GEEKOM IT13 Max Linux Benchmarks on Ubuntu 26.04 LTS

CNX Software published the Linux half of its GEEKOM IT13 Max review on August 15, and the short version is that this Intel Core Ultra 9 185H mini PC behaves itself on Ubuntu 26.04 — which is not something you can assume with a Meteor Lake-class machine and its NPU.

• Core Ultra 9 185H (16-core/22-thread), 24GB LPDDR5, 500GB NVMe, priced at $735
• Geekbench 7.0: 2,184 single-core, 14,980 multi-core on Ubuntu 26.04 LTS
• Idle draw 8.6–9.0W; full stress 62–90.7W, stabilizing around 82–85°C
• Dual 2.5GbE hit 2.35 Gbps; internal NVMe read ~4,602 MB/s

How Does the Core Ultra 9 185H Perform Under Linux?

The test machine ran Ubuntu 26.04 LTS on Linux kernel 7.0.0-29-generic. Geekbench 7.0 returned 2,184 single-core and 14,980 multi-core, with 7-Zip averaging 63,530 MIPS and OpenSSL AES-256 landing around 1.7 Gbps on the performance cores. Unigine Heaven scored 1,866 points at 74.1 FPS on the integrated Intel Arc graphics — respectable for a machine this size, and the reviewer also validated an external RTX 5060 Ti over USB4, which pushed past 3,440 points with proprietary drivers.

Storage and networking both delivered near their theoretical ceilings: roughly 4,602 MB/s sequential read and 3,227 MB/s write on the internal NVMe, 2.35 Gbps bidirectional across the dual 2.5GbE ports, and about 1.46 Gbps down on 5GHz WiFi 6.

Does the NPU Work Out of the Box?

Mostly, with an asterisk. The review found that both the GPU and NPU functioned but required additional driver installation rather than working immediately after a clean install. That is a familiar shape for anyone who has set up AI acceleration on Linux, and it is worth budgeting an evening for if you are buying this specifically as a local LLM box.

Everything else came up clean — both 2.5GbE interfaces, WiFi 6/7, both USB4 ports, and audio. The system handled 4K and 8K YouTube playback in Firefox without complaint.

Is It Worth $735 Versus the Alternatives?

The reviewer's own comparison is the useful one: against the GEEKOM GT1 Mega running the same processor, the IT13 Max lands slightly behind due to lower PL4 power limits and LPDDR5 rather than socketed memory — differences the review characterizes as negligible for typical users. That tracks with what we saw testing the GEEKOM A7 2026 edition over USB4.

The thermal and acoustic picture is the honest trade-off. Idle is genuinely quiet at 38.1 dBA, but sustained load pushes the fan to 56–57.7 dBA. For a desk-side workstation that spends most of its life idle and occasionally compiles something large, that is a reasonable bargain. For a machine living in a quiet room under constant load, plan accordingly. More mini PC coverage is tracking this class of hardware as Core Ultra pricing settles.

Sources: CNX Software — August 15, 2026; GEEKOM IT13 Max product page — August 2026.