Core i7 and chess

[terminator]

Some guy would run a fritz 9 benchmark and the results would be updated on that page. What about the Core i7? Has it been compared to those processors? Its a shame Intel do not support chess as it would be great to see Fritzmarks on mainstream websites.

Are there any Core i7's on Playchess and how many threads does it have? The core i7 supports hyperthreading which may not be such a good thing for chess if i recall from a conversation here.

[Terry McCracken]

Some guy would run a fritz 9 benchmark and the results would be updated on that page. What about the Core i7? Has it been compared to those processors? Its a shame Intel do not support chess as it would be great to see Fritzmarks on mainstream websites.

Are there any Core i7's on Playchess and how many threads does it have? The core i7 supports hyperthreading which may not be such a good thing for chess if i recall from a conversation here.

The Core i7 and the Extreme Edition is the most powerful processors by Intel, so for chess they're the fastest around. The hyperthreading adds four virtual cores and is great for multitasking and general gaming but it would be best to disable it for chess.

[jpqy]

Hi,you can just look to my test,i'am busy from begin August to get results from the core i7! and other fast systems. I had first a Skulltrail 2xQX9775 @4.2Ghz at the first place,till i get results from the core i7..now you find the Skulttrail back at place 45 (today)

http://www.xtremesystems.org/forums/sho ... p?t=202139

Also from the new Phenom II X4 940...but they are completly down in my list.

JP.

[ernst]

Some guy would run a fritz 9 benchmark and the results would be updated on that page. What about the Core i7? Has it been compared to those processors? Its a shame Intel do not support chess as it would be great to see Fritzmarks on mainstream websites.

Are there any Core i7's on Playchess and how many threads does it have? The core i7 supports hyperthreading which may not be such a good thing for chess if i recall from a conversation here.

There is an i7 at place 24.

[Yar]

Some guy would run a fritz 9 benchmark and the results would be updated on that page. What about the Core i7? Has it been compared to those processors? Its a shame Intel do not support chess as it would be great to see Fritzmarks on mainstream websites.

Are there any Core i7's on Playchess and how many threads does it have? The core i7 supports hyperthreading which may not be such a good thing for chess if i recall from a conversation here.

Check Sedat's rybka 3 benchmark page:
http://www.sedatchess.com/rybkabenchmarks.html

[gerold]

Some guy would run a fritz 9 benchmark and the results would be updated on that page. What about the Core i7? Has it been compared to those processors? Its a shame Intel do not support chess as it would be great to see Fritzmarks on mainstream websites.

Are there any Core i7's on Playchess and how many threads does it have? The core i7 supports hyperthreading which may not be such a good thing for chess if i recall from a conversation here.

Check Sedat's rybka 3 benchmark page:
http://www.sedatchess.com/rybkabenchmarks.html

Thanks for the post Yar. Thanks to Sedat's work on this.
Very informative for anyone who wants to buy new computer.

Best to you,

Gerold.

[M ANSARI]

I am not sure how your test works but it would probably not be an accurate estimation of hardware for Rybka. Rybka 3 on Octa 4Ghz will be stronger than a Core i7 4Ghz by about 30%. Also if you are using a Core i7 with Rybka 3, you should turn off hyperthreading, otherwise you get a 20% to 30% hit in performance. I find it interesting that somehow Toga seems to do better with hyperthreading turned on ... maybe Rybka 3 needs a recompile?

[jpqy]

I don't see any problem,because the chess engine should see the 8threads and use them like 8cores..and if you turn HT off then is it just a quad core cpu! So,i think the problem must be in Rybka! and i'am sure the core i7 is faster then a skulltrail for chess!
I have used Toga ,because i have to use freeware,i even could use Glaurung or a other strong engine..but it was not easy to let people run a chess program..(they think it's a benchmark program like pi or something)
and that take not long time,not to have settings,just let it run from start position and infinite level.I have a few people who find it very interesting and also find out that they can fine tune there system! (better then Prime)
I have almost all my parts to build my own core i7 system,then i can try all my engines to see if they act the same,and logic they should run faster with HT on(8threads)!

JP.

[M ANSARI]

For Rybka 3 it has already been tested. There is around a 20% increase if you turn HT off with the Core i7.

[bob]

I don't see any problem,because the chess engine should see the 8threads and use them like 8cores..and if you turn HT off then is it just a quad core cpu! So,i think the problem must be in Rybka! and i'am sure the core i7 is faster then a skulltrail for chess!
I have used Toga ,because i have to use freeware,i even could use Glaurung or a other strong engine..but it was not easy to let people run a chess program..(they think it's a benchmark program like pi or something)
and that take not long time,not to have settings,just let it run from start position and infinite level.I have a few people who find it very interesting and also find out that they can fine tune there system! (better then Prime)
I have almost all my parts to build my own core i7 system,then i can try all my engines to see if they act the same,and logic they should run faster with HT on(8threads)!

JP.

The problem is that there are _not_ really "8 cores". For any single core, two threads can run, but only one runs at a time. This typically will gain about 10% or so in speed because the two logical cores swap between threads as they block for memory accessing or for long instruction execution delays. But that is not the end of the story. A parallel search will have about 30% overhead (in the case of Crafty, I'd bet Rybka is worse based on the performance numbers I have seen reported by Rybka users). So you gain 10% in NPS, you search 30% more nodes, this is a net loss, and it is why SMT (hyperthreading) should be disabled for chess engines that support multiple threads or processes.