What game in MAME surprised you after a PC upgrade?

[JoeB]

I built my first cab back in 2003.  I recently built my first candy cab and with it came a much more powerful CPU.  I just decided to try out killer instinct on the cab... OMG! No dropped frames .. The game is so sweet in 15k on a 29" monitor!

Anyone else surprised by any games through upgrading their PC and if so, what game?

[BadMouth]

Killer Instinct?!
Wow, that was an old pc.

Ridge  Racer surprised me when I tried it on my i7.  I didn't realize how many shortcomings Vivanonno emulator had until seeing it run full speed in MAME.  Driving cab has a 3.4Ghz triple core and is still far from being able to run it.   Still fun on Vivanonno.

[ABACABB]

I upgraded my pc to a 2nd generation core-i3 2120 @ 3.3ghz and now NFL Blitz is playable at a constant full speed and I love this game.  Being able to play this one is a huge addition for me!!   

[brad808]

if your into fighting games then you will probably be able to play street fighter 3 - 3rd strike now.

Sent from my Desire HD

[harveybirdman]

I can play third strike on my Pentium 4 but not cotton 2? 

I need an upgrade but want to do it on the cheap. Any recommendations?

[MaxVolume]

I really liked Killer Instinct... Glacius is my favorite.  I'll admit there's a fair bit of nostalgia (objects in rear view mirror look better than they are) attached to it, but it's a decent game.  Works fine for me on the vintage IBM ThinkCentre (3GHz P4 HT, i.e. single core pretending to be dual-core) that powers FLYNN'S.  My "holy grail" has always been CarnEvil, and I was surprised that it actually runs better on the ThinkCentre than it does on PROTOVISION (1.8GHz dual-core with add-on video card).  What was disappointing was that adding a video card to the ThinkCentre didn't improve the performance one bit on that game.  That's kind of still in my "maybe one day" file, and if I really wanted to I could play it, but the monitor angle on FLYNN'S isn't well suited for gun games anyway (yep, sour grapes). 

Of course nothing is more inextricably linked to MAME as "______ doesn't run at full speed", so I've made peace with it.  CarnEvil's not a game I ever played in arcades, but it was just the one game I saw in arcades when I was in my 20s that actually appealed to me when nothing else did anymore.

[androtaz08]

Abacabb,

I've been looking at the same processor to replace my amd x64. How does MK4 run?

[brad808]

Abacabb,

I've been looking at the same processor to replace my amd x64. How does MK4 run?

Running at full speed mk4 still has a lot of graphical problems. Looks like garbage as soon as you get into a fight. This is on mame 0.146. Just a heads up.

Sent from my Desire HD

[TGov]

If a person were building a scratch system for their arcade rig (me), what is the bare minimum video card you would suggest to play some of the newer MAME games and some Dreamcast, PS1 games?  I am kind of out of the loop in regards to what you need for MAME and such. 

[ark_ader]

Donkey Kong

[Yenome]

If a person were building a scratch system for their arcade rig (me), what is the bare minimum video card you would suggest to play some of the newer MAME games and some Dreamcast, PS1 games?  I am kind of out of the loop in regards to what you need for MAME and such.

if im right it been a while since i looked. the video card takes no effect on the fps you get from the game. its all on the cpu. i think the video card just does the stretching for the game.

For me KI and UMK3 are the games I used as test beds for any improvements, seeing as how i got a rig that will run them just fine im now working on the video part and trying diff tv's and setups to find the perfect one. i know an arcade monitor would be best but there is those 32in $200 lcd at wally world calling my name for the ps3 and xbox360 so might use one of those.

[TGov]

Interesting.  I might start a new topic about this subject as I don't' want to derail this thread.  Thanks for the help.

[ABACABB]

Abacabb,

I've been looking at the same processor to replace my amd x64. How does MK4 run?

Running at full speed mk4 still has a lot of graphical problems. Looks like garbage as soon as you get into a fight. This is on mame 0.146. Just a heads up.

Sent from my Desire HD

Andro, not sure yet. I don't have this on my cab. I can add it though and I'll let you know how it performs but I see Brad808 says it looks pretty bad.  I am running mame. 141 so I'm sure it's no better and possibly worse. I will report back though just so you know......

[androtaz08]

Thanks abcabb I appreciate it. It drives me nuts that my amdx2 64 gets smoked by intels one the same level.

