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Subject: Re: Collector's Corner..Dual Processor Dedicated Chess Computers

Author: Mike Byrne

Date: 18:05:59 03/01/05

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On March 01, 2005 at 20:09:03, Steve B wrote:

>In 1989 Fidelity released the only Dual Processor Chess computers ever made
>the Elite A/G version 5(Dual 68000) and the version 8(Dual 68020)
>exactly 50 units of each were produced
>
>in going over the manual for the dual processor Elites i came across an
>interesting factoid
>
>a rather lengthy and technical addendum is inserted in the manual written and
>signed by the programming team of Dan and Kathe Spracklen
>
>they discuss how the dual processors do not provide a 2x speed up which would be
>ideal,but rather a 1.7 speed up
>
>they attributed this loss of speed up to several "overhead" factors such as:
>Communication Overhead
>Synchronization Overhead
>Divided Search Overhead
>and Split Hash Overhead
>
>they provided a new feature for the computer whereby a user could turn off the
>dual processors leaving the one
>they then suggested to try different positions to see what actual speed ups
>could be achieved
>
>the maximum speed up they saw was 1.7 times
>
>i dont know if a current "off the shelf" Dual Processor PC allows the user to
>turn off one of the processors,but if so,i wonder..for todays dual processor
>PC'S what the speed up achieved is?
>i imagine it could not be the ideal 2x as there must be something lost to some
>operating processes
>
>
>for example
>
>using the two processors how long does the computer take to achieve say a 15 ply
>search as opposed to the one processor?
>
>Double Best Regards
>Steve

It varies by position and by hashize.  I would say Crafty has a =>75% efficiency
rating on average.  Meaning that if were to examine all the positions that occur
in the course of the game, on average Crafty would reach the same depth in .
For example, if crafyy reaches a certain depth xx in 200 seconds, with the
second processor, he would reach that position on average in 114 (200/1.75)
seconds or better.


[d]r3r1k1/5p1p/bqn1pPpB/3pP3/ppnP4/P2Q1N2/1PB2PK1/1R5R w - - 0 1


single

              time=5:30  cpu=99%  mat=-1  n=683420646  fh=87%  nps=2.07M
              ext-> chk=48311578 cap=1384742 pp=6532966 1rep=9947453 mate=135870
1
              predicted=1  nodes=683420646  evals=153441359  50move=0
              endgame tablebase-> probes=0  hits=0
              SMP->  split=0  stop=0  data=0/64  cpu=5:29  elap=5:30

mate in 8 moves.


White(1): Bg7
              time used:   5:30

1.75 factor would indicate a time of 3:08

with dual

               11->   2:38  Mat08   1. Bg7 Ne3+ 2. fxe3 Qxd4 3. Rxh7 Qg4+
                                    4. Kf2 Qxf3+ 5. Kxf3 Nxe5+ 6. Kg3 Kxh7
                                    7. Rh1+ Kg8 8. Rh8#
              time=2:38  cpu=197%  mat=-1  n=618055851  fh=80%  nps=3.89M
              ext-> chk=32809285 cap=1397492 pp=8041413 1rep=6527154 mate=145069
3
              predicted=0  nodes=618055851  evals=186176453  50move=0
              endgame tablebase-> probes=0  hits=0
              SMP->  split=726  stop=135  data=7/64  cpu=5:13  elap=2:38

mate in 8 moves.


White(1): Bg7
              time used:   2:38

in this case, Crafy was very efficient - showing more than 2x faster.    But
this is unusual case.




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