arcade computer help

[Shieldwolf]

Well I thought I remembered all this stuff, but I have totally forgotten most of it. I have started to build my arcade computer and so far I have:

radeon 7500 ati aiw
and a western d 160 gig 8mb cache 7200 rpm hard drive
hangstrom 72 keyboard encoder
xp pro

I need specific recommendations for the rest of the system.

motherboard

I want something that will allow for a 2.4 ghz. athlon is cool. asus prefered( because I know them) but not necessary.

power supply
ram
fans
sound card 4.1
If there is a good  combo that is fine too, but it must work with everything I already have.

[Cisco Kid]

here's my recommendation ....

Motherboard : Shuttle AN35N-Ultra (its a sleeper ... probably one of the best nForce2 Ultra 400 mobos on the market and rock stable) $56 - Newegg

Power Supply : Antec 430W TRUE430 (What can I say ... its Antec ... best PSUs out there) $76 - Newegg

Memory : Mushkin 512MB PC 3200 Level2 Dual Pack (2x256MB) CAS2-2-2 (nothing better) $185 - Newegg (200MHz FSB easily)

Fans : 80mm Case Fan: Quad LED - Blue $2.49 - Case-Mod

Sound Card : Sound Blaster Live! Dolby Digital 5.1 $33 - Newegg

with this setup you can push that 2.4GHz to 3.0GHz with ease  

[cobelli]

Um, are you going to be putting a processor in this system? lol. Both of you left that out. Cisco is spot on with the ps, antec rocks. All though, I think he picked one of their ultra quiet power supplies, which isn't really necessary if you are building it inside an arcade (or is this a stand-alone project?) I say asus or abit for the mobo if you are going to overclock. It doesn't sound like you are planning on alot of pc tweaking, though. Another good brand to check out is gigabyte. Stick with kingston or crucial on the ram. Colored fans are fun, but if this is going into an arcade, not necessary. Also, something most don't realize/know is that size is not the only thing to look at when considering a fan. Always look at the airflow rating or CFM (cubic feet p/min). Very important! You must make sure you are blowing the same amount of air into the case as you suck out. Just sticking fans all over at different speeds will result in currents and hotpockets. So while the air near your mobo may be cool, and therefore any temp monitor reads normal, you may be frying your graphics card. A few $s and minutes spent on airflow now could save you hundreds and alot of troubleshooting later. Lastly, if this is going to be strictly an arcade, complete overkill on the parts. We are talking mame here, right? 2.4 Proc -- 1 gig will do fine. Hell, 1 gig will run most of the PC games out there. 160 gb drive -- I think if you total all the mame roms out there, it's like 2 gigs!  512 ram -- While ram is cheap anyways, 256 is cool and 128 will probably do fine (Hell, if you went with 98 instead of xp you could probably do 64 megs and run 95% of the games out there. 4.1 sound -- Arcade games are stereo at best. Did i miss anything? lol. Maybe I am missing the point, but if you are just looking to run pac-man and frogger and the like, save yourself a few hundred. Think about it... The XBOX has an 800 mghz proc, geforce 3 similar gpu, and 64 megs of ram!!. Hit the garage sales and you could probably find a nice arcade computer for sub $50. That's just my 2 cents though

- Cobelli

[DaveMMR]

5.1 Surround Sound?  That thing doubling as a DVD player?  I'm running MAME on a 2 Gigahertz P4 with 512MB Ram and everything runs without problems (on Win 98 that is).  Though I haven't tested anything past Mortal Kombat in terms of a timeline.

And I think you can do without a case mod for something buried inside an MDF box.  

I don't agree or disagree since I have no clue if you're just using this for MAME or want to play modern computer games too.   But if it is for an arcade playing games from a decade or two ago, then you can definately save yourself quite a few bucks on the computer.

[Shieldwolf]

here it is
psx emulator
nes emu
snesemu
n64emu
segaemu
dreamcast system
mame
daphne
nebula
mp3 jukebox
I figured I would make a computer for the eventual ps2 and other emus that will need a faster processor

I agree on the crucial ram call they are my fav

[paigeoliver]

here it is
psx emulator
nes emu
snesemu
n64emu
segaemu
dreamcast system
mame
daphne
nebula
mp3 jukebox
I figured I would make a computer for the eventual ps2 and other emus that will need a faster processor

I agree on the crucial ram call they are my fav

I have a feeling that the eventual PS2 emulators will need a much more powerful system than anything available today.