Author: Richard A. Fowell (fowell@netcom.com)
Date: 21:11:13 11/16/99
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On November 16, 1999 at 12:49:21, Mark Andreoli wrote:
>
> I finally have to buy a computer and stop using the one at work :?)(133 hz/16
>ram).It doesn't have power or memory! I remember reading once that the faster
>the better if you are going to run Fritz 6,hiarcs,rebel off of it.
>
> So "experts" is the G4 really that much faster than a pentium III?
Not for chess, no. Here are some factors:
1) The Mac G3 and G4 are pretty much equivalent for chess programs.
(The advantage of the G4, the "gigaflop" potential, is for floating point
programs compiled to take advantage of the Altivec parallel processing.
But chess programs don't use floating point much, and for integer
operations,
a G3 is just about as fast (within 10/15%) as a G4, and a lot cheaper.)
2) Similarly, the Pentium II and III are pretty much equivalent for chess
programs, all other things being equal (including MHz).
3) The Macs do run some chess programs faster per MHz than the Pentium.
The one data point that I have voluminous data on is HIARCS 7.
A 400 MHz Mac G3 runs HIARCS 7 at the same rate as a 550 MHz Pentium.
If HIARCS 7 is your program of choice, then buying one of the new
400 MHz G3 iMacs for $1300 could make you very happy.
4) Most chess programs will run slower on the Mac than on the Pentium,
since few programs are compiled to run "native" on the Mac. At this
instant, HIARCS 7 is the only top-level SSDF program that runs native
on the Mac (Chessmaster 6000 is supposed to join it this month, and
you can run Crafty native on the Mac, though I think the latest Mac
binary on Hyatt's site is a few revs older than the current PC version).
The other programs (Fritz, Rebel, etc.) will run on the Mac in emulation
mode if you run Virtual PC or SoftWindows, but this will cut their speed
considerably, causing them to run slower - half as fast as native is a
rough guess.
5) You should consider what else you want to do on this machine, what software
is available to you, and what you are used to. If you have a good bit of
PC software and are comfortable with the OS, you should think twice before
switching.
6) There are a few chess programs that run only on the Mac, a few that run on
both Mac and PC, and a lot that only run native on the PC.
>Will I notice the differnce if Fritz 6 is running off a G4 when
>compared to a Pentium III?
You'll notice the difference all right. Alas, Fritz will run a lot slower on
the G4, because it will have to run in emulation.
>How much Ram will I need If I am running lots of applications at one time
>only to alt/tab in and alt/tab out.
If you want them to run fast, figure 30 Mb RAM for the OS plus enough RAM for
each application. The stock 64 Mb for the midrange iMac is a bit lean. The
stock 128 Mb for the $1500 iMac is decent. If you are doing short thinking
times on HIARCS, 16 Mb allocated for HIARCS will be fine. If you are doing
overnight analysis, I'd give it the full 70 Mb, but then you won't be
alt-tabbing.
>
> The two computer "kings" at my office bought the mac g3 a long time ago
>instead of a pentiumII. They swear that it is a better system. (and faster)
> Well is it.??Please think in chess software terms!
Well, I like the Mac (I use Macs at home and PCs (NT) at work), and I plan
to keep buying Macs, but I'm very comfortable with the Mac and have lots of
Mac software. By the way, if you want to see what Mac chess software is out
there, go to:
http://dmoz.org/Games/Board_Games/Chess/Software/Macintosh/
>Thanks ! I am looking for
>opinions besides those from my colleagues.
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