Hardware prices of top programs in WCCC 2017?

[phhnguyen]

I am very impressed when reading the report about the hardware which were used by top 4 programs:

Code: Select all

Shredder: 32 cores, Intel XEON E5-2697A v4, 256 GB internal memory
Jonny: 2400 cores, AMD Opteron 2.7 GHz, 64GB internal memory per node
Chiron: 32 cores, 2 Opteron 6274 2.2 GHz, 32GB internal memory
Komodo: 60 cores, Intel Xeon E7-8890 v2 2.8 GHz (Lenovo server)

Curious questions:
- Their price estimation. Since they have too many cores I cannot find any similar on the market
- Did their programmers bring them to the event (WCCC 2017) or just use them remotely? I don't think I love to cary any desktop/workstation computer (except a small laptop) to go around the world.
- Anyways to have them without buying for a similar event / short period (for testing)? I guess those computers must be out of my budget. Perhaps borrowing, hiring or getting sponsors are only way for someone who have small budgets and make the event become fairer

[phhnguyen]

Just searched processors' prices, based on amazon.com:

1) Shredder: 32 cores, Intel XEON E5-2697A v4
16 cores, US$2,795.00 each. Needed two processors, total: $5590

2) Jonny: 2400 cores, AMD Opteron 2.7 GHz
Quad-core, $44 each. Needed 600 processors, total $26400

3) Chiron: 32 cores, 2 Opteron 6274 2.2 GHz
16 cores, $900. Needed 2 processors, total $1800

4) Komodo: 60 cores, Intel Xeon E7-8890 v2 2.8 GHz
15 cores, $7,365 each. Needed 4 processors, total $29460

Look like the top rank of WCCC 2017 reflected exactly the price rank of their hardware (Komodo, Jonny, Shredder, Chiron)

[jdart]

That is just the CPU cost. Add some for other components (memory, disk, etc.). Server-grade hardware is expensive. But you can lease hosted systems short-term (monthly, usually). A high-end leased system might run $500-$1000 a month.

No idea how Johnny got 2400 cores, even leasing that would be very expensive Operating costs would be considerable, too, at least in my area (very high electric rates).

--Jon

[Henk]

Always buy cheap hardware.

I remember paying 3000 guilders for my first computer in ~1993. That would be comparable to 3000 euro now. What a waste of money. And there were no good/cheap chess programs at that time too.

You always buy hardware too early for price will always drop next year.

[phhnguyen]

Always buy cheap hardware.

It is right if you want to develop and test chess program only. However, you cannot avoid buying more expensive ones if you want to win other systems (chess program + hardware) or human.

BTW, I have been using Macs. They are never cheap anyways

I remember paying 3000 guilders for my first computer in ~1993. That would be comparable to 3000 euro now. What a waste of money.

Wow, so expensive! My first computer was about that time, but it was only around US$1000.

And there were no good/cheap chess programs at that time too.

You always buy hardware too early for price will always drop next year.

I think after a year the price of top hardware may drop about 3-5% - not really a bargain for buying an older one

[jshriver]

I'm guessing they rented cluster time. Either from a SCC or maybe even spun up an Amazon cluster (probably a LOT cheaper).

It's also possible they bought time shares for a much smaller set to test on. Then contracted with the provider cheaper/free time for the event as a sponsor.

Looks good for the company as well if they can say "the #1 computer engine runs on us".
-Josh

[jdart]

AWS is an option. The problem is, generally you are getting a shared host and so you don't have all the machine resources. I have not gotten very good chess performance even from the compute-optimized instances, but YMMV.

AWS does have dedicated instances with per-hour pricing and that is pretty nice if you have a truly-short term need, but the costs mount up rapidly if you keep using that hardware. For example a C4 instance with 20 physical cores is $1.75/hr. - doesn't sound bad but that is over $1000 a month if you ran it 24/7.

--Jon

[Gerd Isenberg]

No idea how Johnny got 2400 cores, even leasing that would be very expensive Operating costs would be considerable, too, at least in my area (very high electric rates).

--Jon

The btrzx3 cluster from University of Bayreuth, where Johannes made his Ph.D. - so the German taxpayer sponsors Jonny:
https://chessprogramming.wikispaces.com/Jonny
http://www.hpc.uni-bayreuth.de/btrzx3/index.html