Advice regarding specs for new DTR computer

[Raj Gupta]

Hi all.

I am planning to buy a desktop replacement computer (I haven't bought a high end gaming computer for 5 years so i thought its time to splurge!)
https://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/notebooks/octaneV-15/
my proposed specs are i7 9700k (8 core no hyperthreading) or i7 9900k (with hyperthreading);
either 16gb of ddr4 pc3000 RAM or 32 gb of pc 2400 or pc 2600 RAM
500gb ssd + 250gb ssd for storing Syzygy 6 man TB
nvidia processor (waiting for mobile 20xx series release in jan or feb) to play with leela

i have 2 questions for people

1) does hyperthreading matter in eng vs eng games and if so to what extent, percentage wise, in terms of kn speedup (this will help me decide whether to go for 9700k or 9900k - i could compensate for the extra cost of 9900k by buying a less high end SSD or cheaper RAM

2) does 32 gb ram have a positive or negative effect in eng vs eng play and general computer use for an above specd comp (this will help me decide
between 16gb 3000 mhz RAM vs 32 gb of 2666 or even 2400 RAM) --16gb of 3000 and 32 gb of 2400 cost almost the same

any suggestions will be welcome

Raj

[mwyoung]

Hi all.

I am planning to buy a desktop replacement computer (I haven't bought a high end gaming computer for 5 years so i thought its time to splurge!)
https://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/notebooks/octaneV-15/
my proposed specs are i7 9700k (8 core no hyperthreading) or i7 9900k (with hyperthreading);
either 16gb of ddr4 pc3000 RAM or 32 gb of pc 2400 or pc 2600 RAM
500gb ssd + 250gb ssd for storing Syzygy 6 man TB
nvidia processor (waiting for mobile 20xx series release in jan or feb) to play with leela

i have 2 questions for people

1) does hyperthreading matter in eng vs eng games and if so to what extent, percentage wise, in terms of kn speedup (this will help me decide whether to go for 9700k or 9900k - i could compensate for the extra cost of 9900k by buying a less high end SSD or cheaper RAM

2) does 32 gb ram have a positive or negative effect in eng vs eng play and general computer use for an above specd comp (this will help me decide
between 16gb 3000 mhz RAM vs 32 gb of 2666 or even 2400 RAM) --16gb of 3000 and 32 gb of 2400 cost almost the same

any suggestions will be welcome

Raj

I would not go with the Intel. AMD 1950x or the 2050x is cheaper with good single core performance and killer multicore performance with its 16 cpus

[mwyoung]

Hi all.

I am planning to buy a desktop replacement computer (I haven't bought a high end gaming computer for 5 years so i thought its time to splurge!)
https://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/notebooks/octaneV-15/
my proposed specs are i7 9700k (8 core no hyperthreading) or i7 9900k (with hyperthreading);
either 16gb of ddr4 pc3000 RAM or 32 gb of pc 2400 or pc 2600 RAM
500gb ssd + 250gb ssd for storing Syzygy 6 man TB
nvidia processor (waiting for mobile 20xx series release in jan or feb) to play with leela

i have 2 questions for people

1) does hyperthreading matter in eng vs eng games and if so to what extent, percentage wise, in terms of kn speedup (this will help me decide whether to go for 9700k or 9900k - i could compensate for the extra cost of 9900k by buying a less high end SSD or cheaper RAM

2) does 32 gb ram have a positive or negative effect in eng vs eng play and general computer use for an above specd comp (this will help me decide
between 16gb 3000 mhz RAM vs 32 gb of 2666 or even 2400 RAM) --16gb of 3000 and 32 gb of 2400 cost almost the same

any suggestions will be welcome

Raj

Q1: Hyper threading does help, but not by much at best. And may slow some programs. But I would recommend a chip with hyperthreading

Q2: 32 GB of ram will help. If setup correctly. I9900k would need 2 sticks of 16 GB ram for the dual channel access. Or 4 8 GB sticks.

If you go with the Threadripper 1950x or 2050x as recommended. You will need 4 8 gb sticks of ram. AMD supports quad channel memory access.

[MikeB]

Hi all.

