Author: Dann Corbit
Date: 16:40:49 11/30/00
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On November 30, 2000 at 18:36:20, Torstein Hall wrote: >On November 30, 2000 at 17:45:55, Dann Corbit wrote: > >>On November 30, 2000 at 17:33:17, Laurence Chen wrote: >> >>>On November 30, 2000 at 16:03:02, Garry Evans wrote: >>> >>>> >>>> Looks like already the k62-450 is hopelessly outdated, isn't it time for the >>>>ssdf to upgrade? I assume that most people have atleast a 700mhz computer these >>>>days. Or am I mistaken? >>>They would if they could afford, unless anyone can make hardware donation to the >>>SSDF. >> >>Actually, using the older hardware is much smarter than using new hardware. You >>would have to completely recalibrate all the programs, taking tens of thousands >>of hours to get an accurate figure. >> >>Besides, it is quite likely that the programs scale approximately linearly with >>hardware speed compared to each other, but that's another experiment. >> >>Consider: >>You have a magic opponent who has played literally millions of games. His ELO >>is known within 1/2 of a point. You have a steady stable of these opponents, >>all with the same rock-solid calibration. >> >>You have another list of opponents you can use. They might be able to beat >>Kasparov, but they might be 300 ELO below him. They are probably stronger than >>the first group, but you can't really even be sure of that. You really don't >>know all that well. >> >>Which pool of talent will you use to find out how strong a new engine is? If >>you are smart, or know anything about mathematics, you will use the first pool. >> >>For those who would like to use high speed hardware to calibrate chess programs >>-- have at it. There is nothing to stop you from doing so except, perhaps, the >>tens of thousands of hours of efforts between the start time and the time you >>have good, reliable numbers. > >If you start with a new program, you can just as well play it on new hardware. >Just let it play games against known programs on old hardware. You will get a >reliable rating for the new combination of software and hardware, as you got >with a new program running on old hardware! Absolutely true. However, it will look very funny to have new program x compete with all the other programs on a different box. In fact, that is a major source of uproar whenever the SSDF does upgrade the machines, which has happened several times.
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