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A question about using a PC for my MAME cabinet
ArcadeSeeker962:
--- Quote from: AlanS17 on April 27, 2012, 11:21:52 pm ---You may even want to check out the Intel Core i3's. It depends heavily on what games you intend to play. And like I said, I don't have a very good CURRENT gauge for max requirements.
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No worries, I'll look into it. I'll check for different current MAME requirements(depending on what version I choose).
elkameleon:
I'm pretty sure you'll be able to get away with the i3, just get the fastest one you can afford, pretty much anything above 2.5GHz should be fine. Try to get a dual core (do they even make single cores anymore?).
ArcadeSeeker962:
Okay, thank you for letting me know about the processor, and I'll buy a dual core PC. I don't think they make single core processors anymore. For the 4GB, I noticed that there's no PC's available with 4GB built right in. So will I have to install a certain type of 4GB card into the PC I buy(along with the processor)?
AlanS17:
--- Quote from: ArcadeSeeker962 on April 28, 2012, 08:44:27 am ---For the 4GB, I noticed that there's no PC's available with 4GB built right in. So will I have to install a certain type of 4GB card into the PC I buy(along with the processor)?
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4GB is a common entry-level amount of RAM. Are you sure you're looking at the right specs?
Ravenger:
To be honest an older second hand PC will do just as well as a new one. You can often pick them up for next to nothing.
I used an AMD 64 4800+ dual core PC for my mame build, it was an old PC I had hanging around from several upgrades ago, but with a replacement second hand dual-core processor to make it a little faster, and to spread the OS CPU load a bit.
It runs everything at full speed, except for those few games which don't run at full speed even on more modern processors (I've tried problematic games running on my i5 760 and they run at exactly the same speed as my Mame PC).
Though Mame mainly utilises the processor for emulation, the new HLSL CRT emulation effects for LCD screen need a reasonably capable graphics card to run well, but even then that doesn't need to be a top-end card. An old Nvidia 8800GT is more than capable. It's unlikely that on-board video would be fast-enough for HLSL, but should be fine for standard output to an LCD or CRT.