Core Ultra 9 290HX Plus is one of the warmest mobile CPUs at over 100 C under load

The Core Ultra 9 290HX Plus is now shipping on select enthusiast-level gaming laptops like the Alienware 16 Area-51 or Acer Predator PHN18. Since it runs on the same Arrow Lake platform as the existing Core Ultra 9 275HX, it is essentially an overclocked variant with higher power demands in order to attain faster clock rates and performance numbers. Unsurprisingly, core temperatures are generally higher as a direct consequence.

Our screenshots below compare two separate Alienware 16 SKUs with the Core Ultra 9 275HX and Core Ultra 9 290HX Plus running identical Prime95 loads on Overdrive mode (i.e., maximum fan RPM mode). The Core Ultra 9 CPU would stabilize at 3.8 GHz and 92 C while the Core Ultra 9 Plus CPU would stabilize at even higher values of 4.1 GHz and 103 C. When considering that 105 C is the typical maximum junction temperature of most mobile CPUs, 103 C is pretty much as warm as it gets.

The CPUs in most other gaming laptops can run quite warm as well, but even then they are typically cooler than the Alienware in comparison. For example, the CPUs in the MSI Vector 16 HX or Lenovo Legion 7 16IAX10 would each stabilize at 82 C when running the same Prime95 load to be almost 20 C cooler than the faster Core Ultra 9 Plus CPU in the Alienware.

Thankfully, core temperatures in the Core Ultra 9 Plus Alienware 16 tend to hover in the low 80 C range instead of >100 C when running more real-world applications like games. While still noticeably warmer than the Core Ultra 9 Alienware 16, the 100 C range should be atypical for most users unless if they plan on running the CPU at 100 percent utilization.

More benchmarks and comparisons can be found on our review of the Core Ultra 9 Plus Alienware 16.