AMD Ryzen 9 8945HX vs Intel Core Ultra 5 235H vs Intel Core Ultra 7 265H

AMD Ryzen 9 8945HX

The AMD Ryzen 9 8945HX is the top 16-core Dragon Range refresh lineup laptop processor that debuted in April 2025. The product offers 16 SMT-enabled Zen 4 cores (32 threads) running at 2.5 GHz to 5.4 GHz, along with a rather basic Radeon 610M RDNA 2 architecture iGPU. This Ryzen 9 8000 APU is essentially a rebadged Ryzen 9 7945HX.

The 8945HX is composed of three dies made on two different nodes (5 nm for CPU cores; 6 nm for other componentry). It features a very healthy 28 PCIe 5 lanes for connecting graphics cards and SSDs as fast as 15.75 GB/s. The RAM controller is limited to DDR5-5200 or slower; there is no NPU and no Thunderbolt support, the product page on amd.com indicates, but the clock multiplier is unlocked for easy overclocking.

Performance

While we have not tested a single system featuring the 8945HX as of April 2025, we have reviewed multiple systems built around the 7945HX. In Cinebench benchmarks, it has no trouble leaving the mighty Ryzen AI Max+ 395 behind by a few percentage points.

With this many cores, the APU will probably do a much better job serving content creators rather than gamers.

Power consumption

Much like the 7945HX, the 8945HX has a base TDP (long-term power limit) of 55 watts that can officially be jacked up to as high as 75 watts. However, most of the 7945HX systems tested by Notebookcheck had an even higher value of 100+ watts. To dissipate this much heat, a couple of high-RPM fans are a must.

Intel Core Ultra 5 235H

The Intel Core Ultra 5 235H is a mobile high-end CPU for larger notebooks based on the Arrow Lake architecture. It offers 14 cores consisting of 4 fast performance cores (Lion Cove) with up to 5 GHz and 8 smaller efficiency cores (Skymont) with up to 4.4 GHz clock speed and two additional "low power" efficiency cores with up to 2.4 GHz (Skymont). The CPU has access to 18 MB of cache and is specified with a TDP of 28 watts (PL1, 115W PL2).

The SoC integrates a small dedicated NPU called AI Boost with 13 TOPS (Int8) and optionally supports vPro Enterprise. The integrated memory controller supports up to 192 GB LPDDR5/x-8400 or DDR5-6400 (dual channel). The integrated GPU (iGPU) is an Intel Arc 140T graphics card which offers eight Xe cores with up to 2.25 GHz.

Performance - High End

Compared to the more powerful variants (such as the top model Core Ultra 9 285H) due to the lack of two P-cores. However, thanks to the improved IPC of the cores (especially the efficiency cores), the CPU should be able to hold its own against its Raptor Lake predecessors. As a result, the CPU is also very suitable for demanding tasks such as gaming and content creation.

Chiplet design

Like the desktop and HX chips, the Arrow Lake-H chips are based on individual chiplets that are placed on a 22nm base tile using Foveros 3D packaging. The CPU part comes from TSMC using the modern N3B (3nm) process. As with HX, the GPU also comes from TSMC and is manufactured using the N5P process. SoC and I/O Tile also from TSMC but in the older N6 process.

Intel Core Ultra 7 265H

The Intel Core Ultra 7 265H is a mobile high-end CPU for larger notebooks based on the Arrow Lake architecture. It offers 16 cores consisting of 6 fast performance cores (Lion Cove) with up to 5.3 GHz and 8 smaller efficiency cores (Skymont) with up to 4.5 GHz clock speed and two additional "low power" efficiency cores with up to 2.5 GHz (Skymont). The CPU has access to 24 MB of cache and is specified with a TDP of 28 watt (PL1, 115W PL2).

The SoC integrates a small dedicated NPU called AI Boost with 13 TOPS (Int8) and optionally supports vPro Enterprise. The integrated memory controller supports up to 192 GB LPDDR5/x-8400 or DDR5-6400 (dual channel). The integrated GPU (iGPU) is an Intel Arc 140T graphics card which offers eight Xe cores with up to 2.3 GHz.

Performance - High End

Compared to the fastest model of the Arrow Lake-H series (Core Ultra 9 285H), the Core Ultra 7 as only slightly slower due to a reduced maximum Turbo frequency of 100 MHz. Thanks to the improved IPC of the cores (especially the efficiency cores), the CPU should reach the level of the old Raptor Lake Core Core 9 270H (6 + 8 cores, max 5.8 / 4.1 GHz). This makes the CPU ideal for very demanding tasks such as high-end gaming and content creation.

Chiplet design

Like the desktop and HX chips, the Arrow Lake-H chips are based on individual chiplets that are placed on a 22nm base tile from Intel using Foveros 3D packaging. The CPU part comes from TSMC using the modern N3B (3nm) process. As with HX, the GPU also is produced at TSMC and is manufactured using the N5P process. SoC and I/O Tile are also from TSMC but in the older N6 process.