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Normal Topic How much of a difference modern hardware makes? (Read 1722 times)
RosemarysBaby
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Re: How much of a difference modern hardware makes?
Reply #8 - 01/18/23 at 01:26:20
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Pawnpusher wrote on 01/17/23 at 11:56:51:
Sf is pretty tolerant about software, compared to say Leela, two cores ought to enough to get a good result.

That's relieving to hear I guess. From my limited understanding the single-core performance on my processor is still passable. Now having tested around a little with dedicating 2 threads everything else still runs fine.

cathexis wrote on 01/16/23 at 03:11:02:
Good luck!

Thanks!
  
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Pawnpusher
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Re: How much of a difference modern hardware makes?
Reply #7 - 01/17/23 at 11:57:35
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Hardware that is to say, shouldn't write before coffee.
  
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Pawnpusher
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Re: How much of a difference modern hardware makes?
Reply #6 - 01/17/23 at 11:56:51
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Sf is pretty tolerant about software, compared to say Leela, two cores ought to enough to get a good result.
  
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cathexis
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Re: How much of a difference modern hardware makes?
Reply #5 - 01/16/23 at 03:11:02
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My true final suggestion would be this: Assuming a set position in a longer game without time pressure, first consider *what* would you do with only your own abilities to rely upon? Then let the engine chug in whatever set up you prefer on the same position. If the engine answers differently than you, then see if you can back track to determine *why* you didn't see the same answer? Or perhaps, what did the engine pickup that you missed? Speaking only for myself, I would see that has the surest path to improvement. Not lecturing, just my final thoughts for you. Good luck!
  
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RosemarysBaby
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Re: How much of a difference modern hardware makes?
Reply #4 - 01/15/23 at 18:58:45
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Appreciate your responses, I didn't quite realize how low this forums pulse is before I started waiting for replies  Smiley

Like you said, noting suggestions is pretty important. I also like to occasionally check random positions and ideas + using the machine daily. You can see that the optimal, active analysis is difficult for me to achieve with 50+ depths.

Reading through the thread you linked it seems at least some people consider going super high. But ofc with correspondence overkill can't hurt. As I mentioned, I'm interested in analysis and am more concerned with finding/understanding ideas and getting through complications than avoiding minuscule errors or defending hard endgames.

True, ""worthwhile"" is pretty subjective/vague. So to be a bit more specific: In your average complex middlegame are the suggestions at the 50+ depths that different, do they, say produce +-0.5 evaluation swings or new top lines? 
I guess you are right though, I should answer my own question. That'll of course take some time, so I would also appreciate some insight from people who've got experience with 50+ depths in their analysis.


« Last Edit: 01/15/23 at 21:38:20 by RosemarysBaby »  
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cathexis
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Re: How much of a difference modern hardware makes?
Reply #3 - 01/15/23 at 15:11:28
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A similar set of questions appeared near the end of this recent thread on Correspondence Chess:

https://www.chesspub.com/cgi-bin/chess/YaBB.pl?num=1670089262/81#81

Perhaps others will chime in here as well. "Worthwhile" is a subjective statement, but obviously of interest too. Hardware will always be a limitation, of course. But you can answer this question for yourself by loading a complex position from a fav game or player and monitoring how SCID/Latest_SF/Your Hardware performs over a time of your own choosing. Ideally, you'd do that when you could just let it chug without also gaming or working on it. You'd also want to be checking and noting suggestions it is making at various times; this so you could see where fresh, revised suggestions tend to peter out compared to time left running - the point of diminishing returns. At only 4 cores I would not background it, but be trying to do the opposite.   

  
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RosemarysBaby
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Re: How much of a difference modern hardware makes?
Reply #2 - 01/13/23 at 21:10:35
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Thanks for the response!
I'm running Scid. Examining some of the bells and whistles, yes it's possible to change the priority+threads and memory. 

I usually like running SF in the background, my i5 comes with only 4 cores and no multithreading little headroom there. 

About the beyond 50 depth; right now I'm mainly concerned with analyzing and trying to understand obscure middlegame positions. Would say, leaving the computer overnight be worthwhile?

  
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cathexis
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Re: How much of a difference modern hardware makes?
Reply #1 - 01/13/23 at 19:16:31
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How are you running SF? For example, on Fritz 17 I can chose how many cores to dedicate to "Infinite Analysis" via the latest SF. It is best to leave at least 2 cores for Windows System processes. But depending on what you have and how you run SF you might be able to priortize Stockfish. That said, I think any personal system will slow around the 50 depth level.

Hope this helps!

P.S. You can use CPUID (free) to examine your system if you aren't sure what you've got.
  
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RosemarysBaby
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How much of a difference modern hardware makes?
01/13/23 at 16:46:26
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Hi!
I've got a i5-4570 with 16gb that is usually run stockfish on. Typically it takes me around 30min for depth 50 in a complex position, after that it slows down heavily. So does a new cpu speed things up by much? And are there some secrets beyond 50 depth that i'm missing out on?
  
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