A8-5545M vs Core i3-550

The A8-5545M packs 4 cores / 4 threads, while the Core i3-550 offers 2 cores / 4 threads — the A8-5545M has 2 more cores. Boost clocks reach 2.7 GHz on the A8-5545M versus 3.2 GHz on the Core i3-550 — a 16.9% clock advantage for the Core i3-550 (base: 1.7 GHz vs 3.2 GHz). The A8-5545M uses the Richland (2013−2014) architecture (32 nm), while the Core i3-550 uses Clarkdale (2010−2011) (32 nm). In PassMark, the A8-5545M scores 1,628 against the Core i3-550's 1,632 — a 0.2% lead for the Core i3-550. Geekbench 6 single-core — the metric most relevant to gaming — records 288 vs 437, a 41.1% lead for the Core i3-550 that directly translates to higher frame rates. Multi-core Geekbench: 786 vs 899 (13.4% advantage for the Core i3-550). L3 cache: 0 kB on the A8-5545M vs 4 MB (total) on the Core i3-550.

The A8-5545M uses the FP2 socket (PCIe 3.0), while the Core i3-550 uses LGA1156 (PCIe 2.0) — making them incompatible on the same motherboard. Both support up to DDR3-1333 memory speed. Both support up to 16 GB of RAM. Both feature 2-channel memory with ECC support. Both provide 16 PCIe lanes. Chipset compatibility: SoC (A8-5545M) and H55,H57,P55,Q57 (Core i3-550).

Virtualization support: AMD-V (A8-5545M) vs Yes (Core i3-550). Both include integrated graphics — Radeon HD 8510G (A8-5545M) and Intel HD Graphics (Core i3-550) — useful as a fallback for troubleshooting or display output without a dedicated GPU. Primary use case: A8-5545M targets Legacy Laptop. Direct competitor: A8-5545M rivals Core i3-4000M.