Author: Robert Hyatt
Date: 18:20:43 08/29/99
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On August 29, 1999 at 18:17:13, Mogens Larsen wrote: >On August 29, 1999 at 15:22:41, Robert Hyatt wrote: > >>Ed doesn't either. And I wouldn't be surprised if everyone else doesn't spend >>a lot of time on ponder=off games either. It is simply 'unnatural' to run a >>program that way... and most of us would rather spend time tuning the program >>in the state it will play games, not in some crippled state that a user might >>use to play games. IE do we also tune for (a) tiny transposition tables; (b) >>no opening book; (c) no databases (endgame); (d) modified user parameter >>settings; (e) any other random thing a user might try??? >> >>IE I do my testing in the configuration that plays the best/strongest. Not in >>configurations that someone might use "just because it is there..." > >I've been following the discussion with great interest and I have a couple of >questions, mostly due to ignorance. > >If you play an engine-engine match on one computer with permanent brain on and a >match with permanent brain off. What match would most likely be the best >estimate of the difference in strength? What are the complications with >permanent brain? Some suggest that it's the same for both, but there might be a >difference prioritywise concerning processortime, or? > >Best wishes... >Mogens Neither, unfortunately. Here's why. Assume one null-move program and one non-null-move program. If you use ponder mode, both will get 1/2 the machine basically. Which means that in essence, the programs will be running on machines 1/2 the speed of the computer you are using. That hurts a null-mover more, because reduced depth allows some critical null-move failures that deeper depths 'fix'. So there, you get skewed results. Now if you use ponder=off, you give each program 100% of the machine while it is thinking, so you may get fewer null-move failures. But then the lack of pondering screws up the timing. In Crafty, you probably notice the time: surplus: output at the start of each search? The 'surplus' comes from correctly predicting and saving that that time, so that it can be used somewhere else when it might be helpful.
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