The AMD Phenom X3 8550 was a desktop processor with 3 cores, launched in April 2008. It is part of the Phenom X3 lineup, using the Toliman architecture with Socket AM2+. Phenom X3 8550 has 2 MB of L3 cache and operates at 2.2 GHz. AMD is building the Phenom X3 8550 on a 65 nm production process using 450 million transistors. The multiplier is locked on Phenom X3 8550, which limits its overclocking capabilities.
With a TDP of 95 W, the Phenom X3 8550 consumes a good deal of power, so decent cooling is needed. For communication with other components in the machine, Phenom X3 8550 uses a PCI-Express Gen 2 connection. Although the processor doesn't come with integrated graphics, certain motherboards with compatible chipsets can provide this capability.
Hardware virtualization is available on the Phenom X3 8550, which greatly improves virtual machine performance.