What to do with the pooter for my cab

[gazz292]

i've finaly got all the bits together to make my cab (except a spinner, might ask father xmas for one)

i've been given my parents old office computer, it's a HP pavilion a1315.uk, http://h10025.www1.hp.com/ewfrf/wc/document?docname=c00606871&tmp_task=prodinfoCategory&lc=en&dlc=en&cc=uk&site=null&lang=en&product=1843516&key=null#N56

yes i know it's nothing special, but it was free, and a lot better than my current computer,
it's got a 3.06 gig P4 which is hyperthreading i believe, it's not a dual core afaik, 533 mhz FSB,, if thats any use.

2 gig of ram, 250 gig HD, arcadevga 3000 PCIe gfx card,

gonna run XP on it, removing all the bits i dont need like networking and that lot,

do i need a special proccessor/motherboard etc to run XP64?? as i read that runs mame a bit faster,
any one know if i can overclock this processor?? or am i stuck due to it being a HP MB, and thus not built for overclocking??

any tips on what i should do when setting this computer up to run my cabinet, i'll only be running mame using mala as the front end, inputs ia a mini-pac opti.

[wweumina]

That's a pretty standard setup. No real benefit to overclocking. XP64 will run fine.

[gazz292]

ahh right, kewl,

i just thunked tho, i remember something about the arcade vga drivers not working on xp64 or something, best check that out,

do i need to compile mame somehow to take advantage of it being run on a 64 bit os, and optimize it for the cpu i have and all that,

never compiled before, so time to learn i guess.

[Donkey_Kong]

I could have swore I would open this thread and have easy access to some mumbles with da pooter. Suffice to say I was disappointed.



All better.

[wweumina]

ahh right, kewl,

i just thunked tho, i remember something about the arcade vga drivers not working on xp64 or something, best check that out,

do i need to compile mame somehow to take advantage of it being run on a 64 bit os, and optimize it for the cpu i have and all that,

never compiled before, so time to learn i guess.

Yeah, possibly.  I've only used the AGP AracdeVGA.  It might be a silly question, but your computer does have a PCIe slot..? 

You might not need 64-bit anyway, with that setup there won't be many games that the extra 10% will suddenly make playable.

[WhereEaglesDare]

IF you want to use a 64 bit OS the processor needs to be 64 bit compatible.

I dont see any reason to use a 64 bit OS for a MAME exclusive machine.  Even if you throw several emulators on it, it still wont make much if any difference.

[gazz292]

yup the cpu is 64 bit compatible, and it has a PCIe slot, thats the first thing i checked back in febuary when i was told i could have the computer, and thus i ordered the pcie version of the avga 3000.

i guess i'm after the best performance i can get from this system, so if doing something simple as putting a different OS on it, then i may as well,

i can put win 7 64 bit on if i want, i'm thinking that may be better for the better driver support, but worried it may slow my system down compared to xp,
what ever os i put on it, i'll remove as much unneeded stuff as i can, i.e. i have no use for printing, scanning, internet connectivity etc,