Lesser-known Ryzen 9 8940HX Zen 4 is faster than many Ryzen Zen 5 laptops

At over a year old, the Ryzen 9 8940HX processor isn't exactly new. The Zen 4 CPU has taken a backseat against its more common siblings like the Ryzen 9 7945HX or Ryzen 9 8945HS, but the 8940HX shows that there's still life left with Zen 4 even for gaming laptops in 2026.

The recent MSI Crosshair A16 HX is one of the few laptops shipping with the Ryzen 9 8940HX. As a midrange gaming laptop, however, the AMD CPU is faster than what one would expect from the category as multi-thread performance is just shy of the Core Ultra 9 275HX shipping on more expensive models like the Alienware Area-51. It most notably outperforms the newer Ryzen AI 9 HX 470 by almost 40 percent due largely to the higher core count.

Some laptops with AMD Zen 5 are faster than our Zen 4 example including the Ryzen 9 9955HX-powered Asus ROG Strix G18, but such systems are massive with heavier cooling solutions. The 8940HX walks a fine line between the Ryzen AI 9 HX 470 and Ryzen 9 9955HX when it comes to raw multi-thread performance and price.

Weaknesses of the 8940HX include its relatively high power consumption, average single-thread performance, and no integrated NPU for AI acceleration. For performance gamers in particular, however, these setbacks will have almost no impact on the gaming experience. More benchmarks on the Ryzen 9 8940HX can be found on our review of the Crosshair A16 HX.