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A question about using a PC for my MAME cabinet
smalltownguy:
Pretty much any computer made in the past 8 years will handle that workload. Seriously.
ArcadeSeeker962:
--- Quote from: smalltownguy on May 03, 2012, 03:01:34 pm ---Pretty much any computer made in the past 8 years will handle that workload. Seriously.
--- End quote ---
Thank you for the help. My father was originally planning on looking for an older PC to use for the MAME cabinet anyway, so I change my mind. Thank you all for your help, now that I have made my decision.
lordnacho:
Since it looks like you'll be getting a tower and putting it into the cabinet once you build it. Remember you need good airflow or pc temps will rise and parts could overheat or just shorten the lifespan.
Just as an example, when I built my home theater pc and put it into my tv stand(which is open in the front and closed in the back, I saw temps steadily rise and not even under any load. So just something to remember in building the cabinet. Browse around the project threads and you'll see how everyone else vents theirs. When using a pc case, you'll want to line up the intake fans near a vent, so it gets fresh air. And in theory some exhaust vents higher up, since hot air rises.
Dervacumen:
--- Quote from: ArcadeSeeker962 on May 03, 2012, 02:59:32 pm ---
--- Quote from: smalltownguy on May 03, 2012, 01:50:11 pm ---Sorry I'm late to the party here, but I'll try to help.
All your talk about getting into a 'Dell' or 'core i3' tells me you might be shopping out for a new desktop PC for this? Don't! You'll spend a ton of money on something you don't really need.
Aside from the aforementioned Soul Calibur III, which we've already discussed may not be playable in anything other than a playstation, what other games are you trying to play?
Let me steer you towards something with an intel e8400 or e8500 in it. You'll get really good bang for your buck if you get into one of those Core 2 Duo's and overclock it to 4.0ghz.
If you don't want to roll your own on the overclocking thing, then fine. Spend 3x more money, and buy into a core i5 2500k or core i7 2600k. Just be sure you get the 'k' versions of the processors, because once you get a taste of a fast processor, you'll want to make it go faster....faster.....faster.... :D
Tell us what games you want to play, and I'll build a rig for ya ;)
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I'm back, I just needed some time to study the Project Arcade Book Version 2, but I understand how this all works more now. Thank you for the advice. I don't know how to overclock Core 2 Duo, but thank you for the advice though. For the games I'll be playing, here's the list:
Centipede
Crazy Kong
Donkey Kong
Dragon Buster
Frogger
Galaga
Galaxian
Gaplus
Gyruss
Jump Bug
Millipede
Ms. Pac-Man
Pacman
Street Fighter II: The World Warrior
Super Street Fighter II: Turbo
Super Breakout
Scramble
The Glob
Time Pilot
Xevious
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I run those with no problem on a Pentium III 800MHz machine. Free on CL or maybe $25.
ArcadeSeeker962:
--- Quote from: lordnacho1 on May 03, 2012, 03:21:02 pm ---Since it looks like you'll be getting a tower and putting it into the cabinet once you build it. Remember you need good airflow or pc temps will rise and parts could overheat or just shorten the lifespan.
Just as an example, when I built my home theater pc and put it into my tv stand(which is open in the front and closed in the back, I saw temps steadily rise and not even under any load. So just something to remember in building the cabinet. Browse around the project threads and you'll see how everyone else vents theirs. When using a pc case, you'll want to line up the intake fans near a vent, so it gets fresh air. And in theory some exhaust vents higher up, since hot air rises.
--- End quote ---
Is tower another term for an older PC? Thank you your advice, I'll check out the project announcement threads and look at how other people cooled off their PC's.