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Subject: Re: Best hardware... now? near future?

Author: Jon Dart

Date: 06:46:40 07/01/02

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On July 01, 2002 at 06:44:51, Gordon Rattray wrote:

>What's currently the best available hardware for running chess programs?  I'm
>assuming a system that's buyable from, say, Dell.
>
>Is a top P4/RAMBUS based system now better than the best Athlon systems?  If so,
>is it a significant difference?
>
>So, what's the recommended buying strategy for the near future?  For maximum
>power, forgetting price?  Alternatively, best value for money?
>

If you really want top performance, you probably need to look at dual-processor
systems. These are usually sold as servers or high-end engineering workstations.
Dell does sell them, but you won't find them in their consumer catalogs. Also
you can get these cheaper elsewhere, e.g. look at http://www.aslab.com.

It is not immediately clear which is better for chess. AMD generally beats Intel
at the same clock speed, but the Xeons have a 512MB cache, which is significant,
and Intel is pushing the clock speed up past what AMD can do.

As usual, if you wait a few months, you can buy today's hardware cheaper. And
yes, better CPUs are coming, including AMD's 64-bit chip, which looks pretty
attractive, although it may be expensive at first.

--Jon



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