> Take a look around-Ubi Soft(Chessmaster) and ChessBase(Fritz) sell millions of copies because they are destined for mass ( west/east/south/north) . Hardware & soft for 16.....x cores are only a curiosity for people and the subject of possession for some (very few) eccentrics ( rich-of course).

On the other side Deep Fritz was created in times, where no Dual Core Processors existed.
Only a view 'eccentrics ( rich-of course)' People owned a real Chess-Machine with 2 single Processors.
It's not correct, that Chessbase only wants to destiny for mass.
(OkOk, in those Times they wanted to be WordChampion, probably because this would push the sales (to the mass))

Quap

There is no reason for separate versions. Any improvement in scaling will help huge machines the most, but it will still provide some benefit even to 2 core machines, which are now the norm.

I hope that Convekta will take a care for the business. ;-).

Rgds
Hetman

8-core systems are now in the realm of affordability for people living slightly better than paycheck-to-paycheck; I think the idea of calling people who buy such things "rich" is really a bit of gratuitous class warfare.  Some guys buy sports cars far beyond their means and justify it as a 'chick magnet'.  People in computer chess who misallocate their assets in a similar manner are not necessarily rich but they are surely fanatics who will someday lack a retirement nest egg.  (Another punitive aspect: the hobby is a lethally-effective 'chick repellant'.)

As for 16 and 32-core systems, both are affordable by the affluent, but they seem an extraordinarily poor buy on a cost-benefit analysis basis if the goal is to win Freestyle tournaments, especially now, with the commercial version of Rybka not scaling up as it might.  Also a short-sighted buy, as Intel and others are developing computers with a tremendous number of cores that will render today's 16-cores largely obsolete in 3-5 years.  (Honestly it is hard for me to visualize what an ordinary person would want 80 cores for, other than to play Freestyle chess or participate in SETI or something of that sort.)

While it is undeniable that good hardware is essential for any serious Freestyle participant, there are many people who have entered the tournament with terrific hardware who have not won.  The key, and what separates the top contenders from the rest of the field, is how efficiently and intelligently they use the assets they have. 

The process is also surprisingly labor-intensive.  That's really what separates the rich from the poor; the enormous amount of time (years, really) spent developing a championship-caliber chess entity could be otherwise used making a lot of money in some other field.  Computer chess is an expensive (but not unaffordable) hobby in terms of expenses incurred, but it is really ruinous when you factor in opportunity costs.