Author: Don Dailey
Date: 11:52:07 02/05/99
Go up one level in this thread
On February 05, 1999 at 05:12:41, Hannu Wegner wrote: >Hi, > >I would like to know how important is the next processorgeneration for >computerchess. How fast will be the Pentium III or the AMD K6 3 or the K7. I'm >thinking about buying a new Computer. Before I do so I would like to know if it >make sense to wait for the next processorgeneration. > >Best greetings, >Hannu Wegner There will ALWAYS be something just around the corner, so I seldom recommend waiting although sometimes it makes sense. The newest thing usually costs more intitially anyway so if it's price/performance there is usually a good choice at any given moment. If you are mainly a performance freak, then forget pentiums and look at PowerPC or Alpha's. I would go for the Alphas myself, they are seriously fast! If you want to wait a little while, the ev6's are Digitals newest chip. I have a friend who works for digital (now compaq) and he tested our chess program on the (not yet out) EV6. It was over 1.9 X faster at the same clock speed! That's extremely impressive since the digital already runs rings around any pentium. You can wait for intels 64 bit chip, but you will have a long wait, over a year. Even when it comes out it will be slower than the EV6 is right now. Intel is probably about 2 years behind (from a performance standpoint) but is appealing for many other reasons. It's like VHS vs DVD, DVD is truly awesome, but you can't get many titles for it yet. I don't think any intel will compete very well for a while when it comes to computer chess. The great programs will continue to do well on fast pentiums but only because they are great programs and can overcome the handicap! But I think the programs running on Alpha's will soon dominate. Probably at least some of the very best Micro programs will get ported. If this happens, no pentium will keep up. We already see Alphas now at computer chess tournaments and will see a lot more. There are some companies selling these machines at reasonable prices, better than you might think. They can run Windows NT and Linux. Crafty would really scream on this machine. I don't know if Bob has an Alpha NT port or not, but there is a good chance a recompile of Crafty will do the trick. The big problem is how many programs will run on an NT Alpha machine? This I don't really know. But theoretically, it should be easy to port most NT software. Programs like Fritz, which are developed with assemblers won't port without a huge effort so don't expect to see them. It's the classic tradeoff, if you want the most compatibility and comfort, you have to accept more performance constraints. You also have to face your fears, superior products usually die eventually because the lesser (usually lesser because it is OLDER) product is the one that has the most intertia and the most hype. - Don
This page took 0.01 seconds to execute
Last modified: Thu, 15 Apr 21 08:11:13 -0700
Current Computer Chess Club Forums at Talkchess. This site by Sean Mintz.