Main > Main Forum
Decent PC for MAME?
<< < (14/16) > >>
shfifty:
MSY are selling 512MB nvidia 8400GS for $33 and ati 4350 for $35. These are the two cheapest cards they are selling. If i wanted an upgrade from onboard graphics without breaking the bank (or needing power for current PC games) then one of these cards would be my choice. And you wont have to pay for postage if you live near an MSY.

BUT...

you might as well TRY running whatever you want to run using just onboard graphics. Then if the performance isnt up to scratch go drop your lunch money on a card. Cause maybe you wont need one so theres no loss trying first.

As many people have said, every setup is different so trial and error is your friend.

Another thought i had is to test performance using just the onboard graphics, on your most demanding mame game. Then borrow a graphics card from another computer in your house (your main rig), or from a friend or whatever, and see how much of a performance boost you get. This might help you decide whether its worth buying one or not 
mmb:
A mid priced ATI or Nvidia card that fits the bus you have is really all you need.  Anywhere from $40 - $80 is a good range.  Really don't need the wiz-bang latest if you're not doing heavy 3D games, but it should be fine if you want some PC games on your cab.
trevski:
Re what shfifty said.

I'm not sure what the pricing is like in the US but here in the UK if you're looking for a motherboard based around a recent CPU then the price difference between with or without onboard video is either tiny or non existant for the bottom end of the market.

For example:

Asus M4A78LT-M LE : DDR3/AM3 Motherboard with ATI HD3000 built in = £48
Gigabyte GA-MA78LMT-US2H 760G : DDR3/AM3 Motherboard with no VGA = £50

The feature set does differ between these boards but the point still remains - I say go for it, and let us know the results!

Have no fear about building one - Its alot easier than it used to be. Just get the mboard and add CPU, Memory, HDD, PSU.
If your test doesn't pan out, when you add the video card it should disable the onboard video by default - cake.
jimmy2x2x:
Totally agree with that, one thing you might want to look closely at is the PSU, make sure its suitable, check the amps on the rails and make sure it can power a current graphics card if required.
Ginsu Victim:

--- Quote from: jimmy2x2x on August 26, 2010, 10:39:16 am ---one thing you might want to look closely at is the PSU, make sure its suitable, check the amps on the rails and make sure it can power a current graphics card if required.


--- End quote ---

+1

Definitely make sure you have a decent PSU. I spent quite a bit of money last year trying to figure out my computer problem I was having before finally realizing it was a shoddy PSU. Didn't help matters that one of the fans in it had died, as well.
Navigation
Message Index
Next page
Previous page

Go to full version