Phenom X3 8550 vs Athlon II X4 635

Place in the ranking	2221	2694
Place by popularity	not in top-100	not in top-100
Cost-effectiveness evaluation	2.86	2.13
Market segment	Desktop processor	Desktop processor
Power efficiency	1.40	0.72
Architecture codename	Propus (2009−2011)	Toliman (2008)
Release date	25 January 2010 (14 years ago)	April 2008 (16 years ago)
Launch price (MSRP)	$70	$170

Cost-effectiveness evaluation

Performance per price, higher is better.

Athlon II X4 635 has 34% better value for money than Phenom X3 8550.

Detailed specifications

Athlon II X4 635 and Phenom X3 8550 basic parameters such as number of cores, number of threads, base frequency and turbo boost clock, lithography, cache size and multiplier lock state. These parameters indirectly say of CPU speed, though for more precise assessment you have to consider their test results.

Physical cores	4 (Quad-Core)	3 (Tri-Core)
Threads	4	3
Base clock speed	2.9 GHz	no data
Boost clock speed	2.9 GHz	2.2 GHz
L1 cache	128 KB (per core)	128 KB (per core)
L2 cache	512 KB (per core)	512 KB (per core)
L3 cache	0 KB	2 MB (shared)
Chip lithography	45 nm	65 nm
Die size	169 mm²	285 mm²
Number of transistors	300 million	450 million
64 bit support	+	+
Windows 11 compatibility	-	-

Compatibility

Information on Athlon II X4 635 and Phenom X3 8550 compatibility with other computer components: motherboard (look for socket type), power supply unit (look for power consumption) etc. Useful when planning a future computer configuration or upgrading an existing one. Note that power consumption of some processors can well exceed their nominal TDP, even without overclocking. Some can even double their declared thermals given that the motherboard allows to tune the CPU power parameters.

Number of CPUs in a configuration	1	1
Socket	AM3	AM2+
Power consumption (TDP)	95 Watt	95 Watt

Virtualization technologies

Virtual machine speed-up technologies supported by Athlon II X4 635 and Phenom X3 8550 are enumerated here.

AMD-V

Memory specs

Types, maximum amount and channel quantity of RAM supported by Athlon II X4 635 and Phenom X3 8550. Depending on the motherboard, higher memory frequencies may be supported.

Supported memory types

DDR3

no data

Peripherals

Specifications and connection of peripherals supported by Athlon II X4 635 and Phenom X3 8550.

PCIe version

2.0

no data

Synthetic benchmark performance

Various benchmark results of the processors in comparison. Overall score is measured in points in 0-100 range, higher is better.

Combined synthetic benchmark score

This is our combined benchmark performance rating. We are regularly improving our combining algorithms, but if you find some perceived inconsistencies, feel free to speak up in comments section, we usually fix problems quickly.

Athlon II X4 635 1.41
+95.8%

Phenom X3 8550 0.72

Passmark

Passmark CPU Mark is a widespread benchmark, consisting of 8 different types of workload, including integer and floating point math, extended instructions, compression, encryption and physics calculation. There is also one separate single-threaded scenario measuring single-core performance.

Athlon II X4 635 2237
+94.4%

Phenom X3 8550 1151

Gaming performance

Pros & cons summary

Performance score	1.41	0.72
Physical cores	4	3
Threads	4	3
Chip lithography	45 nm	65 nm

Athlon II X4 635 has a 95.8% higher aggregate performance score, 33.3% more physical cores and 33.3% more threads, and a 44.4% more advanced lithography process.

The Athlon II X4 635 is our recommended choice as it beats the Phenom X3 8550 in performance tests.

Should you still have questions on choice between Athlon II X4 635 and Phenom X3 8550, ask them in Comments section, and we shall answer.