Author: George Tsavdaris
Date: 02:53:11 01/21/04
Go up one level in this thread
On January 21, 2004 at 05:29:09, Jim Gibson wrote:
>I hooked an engine up to an internet server for the first time last night -
>Playchess.com - my pc is old and weak and results went as expected, but that's
>not the issue.
>
>I noticed that in all of it's games, Hiarcs 9 used up between a quarter and a
>third of its time in making the first 6-8 moves. This happened in 5 min or 60
>min games and the opponents would be making moves instantly. In the longer
>games it was taking 3 and 4 minutes for each of its first 3 or 4 moves -
>including the first move! I was sat there like a lemon wondering if something
>wasn't properly set up...
>
>Why would it do this? And before you ask, yes, it was using an opening book.
>
>I'm obviously doing something wrong - but what?
Perhaps it is a hash tables issue. Although i'm not sure as you say it played
slowly at the FIRST 12-16 plies where an opening book was used and it should
played instantly.
Here is what chessbase help says about a "similar" "problem":
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The Windows operating system takes unused memory and uses it for internal
purposes (e.g., to cache file and speed up the hard disk). If you set large hash
tables, Windows has to free the memory the first time you activate the engine.
To do so, it writes the contents to the hard disk, closes files, etc. The
process can sometimes take a while, and during that time the hard disk will run
constantly.
After the memory required for the hash tables is free the hard disk should
show no more activity (except for short seeks in the openings). This applies to
subsequent games as well.
If there is constant disk activity during the game, then the hash tables you
have set are too large. Windows has installed part of the tables on your hard
disk, which slows the program down drastically. You will notice that the search
depth remains very low.
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
If there is no disk activity at all when you first start an engine, this
generally means that you have been too timid with the hash tables size. You may
want to increase the size to get optimum playing strength.
If you are playing an important tournament game with large hash tables, you
should start the engine once to force Windows to release the required memory.
Press Alt-F2 to start the engine, and Alt-F2 again to stop it when everything is
quiet.
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