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A question about using a PC for my MAME cabinet
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ArcadeSeeker962:
Me and my father are deciding on which type of PC to use for our MAME cabinet. We're deciding between buying a basic computer and install a more powerful graphic card inside of it, or buy a gaming PC. Why I'm choosing from these two options is because of the fact that I'm interested in including more newer games into my MAME cabinet(such as Soul Calibur III). So, which type of PC do you recommend I purchase?
AlanS17:
Unless they've changed the way MAME works (which is entirely possible since I've been out of the scene for a while), it's all about the processor. A multi-core processor isn't as important as individual core speed so (theortically) a dual core with high top speed could be more effective than a quad core with lower top speed. And the graphics card is more of an afterthought. Unless MAME is leveraging graphics cards now, all the video processing is handled on the CPU. For larger games, it probably doesn't hurt to have some decent RAM, but I'm not sure more than 4GB will be particularly useful. Since most MAME machines are dedicated for arcade games, and you can only play one game at a time, you probably don't need butt loads of RAM.
ArcadeSeeker962:
What's the difference between a dual core PC and a quad core PC? I'm sorry, I'm a little confused, because I don't know all of the technical terms for computers.  ??? I do know a bit about computers, just not all of the technical terms.
postmortem:
the main processor (which determins the bulk of the speed in mame) can have multiple cores. the more cores you have, the more things the processor can do at a time. Having 2 cores is essentially like having 2 processors. quad core (4 cores) is nice for multitasking, but im not sure its necessary for mame. hope this helps
ArcadeSeeker962:
Thank you for helping me figure out what those terms mean. I'm going to look for a PC with a dual core processor with no more than 4GB RAM(like what Alan said). That's what me and my father decided on for the MAME cabinet.
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