What computers to buy for Chess? [Solved]

[Stevo]

I did it, that was some time ago, I received different answers and I did not understand very well the issue so I abandoned the matter, I did not persist because at that time I was motivated by a single type of engine that did not run well on my machine but nowadays that engine is not of much interest,

-- You know what would always be a very good idea? that MXLinux would include the best engines in the system, that would always be of great value.

Thanks

Many users here are quite knowledge about hardware, so would be able to understand those responses and interpret them for you if you would like to post them...or could you link to that other forum's thread?

[keos]

I don't remember now all the information ... because it was a few days before I posted here and that's why I started this thread, (Jan 22) you will see that nobody knew here either because logically they are not specialists in chess matters:

viewtopic.php?p=710113#p710113

In the first post of this thread I left part of one of the answers I got at that time in some chess forum:

viewtopic.php?p=710097#p710097

"Without GPU, Lc0 is very slow as CPU is not very well suited to evaluate neural networks.

On CPU only, Lc0 is indeed weaker than other top chess engines, even though it's still much stronger than any of human players."

But as I told you before I am no longer interested in the 'Lc0 issue', the engine that initially seemed to promise a lot has over time fallen far short of expectations.


Thank you very much.

[Buck Fankers]

No more details, and I don't know about computers, only about chess.

I think it can be narrowed down to few simple things.

1 - computer with dedicated graphic card - many cheaper computers come with already built into the motherboard graphic card, called also integrated graphic card. You need separate graphic card. Better it is (more expensive it is), better will chess program work.

2 - get AMD graphic card. There used to be many graphic cards producers, but now there are only two AMD and Nvidia. (plus Intel with their integrated cards). Since AMD works better with Linux (and MX) than Nvidia, buy computer, with separate and good AMD graphic card.

That is about it. I understand you would like to get a link to the computer on Amazon, but if no one here is doing what you do, no one will be able to provide you with the link. For this you really should ask again in chess related forums. Try few different, one of them may give you exact link. But generally, better, higher priced AMD graphic card, better will be results. Problem here is, if you buy already assembled computer with expensive graphic card, all other computer parts will be expensive, since computer will be built for games (games need the best graphic cards lots of memory etc) and you will be paying more, since you will be buying top notch gaming system. That is the reason why someone suggested building computer yourself. Buy good (this is all what really matter) AMD graphic card and build the system around it to make it cheaper.

Someone already linked you graphic card (I think, link didn't open to me). See what computers you can find on Amazon that has that graphic card.

[keos]

This is what i have in my PC:

Code: Select all

Machine:
  Type: Laptop System: Dell product: Inspiron 3583 v: N/A serial: <filter> 
  Chassis: type: 10 serial: <filter> 
  Mobo: Dell model: 0WHCP7 v: A00 serial: <filter> UEFI: Dell v: 1.5.1 
  date: 05/30/2019 
Battery:
  ID-1: BAT0 charge: 39.9 Wh (100.0%) condition: 39.9/42.0 Wh (95.0%) 
  volts: 12.8 min: 11.4 model: SMP DELL VM73283 type: Li-poly 
  serial: <filter> status: Full 
CPU:
  Info: Quad Core model: Intel Core i5-8265U bits: 64 type: MT MCP 
  arch: Kaby Lake note: check family: 6 model-id: 8E (142) stepping: C (12) 
  microcode: F4 cache: L2: 6 MiB 
  flags: avx avx2 lm nx pae sse sse2 sse3 sse4_1 sse4_2 ssse3 vmx 
  bogomips: 28800 
  Speed: 700 MHz min/max: 400/3900 MHz Core speeds (MHz): 1: 700 2: 1800 
  3: 700 4: 700 5: 701 6: 700 7: 1800 8: 700 
  Vulnerabilities: Type: itlb_multihit status: KVM: VMX disabled 
  Type: l1tf status: Not affected 
  Type: mds status: Not affected 
  Type: meltdown status: Not affected 
  Type: mmio_stale_data mitigation: Clear CPU buffers; SMT vulnerable 
  Type: retbleed mitigation: Enhanced IBRS 
  Type: spec_store_bypass 
  mitigation: Speculative Store Bypass disabled via prctl 
  Type: spectre_v1 
  mitigation: usercopy/swapgs barriers and __user pointer sanitization 
  Type: spectre_v2 mitigation: Enhanced IBRS, IBPB: conditional, RSB 
  filling, PBRSB-eIBRS: SW sequence 
  Type: srbds mitigation: Microcode 
  Type: tsx_async_abort status: Not affected 
Graphics:
  Device-1: Intel UHD Graphics 620 vendor: Dell driver: i915 v: kernel 
  bus-ID: 00:02.0 chip-ID: 8086:3ea0 class-ID: 0300 
  Device-2: Realtek type: USB driver: uvcvideo bus-ID: 1-6:3 
  chip-ID: 0bda:5520 class-ID: 0e02 serial: <filter> 
  Display: x11 server: X.Org 1.20.4 compositor: xfwm4 v: 4.14.0 driver: 
  loaded: modesetting unloaded: fbdev,vesa display-ID: :0.0 screens: 1 
  Screen-1: 0 s-res: 1366x768 s-dpi: 96 s-size: 361x203mm (14.2x8.0") 
  s-diag: 414mm (16.3") 
  Monitor-1: eDP-1 res: 1366x768 hz: 60 dpi: 101 
  size: 344x193mm (13.5x7.6") diag: 394mm (15.5") 
  OpenGL: renderer: Mesa DRI Intel HD Graphics (Whiskey Lake 3x8 GT2) 
  v: 4.5 Mesa 18.3.6 compat-v: 3.0 direct render: Yes 

