Intel Core i5 3230M  vs AMD A8 5550M 

If you’re a serious gamer, then you know that the latest games demand a powerful system. An wise investment is all the more important for laptops, because they can’t be upgraded like desktops can. For this matchup, we’re going to compare between two Laptop processors: the Intel Core i5 3230M versus the AMD A8 5550M. Which one is the better choice for gaming?

The 3230M is a Dual Core based on Intel’s i5 series, which is geared towards mid-range computers. It’s clocked at 2.6 GHz with 3MB cache and 35W TDP power consumption. For its integrated graphics, it packs an HD 4000 which has a GPU clock speed of 650 MHz. It’s decent for basic tasks or even for watching HD videos, but on its own it’s quite weak for gaming.

In contrast is the 5550M, based on AMD’s Accelerated Processing Unit which fuses the CPU and GPU on a single chip. It has a clock speed of 2.1 GHz with 4MB cache and 35W TDP power consumption. This model packs the Radeon HD 8550G GPU, which is better than Intel’s stock integrated graphics; you can smoothly game on medium settings without the need of having a discrete video card.

Looking at the benchmarks, the 3230M is the champ when it comes to processing power: it consistently posted 30% better results in the 3Dmark06 CPU and PassMark benchmarks. Most importantly, the Single Core benchmark shows that each of the 3230M’s cores is 52% more powerful than the ones on the 5550M.

In conclusion, the AMD A8 5550M may be capable in making your game run, but its middling performance leaves a lot to be desired. We recommend buying a laptop with a dedicated GPU and paired with the Intel Core i5 3230M processor for an immersive gaming experience.