Best Source for MAME Computer under $500?

[Xochi]

Guys, I'm spending so much time building my MAME cab that I'm thinking I might splurge and buy a new Computer (just the main CPU+Case+etc) for it rather than using the crufty old PII 450 system I have laying around that was going to go into it.

I considered building one myself (I've done this before but...) my time is much more limited than it used to be and I'd rather work on the cab than build a new computer. A friend pointed out cyberpowerinc's AMD systems as looking like good values but has no experience with them. Anyone have expereince with CyberPower or have an alternate source for a good <$500 box for running MAME (80's through mid-late 90's titles) and ePSXe well?

Here's the specs on the box I came up with on CP's www site (http://www.cyberpowerinc.com):
ABit NF7 nForce2 Mobo USB2/BuiltIn Sound/LAN
AMD Athlon 2500+
Maxtor 80Gb ATA133 HD (2X what I have on the P2)
Built-In Sound (AC97 -- good enough)
GeForce FX 5200 128Mb AGP
256Mb PC3200 DDR400 RAM (My
NoName CD-R (who cares in a cab)
No OS (will load Win2K Pro on it)

Price: $475.

Seems pretty good to me but was wondering if anyone knew about this company's reputation or had any other recommendations for other companies that are good and have a similar "value" system. I'm not looking for bleeding edge performance from this box, just something that fairly smokes a P2 system.

[1UP]

I always check www.pricewatch.com first.  Lots of places running specials always.  Easy to comparison shop and usually really good prices.

[BombProofPlane]

it doesn't take long to build you pc and pricewatch.com has great deals

at frys(a store found mostly in CA and TX you can get an 1800+ w/ mobo for $59

[Cisco Kid]

actually you can pick up a AMS gBox P4 system for $235 (free shipping)



... you only need to add DDR, CPU (P4), and a Hard Drive .. thats it (has onboard Video,Sound,USB, 10/100 NIC) and its super quiet

here's link : http://store.yahoo.com/directron/cf968l.html

[BombProofPlane]

um thats just a mobo in a fancy case and onboard video blows

those mini cases are always overpriced

you don't need a case in a mame cab anyway

[Hoagie_one]

I ran accross this company that is selling full linux based computers for $200.

All you have to do is wipe linux and do a clean install of win xp

http://www.linare.com/linpc.php

[TalkingOctopus]

I like shopping at newegg:  www.newegg.com .  I find that their prices are among the lowest on pricewatch, and they sell a wide variety of components so you can buy your entire system there.

[paigeoliver]

I bought an NEC Pentium 733 desktop from a local vendor on ebay for $87.50

It plays everything full speed, with the exception of like a dozen games. So I GUESS you COULD spend 5 times as much money on a system that would play another 6 or 7 more titles. OR you could just forget about them, and enjoy the other 4000 games, and spend your extra $400 on something else (like better joysticks).

[SirPoonga]

I always check www.pricewatch.com first.  Lots of places running specials always.  Easy to comparison shop and usually really good prices.

But beware with that.  The cheap stuff is cheap for a reason.  plus if you get parts from several places you don;t save on shipping.


www.newegg.com is a great place as is tigerdirect.com.

[1UP]

My current system was bought off a pricewatch vendor, and it's the best system I've ever had!  Just get a barebones system and put in your own drives, memory etc.  I didn't get it in pieces, it arrived with proc, memory, vid card and mobo installed in case, just added my own drive and I was good to go!

[Rom]

I bought an NEC Pentium 733 desktop from a local vendor on ebay for $87.50

It plays everything full speed, with the exception of like a dozen games. So I GUESS you COULD spend 5 times as much money on a system that would play another 6 or 7 more titles. OR you could just forget about them, and enjoy the other 4000 games, and spend your extra $400 on something else (like better joysticks).

This is where I wish there was some kind of resource that lets you know what minimum speed of processor you require to play all games. I'll add that when I say all games I'm not refering to games that no processor available today can run. So, can someone answer this simple request? To me there is no point spending more than necessary esp as I've spent too much already.

[paigeoliver]

I bought an NEC Pentium 733 desktop from a local vendor on ebay for $87.50

It plays everything full speed, with the exception of like a dozen games. So I GUESS you COULD spend 5 times as much money on a system that would play another 6 or 7 more titles. OR you could just forget about them, and enjoy the other 4000 games, and spend your extra $400 on something else (like better joysticks).

This is where I wish there was some kind of resource that lets you know what minimum speed of processor you require to play all games. I'll add that when I say all games I'm not refering to games that no processor available today can run. So, can someone answer this simple request? To me there is no point spending more than necessary esp as I've spent too much already.

Pretty much ANYTHING will play the majority of games in Mame (you may have to roll back a few Mame versions though, as older versions are usually faster). There are really only about 2 dozen heavy hitters that require big hardware.

Games with bigger hardware requirements include.

All the hard drive games.
Cruisin'
Mortal Kombat, and everything on that hardware (Basically everything Midway made from 1991 up).
STUN Runner
Steel Talons
Hard Drivin (and related titles).
Prop Cycle

I am sure I might be missing a few games, but that is basically everything that won't run full speed on a $99 used computer.

You probably don't have the right controls for the majority of those titles, so really all you are gaining with a $500 computer is the 1991 and up Midway titles. Not worth it to me.

