Looking to buy a cheap micro ATX machine for 2D games

[emb]

I think I have been out of the PC market for too long. Can anyone provide any recommendations for a motherboard/CPU combo that will play all (working/supported) 2D games in MAME and PSX? I have been eyeing the new line of atom processors although I am not sure they are fast enough (mortal kombat, killer instinct, and playstation 1 games in particular).

 I am eyeing a cpu/mobo combo somewhere in the $120-$170 price range.

[emb]

Unfortunately a modded Xbox will not provide the amount of functionality and size requirements needed.


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[HaRuMaN]

http://www.newegg.com/Product/ComboDealDetails.aspx?ItemList=Combo.1051828

[Vigo]

Not a bad little board there. $142 after rebate. Good brand.

[fluentd]

Something like this A8 should be able to handle quite a bit. I have seen people testing Battlefield 3 with lower end units than the A8.

[lilshawn]

1st problem with the atom boards is the processor isn't very fast. the multithread gives the illusion of 4 processors, but can barely do anything decent. and with only 1M cache...slooooow
2nd problem is you need to use laptop memory with them. inconvienent and only ddr2-800 to boot... at least the ones i was buying where. Apparently they have since changed this.
3rd problem. video. blah. vga only and only a single  PCI to upgrade. no thanks.

I'm a 10 time intel Atom D510 buyer for touchscreen jukeboxes. (about the only good thing the atom line is good for.) even very low end dual core Pentium processors are multiple times faster than the Atom...but where it is good is in its ability to drive a low cost, low power machine.  for around $75 new - that includes the CPU, integrated graphics and heatsink. All you need is storage, a PSU and memory and you’ve got a complete system. 

that AMD linked by Haruman looks way better IMO.

[Vigo]

 

I was very pleased with the zotac atom mobo I bought a few years ago. I only bought it because I needed to build a cheap, low heat and small space solid state machine. The fact that for a PSU, it just took a DC laptop brick is what sealed the deal for me. Plays 2d emu games great.

If you have a special project you need an atom board for, check out what Zotac has for options, otherwise, I really like Haruman's combo deal a lot as well.

[MonMotha]

The AMD "Zacate" E-350 series boards have much better performance at only modestly higher cost and power than the Atoms.  They're a bit hard to find with passive cooling, though, unlike the Intel Atom boards.  Still under 25-30W, though, which is nice, and usually under $100 for the mobo+cpu.  Video is much better than the Atoms, but it's still not going to hold a candle to even a modest "discrete graphics" solution.

[DeLuSioNal29]

What about this?  It's an AMD A4 Series with integrated Radeon HD 6410D graphics.  It's supposedly overclockable and it's only $40 with free shipping.  Pair it with a liquid cooler and you're in business to make it even faster.  The motherboard I chose is micro ATX and it takes 1866MHz DDR3 RAM and has integrated LAN and audio.  Doesn't look like it has an HDMI port though, not sure if you needed that or not.  It's $40 after rebate.  And of course memory.  Found it cheaper at Newegg.com with free shipping. $24.95.

CPU: $40 w free shipping
AMD A4-Series AD3400OJHXBOX A4-3400 APU - Socket FM1, Radeon HD 6410D, 65W, 2700, 32nm SOI, D2/D3 FCH, 1024 L2 Cache, DirectX 11

Motherboard: $39.99 after $10 MIR
GIGABYTE GA-A55M-DS2 AMD A Series Motherboard - Micro ATX, Socket FM1, AMD A55 Chipset, 1866MHz DDR3, SATA II (3Gb/s), RAID, 7.1-CH Audio, Gigabit LAN, USB 2.0

Memory: (4 GB for $24.95 w free shipping)
Crucial Ballistix 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1866 (PC3 14900) Desktop Memory Model BLT2KIT2G3D1869DT1TX0

DeLuSioNaL29

[Diet_Pepsi]

What about this?  It's an AMD A4 Series with integrated Radeon HD 6410D graphics.  It's supposedly overclockable and it's only $40 with free shipping.  Pair it with a liquid cooler and you're in business to make it even faster.  The motherboard I chose is micro ATX and it takes 1866MHz DDR3 RAM and has integrated LAN and audio.  Doesn't look like it has an HDMI port though, not sure if you needed that or not.  It's $40 after rebate.  And of course memory.  Found it cheaper at Newegg.com with free shipping. $24.95.

CPU: $40 w free shipping
AMD A4-Series AD3400OJHXBOX A4-3400 APU - Socket FM1, Radeon HD 6410D, 65W, 2700, 32nm SOI, D2/D3 FCH, 1024 L2 Cache, DirectX 11

Motherboard: $39.99 after $10 MIR
GIGABYTE GA-A55M-DS2 AMD A Series Motherboard - Micro ATX, Socket FM1, AMD A55 Chipset, 1866MHz DDR3, SATA II (3Gb/s), RAID, 7.1-CH Audio, Gigabit LAN, USB 2.0

Memory: (4 GB for $24.95 w free shipping)
Crucial Ballistix 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1866 (PC3 14900) Desktop Memory Model BLT2KIT2G3D1869DT1TX0

DeLuSioNaL29

That's a great deal, but I am not sure why you would need 1866 memory -- wouldn't this do?

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231423

Also, I don't think O/C or liquid cooling is necessary -- that setup should be able to run what the OP wants at stock speeds with the stock cooler.

[griffindodd]

here's what I have in my build and it certainly doesn't seem to struggle at all...

$49 - ASROCK H61M/U3S3 H61 Motherboard - Newegg
$49 - INTEL CELERON G530 (Sandybridge) 2.4Ghz Dual Core - Newegg
$45 - MEMORY 2x 4GB DDR3 GSKILL F3-8500 - Newegg