Emulation PC need some HELP with building a new one.

[Comp1demon]

The PC on my Cabinet is gone. ALL The caps are popping and the computer is randomly locking.
After buying 4gb of new ram, a new 9800GTX+ video card, a new 650W powersupply, getting a sata 3 PCIE card to allow SSD to boot and even upgrading the 4400+ to a Optoron 180 it turns out it is the MOBO that is dead (or close to it - it locks up ever 20-40 mins or so. There are 12 caps that have pretty much popped at the top.  OH WELL.

So I want to salvage as much as possible for this PC, but If I have to buy a new MOBO might as well get something a bit newer than a 939 Nforce 4 board.
I need to use the 9800 GTX+ because my monitor is a TV with component IN and I am not getting a new monitor.  Nothing after the 9800GTX+ and the 1950XTX from Ati Have component output for 480i.
With that said, no need to buy a i7 or something close to up to date.

I want the best Mobo/processor/ram I can get but at the same time keep it inexpensiveness but powerful I am going to try some more 3d intensive emulators in addition to MAME and Daphne that are already installed.
I was thinking a Q6600, but then I started looking at the E8XXX series and the QX6XXX series.  I have no clue what to get.  Should I still be looking at AMD in this area too??

Recommendations please?

[SlammedNiss]

Re: Emulation PC need some hemp with building a new one.

Depending on what state you live in, that may or may not be legal.

[Comp1demon]

Re: Emulation PC need some hemp with building a new one.

Depending on what state you live in, that may or may not be legal.

Are you kidding me?

Don't matter what state I live in or country for that matter. I am asking an EDUCATIONAL QUESTION.  What I do after I get advice from the people here and build the machine that I want to build it is none of anyones business what I do with the machine.

IF I asked what is the best machine for hacking websites, there is no law that prevents people from recommending hardware regardless that they think I am going to do questionable things with that hardware.

This is a emulation / arcade forum. I am asking for hardware recommendations to run emulation software.  ALL EMULATORS ARE LEGAL!!!!!! It's the roms that are gray area and I never said I had any ROMS.

SO weather your response was serious or kidding around (HE WAS KIDDING, I MIS_SPELLED HELP AS HEMP - AND IT IS VERY FUNNY), Lets cut the kid crap out and get back to discussing BYOAC (and C stands for computer here not controller..LOL)

SlammedNiss I owe you a huge apology, I thought you were serious about the state requirements for recommended PC specs for emulation, i didn't see the HEMP in there.  MY FAULT. APOLOGIES..
Anyone out there with insight?

[BobA]

Cool it man.  The comment was directed at the hemp in your subject.  We all know you meant help but hemp comes out funny.

[wesbrown18]

The PC on my Cabinet is gone. ALL The caps are popping and the computer is randomly locking.
After buying 4gb of new ram, a new 9800GTX+ video card, a new 650W powersupply, getting a sata 3 PCIE card to allow SSD to boot and even upgrading the 4400+ to a Optoron 180 it turns out it is the MOBO that is dead (or close to it - it locks up ever 20-40 mins or so. There are 12 caps that have pretty much popped at the top.  OH WELL.

So I want to salvage as much as possible for this PC, but If I have to buy a new MOBO might as well get something a bit newer than a 939 Nforce 4 board.
I need to use the 9800 GTX+ because my monitor is a TV with component IN and I am not getting a new monitor.  Nothing after the 9800GTX+ and the 1950XTX from Ati Have component output for 480i.
With that said, no need to buy a i7 or something close to up to date.

I want the best Mobo/processor/ram I can get but at the same time keep it inexpensiveness but powerful I am going to try some more 3d intensive emulators in addition to MAME and Daphne that are already installed.
I was thinking a Q6600, but then I started looking at the E8XXX series and the QX6XXX series.  I have no clue what to get.  Should I still be looking at AMD in this area too??

Recommendations please?

Just replace the motherboard with another Socket 939 that you can put your Opteron 180 in.   That CPU is plenty powerful for what you're playing games for.  I need to take a look at benchmarks and see how it compares to the AMD Llano A8 that I have, which handily plays Soul Calibur and Tekken 2.

