Any way to speed up MAME on old PC?

[1500points]

Recently was given an old Compaq Presario 5070
AMD-K6 3D processor
350Mhz
156Mb RAM
Running Windows XP Pro (no SP2)

Installed WolfMAME .106, (MAME32 Plus!)
Star Wars runs very slow, like a frame or two a second.

I have turned on Use DirectDraw.   Direct3D is unchecked.

Is this PC just too underpowered to run SW in old MAME?
I have no use for the PC if it can't do any MAME stuff.

Thanks for any tips or insights.

[nitrogen_widget]

I thought wolfmame is developed for recording video's.
I could be wrong though.
Have you tried advancemame or an older version of mame in the .70's?

[BadMouth]

350mhz is probably choking on xp.

v.37 might work.  I don't know if it plays Star Wars, but you could probably find a 10x better computer for free with little effort.
There used to be a DOSMame installation disk floating around somewhere, but you pretty much need a sound blaster card for the sound drivers to work.

Throw the thing away already.
About the time you get something working on it, the power supply or hard drive will die and you'll be stuck spending money on parts to keep it going.

[1500points]

Rock on. Thanks for the details.

I have a very tech-curious neighborhood kid who will enjoy devouring this PC in great detail.
thanks again.

[DeLuSioNal29]

That computer is more suited for Win98se, running a DOS version of MAME.  Probably version .89 at the MOST.

I've used a similar build for a handful of games on my vertical cab with the classics.  Much more than that and it would choke.

D

[Malenko]

Im all about re-using old hardware as much as you can, but for literally a couple hundred dollars or less you can get a dell optiplex from craigslist and save yourself quite the headache

[ark_ader]

Im all about re-using old hardware as much as you can, but for literally a couple hundred dollars or less you can get a dell optiplex from craigslist and save yourself quite the headache

Yeah I got mine for $20 at a garage sale and it is a P4.  AMD K6....brings back memories...

[keilmillerjr]

Time to switch to a lightweight distro of Linux and add more ram.

Try livemamecab or lubuntu?
http://forum.arcadecontrols.com/index.php/topic,133636.0.html

[Generic Eric]

Recently was given an old Compaq Presario 5070
AMD-K6 3D processor
350Mhz
156Mb RAM
Running Windows XP Pro (no SP2)

Installed WolfMAME .106, (MAME32 Plus!)
Star Wars runs very slow, like a frame or two a second.

I have turned on Use DirectDraw.   Direct3D is unchecked.

Is this PC just too underpowered to run SW in old MAME?
I have no use for the PC if it can't do any MAME stuff.

Thanks for any tips or insights.

Nothing *but* bad jokes here.  I think any money you were going to spend rehabilitating this PC would get you half way to a new PC.

[pbj]

It'll run Star Wars fine if you flop it back to Windows 98 and run it in DOS mode. 

[nitrogen_widget]

Im all about re-using old hardware as much as you can, but for literally a couple hundred dollars or less you can get a dell optiplex from craigslist and save yourself quite the headache

Yeah I got mine for $20 at a garage sale and it is a P4.  AMD K6....brings back memories...

I have one of these.
It was my dedicated geexbox...er box for video's yrs ago.
Played DVD's fine with a geforce2 back in the Standard Definition days.
It still posts.

I looked into using it with Linux for my classics build however i need to dig up a USB card because it only uses an AT keyboard connector. 

[1500points]

passed the PC on to the kid to dissect.

Will work on finding another.
With this particular project, I'm going to be putting a SW mame cab out in a pseudo-public place for a week or two long event.
my good mame laptop would get stolen, so I want to put as little into the PC part of it as possible incase it does get snagged I won't be fuming. 

Thanks for all the info.

[wp34]

passed the PC on to the kid to dissect.

Will work on finding another.
With this particular project, I'm going to be putting a SW mame cab out in a pseudo-public place for a week or two long event.
my good mame laptop would get stolen, so I want to put as little into the PC part of it as possible incase it does get snagged I won't be fuming. 

Thanks for all the info.

Is this pseudo-public event in Iowa by any chance?

[nitrogen_widget]

passed the PC on to the kid to dissect.

Will work on finding another.
With this particular project, I'm going to be putting a SW mame cab out in a pseudo-public place for a week or two long event.
my good mame laptop would get stolen, so I want to put as little into the PC part of it as possible incase it does get snagged I won't be fuming. 

Thanks for all the info.

I've picked up a 3ghz dual core pentium D with motherboard for $25
4GB ram for $20
PSU for $10

all used from ebay.
Those prices include shipping & were Buy it now.

I also have a few p3 boards that seem to work well with Linux & advmame .106 with onboard graphics.
Play most classics.

They do struggle with sound on the newer golden Tee & some weird Journey game I never knew existed.

[1500points]

Is this pseudo-public event in Iowa by any chance?

The ICON 2014 event in Fairfield, Weekend of Aug 2 is main activity.
Hope you are coming down?!

[Generic Eric]

passed the PC on to the kid to dissect.

Best luck with the search for your replacement.  Since we have closure, let the puns begin.

The only thing you can do to make that PC faster is throw it.

[wp34]

Is this pseudo-public event in Iowa by any chance?

The ICON 2014 event in Fairfield, Weekend of Aug 2 is main activity.
Hope you are coming down?!

This is the first I've heard of it but I may try.  Fairfield is my dad's home town.

[1500points]

cool beans.
half my family is from that area.

https://www.facebook.com/events/501811363269520/?ref=br_tf

[paigeoliver]

Downgrade your OS to windows 98.
Downgrade your mame version to .55.

Follow those instructions and it should run fine.