Core Ultra 5 336H: CPU benchmarks and laptop guide

The Intel Core Ultra 5 336H is the mainstream workhorse of the 2026 Panther Lake H-class — 38 catalog models carry it. A 12-core design in a 25-watt envelope on a 3 nm-class process, it meets the recommended CPU requirement in 49 of the 69 games the catalog tracks. This guide covers where the chip sits among laptop CPUs, what it brings, and which laptops ship with it.

Where the Core Ultra 5 336H sits in 2026

A catalog score of 60.3 places the chip 164th of 741 scored laptop CPUs — the upper third of a table spanning two decades of silicon. The neighborhood is dominated by AMD's Zen-era fleet: the Ryzen 7 PRO 4750U and Ryzen 7 260 (both 60.5) and Ryzen 5 4600HS (60.4) just above, the Core i7-8569U and Ryzen 7 4700U (both 60.2) just below. Out-scoring eight-core Zen 2 premium chips of 2020 while staying inside a 25 W envelope is a fair summary of the 336H's mainstream-but-modern positioning.

What the chip brings

The catalog lists the Ultra 5 336H as a 12-core, 12-thread design on a 3 nm-class process with a 25 W rating: 1.9 GHz base and up to 4.6 GHz boost. Memory and integrated-graphics details were not captured for this chip, so the table above sticks to what the catalog verifiably holds: a PassMark overall score of 27,779 — comfortably ahead of the previous mainstream generation.

Games: CPU-side readiness

Measured purely as a processor, the chip clears the recommended CPU tier for 49 of 69 cataloged games — Counter-Strike 2, PUBG, Metro Exodus, The Last of Us Part 1, Ghost of Tsushima, Black Myth Wukong, Returnal and Dying Light 2 among them. Eighteen more sit at the minimum tier: Alan Wake 2, Forza Horizon 5, Battlefield 5, Cyberpunk 2077 and Elden Ring all list the chip above their minimum but below their recommended CPU requirement. Only Starfield and Helldivers 2 ask for more processor. These verdicts are CPU-only — whether a game actually plays well depends on the laptop's GPU and RAM.

Laptops that carry it

The 38-model roster splits between 2026 premium ultrabooks and Lenovo's business line. Acer's Swift Edge 14 and 16 AI, Samsung's Galaxy Book 6 and Book 6 Pro in 14- and 16-inch sizes, and Microsoft's Surface Laptop 8 15 all sit at $1,400; Lenovo's ThinkPad E14 Gen 8, E16 Gen 4, L14 Gen 7, L16 Gen 3 and T14 Gen 7 cover the corporate side at $1,300. Roster medians describe the fleet: office comfort at a perfect 100, photo/design index 86, portability 72.5, mobility 68.5 — and a gaming index of 75 where discrete graphics join in.

Bottom line

The Core Ultra 5 336H is the sensible center of the 2026 lineup: nearly the full modern game catalog at recommended CPU settings, a modern 3 nm-class process, and a choice of $1,300 business ThinkPads or $1,400 consumer ultrabooks. Buyers chasing the last two titles — Starfield, Helldivers 2 — need the Ultra 9 tier; everyone else will find this chip neither limits the workday nor the play list, GPU permitting.