[shponglefan]

The PC on my Cabinet is gone. ALL The caps are popping and the computer is randomly locking.

Why not replace the capacitors?  If you're planning on ditching the MB anyway, you might as well give that a shot.

[darkSSide]

Re: Emulation PC need some hemp with building a new one.

Depending on what state you live in, that may or may not be legal.

Puff puff pass

Sent from my Atari 2600

[thatpurplestuff]

Re: Emulation PC need some hemp with building a new one.

Depending on what state you live in, that may or may not be legal.

Are you kidding me?

Don't matter what state I live in or country for that matter. I am asking an EDUCATIONAL QUESTION.  What I do after I get advice from the people here and build the machine that I want to build it is none of anyones business what I do with the machine.

IF I asked what is the best machine for hacking websites, there is no law that prevents people from recommending hardware regardless that they think I am going to do questionable things with that hardware.

This is a emulation / arcade forum. I am asking for hardware recommendations to run emulation software.  ALL EMULATORS ARE LEGAL!!!!!! It's the roms that are gray area and I never said I had any ROMS.

SO weather your response was serious or kidding around, Lets cut the kid crap out and get back to discussing BYOAC (and C stands for computer here not controller..LOL)

Anyone out there with insight?

Just chilllll bud.  SlammedNiss was just trying to weed out any potential problems... I don't mean to be blunt but BYOAC is a dope joint and basically just one great big melting pot so there's no need to get all fired up with smoke coming out of your ears.

[mgb]

Re: Emulation PC need some hemp with building a new one.

Depending on what state you live in, that may or may not be legal.

Are you kidding me?

Don't matter what state I live in or country for that matter. I am asking an EDUCATIONAL QUESTION.  What I do after I get advice from the people here and build the machine that I want to build it is none of anyones business what I do with the machine.

IF I asked what is the best machine for hacking websites, there is no law that prevents people from recommending hardware regardless that they think I am going to do questionable things with that hardware.

This is a emulation / arcade forum. I am asking for hardware recommendations to run emulation software.  ALL EMULATORS ARE LEGAL!!!!!! It's the roms that are gray area and I never said I had any ROMS.

SO weather your response was serious or kidding around, Lets cut the kid crap out and get back to discussing BYOAC (and C stands for computer here not controller..LOL)

Anyone out there with insight?

Whoa, you must be new around here.
   I think you'll find pretty quick that kinda attitude won't get you far around here.

[wesbrown18]

Just chilllll bud.  SlammedNiss was just trying to weed out any potential problems... I don't mean to be blunt but BYOAC is a dope joint and basically just one great big melting pot so there's no need to get all fired up with smoke coming out of your ears.

 

[dextercf]

Classic thread right here.
Laced, for her pleassure!

[Comp1demon]

Cool it man.  The comment was directed at the hemp in your subject.  We all know you meant help but hemp comes out funny.

I DIDN'T See I made a TYPO!!! Thanks for pointing that out.

I guess I owe an apology.

I couldn't believe someone out there thought recommending hardware for emulation could be illegal.. Now I see it.. and I am laughing and going to correct it now.

[Comp1demon]

The PC on my Cabinet is gone. ALL The caps are popping and the computer is randomly locking.

Why not replace the capacitors?  If you're planning on ditching the MB anyway, you might as well give that a shot.

I am going to try to save the board, but since I have to take the WHOLE PC APART - I might as well just pop something more up to date in there and if I get the old board working - eBay it.

Might as well go with something better.  This PC is OLD and I figured simple cheap upgrades, but then it got expensive and became a bit of a obsession to get it to work.
The last thing I wanted was to replace the MOBO.. that means ANOTHER new XP install.

SO I figured Core 2 duo or Quad? 

Again recommendations would be nice please since I am not a PC guru. 

