I built a cab for my 6yo nephew using a 667mhz (they couldn't label it 666) Celeron.
http://forum.arcadecontrols.com/index.php?topic=111821.0Current MAME builds wouldn't even run the classics on it.
I picked v.80 for it for no better reason than it was the oldest version that ran a particular game that I wanted.
It will run the classics, but struggles with some games from the mid 80's like Contra.
You'll have to "roll back" the roms using a set of rollback roms and clrmamepro.
MALA works fine on it.
IIRC, with a full xp install and a complete v80 romset(half of which don't work anyway), it weighed in around 11GB.
You're probably going to need more RAM, but it doesn't hurt to try with what you've got.
Also keep in mind that if it breaks down, you'll be expected to patch up the old computer to get it running again.
