Author: Bruce Moreland
Date: 01:35:37 04/19/98
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On April 18, 1998 at 23:09:22, Baldomero Garcia, Jr. wrote: >I was looking at which computers cost less than $2000 in the >computer shopper web site. I found that there were some >Alpha computers, running at 533MHZ. I also noticed that the >operating system that they use is Windows NT. >Has anybody tested any chess programs to see how well they >play? I know some chess programs are optimized for PC >computers. Will the increase in raw speed make much of a difference >for these programs? If you spend the money on one of these, you'll be disappointed if what you want to do is run Fritz or Hiarcs or Genius or Rebel or something. The reason is that the instruction set that they use is not the same as is used in a "normal" computer. Some stuff will still run, but it runs through an emulator. It is a testament to the Alpha's speed that even through the emulator things tend to run pretty fast, but unfortunately, pretty fast is not fast enough. You'd be better off with a 200 mhz Pentium Pro if you have to emulate. If you have the source to whatever program you will be using, and are willing to buy or find an Alpha compiler, you can have some fun. But not that much fun, since the Alpha 533 isn't that much faster than a 300 mhz Pentium II (maybe 25%, that's a guess that might not be accurate). So at this point I'd either go for a faster Alpha or a new Pentium II or whatever. bruce
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