[Drnick]

You won't need to do a whole XP Install, boot yourself into safe mode, Uninstall any Motherboard/Chipset drivers from add/remove programs. Then goto device manager, Uninstall as many devices as you possibly can (Hopefully you have a ps2 keyboard, uninstall that last)  Then you just power down the machine, pop in the new MB and boot back up again, let it find all the hardware and it will install as many drivers as it can.  Then Install the drivers for motherboard chipset/network/sound  (In that order).  I've done this a few times and never had any real problems.

[Comp1demon]

I will try that,

Still no recommendations on hardware?

[kahlid74]

I will try that,

Still no recommendations on hardware?

So it depends what you want to do with it primarily.  If you want to run as high as you can get a Intel Core i5 (Dual Core).  MAME can only use up to two cores right now so anything more than that is wasted MAME wise.  If you're rolling XP 4Gb of ram would be fine.  500GB HDD or greater would be needed to house the whole MAME catalog.  If you want to run 4th/5th/6th generation consoles you would also want a dedicated graphics card as these make use of the GPU.

The key to MAME is CPU power.  Do you have a price point you're looking to hit?

[Comp1demon]

I will try that,

Still no recommendations on hardware?

So it depends what you want to do with it primarily.  If you want to run as high as you can get a Intel Core i5 (Dual Core).  MAME can only use up to two cores right now so anything more than that is wasted MAME wise.  If you're rolling XP 4Gb of ram would be fine.  500GB HDD or greater would be needed to house the whole MAME catalog.  If you want to run 4th/5th/6th generation consoles you would also want a dedicated graphics card as these make use of the GPU.

The key to MAME is CPU power.  Do you have a price point you're looking to hit?

I think an i5 is overkill since i have to stick with the 9800 GTX+ grafx card.  I don't want to change my monitor.  My Monitor only accepts a component 480i signal.  Which is great for arcade games. Back when I built this cabinet in 2006 the monitor / TV I bought was highly recommended for arcade gaming if you didn't want to buy a wells garner or other dedicated Arcade monitor (which I couldn't afford), it was the best budget solution at the time.  To go with a high end Grafx card / monitor would mean having to major overhaul my cabinet.  It is just not something I want to do right now.  SO I am stuck using the TV/Monitor and the GTX 9800+ which is still a pretty high end card.  It is higher end then the 939 socket PC I was using. I was thinking of going better than the 939 board but not exactly i3/i5/i7 I think using this video card, those processors would be overkill.  But I am considering a Core 2 duo or Quad core intel.  I really want to keep it under $300 perhaps $200.    I am finding Q6600 with mobo and 4GB for around $140-180.  SO any recommendations would be appreciated.  Even this 939 board that is dying can play lots of 3d intensive emu's like PSX and Saturn and such, but it is just there. I am thinking anything better will be perfect, so Looking for the best ideas of where to go.  Should I go Q6600 or GO Higher like Q9550?  Maybe Amd processor???  If so which is equivalent?    So let the recommendations roll...

[Comp1demon]

Bump for help?  Response?

[404]

If you believe i5 is overkill for you then consider getting yourself a core2duo kit. You can buy them at closeout prices and second hand all day long.

Personally, I'm one of those guys that can't bare to see a good motherboard die because of 20 cent caps. But that's just me. 

[Comp1demon]

If you believe i5 is overkill for you then consider getting yourself a core2duo kit. You can buy them at closeout prices and second hand all day long.

Personally, I'm one of those guys that can't bare to see a good motherboard die because of 20 cent caps. But that's just me. 

Quad core not recommended then?

I understand MAME will not take advantage of the quad core, what about other emulators? 
Stick with a Core2duo and go highest GHZ or go Qaud?

[wesbrown18]

The Q5550 is a fantastic CPU.  I will say that a quad core CPU of a recent generation can be more useful than a dual core, all other factors such as clock rate and instructions per clock are equal.  It's not entirely correct when you say that MAME cannot use more than a dual core, implying that it's all you're ever going to need.

What about the operating system?  What about background services or services like the window manager and in the case of Groovy Arcade, X11?  If MAME pegs two cores, any use of the CPU by the system would impact on MAME.