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Help me Win an Argument

Colbaker

Colbaker

Colbaker

Associate
Joined
8 Dec 2004
Posts
1,970
Location
Paignton, Devon
Hi all,

it’s been a long time since I have worked I computers but I am trying to argue with my Boss that my work machine which has an Intel Pentium N3700 is better than an old pentium 4 running at 2.8Ghz but cannot find the words for it, I am sure I am correct but been out of IT too long now to argue technically why, how would you argue it, am I even correct?
 
Thanks for this all, I have a feeling I may also have to explain it to my “IT” manager as well, what’s the best way to explain why my cpu will be better than the P4 technically?

basically when I started 4 years ago I had to sign to say I had at least a Pentium for running at 2.8ghz or equivalent, they have now updated a load of the systems which, even after they assured me would take up no more system resources than the old system it is making my work pc struggle and is always topping out at 100% cpu utilisation, I am try to argue that my system is better than the P4 and avoid upgrading it when I don’t need to, or using my laptop/media pc for it.
 
If your work PC is struggling then you need a better PC. This is a business decision as much as a technical one and as they say, a picture paints a thousand words. Show your boss that the CPU is getting easilly maxxed out and suggest a replacement.
 
Quartz said:
If your work PC is struggling then you need a better PC. This is a business decision as much as a technical one and as they say, a picture paints a thousand words. Show your boss that the CPU is getting easilly maxxed out and suggest a replacement.
Click to expand...

I agree and I do have alternative pcs I can use but it’s the principle as I am testing it before a massive 300 people roll out, each one of the 300 people signed their minimum spec sheet which said (and randomly still says) Pentium 4 running at 2.8ghz and 3gb ram, my system is an Intel NUC with the Pentium N3700 and 4gb RAM and struggles. If I were the tester I would have tested it in our minimum spec before starting to upgrade everyone
 
https://www.cpubenchmark.net/compare/Intel-Pentium-N3700-vs-Intel-Pentium-4-2.80GHz/2513vs1072

In terms of arguing it, it's a case of the Pentium N3700 being a much newer architecture, that does substantially more "work" at the same clock speed speed (so even at a lower clock speed it will perform similarly or better). Additionally the N3700 is able to run 4 threads at once rather than the Pentium 4's 1 (or 2-ish if it has HT technology), making multi tasking much smoother.
 
BTW The very earliest P4s were not 64-bit capable.

Colbaker said:
but it’s the principle as I am testing it before a massive 300 people roll out, each one of the 300 people signed their minimum spec sheet which said (and randomly still says) Pentium 4 running at 2.8ghz and 3gb ram,
Click to expand...


"I've been testing the new build on my PC and while it handily exceeds the minimum specifications, it does seem to be struggling. (Details.) Perhaps we should rollout to a limited test group to check and perhaps gather a better baseline before we do the full rollout? Perhaps we could take the opportunity to upgrade to a solution with a lower TCO?"
 
Colbaker said:
Thanks for this all, I have a feeling I may also have to explain it to my “IT” manager as well, what’s the best way to explain why my cpu will be better than the P4 technically?

basically when I started 4 years ago I had to sign to say I had at least a Pentium for running at 2.8ghz or equivalent, they have now updated a load of the systems which, even after they assured me would take up no more system resources than the old system it is making my work pc struggle and is always topping out at 100% cpu utilisation, I am try to argue that my system is better than the P4 and avoid upgrading it when I don’t need to, or using my laptop/media pc for it.
Click to expand...
Are this company mandating that you have to supply your own equipment?
 
I'm guessing the problem is his provided equipment is struggling but his boss might not accept it is faster than their minimum requirements and insist that is the problem rather than accept their latest software incarnation is requiring a higher level minimum than a theoretical ancient P4.
 
While N3700 is tablet CPU, Pentium 4 is ancient and was never any good in performance compared to clock speed.
Certainly no Pentium 4 will run software for which N3700 isn't enough.
 
sideways14a said:
If your IT manager doesnt know the difference between a p4 and the modern version then they shouldn't be in the flipping job.
Click to expand...

I've encountered far too many that don't :s I once went for an interview with their IT manager and a couple of other department managers sitting in and accidentally showed him up as incompetent and basically a massive fraud while asking questions about their software setup without intending too - kind of awkward and I didn't get the job but mostly because they were a bit confused after that which job I was actually going for. (The girl from HR basically told me on the way out I wouldn't get the job because of it).
 
Yep I’ve seen that too. Some IT managers are basically people / budget managers with little to no technical knowledge. It can be frustrating.
 
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