When comparing the specifications of computers these days, I get so confused over what the different CPUs offer. It was SO much easier in the early 90’s when you had to compare a 386 to a 486. Now, You have Intel and AMD CPUs to compare along with a string of numbers and letters which really don’t tell you how one computer (CPU) stacks up to another.

Passmark and their website cpubenchmark.net have presented benchmarking information about processors to take some of the mystery out of comparing systems.

You should take this information with a grain of salt, since their benchmarks may not be apples-to-apples comparisons (different systems are running different software which may effect performance data). However, it will give you a basis for comparison when shopping around. For example:

Dell recently started offering a line of PowerEdge servers with AMD CPUs (the PowerEdge 2970) to their server lineup. I set out to compare the PE 2950III with the PE2970 with similar configurations and came up with the following:

Both systems have: Dual CPUs, 4GB of RAM, PERC Raid Controller, 3x 73gb SAS 15K RPM Hard Drives, Dell RAC, single power supply, No operating system, 3 year 4hr 24×7 Support

The Dell PowerEdge 2950 III priced with [Dual] Quad Core Intel Xeon E5410 2.33GHz CPUs is $3,745. According to cpubenchmark.net, this configuration scored a 7285 CPU mark.

The Dell PowerEdge 2970 priced with [Dual] Quad Core AMD Opteron 2347HE 1.9GHz CPUs is $3,874 According to cpubenchmark.net, this configuration scored a 4465 CPU mark.

If you believe these scores, the 2950 is not only the better value, but also outperforms the AMD system by a mile.

As I said, you should take these results with a grain of salt. If you hover over the results graph, it will tell you how many “samples” this configuration has received. The Opteron CPU had only 1 sample whereas the Intel had 9.

This means that the score for the Intel configuration was averaged over 9 samples (tests) whereas the Opteron had only one sample. Further illustrating the point, my desktop computer has an Intel Core 2 Duo E8500 CPU which had 84 samples and scored a 2259 on the CPU Benchmark site. However, when I downloaded and ran the test on my computer, my CPU scored a 2878.

So while the data provided on the site is useful for a quick comparison, individual results WILL vary.

Hopefully, this will help take some of the guesswork out of your next computer purchase.

I have 4 tickets for each session. Please let me know if you would like any of these* and I’ll mail them out to you.

Link for more info: 2009 FirstEnergy Men’s and Kraft Women’s MAC Basketball Tournament

2009 FirstEnergy MAC Men’s Basketball Tournament

2009 Kraft MAC Women’s Basketball Tournament

*Please only request tickets that you will use.

Does your IT service provider hold you hostage? Are you afraid of putting your foot down because you are worried about what they might do to your computer systems?

DON’T BE!

Our two newest clients were rescued from the clutches of their IT providers. (names changed to protect the innocent)

Case #1: Billy was their IT consultant whom they had been using for the last 7+ years and became increasingly difficult to get a hold of. He was always friendly but often was put out because he had larger clients that were spending more money so he gave them more attention. Acroment came in and did a free audit of their network and found that (although Billy was reporting otherwise) they had not had a successful backup in OVER 1 YEAR.

I’m worried about what he might do if we leave him. One day he was here fixing something at our office and received a call from another client. I told him that if he needed to go and service them – that it was ok and our needs could wait. ‘No they can wait’ he said. But what if they fire you, I replied. “I have all their passwords, they’ll be sorry if they do” Billy responded.

While we were at their office performing their free network audit, we fixed their backup (also for free). They signed up with our Plan A program, we immediately disabled access for their old IT provider. We only work with small businesses. We provide reports of the work we do.

Case #2: ABC Company came to use their IT consultant because they had the same company develop a custom database. As they grew and needed a server, Steve (their IT Consultant), was happy to oblige. It wasn’t long before they outgrew the custom database and purchased a new CRM system from another provider. Things came to a head when the CRM consultant needed access to the server to install the new CRM system. Steve would take WEEKS before getting back to ABC with the requested information. It held up their CRM deployment by 2 months. The cause? Steve didn’t want ANYONE (even ABC Company) to have the password for their OWN server. Steve summed it up best in an email to ABC Company:

“I’m sorry to say this so bluntly, but you are wrong in saying you should have full administrative access to your server.  In fact, I don’t think your having any administrative account represents anything except a liability to you and to us.”

We didn’t even need to do a full audit of the computer systems at ABC company before they knew that they needed to switch to Plan A from Acroment. It’s YOUR computer system, of course you should know your passwords.

Please Read: 5 things every business owner should know about their computer system.

I love the Cavs and they are certainly on a roll this year. I would argue that ANY seat at the Q is a good seat – but these are the best seats I’ve ever sat in. They aren’t exactly ON the floor (just 1 row back from the floor), but you will have all of the amenities of floor seats and be just below eye level with the players.

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It has taken the better part of the last week but I have finally re-done our website.

Special thanks to Greg Bellan who helped me resize my banner logo, my wife for putting up with my time away from home, and everyone for their feedback and support.

Please post a comment and let me know what you think!

www.acroment.com