[TGov]

I upgraded my pc to a 2nd generation core-i3 2120 @ 3.3ghz and now NFL Blitz is playable at a constant full speed and I love this game.  Being able to play this one is a huge addition for me!!   

What did you upgrade from if you don't mind me asking?

[Trip]

I upgraded my pc to a 2nd generation core-i3 2120 @ 3.3ghz and now NFL Blitz is playable at a constant full speed and I love this game.  Being able to play this one is a huge addition for me!!   

Been dying to play this, but have a really old AMD64, one of the first AMD64s.  Just bought an i5-3570k with an ASUS z77 mobo on Amazon.  Can't wait to get it in.  Glad to hear an i3 can play it.

[ABACABB]

I upgraded my pc to a 2nd generation core-i3 2120 @ 3.3ghz and now NFL Blitz is playable at a constant full speed and I love this game.  Being able to play this one is a huge addition for me!!   

What did you upgrade from if you don't mind me asking?

Sure,I upgraded from a core-i5 650 @ 3.2ghz. Not much of an upgrade I know but here's why. I also have plans to build a dedicated racing cabinet for Model 2 and 3 racing games. I know the older 650 runs the model2 emulator and Supermodel emulator just fine and I needed another pc for my racing cab. So I decided to get one that I would (hopefully) be able to run NFL Blitz on full speed. Now I have the newer core i-3 2120 in my MAME cab and I'll use the 650 in my racing cab.

The new architecture used in the 2nd generation processor though gave a significant improvement when playing NFL Blitz

[TGov]

Wow, I didn't realize it took that much horespower to emulate Blitz.  Interesting stuff   Thanks for the reply.

[ABACABB]

I upgraded my pc to a 2nd generation core-i3 2120 @ 3.3ghz and now NFL Blitz is playable at a constant full speed and I love this game.  Being able to play this one is a huge addition for me!!   

Been dying to play this, but have a really old AMD64, one of the first AMD64s.  Just bought an i5-3570k with an ASUS z77 mobo on Amazon.  Can't wait to get it in.  Glad to hear an i3 can play it.

That is awesome!!  You'll have a kick ass pc for mame.  I still can't run San Francisco Rush at full speed but maybe your new setup can.  Best of luck with it.

[ABACABB]

OK, I ran MK4 last night and here's what I have. I got it to runn fullspeed but I had to turn up frameskip to 5/10 to achieve a consistent 100%. No big deal really as I can't even tell a difference between 0 frame skip and the 5 I have it set on. I also forgot to turn down the audio rate to 22k, that can give you a little performance boost over the default setting of 44k. I never played this game in the arcade so I don't have a point of reference to compare the graphics to. That said, I did notice some very strange glitches that I'm sure were not part of the original. Throwing ice from Sub Zero, there was a large black box around the ice. Also Sub Zero has some strange effects coming off of him. I assume this is supposed to look like he is very cold but the effects are not very transparent so it looks like he has all these strange objects flying off his body.

So that's all the further I got. The game does seem to be playable though. If you're a diehard these glitches may not bother you so much.

[Trip]

That is awesome!!  You'll have a kick ass pc for mame.  I still can't run San Francisco Rush at full speed but maybe your new setup can.  Best of luck with it.

That would be nice.  Use to play the crap out of 2049 when working at a movie theater in high school.  Me and another employee went back and forth with the fastest times.

[nickbuol]

I am in the midst of a couple of waves of upgrades for my 2nd MAME cabinet (built in 2005).  Afte rit sat idle for about 2.5 years due to a new job out of town, a move, and then spending 10 months finishing my basement, it was in dire need of some help.  Some of the wiring came loose, etc.  Anyway, I was about 4 years behind on MAME too.

So I went from an AMD Athlon XP (single core) 2500+ (1.8 GHz) to an Athlon XP 2900+ (2.0 GHz) and a fresh load of Windows XP due to a primary hard drive failure.  Didn't see much improvement, but should have been about a 13% jump in CPU processing.  Then again, the machine was dead when I made the upgrade and I hadn't played in a couple of years.  That is where it sits today, however...

Tonight I am upgrading from the single core Athlon XP 2900+ (again, 2.0 GHz) with some cheapo video card, and 768 MB of RAM, to a newer motherboard running an Athlon X2 (dual core) 5000+ (2.2 GHz) with a video card that I just upgraded in my primary desktop PC that I use for gaming and a fresh pair of RAM sticks to get it to 2 GB.  Going to install yet another fresh version of Windows (TinyXP this time) and I've got an external hard drive with Hyperspin and a bunch of other emulators besides MAME on it.  The processor is capable of a 193% increase, but I am not sure how much of that MAME will actually tap in to.

