TNGCC - need to decide ponder ON or OFF (new poll)

[Martin Thoresen]

TNGCC is the new TCEC.

I've asked the mods to close the previous poll, since new options emerged during the discussion (hyper-threading etc.) that I never really thought to be reasonable. But after some testing it does seem that ht has some benefits and the 5-10% increased power consumption is something I can live with.

The CPU in question is a 4 / 8 thread 3770k that will be run at 4.5 GHz (up 100 MHz since last poll).

What I probably didn't mention is the time control, it will be at least 150m + 60s per move per side for the whole game.
And as this is a live broadcast, only 1 game will be run at any time.

So here's a new poll with new options!

[Ajedrecista]

Hello Martin:

TNGCC is the new TCEC.

I've asked the mods to close the previous poll, since new options emerged during the discussion (hyper-threading etc.) that I never really thought to be reasonable. But after some testing it does seem that ht has some benefits and the 5-10% increased power consumption is something I can live with.

The CPU in question is a 4 / 8 thread 3770k that will be run at 4.5 GHz (up 100 MHz since last poll).

What I probably didn't mention is the time control, it will be at least 150m + 60s per move per side for the whole game.
And as this is a live broadcast, only 1 game will be run at any time.

So here's a new poll with new options!

First of all, I want to thank you for your comeback to CC in such a way!

I know very few about computers, so I will not vote in this poll; but given the fact that you will broadcast a single game at the same time (just as the former TCEC if I am not wrong) I want to give a 'no vote' for the first option: your PC is amazing in comparison with others (mine... ) and the first option (only one thread) is only valid when you bear in mind the electricity bill... which is by the way a very important thing IMHO. But just talking about chess, the first option is not definitively an option for me (just a patzer).

I have two questions for you:

a) What TNGCC stands for? I guess that T is from Thoresen and CC has something to do with Computer Chess.

b) Can you give us a possible date when this great project will be started?

Thanks in advance. I was one of the people that watched some TCEC games long ago, and I enjoyed it a lot!

Regards from Spain.

Ajedrecista.

[S.Taylor]

What does TNGCC stant for?
The next generation computer contest?
Or Thoresons new gift (to) chess community?
Or what?

[Dr.Wael Deeb]

Hi,

Definitely 7 threads......
Dr.D

[IGarcia]

What does TNGCC stant for?
The next generation computer contest?
Or Thoresons new gift (to) chess community?
Or what?

Makes sense to use 3 real cores, alternating for engines, the 1 core remainder free to GUI. So, my vote: 3 threads, ponder OFF, ht OFF

But are you sere you have the option to turn HT off?

My guess on TNGCC:

TN = Thoresen New
G= game?
CC = chess competition

[michiguel]

TNGCC is the new TCEC.

I've asked the mods to close the previous poll, since new options emerged during the discussion (hyper-threading etc.) that I never really thought to be reasonable. But after some testing it does seem that ht has some benefits and the 5-10% increased power consumption is something I can live with.

The CPU in question is a 4 / 8 thread 3770k that will be run at 4.5 GHz (up 100 MHz since last poll).

What I probably didn't mention is the time control, it will be at least 150m + 60s per move per side for the whole game.
And as this is a live broadcast, only 1 game will be run at any time.

So here's a new poll with new options!

I am worry about the SMP + Ponder on in presence of HT. I wonder if the aggressiveness of an engine to get threads could push the other one off.

Miguel

[Graham Banks]

I am worry about the SMP + Ponder on in presence of HT. I wonder if the aggressiveness of an engine to get threads could push the other one off.

Miguel

Yes. This is a practice that has always been widely criticised in the past. Not sure why all of a sudden it would be okay.

To get the best completely fair all round performance, I think that Martin should go with 3 cores for ponder off or 1 core for ponder on.

[hgm]

The idea was to set an affinity mask for each engine, so they were limited to their own logical cores, and thus could only compete with themselves. That should solve the problem you sketch.

[Matthias Gemuh]

The idea was to set an affinity mask for each engine, so they were limited to their own logical cores, and thus could only compete with themselves. That should solve the problem you sketch.

How can a GUI set an affinity mask under Windows through an API call, avoiding the DotNet Framework ?

[Graham Banks]

The idea was to set an affinity mask for each engine, so they were limited to their own logical cores, and thus could only compete with themselves. That should solve the problem you sketch.

I can recall when I was setting up one of my first 8 core tournaments, I was questioned on this issue:

Graham what are you calling 8 cores?
Do you mean a 4 core system with HT on?
If yes then this is not 8 cores.

However, I have 8 genuine cores across two sockets (Intel Skulltrail), so there wasn't anything to discuss.