[Buck Fankers]

This is what i have in my PC:

Device-1: Intel UHD Graphics 620 vendor: Dell driver: i915 v: kernel

Yes, you have graphic card, that is integrated into motherboard, from Intel which is good enough for every day use, but not good enough for all the extra computation, that chess needs.

But (as you already know by now) you need a good AMD card.

One cheapest way is, you find out which AMD card (of better ones) is supported by your curent hardware, can be put into your computer (I can't help there). You may also need to get better power supply, to support power needs of strong graphic card.

Another, more expensive way is, to get new computer with good AMD card or you build one yourself (or someone does it for you)

[keos]

Yes "i understand", as far as i can remember, what you are saying is very close to what they told me at the chess forum -- that is why i posted here, because "i don't understand" what really do i have to get/build etc, etc, from ...

Any way thank you very much.

[Eadwine Rose]

Basically.. get a compatible video card, unwrap it, put it in the computer, connect the cables if any, close stuff back up and put the cables that were in the on board in the video card.

Check in the bios if the onboard needs disabling, boot.


If any of that makes you freak out, take the thing to a shop and have them do it for you.

I did that after I had built this system, and then decided I wanted a better cooler. The case would be just yes/no fitting for the thing when I called in to see if they had it. Realized I didn't want to deal with all that, swapping and what not. Told them I am bringing it over.. you deal with that, put what fits in in, I'll grab a coffee, tell me when it is done, and I'll slide over the ransom money. :)

If you don't have the ability to do that, well.. that's that.. end of story, I guess. Or buy a better system.

[Buck Fankers]

"i don't understand" what really do i have to get/build etc, etc, from ...

You need good AMD card. Do you understand this? Right now you don't have good, you have slow, integrated, intel based card, not suitable for advanced chess computations.

What you need to do? Few things (I really shouldn't need to lay out these steps, you will need to do some work also

STEP 1 - first you need to figure out which exactly model of AMD to get. When I was in similar situation few years ago (not chess related) I went to reddit group, which is dedicated to AMD graphic cards and started to ask some questions and I have read many hundreds of posts, to learn at that time which cards were the best (too expensive for me), second best (still to expensive for me) third best... I slowly learned which 2-3 AMD cards would suit my needs with the price I was willing to pay.

STEP 2 - Then, when you narrow down with the AMD forum, which 2-3 cards are best suitable for you, then YOU need to decide, if you want to go cheaper or more expensive route. If more expensive route, just search on Amazon computers that contain one of those 2-3 AMD cards and you are done.

If you want to go less expensive route, then you need to check every of those 2-3 cards with your motherboard. Does your MB support it? If yes, buy it. Also check how much power this card needs and check how much power provides your current power supply you have now in your computer. You will most likely need to buy some good quality, stronger power supply. My guess is, your current is not strong enough.

And you are done. But you will need to put some work into this. Only you know if you want to go cheaper or more expensive route, you know which motherboard and power supply you have. You know if you want to buy more expensive of those 2-3 AMD cards or less expensive. YOU need to go to AMD forum and start asking questions and start reading bunch of past posts.

But seems like you don't want to do all this work, you just want final link to computer to buy.

As I said before, if no one is doing the same thing here, (chess) no one can really help you.

I would throw out few AMD card names but I simple don't know them. That research I did was several years ago. By now, there are all different cards on the market. (and I don't even remember which ones were best then)

The only way I could give you definite answer (get this AMD card, get this computer from amazon) is, if I drop all I'm doing and next few days start learning all about current AMD cards. Sorry, I have other priorities.

So, I laid out a path, what steps you need to do. The rest is up to you. Good luck

[Stevo]

The OP has a laptop, which makes it quite difficult to add a discrete GPU.

[Buck Fankers]

The OP has a laptop, which makes it quite difficult to add a discrete GPU.

Ahh, didn't know, thanks. Then there is only one route, new computer. OP need to do some research on good newer AMD cards and match results with the budget OP have for this project.