For me, this isn't a killer MAME machine.  I feed it upgraded hardware that is trickling down from my primary desktop PC.  I am about maxed out with my dsktop PC and its own upgrades and will need a full fresh build to go any further.  I am hoping that for my regular gaming, plus video/photo editing, that the quad core 3.6 GHz setup with new video card lasts a while, but at some point, those will hit the MAME cabinet.

I wonder what upgrade in performance I might see.  Probably not as much as others.

I am waiting for the day that I can play Stun Runner.  I used to love that game as a kid, and to me it has been that game that has been out of reach for SOOOOO long on a MAME cabinet.

[theonegoku]

I upgraded my pc to a 2nd generation core-i3 2120 @ 3.3ghz and now NFL Blitz is playable at a constant full speed and I love this game.  Being able to play this one is a huge addition for me!!   

Been dying to play this, but have a really old AMD64, one of the first AMD64s.  Just bought an i5-3570k with an ASUS z77 mobo on Amazon.  Can't wait to get it in.  Glad to hear an i3 can play it.

^ This man read my mind, I just got my ASUS sabertooth z77 and EVGA GTX Geforce 550ti and JUST found out that my i5-3470 has been delivered to my porch while im sitting here at work!! I can't wait, but will definitly be happier playing tekken tag and DOA and MUCH happier playing PS2 Emulators like Bloody Roar 4 on something better than my old a** amd athlon 64 x2

[nickbuol]

...something better than my old a** amd athlon 64 x2

Hey, I am just *upgrading* to an old a** AMD Athlong 64 x2 on my cabinet. 

[theonegoku]

...something better than my old a** amd athlon 64 x2

Hey, I am just *upgrading* to an old a** AMD Athlong 64 x2 on my cabinet. 

Lol, no, I didn't mean it like that.  The "old" AMD Athlon is very powerful.  I first built the PC back in 2008 when I got back from my first deployment and the thing still holds it own to this day.  I would still be with it, but as soon as I started getting cocky with higher emulators and more intense games I didnt have a choice.  So old as in age, but definitly still powerful for almost anything you can throw at it .

...and it's not compatible with an ASUS Sabertooth Z77...so it's not like i had a choice

[nickbuol]

Funny enough.  That Athlon 64 X2 I built in 2008 as well as a new gaming machine for an event called ShowdownLAN which was in Peoria, IL.  I was using that same Athlon 64 X2 up until exactly 1 week ago when I upgraded the CPU.  Thus continues the trickle down.  I could have gone X6 in my primary, but for the price I went X4 with a 1.2 GHz increase in clock.  Anything else and I would get more bang for the buck starting 100% new.  Next machine will be Intel unless AMD can catch up and surpass for less money like they did for a number of years.

Anyway, I might just have to fire up Stun Runner on my upgraded non-MAME machine and see if I can play it.

[Trip]

My AMD64 is from 04.  It has trouble running hyperspin at mid level.  I figured it was time.

[theonegoku]

Yes, it's always a sad day when our "old faithfull"'s can no longer hang with the young guns.  Especially when you go back and look up the old Athlon and the description is like "very first chip to feature dual...etc"...very nostalgic, but the time always comes, and in all fairness the i5-1470 with the GTX 550ti (since the onboard gpu of the 1470 is lower than garbage) is quite a beast, and will get me to around 2016 before the ill look back on 2012 and remember calling it a "beast" lol have fun.

[Trip]

Got my new mobo and processor in, had to go buy a sata dvd rom drive at wally world.     Since I run Macs as my daily users, I totally forgot I don't have any sata dvd roms.

Have my old 600W power supply, but it doesn't have a 8 pin atx, I don't think the 4 pin is cutting it (manual says a 4 pin is fine) or I got a screwed up board.  Lost the LAN on it about an hour after installing windows, it's dead for all that I can tell.  Windows 7 64 is annoying with the ArcadeVGA, resolutions don't work right.  Went back to Win 7 32 and used the XP drivers and it works fine again. 

This has just been annoying, got to ship the mobo back to Amazon, but not before I played a little Blitz, it works awesome at full speed with no hiccups...