Time to upgrade my arcade PC...

[MagicMan]

My old & outdated machine doesn't want to boot up most of the time now so I need to buy a new PC. This machine ran most MAME games fine & was good for NES, SMS & SNES, but not so good for N64.
I use MALA as my FE. This machine can't handle CHD games. I'd like the next one to be able to.

What kind of machine and/or graphics card should I be looking at as a minimum for the above?


Also, I can't get Project 64 to cooperate with me so what other N64 emulators are my best bet? I don't need fancy, I am looking for function over form.

[lilshawn]

looking at as a minimum

this is your issue. look to the future and save yourself some money in the long run. you want the bare minimum, but then want to be able to do more and more things.

seriously, do yourself a favor. buy a decent computer for a couple of hunskies and you won't be paying for another computer in 6 months cause the requirements went up on your emus. i've seen this time, time and again.

[shponglefan]

Any modern 3+ GHz machine + 4 gigs of RAM will be fine.  I'm using an older dual core Intel E8400 system and have no issues running N64 emulation and the vast majority of MAME titles.

[Fursphere]

Any modern 3+ GHz machine + 4 gigs of RAM will be fine.  I'm using an older dual core Intel E8400 system and have no issues running N64 emulation and the vast majority of MAME titles.

I have an E8400 system sand it'll play the older stuff great.

It will not play Gamecube/Wii stuff or PS2 stuff very well at all.

[bigster]

I just posted a cheap core 2 duo small motherboard and cpu in the For Sale section if you are interested.  It runs project 64, psx, dreamcast.  I only upgraded it because i had a 1tb hdd and a sata dvd player, then bought a ssd for booting which needed an extra sata port.  anyway it is a small footprint motherboard.

[yotsuya]

I just posted a cheap core 2 duo small motherboard and cpu in the For Sale section if you are interested.  It runs project 64, psx, dreamcast.  I only upgraded it because i had a 1tb hdd and a sata dvd player, then bought a ssd for booting which needed an extra sata port.  anyway it is a small footprint motherboard.

This is a good deal. If I needed one, I'd pick it up myself.

[MagicMan]

looking at as a minimum

this is your issue. look to the future and save yourself some money in the long run. you want the bare minimum, but then want to be able to do more and more things.

seriously, do yourself a favor. buy a decent computer for a couple of hunskies and you won't be paying for another computer in 6 months cause the requirements went up on your emus. i've seen this time, time and again.

Never said I am only buying the minimum. I simply wanted to know what my starting point should be, thanks.

[BadMouth]

3Ghz or go home.

Need to get 3.4+ if you want to get into the processor hogs like Blitz & Gauntlet Legends.
For Nvidia cards, x60 or better (460, 560, 660, etc) for the 3D emulators like Demul and Supermodel.

I was thinking about the $250 budget PC in my stand-up cab last night.  Originally I thought I'd want to build a faster PC when the cab was done, but there aren't any games that I want to play that it can't.  It might not play the new PC fighters with all the graphics settings maxed out, but it plays them at 1280x720 with everything on medium and it looks damn good to me.  It plays Blitz & Gauntlet Legends.  It chokes on the NAOMI shmups in Demul, but will play them on Makaron emulator.  The specs are 3.4Ghz Athlon X3 (cheap $40 budget mobo unlocked the 4th core somehow), Nvidia 9800GT, 4GB RAM.

I've never tried a PS2 emulator.  I've heard the 2D stuff isn't as demanding, but I know there is no way this would be enough for 3D PS2 emulation.
My driving cab has the same processor and video card and I've played Gamecube driving games on it using Dolphin emulator.
Some ran perfect, others had slowdown.  I imagine the non-driving games are about the same.

I would use newer generation stuff if building today, but you could probably still put together a $300 system that runs all this stuff if you hold out for good deals. 

[michelevit]

There are a plethura of used desktops on Craigslist that work. Everyone is updating from desktops to laptops/tablets.
I'm still running a dual core with 2 gigs of ram and it runs everything I throw at it.


You probably just need a new power supply in that dead computer of yours. That's typically the failing link of desktops.

[MagicMan]

There are a plethura of used desktops on Craigslist that work. Everyone is updating from desktops to laptops/tablets.
I'm still running a dual core with 2 gigs of ram and it runs everything I throw at it.


You probably just need a new power supply in that dead computer of yours. That's typically the failing link of desktops.

Probably, but it can't run all the games I want to play anyway so I have an excuse to upgrade. 

I was hoping to buy something complete vs building another.

[BadMouth]

I'm still running a dual core with 2 gigs of ram and it runs everything I throw at it.

