turbo Boost Frequency (E) 4 GHz 3.7 GHz
Total
Total Cores 16 16
Total Threads 16 16
Bus Frequency 100 MHz 100 MHz
Multiplier 21x 20x
L1 Cache 192K (per core) 192K (per core)
L2 Cache 3MB (per core) 2560K (per core)
L3 Cache 18MB (shared) 18MB (shared)
Unlocked Multiplier No No

Package

Fabrication Process 2 nm 2 nm
TDP (PL1) 15-25 W (configurable) 15-25 W (configurable)
Max. Boost TDP (PL2) 80 W 80 W
Socket FCBGA2540 FCBGA2540
Peak Temperature 100°C 100°C
Laptop processors ranking (32nd and 54th place)

iGPU

Integrated Graphics Intel Arc B390 Intel Xe3 Graphics
GPU Base Clock 300 MHz 300 MHz
GPU Boost Clock 2500 MHz 2500 MHz
Shading Units 1536 512
TMUs 48 32
ROPs 24 16
Execution Units 12 4
TGP 30 W 25 W
iGPU FLOPS
Core Ultra X9 388H +196%
7.7 TFLOPS
Core Ultra 9 386H
2.6 TFLOPS
More info: Xe3 Graphics (4-Core) compared to Arc B390

Memory Support

Memory Types - LPDDR5X-9600 - LPDDR5X-9600
- DDR5-7200
Max. Memory Size 96 GB 128 GB
Memory Channels 2 2
Max. Memory Bandwidth 153.6 GB/s 153.6 GB/s
ECC Support No No

Misc

Official Site Intel Core Ultra X9 388H official page Intel Core Ultra 9 386H official page
PCI Express Version 5.0 5.0
PCI Express Lanes 12 20

Cast your vote

Choose between two processors
29 (85.3%)
5 (14.7%)
Total votes: 34

Competitors

1. Intel Core Ultra 9 386H vs AMD Ryzen AI 9 HX 370
2. Intel Core Ultra 9 386H vs AMD Ryzen AI 9 HX 475
3. Intel Core Ultra 9 386H vs Apple M4 (10-Core)
4. Intel Core Ultra 9 386H vs Intel Core Ultra 9 275HX
5. Intel Core Ultra 9 386H vs AMD Ryzen AI Max+ 395
6. Intel Core Ultra 9 386H vs Intel Core Ultra 9 290HX Plus
7. Intel Core Ultra 9 386H vs Intel Core Ultra 5 225H
8. Intel Core Ultra 9 386H vs Apple M5 (10-Core)
9. Intel Core Ultra X9 388H vs Intel Core Ultra X7 368H (1)
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Comments

So which CPU will you choose: Intel Core Ultra 9 386H or Ultra X9 388H?
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