Author: Robert Hyatt
Date: 18:54:56 04/28/03
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On April 28, 2003 at 20:11:14, Bob Durrett wrote: > >http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/2981789.stm > >The above news article indicates that there will be a general push in the world >of PCs to go to 64 bits within a year. > >Is this true? > >If so, will the commercial chess software get on the bandwaggon? > >When? > >What is your opinion, based on the quoted article? Is the article believable? > >Bob D. This is not new. That's the first point. 64 bit processors have been around for 10+ years now, and that they would eventually replace 32 bit processors is not news at all. However, there is an issue, in that if an application doesn't need 64 bits of data, then a 64 bit processor is not going to be as efficient as it could be, for obvious reasons. And really using 64 bit words can be a challenge. It's easy when you want to access big files, or use 64 bit floating point numbers, but using 64 bit integer values is not so easy. All chess programs use them to an extent, since hashing is generally done at 64 bit precision. B ut other stuff is not. And that is a minor problem. Some approaches fit 64 bit architectures well. Classic bitmaps (bitboards) is one since 64 bits and 64 squares mesh perfectly. Converting to that is non-trivial which means it is unlikely everyone will do so. That means that not everyone is going to use the full power of a 64 bit processor anytime soon...
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