That could mean anything from a 1.1Ghz atom to an overclocked 4ghz core2duo.

What is the most demanding game you throw at it?
Have you thrown Ridge Racer at it? 

[lilshawn]

dooo eeeeeiiit!

[chopperthedog]

3Ghz or go home. 

This^^. I've been very pleased with an i3 system I picked up recently to replace my dead 10yo amd set up that I had in a cab.


good day.

[Fursphere]

3Ghz or go home.

Sweet!  I can finally get my 3ghz Pentium four out of the recycle bin and built a new MAME Cab!   

Joking aside, you really need to include processor family alongside ghz ratings.  Ghz alone doesn't tell you anything, because it doesn't include IPS ratings (instructions per second).

What I do is look up the exact processor model on cpu benchmarks....

http://www.cpubenchmark.net/

[Haze]

3Ghz or go home.

Sweet!  I can finally get my 3ghz Pentium four out of the recycle bin and built a new MAME Cab!   

Joking aside, you really need to include processor family alongside ghz ratings.  Ghz alone doesn't tell you anything, because it doesn't include IPS ratings (instructions per second).

What I do is look up the exact processor model on cpu benchmarks....

http://www.cpubenchmark.net/

This.  There is a world between an old 3ghz Celeron, an old 3ghz P4, an old '3ghz' rated AMD, or the more modern Core2 / i3/i5 etc. ranges (and even a big difference between those)

Even the new 3ghz AMD chips bench badly in MAME terms against a Core2, nevermind when benched against the i3/i5 s it is kinda important.

All processor improvements in the last few years have been improvements to the architecture, design, efficiency etc. while we've been stuck at ~3ghz for a good while now.

A 3ghz Core2 will do you for the vast majority of stuff at the moment, an i3/i5 will be more futureproof.  The modern chips have fairly good overclocking ability compared to older ones too, which is always a plus for emulation.  Component prices for older systems seem to be creeping up too, especially RAM etc. so keep that in mind, it's not always more cost effective to get something older and upgrade it.

[MagicMan]

Any chance I can get by with an Intel Quad Core over the i3?

[Fursphere]

Any chance I can get by with an Intel Quad Core over the i3?

"Intel Quad Core" is pretty vague  (technically an i3 is a dual core chip btw...)

List out the model of the specific CPU you're looking at.

[smalltownguy]

3.5ghz is the safe zone for most of what's playable in MAME these days.

I had a 3.0HT (hyperthreaded) in my MAME rig and it stuttered on Area51: Site 4 (CHD game) pretty badly.

A good budget system would include an E8400 that's been overclocked. Read up on setting it up for 4.0ghz stable and you should be all set.

You should read this thread, there's LOTS of good info in there:

http://forum.arcadecontrols.com/index.php?topic=72776

[MagicMan]

Any chance I can get by with an Intel Quad Core over the i3?

"Intel Quad Core" is pretty vague  (technically an i3 is a dual core chip btw...)

List out the model of the specific CPU you're looking at.

Intel Core 2 Quad Q6600 Processor

[Haze]

Any chance I can get by with an Intel Quad Core over the i3?

"Intel Quad Core" is pretty vague  (technically an i3 is a dual core chip btw...)

List out the model of the specific CPU you're looking at.

Intel Core 2 Quad Q6600 Processor

it's only 2.4ghz which means it will be slower for 99% of MAME than a 3ghz Core 2 Duo, and probably not fast enough in single core performance for the games that benefit from more than 2 cores.

Generally not a good MAME choice.

[lilshawn]

you are mixing up 2 different terminologies.

cores and threads.

the i3 is a dual CORE CPU but also a multi THREAD cpu (giving the illusion of 4 processors)

the FX4150 is a quad core but a single THREAD cpu (has 4 actual processors)

A thread is a single line of commands that are getting processed, each application has at least one thread, most have multiples. A core is the physical hardware that works on the thread. In general a processor can only work on one thread per core, CPUs with hyper threading can typically work on up to two threads per core.

For processors with hyper threading, there are extra registers and execution units in the core so it can store the state of two threads and work on them both, normally to change threads you have to empty the registers into the cache, write that back to the main memory, then load up the cache with the new values and load up the registers, etc etc etc... these switches can hurt performance significantly. You can alleviate this issue by simply having more cores than your process requires. That way, each core works their own thread and there is no need to switch out the register data.

[Hockeyboy]

Any chance I can get by with an Intel Quad Core over the i3?

"Intel Quad Core" is pretty vague  (technically an i3 is a dual core chip btw...)

