🚀 go-pugleaf

In article <vmNI6.1503$Ur6.160287@newsread2.prod.itd.earthlink.net>, 
"Richard Hollenbeck" <rghollenbeck@earthlink.net> wrote:

> I'm wondering how hash tables work and what is the maximum setting
> recommended tor a Pentium 2 with a six gig hard drive and 32 MB ram all
> dedicated to computer chess.  Also why that setting (whatever that setting
> would be) shouldn't be any higher and how to set up a hash file with GNU 5
> with WinBoard.

The hash table is your chess computers short term memory. It remembers 
the evaluations of recent positions so when that position is encountered 
again through a transposition or in the next search ply the evaluation 
can quickly be recalled.

The hash table should be as large as possible to fill the physical ram. 
If the program runs out of memory and crashes or starts paging to disk 
it's a good indication that your hash table is too big.

GNU Chess 5 has two hash tables. One for general evaluations and the 
other for pawn evaluations. The available ram needs to be divided 
between the two tables but the optimum split needs to be determined by 
experimentation.

A hash file was uses in earlier versions of GNU Chess. A hash file is 
similar to a hash table but is stored on disk and used for long term 
memory. GNU Chess 5 doesn't use a hash file.

-- Dan Oetting