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Subject: Re: Why is SMP not standard in chessprograms?

Author: Robert Hyatt

Date: 07:12:36 09/26/01

Go up one level in this thread


On September 25, 2001 at 20:13:53, Albert Silver wrote:

>On September 25, 2001 at 19:34:25, Slater Wold wrote:
>
>>On September 25, 2001 at 11:57:44, Albert Silver wrote:
>>
>>>On September 25, 2001 at 10:33:49, Slater Wold wrote:
>>>
>>>>On September 25, 2001 at 10:31:17, Jonas Cohonas wrote:
>>>>
>>>>>In these times where more and more "regular" people get dual systems, why is it
>>>>>then not standard for chessprograms to run on 1-x amount of processors?
>>>>>
>>>>>Regards
>>>>>Jonas
>>>>
>>>>It is pretty much the standard now.  There are only 2 commercial "top sellers"
>>>>that aren't.  Chessmaster & Rebel.
>>>
>>>Standard? I can only think of 3 commercial programs that support SMP: Deep
>>>Fritz, Deep Junior, and Deep Shredder. Unless they represent the majority of
>>>commercial programs they do not constitute a standard IMO. DF is a special case
>>>as it is not simply an SMP version of Fritz 6, but an upgrade of it. As to the
>>>other two, I somehow doubt their SMP versions outsold their single-cpu versions.
>>>Multi-cpu machines are very far from being the standard, and while they may
>>>certainly be accessible (pricewise) in some countries nowadays, they are a very
>>>very small minority. Most people think in terms of more MHz or GHz as opposed to
>>>more cpus.
>>>
>>
>>How many commercial programs are out there, right now?  Not a *whole* lot.
>>
>>My comment was about, what I consider, the top 5 chess sellers.  Which are:
>>
>>Deep Fritz
>>Deep Junior
>>Deep Shredder
>>Rebel
>>Chessmaster
>>
>>Anyone would have a tough time arguing those aren't the top sellers.  And they
>>are all SMP except 2.
>
>I'll argue with it. I doubt very much Deep Junior outsells plain ol' Junior. I
>also doubt very much that Deep Shredder outsold Shredder. I believe (no numbers
>unfortunately) they have sold less than Hiarcs, Tiger, and Nimzo for example. I
>am only speaking of the 'Deep' versions and not their single-cpu brothers that
>do well. The only exception I can think of _might_ (no numbers unfortunately) be
>Deep Fritz as it not only is an SMP version of Fritz 6, but also an improvement
>of it.


He didn't say SMP programs were _out-selling_ non-SMP programs.  He said that
three of the top sellers now _support_ SMP.  It isn't hard to figure out why
that is the case.  SMP is getting cheaper and cheaper.  And you can put together
a dual that will out-perform any single around, and spend less money if you
try.  IE compare a dual PIII/1ghz to a PIV 1.5ghz in price and performance.

>
>                                      Albert
>
>>
>>I don't believe SMP is the standard at all.  Most people I see here post with
>>eval's from Deep Fritz, are doing so on single processor machines.
>>
>>But duals are getting more and more standard.  Quake, the best selling PC game
>>ever, now supports SMP.  That right there should tell you something.
>>
>>Slate
>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>>
>>>>It takes a lot of work to get a program to use SMP, and use it correctly.
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>Slate



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