I am planning to buy a desktop replacement computer (I haven't bought a high end gaming computer for 5 years so i thought its time to splurge!)
https://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/notebooks/octaneV-15/
my proposed specs are i7 9700k (8 core no hyperthreading) or i7 9900k (with hyperthreading);
either 16gb of ddr4 pc3000 RAM or 32 gb of pc 2400 or pc 2600 RAM
500gb ssd + 250gb ssd for storing Syzygy 6 man TB
nvidia processor (waiting for mobile 20xx series release in jan or feb) to play with leela

i have 2 questions for people

1) does hyperthreading matter in eng vs eng games and if so to what extent, percentage wise, in terms of kn speedup (this will help me decide whether to go for 9700k or 9900k - i could compensate for the extra cost of 9900k by buying a less high end SSD or cheaper RAM

2) does 32 gb ram have a positive or negative effect in eng vs eng play and general computer use for an above specd comp (this will help me decide
between 16gb 3000 mhz RAM vs 32 gb of 2666 or even 2400 RAM) --16gb of 3000 and 32 gb of 2400 cost almost the same

any suggestions will be welcome

Raj

I would not go with the Intel. AMD 1950x or the 2050x is cheaper with good single core performance and killer multicore performance with its 16 cpus

I'm not so sure, I believe the 8 Core I9 would outperform the 16 Core 2050x by about 10% and most certainly in single core mode

https://browser.geekbench.com/processors/2548

Of course the AMD Ryzen Threadripper 2990WX Processor with 32 Cores ( 64 Threads) would smoke both , but at a cost.
https://browser.geekbench.com/v4/cpu/10973349

[mwyoung]

Hi all.

I am planning to buy a desktop replacement computer (I haven't bought a high end gaming computer for 5 years so i thought its time to splurge!)
https://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/notebooks/octaneV-15/
my proposed specs are i7 9700k (8 core no hyperthreading) or i7 9900k (with hyperthreading);
either 16gb of ddr4 pc3000 RAM or 32 gb of pc 2400 or pc 2600 RAM
500gb ssd + 250gb ssd for storing Syzygy 6 man TB
nvidia processor (waiting for mobile 20xx series release in jan or feb) to play with leela

i have 2 questions for people

1) does hyperthreading matter in eng vs eng games and if so to what extent, percentage wise, in terms of kn speedup (this will help me decide whether to go for 9700k or 9900k - i could compensate for the extra cost of 9900k by buying a less high end SSD or cheaper RAM

2) does 32 gb ram have a positive or negative effect in eng vs eng play and general computer use for an above specd comp (this will help me decide
between 16gb 3000 mhz RAM vs 32 gb of 2666 or even 2400 RAM) --16gb of 3000 and 32 gb of 2400 cost almost the same

any suggestions will be welcome

Raj

I would not go with the Intel. AMD 1950x or the 2050x is cheaper with good single core performance and killer multicore performance with its 16 cpus

I'm not so sure, I believe the 8 Core I9 would outperform the 16 Core 2050x by about 10% and most certainly in single core mode

https://browser.geekbench.com/processors/2548

Of course the AMD Ryzen Threadripper 2990WX Processor with 32 Cores ( 64 Threads) would smoke both , but at a cost.
https://browser.geekbench.com/v4/cpu/10973349

The 9900k would only best the 2050x in single thread. The 2050x running a chess engine will blow away a 9900k using all cores. 16 cores vs 8 cores.

[Raj Gupta]

Thanks a lot for above suggestions but i forgot to make it clear that I am buying a desktop replacement laptop

https://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/notebooks/octaneV-15/

so only intel and nvidia available; hence no AMD and no X series intel

in terms of processor the choice ranges from core i3 to core i7 (9700k) and next highest is 9900k

between 9700k and 9900k would there be noticeable difference (but only taking into consideration hyperthreading and not the slightly higher stock speeds)

ram upto 16gb 3000 mhz or 32gb 2400-2666mhz

so i am limited by above; also as it will be a laptop i have to think about limiting heat production; so don't want to configure with components that will add heat but little or no performance increase

raj

[Geonerd]

Some pure chess scores: http://www.ipmanchess.yolasite.com/amd- ... -bench.php

[jhellis3]

Your instincts are right: wait for 7nm hardware.

I would focus on the best GPU over CPU, but that's just me....

[Milos]

Your instincts are right: wait for 7nm hardware.

I would focus on the best GPU over CPU, but that's just me....

Hehe, you are gonna wait a bit for that 7nm.
They switched from GF to TSMC because of it, but there is no guarantee that TSMC can actually make a viable 7nm digital process so far (that A12 with Apple is just a gimmick that costs like hell because of low yield).

[Raj Gupta]

Hi every one. Your advice is very sound but only relates to a desktop. I'm buying a laptop so the choice is between a 9700k and a 9900k. The other choice is between 16 gb of 3000 mhz ram and 32g of 2400 ram. So the main question is does hyperthreading have a noticeable positive improvement over an equivalently clocked non hyper threaded processor. And does 32 gb ram help or hinder the performance of chess engines esp in very short time controls. I also have to take into account the extra heat produced by 9900k vs 9700k and 32 vs 16gb ram in a laptop chassis