Time to Upgrade the Rig

[DashRendar]

My cabinet is done, and it does a pretty good job of playing games, although I see lag on my USB connections.

Currently, the guts are a Pentium III 2.4 Ghz processor from an old (circa 2004) Dell home server.

I'm looking to upgrade the CPU/mobo in this to something more current that performs better.  Basically, I have a couple things I'm looking for:

• AGP slot on motherboard (I have an AGP Arcade VGA)
• Multiple cores if MAME supports it
• Budget of $250 for CPU/mobo combo

Does MAME take advantage of multiple cores on the CPU?  And IIRC it performed better with 64-bit than 32-bit, right?

[Spock]

As far as the multi core goes, I have an overclocked AMD triple core (3.9 GHz) that is more smooth than my new i7.  Go for straight up clock speed.

[newmanfamilyvlogs]

Staying with AGP limits what you're going to be able to find..
You can probably find a 3.0Ghz P4 system somewhere for cheap, but that won't be dual core. (Yes, mame benefits from dual cores).

You might consider going with a fully new setup and getting an ATI card then using the GroovyMame modified ATI drivers which give you 15kHz output and many more resolution modes than the ArcadeVGA at the loss of signal support outside of windows.

[Donkbaca]

From what I have read, the best processor is a core 2 duo.  Mame does not benefit from anything more than 2 cores, and quad cores process their information differnetly.  Basically, and I am by no means an expert, quad cores are way better at multi-processing, but duals are better at straight up brute horsepower.

the core 2 duois a 755 slot processor

here is a slot 755 mobo with AGP for 20 bucks

http://cgi.ebay.com/ASRock-775i65G-Socket-775-Core-2-Duo-Motherboard-w-PCI-/220723296074?pt=Motherboards&hash=item336422374a#ht_5501wt_773

[DashRendar]

Staying with AGP limits what you're going to be able to find..
You can probably find a 3.0Ghz P4 system somewhere for cheap, but that won't be dual core. (Yes, mame benefits from dual cores).

You might consider going with a fully new setup and getting an ATI card then using the GroovyMame modified ATI drivers which give you 15kHz output and many more resolution modes than the ArcadeVGA at the loss of signal support outside of windows.

Yeah, I bought that AGP Arcade VGA card about a week before Andy released the PCIE version.  He announced it was coming out, but the system I had on hand was AGP only, which I was hoping to stick with, so I bought that one.  (I regret that decision now)

I do have an old P4 3.0 Ghz PC that is sort of working (I think the PSU and onboard battery are shot, but that's no biggie).  I might fiddle with it and see if that works better.

Still, I want to get the best performance I can within my budget.  I'll take a look at that dual core you linked Donkbaca.

[mytymaus007]

As far as the multi core goes, I have an overclocked AMD triple core (3.9 GHz) that is more smooth than my new i7.  Go for straight up clock speed.

Whats the specs of your pc, what emu's are yo running with your set up and what front end Sounds like a screamer total$$$$

[GreatLamer]

Mame coded for 1 cpu core. A faster but less core is the better.

[newmanfamilyvlogs]

Mame coded for 1 cpu core. A faster but less core is the better.

mame is multithreaded and has been for a while.

[Paul Olson]

You should be able to sell the AGP AVGA on here pretty easily. There always seems to be a few people looking for them.