Author: maria clara benedicto
Date: 03:45:49 04/29/03
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whew! what a relief. pc over here r so xpensive. On April 28, 2003 at 21:54:56, Robert Hyatt wrote: >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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