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Subject: Re: Speedups for BitBoard programs on 64-bit machines

Author: Robert Hyatt

Date: 18:53:28 06/05/02

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On June 05, 2002 at 13:24:22, Vincent Diepeveen wrote:

>On June 04, 2002 at 20:31:41, Robert Hyatt wrote:
>
>No one can buy such a 'common' alpha that gets 1 million nodes
>a second despite what you write. Only Tim who worked with DEC alpha
>in past times had one. So i don't see that as 'common'.
>

That was a commercially available alpha workstation, based on the 21264
processor at 600 mhz.  That is about as _common_ as you can get.


>The production alpha's all are benchmarked at specint and hell slower
>than IA32 processors are.

What IA32 can do 1M nodes per second?  Particularly at 600mhz?


>
>>On June 04, 2002 at 18:01:03, Gian-Carlo Pascutto wrote:
>>
>>>On June 04, 2002 at 17:52:47, Dann Corbit wrote:
>>>
>>>>On June 04, 2002 at 16:28:39, Gian-Carlo Pascutto wrote:
>>>>
>>>>>On June 04, 2002 at 16:18:55, Gian-Carlo Pascutto wrote:
>>>>>
>>>>>>Because you are using a processor that is clocked at twice the clock
>>>>>>frequency?  Why compare a 1ghz processor to a (nearly) 2ghz processor
>>>>>>and conclude anything about efficiency there?  Is there anything that
>>>>>>suggests that the alpha is simply more "efficient"?  To justify that
>>>>>>clock frequency disparity?
>>>>>>
>>>>>>A machine twice as fast (clock freq) _should_ perform just as well as
>>>>>>a 64 bit machine at 1/2 the frequency...  Less would suggest that the
>>>>>>32 bit machine simply sucks badly.
>>>>>
>>>>>I don't agree with the validity of a clock-for-clock comparison,
>>>>>but if you want to do it anyway, I'll again point to Vincent's
>>>>>numbers:
>>>>>
>>>>>At the same clockspeed, Crafty only gets 33% faster on the 64-bits
>>>>>machine.
>>>>>
>>>>>When you read this, keep in mind that most applications get _more_
>>>>>than 33% faster on the 64-bits machine.
>>>>
>>>>All the new 64 bit chips in the discussion are pretty much beta stage right
>>>>now.
>>>
>>>Not true for the Alpha.
>>
>>Depends on the alpha being discussed.  DEC had processors beyond the 21264
>>running.  Although the 21264 was pretty good.  Dann was a bit off on the
>>performance as Tim Mann was running a 21264 at 600mhz and getting right at
>>1M nodes per second.  Mckinley is getting 1.5M at 1000mhz, so the alpha might
>>have a bit of an advantage still. but it is pretty small...
>>
>>Mckinley is only available to a select few.  21264's are fairly common.
>>Anything beyond that is not readily available...
>>
>>
>>>
>>>>So, I think that architecturally, it makes good sense to design for a 64 bit
>>>>system right now.
>>>
>>>That makes sense, if the 64 bit design is actually faster than the corresponding
>>>32 bit design (even on 64 bit hardware if you wish).
>>>
>>>The case for bitboards is not clear on that matter. Certainly, if
>>>the speedup over nonbitboards is only 33% they will have a hard time
>>>convincingly beating alternative appraoches even on 64 bit hardware.
>>>
>>>--
>>>GCP
>>
>>You are assuming that bitboards are _slower_ than non-bitboard programs on
>>32 bit machines.  I haven't seen this demonstrated yet.  We can always do some
>>sort of a test.  IE since the most common move generator issue is "generate all
>>captures" we can try that with bitboard and non-bitboard approaches to see if
>>one is really much better than the other on 32 bit machines.  I don't think so
>>myself.  I think they are pretty equal due to the multiple pipe issue.
>>
>>But a test could be done to see, since this is the most common thing needed
>>in a chess engine.



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