List out the model of the specific CPU you're looking at.

Intel Core 2 Quad Q6600 Processor

it's only 2.4ghz which means it will be slower for 99% of MAME than a 3ghz Core 2 Duo, and probably not fast enough in single core performance for the games that benefit from more than 2 cores.

Generally not a good MAME choice.

Damn - I'm putting together a system from spare parts and I'm using a Core 2 Quad Q9450. According to the CPU Benchmark site, it runs at 2.66GHz, socket: LGA775, clockspeed: 2.7 GHz, # of Cores: 4, max TDP: 95 W.  I'm just going to run MAME and Daphne games (Dragon's Lair I & II, Space Ace, and Cliff Hanger). I think the video card is a nVidia 9800GT. I'm really hoping that will be good enough to play without any stutter or chop.

[Haze]

Any chance I can get by with an Intel Quad Core over the i3?

"Intel Quad Core" is pretty vague  (technically an i3 is a dual core chip btw...)

List out the model of the specific CPU you're looking at.

Intel Core 2 Quad Q6600 Processor

it's only 2.4ghz which means it will be slower for 99% of MAME than a 3ghz Core 2 Duo, and probably not fast enough in single core performance for the games that benefit from more than 2 cores.

Generally not a good MAME choice.

Damn - I'm putting together a system from spare parts and I'm using a Core 2 Quad Q9450. According to the CPU Benchmark site, it runs at 2.66GHz, socket: LGA775, clockspeed: 2.7 GHz, # of Cores: 4, max TDP: 95 W.  I'm just going to run MAME and Daphne games (Dragon's Lair I & II, Space Ace, and Cliff Hanger). I think the video card is a nVidia 9800GT. I'm really hoping that will be good enough to play without any stutter or chop.

Well it's not a terrible CPU f if you're using spare parts, it's just not going to perform as well as a 3ghz Core 2 Duo for 99% of MAME and the things that actually use 4 cores generally need 3.5ghz+

4 cores is pretty good for development work because it reduces compile times.. but that probably isn't the main thing you had in mind ;-)

[BadMouth]

I'm really hoping that will be good enough to play without any stutter or chop.

Play what?  Different games have different requirements.
Even the fastest processors choke on some games.
The specs you mentioned would play pretty much all 2D stuff up through Killer Intinct, and maybe a little bit of the 3D stuff (Tekken).
Probably not going to play Gauntlet Legends.  Definitely won't run Ridge Racer.
It might choke a little on newer 2D shmups.

If you're not worried about any games newer than Mortal Kombat, it's probably overkill.

[Hockeyboy]

I'm really hoping that will be good enough to play without any stutter or chop.

Play what?  Different games have different requirements.
Even the fastest processors choke on some games.
The specs you mentioned would play pretty much all 2D stuff up through Killer Intinct, and maybe a little bit of the 3D stuff (Tekken).
Probably not going to play Gauntlet Legends.  Definitely won't run Ridge Racer.
It might choke a little on newer 2D shmups.

If you're not worried about any games newer than Mortal Kombat, it's probably overkill.

Bleh, I should have clarified that I wasn't looking (at least with this computer) to try to play "new" games. I definitely won't be trying Gauntlet Legends, or Mortal Kombat, or Ridge Racer. I'm mostly going to stick with the "old school" arcarde games: Pac-Man, DK, Mario Bros, Xevious, Xenophobe, maybe some Golden Tee, and a few spinner-controlled games.

Thanks for that info though - makes me feel a lot better. 

[paigeoliver]

Anything you can buy new today will handle that stuff just fine. If for whatever reason the game you like doesn't run full speed then try it with an older mame version.

I'm really hoping that will be good enough to play without any stutter or chop.

Play what?  Different games have different requirements.
Even the fastest processors choke on some games.
The specs you mentioned would play pretty much all 2D stuff up through Killer Intinct, and maybe a little bit of the 3D stuff (Tekken).
Probably not going to play Gauntlet Legends.  Definitely won't run Ridge Racer.
It might choke a little on newer 2D shmups.

If you're not worried about any games newer than Mortal Kombat, it's probably overkill.

Bleh, I should have clarified that I wasn't looking (at least with this computer) to try to play "new" games. I definitely won't be trying Gauntlet Legends, or Mortal Kombat, or Ridge Racer. I'm mostly going to stick with the "old school" arcarde games: Pac-Man, DK, Mario Bros, Xevious, Xenophobe, maybe some Golden Tee, and a few spinner-controlled games.

Thanks for that info though - makes me feel a lot better.