I have a MAME machine that is currently running a 2.8 Ghz Pentium 4 CPU on a socket 775 Asus motherboard. I run mostly older "classic" games, Donkey Kong, Centipede, Galaga, etc. I also do have a few more advanced games on there, Shuffle Shot, World Class Deluxe Bowling as well as a few CHD games, Killer Instinct, Killer Instinct 2, Simpson's Bowling. I am running Windows XP 64 with 2 MB of RAM and a 1 GB Nvidia video card. I am using HyperSpin as my front end and everything runs smoothly. Simpson's Bowling doesn't run at 100% but is not to bad, with just a little bit of slow down/choppiness.
I got a little extra money and have been considering upgrading my CPU to a Pentium Core 2 Duo, probably the E7500 at 2.93 GHz, 3MB L2 Cache, 1066 Front Side Bus. Fry's has them for $120.00.
I was hoping that some of you out there have done a similar upgrade and could share your experiences. I know it won't suddenly make it possible to play Blitz on my cabinet, but it may allow me to play a few more games that I currently cannot. I know it will also help with some of the non Mame emulators that I have been thinking about adding. I also know it will help when compiling MAME which I also do on this machine. Please let me know what you think, especially if you have done a similar upgrade, what you found out and what if any differences you noticed.
Thanks