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Processor Advice
big10p:
My MAME box has a 3.2GHz i3. It's run everything I've tried at full speed, 1920x1080 res with HLSL on. HLSL is down to the GPU though, obviously.
Generic Eric:
There are 3 things that matter when building a mame PC.
1.) Budget
2.) How long do you anticipate this PC lasting you? 3, 5 or 10 years? Budget more for a PC you want to last longer
3.) Budget
How about treating yourself to a new PC and just using your current PC for MAME? Maybe it needs some updates too?
Also, both CPUs you listed seem to be out of stock on new egg? It looks like they date back to 2010 and 2012. What is it you are buying?
At this point, I should say that I am very much a fan of the MAME "insert year of the PC configuration." MAME2014 is overkill, but will give you leg room as time goes on.
Generally, the Venn Diagram of pc building is budget vs performance. You could add a third circle to that of MAME, but I think it would be more appropriate to consider what is the best windows 7 PC I can build now. MAME runs better on 64bit.
Also consider that win7 begins the dawn of EOS starting 01/15 ending in 01/20. So really, you'll be building a WIN7x64 MAME machine.
--- Quote from: jonnik on September 05, 2014, 08:25:30 am ---About to start my first MAME build and shopping about for processors
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--- Quote ---http://forum.arcadecontrols.com/index.php/topic,121162.msg1285462.html#msg1285462
best bang for your buck get a intel i5 core 2500k with motherboard combo read about i have it and its amazing no hicups at all!!! :cheers:
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Read the above thread for MAME2012 PC
--- Quote from: jonnik on September 05, 2014, 10:29:51 am ---What motherboard would you reccommend ?
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Re: motherboard something current. Maybe even new this year. But you don't have to go this way. Especially if this is your first time building a PC.
Determine your budget and choose a small form factor PC from Dell. Then, go about picking individual parts from newegg or amazon to match it. You may save some money from not ordering a case.
run a 64-bit OS and 64-bit MAME which gives a significant boost
a decent clocked i5 is your current 2012 best bet for price/performance.
HLSL
TL;DR Get the cheaper CPU.
screamingtiger:
Source?
--- Quote from: pbj on September 05, 2014, 10:21:34 am ---Buy the most expensive Intel processor you can afford.
Make sure you remove all network functionality from your MAME cabinets. People have gone to prison for their ROM collections.
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jonnik:
Thanks that helps, I think will shop about for a i5 then as I say money is not an issue budget is about £1000 at the same time didnt want to just waste money on bits that I dont need or is overkill for the job.
jonnik:
Can pick up a 3ghz i5 1150 for about £100 at my local shop.
Will not skimp on motherboard and go from there.
What would you reccommend for the front end ?