Recommendation for new CPU / computer

[adnoh]

Could I ask for your recommendations for the CPU I should buy with an eye on computer chess and what extensions and features are important today and in the near future? I don't mind waiting a few months if some upcoming chip has something worth waiting for. If possible, one for AMD and one for Intel?

I currently have an Intel Sandy Bridge and have missed out on BMI2, AVX2 and AVX-512 builds and that was OK as I am not interested in the very last bit of performance but now that Windows 11 is forcing me to make a decision whether to upgrade the hardware, may as well get what would allow me to use all the latest and fastest builds of particular engines.

One thing I am particularly curious about is it seems Intel Alder Lake in 2022 does not support AVX-512(AVX-VNNI?) and is AVX-512 going to be more and more important so perhaps I should not bother waiting for that and just stick with Rocket Lake? Or are there other features in Alder Lake that makes it worth waiting for?

[Cornfed]

... but now that Windows 11 is forcing me to make a decision....

I've an old Ivy Bridge laptop and can run about anything I want on it chess-wise.
Also a desktop Skylake in a desktop. Both run Windows 10.

I'm not sure how Windows 11 is "forcing" you. Personally, I've no intention on buying a new rig for Windows 11 until the chip shortage eases...might even find a better deal then.

[Ras]

now that Windows 11 is forcing me to make a decision

That's not true. Win 10 will have support for four more years, and if you are happy with your current hardware for now, it makes more sense to wait because next year's computers will always be better than this year's. E.g. DDR5 memory is right around the corner, but it will be expensive initially, so waiting makes even more sense.

[towforce]

How important is it that your chess program is 3600 elo instead of, say, 3400?

[yurikvelo]

No significant boost is expected is next 2 years in SOHO segment of AMD (desktop platform).
Currently available AMD Ryzen 9 5950X.
Neither core count, nor frequency boost, nor litography, nor significant Zen architecture optimizations are expected in 2 years.
DDR5 won't boost Stockfish NPS much.
By the spring 2023, top desktop segment AMD will be not much better than 5950X

[Ras]

Neither core count, nor frequency boost, nor litography, nor significant Zen architecture optimizations are expected in 2 years.

Rumors have it that Raphael for desktop will be Zen4, 5nm. That's expected in late 2022 or early 2023. However, it is expected with DDR5, and that means a new AM5 socket. Since AM4 is pretty much at the end of its lifespan, buying an AM4 platform now would be a dead end in terms of beefing up the CPU later. AM5 and DDR5 will also allow to finally get rid of the integrated Vega graphics for the Ryzen G models because there's more bandwidth so that RDNA would finally take over.

Even earlier, the 3D V-cache (presented in June this year as prototype CPUs) should land, still with Zen3, later this year or early next year. That alone would be like +15 to +25% performance.

[Cornfed]

How important is it that your chess program is 3600 elo instead of, say, 3400?

Yes. Even then ratings are just numbers. If you want 'more' out of an engine...let it run an extra second or two or what-have-you per move. That is essentially the same as having a 'faster' (and more expensive) chip.

[Magnum]

Could I ask for your recommendations for the CPU I should buy with an eye on computer chess and what extensions and features are important today and in the near future? I don't mind waiting a few months if some upcoming chip has something worth waiting for. If possible, one for AMD and one for Intel?

I currently have an Intel Sandy Bridge and have missed out on BMI2, AVX2 and AVX-512 builds and that was OK as I am not interested in the very last bit of performance but now that Windows 11 is forcing me to make a decision whether to upgrade the hardware, may as well get what would allow me to use all the latest and fastest builds of particular engines.

One thing I am particularly curious about is it seems Intel Alder Lake in 2022 does not support AVX-512(AVX-VNNI?) and is AVX-512 going to be more and more important so perhaps I should not bother waiting for that and just stick with Rocket Lake? Or are there other features in Alder Lake that makes it worth waiting for?

Buy the new MacBook Pro 16-inch M1X.

[adnoh]

Thanks everyone for your replies.

I obviously did not express myself clearly enough. Forcing is only meant in the sense if I want to upgrade to Windows 11 I am forced to upgrade my hardware. I do want to upgrade to Windows 11 now for various reasons and that is the primary reason for the new hardware and my question. Computer chess is a side hobby but it makes sense that whatever new hardware I get now supports what computer chess requires now and in the near term future. An example would be AVX2 and AVX-512 that was not important before NNUE.

The imminent Apple Silicon 14/16 inch MacBook Pro is on my radar but more so for my daughter as an upgrade from her 2013 MBP. I have a 2011 MBP for a few things that macOS is really good at and that remains good enough as I have upgraded that with a SSD and 8GB memory.

[Raphexon]

One thing I am particularly curious about is it seems Intel Alder Lake in 2022 does not support AVX-512(AVX-VNNI?) and is AVX-512 going to be more and more important so perhaps I should not bother waiting for that and just stick with Rocket Lake? Or are there other features in Alder Lake that makes it worth waiting for?

Initially they only planned to have AVX512 on the big cores, and not on the small ones.
I guess this caused some issues with compilers/schedulers and they disabled it.

Now Alder Lake will have AVX2-vnni on both the big and small cores. According to one dev AVX2-vnni is pretty nice but you should obviously wait for benchmarks first.

I think we'll know in early november.