What kind of configuration do I need to play competitively in engine chess-- ICCF

Right now I have an i3 2.0GHz processor with 4 GB RAM. I think this is really poor no question about that but I am thinking of saving up some money and buying a better computer to play competitively in correspondence chess ICCF.

What kind of configuration would I need. I read somewhere people spend up to $12000 to play competitively but they say that you need a top of the line gaming laptop to play competitively.

What kind of configuration would I need.

https://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/how-to-build-a-2000-dollar-gaming-pc,5272.html The graphics card can be replaced by a US$200 graphics card, memory upgraded to 2*16G DDR4 (32)

Don't buy an expensive notebook for chess use .

Don't buy AMD processor. It's not good for chess use. Buy the most expensive Intel processor you can afford.

Why are AMD processors bad for chess use?

I've never heard of it before.

First, in ICCF wins the player who can feed engines with best ideas,not this one with most powerful hardware.Second, there is a lot of good laptops who doesn't cost much.I use this one - https://www.cnet.com/products/lenovo-ideapad-y510p-15-6-core-i7-4700mq-16-gb-ram-1-tb-hdd-59375627/

I also have use it for playing some quite heavy games and still don't have problems.Anyway if you want to get ICCF title you must work on your opening preparation and positional understanding.

Thanks for the reference. I've read also that cooling is a major issue for engine use as CPU utilization is nearly 100%. I read that it's necessary to have an external fan pointing right at the CPU running to keep the temperature within limits.

@bong711, thanks for linking to that article. It's really a detailed piece of work.

cool. but how do i think better than the engine. i think it's impossible.

For games that doesn't use 100 percent utilization, AMD is ok. Not for Stockfish and company. Intel is best although more expensive. Similarly Notebooks lacks the optimum cooling system. To reduce cost, I advice not to follow the graphics card in the original build. A 200 dollar vga card is more than sufficient.

And the external fan should point OUT. Heat within the CPU box have to ventilate out.

This  is the best benchmark for CPU engines where you can see the speed of various CPU from 4 cores to 386 threads Stockfish. Just decide your CPU with your Budget.(The list doesn't include the fastest chess computer in the world with 4096 threads Stockfish though)

http://www.ipmanchess.yolasite.com/amd---intel-chess-bench.php

For GPU engine, like Lc0, 2x 2080Ti is the best set up currently.

P.S, for professional advice, why not visit the "talkchess" forum where all professional chess developers/ Stockfish chess developers talk.

Agreed. Talk chess is the best site about engines.

@drmrboss, thanks for your valuable input. i shall be sure to visit that forum as well.

I am quite astounded at your lack of pc knowledge here.

While we can all agree Intel has the "FASTEST CPU ON THE MARKET!" AMD has held that title for months before intel took it with the 9900k. For literally any intensive use, Ryzen 7 2700x is a very good chip and boasts very similar performance to that of the 9900k without the $500 US dollar price tag. Sure Intel has "THE FASTEST CPU ON THE MARKET" but it's by not too large of a margin.

Now for older chips yeah I can see you there, I would buy a core chip over an FX any day.

Also AMD actively supports Linux, which you would want to run in my opinion, while I don't know much about stockfish engines I do know that Windows has a lot of bloatware.

I read in an article that Intel Xeon is the best one to use for this purpose. But again, my knowledge is limited.

Let the buyer decide. It's his money.

I'll probably save up some money over the next several months and actually get a good machine.

Then I'll also get a good correspondence database and opening tree from chessbase and I shall be ready for the competition.