Good idea!sje wrote:You might try connecting with a nearby school or university. They often upgrade and will auction off older machines, many or all of the same model at the same time.
Thanks!
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Good idea!sje wrote:You might try connecting with a nearby school or university. They often upgrade and will auction off older machines, many or all of the same model at the same time.
Hi,bob wrote:I like to test at 60/60 time controls. 60 minutes on the clock, 60 seconds per move added. That turns into 4-6 hours per game. or 6-8 games per day. 30 days isn't enough games to determine if version X is better than version X-1 at that speed. It takes more than a hundred games or two with two opponents that are fairly close in rating.
If the two versions are close, 200 games is nowhere near enough to say which version is better. I'm working on something for the JICGA right now that shows some interesting results based on this very topic. I can produce some 200+ game matches where version A wins one, version B wins the other. Both versions playing 80 games against each of 3 opponents, using 40 starting positions, each played once with each color. 240 games total. Not always enough. In fact, rarely ever enough unless something is broken to make one version clearly worse.mathmoi wrote:Hi,bob wrote:I like to test at 60/60 time controls. 60 minutes on the clock, 60 seconds per move added. That turns into 4-6 hours per game. or 6-8 games per day. 30 days isn't enough games to determine if version X is better than version X-1 at that speed. It takes more than a hundred games or two with two opponents that are fairly close in rating.
At a rate 6-8 games per day you'll get to 210 games in 30 days, so 30 days should be enough to determine wich oponent is better.
Hi,bob wrote:If the two versions are close, 200 games is nowhere near enough to say which version is better. I'm working on something for the JICGA right now that shows some interesting results based on this very topic. I can produce some 200+ game matches where version A wins one, version B wins the other. Both versions playing 80 games against each of 3 opponents, using 40 starting positions, each played once with each color. 240 games total. Not always enough. In fact, rarely ever enough unless something is broken to make one version clearly worse.mathmoi wrote:Hi,bob wrote:I like to test at 60/60 time controls. 60 minutes on the clock, 60 seconds per move added. That turns into 4-6 hours per game. or 6-8 games per day. 30 days isn't enough games to determine if version X is better than version X-1 at that speed. It takes more than a hundred games or two with two opponents that are fairly close in rating.
At a rate 6-8 games per day you'll get to 210 games in 30 days, so 30 days should be enough to determine wich oponent is better.
I don't remember any PIII boxes with 256 MB ram each. Can they hold that much? But, I guess that you are just making a point about price! Also older opreating systems (and maybe newer ones too) would not work with out a keyboard or monitor. I could buy all the pieces that I think would be required, however, I doubt that I would have a working system when it was put together. How would I find out how to make it all work and exactly what I would need to buy. A book maybe? I doubt if Dell and Gateway would work with or care about antiquated equipment that they no longer deal with.krazyken wrote:You can get cheap windows 2000 boxes, PIII 1Ghz, for $80.