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Subject: Re: Running a chess program unders optimum computer

Author: Matt Taylor

Date: 19:22:46 01/05/03

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On January 05, 2003 at 21:48:13, Cary wrote:

>Question: on a PC what whould be the configuration for the fastest nodes per
>second evaluation?
>
>For instance under windows are there any low level interrupts that windows uses
>that slows down the nodes/second?
>If so which onces can be avoided?
>Would not the simples os give the best results, for instance since XP is more
>heavy weight than Windows 98 should we use win 98?
>
>Would the optimum be to run it under dos or stripped down unix (with some basic
>tcp/ip interfacing) or a home made os?  With a secondary computer running the
>UI?

OS overhead is minimal and won't make a big difference. You're talking about a
few kN/s at most.

Disabling background services, avoid moving the mouse/pressing keys on the
keyboard, etc. will help some. The custom-made OS (which would do nothing during
Chess computation except that computation) will be fastest, but again, you're
not going to gain much over a computer with a general OS that's not doing lots
of background work.

As for Win98 vs. WinXP, there are many other things going on there that will
probably make Win98 less efficient despite doing less work. If you're really
avid about getting better performance by changing OS, use Windows NT Workstation
4.0. The best solution is to get the fastest CPU on the market, albeit
performance is not cheap.

-Matt



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