[JackTucky]

It doesn't match your specs, but I bought the walmart linux pc, put 98 on it, and it runs the two games that wouldn't run on the "spare" PC's I was going to use, NBA Jam and Marvel Super Heroes.

The only thing I added was an S-video capable video card.

It came with keyboard, speakers, and mouse.  The speakers are nothing special, but good enough for testing everything until I'm completely done with the cabinet.

http://www.walmart.com/catalog/product.gsp?cat=96684&dept=4044&product_id=2233757&path=0%3A4044%3A96684%3A119076%3A119279

The fan is a bit noisy though.

Art

[Lilwolf]

Get your price... go to pricewatch.com and get the best machine you can.

But note... Look at the price / performance on processors.  Right now the best (I believe) is a 2.6 ghz athlon.  Each jump before that is pretty small... Every one after that is pretty expensive.

Also, watch the chipsets.  Good chipset is worth about 200mhz or more.  So saving 10 - 20 bucks isnt always worth it.

Last... Only get what you need.  But add a network cable to connect it to your main computer.  Great way to upgrade stuff.  Don't get a CD unless you want to play PC games.  Don't get a modem, or basically anything extra.

But there isn't much reason to go slower then 2ghz right now unless you buy used equipment.  The new old stuff will have been sitting around for years... and was probably the crap they couldn't sell then... (I've worked at a lot of pc companies.  This has always been the case).... Or you are buying equipment that can handle faster processors... and at that point get a faster processor...

Good luck!

[Tiger-Heli]

Also see this (fairly old) thread:

http://www.arcadecontrols.org/yabbse/index.php?board=1;action=display;threadid=8677;start=msg63636#msg63636

[Xochi]

I bought an NEC Pentium 733 desktop from a local vendor on ebay for $87.50

It plays everything full speed, with the exception of like a dozen games. So I GUESS you COULD spend 5 times as much money on a system that would play another 6 or 7 more titles. OR you could just forget about them, and enjoy the other 4000 games, and spend your extra $400 on something else (like better joysticks).

Yeah, actually, the P2 system runs the vast majority of MAME stuff well. But, it's pretty weak on the console emulation, ePSXe runs some things well (probably due to having a GeForce 2 MX card in it) but N64 is unusable, etc.

Also, it's not really a spare anymore... turns out the box I was going to replace it with  is dead and not worth fixing.  Rather than using the P2 in the cab and buying a newer higher performance box and just using it for WWW surfing in the spare office (which the P2 handles just fine), I figured I'd leave the P2 where it is and put the new box in the cab, that should leave a little more breathing room as I want to put newer higher powered stuff in the cab.

[saintjo]

www.gotapex.com

[cobelli]

I suggest building it yourself (not much work at all) and going with newegg.com. I priced it out using the exact parts you selected (all though, that's proably more than you need) and it comes out to $390. If you are bent on getting it built, though, then go with unitedmicro.com. Go to configurator and select your parts. They build it and burn test it for you, so you know it will work when it gets to your door. The one downside, is they won't build it if you don't buy a case, so that is another $40. Priced it out for you and it's $416 plus $38 to ship. Saves a little over what you selected. Both my buddy and I got our first computers from there, and they both arived in perfect working order.

Good luck
-Cobelli

[cobelli]

BTW, that pc is overkill. We are talking arcade games here! That pc would run most of the pc games out there. Think about it, the xbox has an 800 mghz proc, a geforce 3 - ish card, and 64 megs of ram! THE XBOX! Stick with your pII and I think you will thank yourself later. And DON'T use xp! It's a fine os, but pretty system heavy. Your best bet is to stick with dos. If you really want windows, go 98 se. Hmm, there was a program out there way back called win 98 lite that stripped 98 down to its bear bones. Ill see if I can dig it up. Anyway, save your money for something nice. {{ I suggest getting a tivo. It's an awesome device and will change the way you watch tv. Plus, lots of cool hacking possibilities if you are willing to get a little dirty. Check out dealdatabase.com for info. And if you get a new directv with tivo box, check out my hacking guide at hostfreedom.com/tivo. I know this is random, but my tivo just chirped up to let me know my show was coming on and it reminded me how much I love it... Ahh... Tivo...    }}


- Cobelli

[cobelli]

Found it! 98 lite. It lets you stip out all the crap not needed in an arcade pc. They have a trial version, but it doesn't let you do very much. I used it way back to make a 98 distro that could boot off a cdrom. It made 98 small enough to load onto a ramdisk! Pretty sweet. I am going to see if I can find that disk I made if someone wants to email me about it. If you want to buy the software, they let you "choose" its worth. Therefore you can choose to pay anything from $25 to $60. http://www.litepc.com/98lite.html Check it out.
-Cobelli

[tmasman]

I've got 2

[cobelli]

I don't know about extracting dos out of windows, but I looked around for standalone dos, and I have to say, I am disgusted. MS-DOS is not avaialable to buy, yet still not free! That is why our copywrite law sucks! It makes no money for MS, yet it is not public domain! WHY! Then I looked at IBM's dos. $50! Ya... FOR DOS!! Finally I came across this: http://www.freedos.org/ It's a dos compliant os and it is still being kept. The last announcement on their webpage was 2 days ago. So give that a look, should do fine for your purposes... and it's free.
-Cobelli