Horsepower - How much do I need

[Tempers]

I'm looking for some advice on my next Mame project. What processer, total Ram, and Video Card specs do I need to be able to run the latest games on Mame with out any performance problems.  I want to be able to run everything currently on mame thats 100% emulated.  I prefer AMD. Thanks

[neuromancer]

For processor, you can't have too much. 1.3 ghz is pretty good, and may run everything if you have a good install of your OS and a fast motherboard. For RAM 256 Mb is good. Prices being what they are it's hard to justify anything less. For video cards it really doesn't matter.

Bob

[Mike]

standard mame was supposedly developed using a 4mb video card so like the previous guy said it shouldn't matter. Unless you want to use a different flavor of mame or your using an arcade monitor or TV out. Which the video card will vary depending on what your plan set up is going to be. As for the processor the 1.3ghz will come close to running everything but there are games that will still bog. There has been some debate on the exact processor speed needed but my guess is probably an athlon XP 1800 will run close to everything full speed.

[JustMichael]

I'm looking for some advice on my next Mame project. What processer, total Ram, and Video Card specs do I need to be able to run the latest games on Mame with out any performance problems.  I want to be able to run everything currently on mame thats 100% emulated.  I prefer AMD. Thanks

Well the 1.8GHZ is nicely priced.  I would recommend a mobo that supports DDR ram.  I would also recommend 256MB as a minimum amount of ram.  As for the video card,  which one you want depends upon what type of display you are going to use.  For a PC monitor you can use just about any card.  For a TV most recommendations tend toward the ATI cards.  For an arcade monitor you will need to find a card that can output the proper frequencies.

[TheManuel]

What processer, total Ram, and Video Card specs do I need to be able to run the latest games on Mame with out any performance problems.

Whatever video and sound card you do select, stay away from onboard units.  These leech power from the CPU and may degrade performance if CPU power is at a premium.

Manuel