I've had the following component on bookmark for about three months. I've watched the price tumble from £179.99 to £99.98 and could resist no more:

 

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=MY-111-KS&groupid=701&catid=8&subcat=1389

 

Here's what they looked like on arrival:

 

(6 x 4GB = 24GB of 1600MHz RAM)

 

 

A simple matter to change the six DIMMs and I was away. After a few Blue Screens Of Death, I arrived at the following stable overclock:

 

CPU: 4.25 GHz

Memory: 1704 MHz

 

I wasn't sure what gains I'd get but my expectations have been exceeded.

 

A 16GB Hash table means that the engine hits high depth considerably quicker:

 

Depth 27 completed at 84% of hash

 

The hash table is filled after 7 minutes of running, having completed depth 28:

 

So, this morning, I left the machine running when I went out. I returned to see this:

 

Depth 35 completed in only 123 minutes:

 

Notice in post 3 (just above) that the speed has increased to 19,826 kN/sec.

 

I consider the upgrade was money well spent and will pay for itself sooner or later (less time running processor = lower electricity bill).

Here's the moment that I changed the Hash table size from 8GB to 16GB:

 

(Notice that Arena 3.0 does not know how to display more than 4096Mb of Hash, in the information bar)

 

Unbelievable.  I have 8 cores and 12 MB memory and only achieve 3000-4000 kn/sec which is about what Deep Blue could do.  Usually my machine just stalls out at ply depths in the mid-upper 20s though that is amazing from a historical perspective (I have played chess against computers since the mid-late 1970s.)

In the past people wondered what it would be like to play against God and, as far as planet Earth is concerned, there can't be too many machines that run faster than Prawn's.

One question I have always wanted an answer to.  If you turn off the opening book, what is White's best move after 5...a6 in the Najdorf at 35 ply?

One question I have always wanted an answer to.  If you turn off the opening book, what is White's best move after 5...a6 in the Najdorf at 35 ply?

 

I'm pretty sure that the engine move will be 6. Bg5 .... the mainline is good for White.

 

I'll run the position in a couple of days, when I've got less on my plate.

Thanks, Prawn.

By the way, I checked up on Deep Blue and two sources say that it calculated 200,000 kn/sec (not the 200 million in 3 minutes that I thought I remembered) but it could only reach an average of 14 ply (with extensions up to 40 ply in non-quiescent or forced mate positions).  

Hey that's from our centaur game! The line your computer is expecting is already well-established in my database. Zero white wins, 7 draws, and one black win (which I expect was an anomoly rather than black actually getting anything from the opening).

BTW, asking about the best move after black plays the Najdorf is still well out of computer comprehension. There are traps that are 40 moves deep from the poison pawn variation, which would require at least 80 ply brute force calculation for the computer to spot. That's something not even our best super computers can reach.

Can't wait to hear the answer to the question in post #6. 

Sir I have used houdini 1.5a on a slow laptop with 1 gb of ram and dual core e2200 cpu. Some online players beaten me 8 out of 10 time. As this engine has a rating of 3202 (32 bit) at CCRL rating list. I just want to know if I upgrade to a core i5 2410m laptop with 4 Gb ram and 64bit OS. how much it will effect the elo?? I will use 64bit houdini rated 3256. How much chance will i have to beat that opponent whom now i can beat 20% TIME ? waiting for an expert's reply..

Your question is a difficult one to answer.

 

Get a desktop with a proper processor (i7 series).

 

Laptop processors have low clocks (to keep the heat down) and are not really suitable for centaur chess.

 

Build the system yourself to save money and familiarise yourself with the hardware.

Beast gets another upgrade. This time I've upgraded the peripherals by pairing this WQHD monitor (2560x1440):

 

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=MO-041-DE&groupid=17&catid=1120&subcat=

 

With these 2.1 speakers:

 

http://www.scan.co.uk/products/corsair-gaming-audio-series-sp2200-21-pc-speaker-system-big-gaming-sound-in-a-small-package-46w-rms

 

Monitor arrives tomorrow (Friday), speakers arrive Monday.