Dell Optiplex FX160 80GB USFF Desktop OK to use for MAME??

[toedarino]

Will this smaller CPU run the latest MAME download? I thought it would be cool to secure this small PC to an Xarcade tankstick, then plug them into any TV or monitor. Almost like a "portable" MAME machine.
Thoughts?

Processor:   Intel Atom 230 1.6GHz
512KB Cache
Processor Core:   Single-Core
Memory:   2GB (supports up to 4GB)
Memory Slots:   2
Graphics:   Integrated SIS MIRAGE 3 GRAPHICS
Hard Drive:   80GB SATA 5400RPM
Optical Drive:   No
Sound:   Integrated
Network:   10/100/1000 Gigabit Ethernet

[vwalbridge]

It's gonna depend on a couple of things.

1. What games will you be playing?
2. Do you care about HLSL?
3. Did you want to use a Front End with it like Hyperspin?

[BadMouth]

The processor demands vary by game.  No processor is powerful enough to run all emulated games at full speed. 

3D games are more demanding.  You won't be able to run them.  (emulation in MAME takes place in the processor. 3D cards won't help)
It will probably also choke on the older games that had discrete sound.  We're talking about not being able to run Frogger despite it being a very old game.

Older versions of MAME fudged the discrete sound instead of emulating it correctly and were less demanding.
You're better off using v.106 with that processor.
Romsets for v.106 can be found fairly easily because it was the last version before a rewrite of the video made MAME much more demanding.

For current MAME builds, my philosophy is "at least 3Ghz or go home".

[Haze]

The Atom processors reportedly struggled to run 2D games on Namco's System 2 hardware like Assault, often dipping well below 100%

For reference on a 4Ghz i7 Assault runs at 1600% most of the time, dipping to 1100% in places in a regular 64-bit build.

There are many, many 2d games that run slower than Assault.

You get what you pay for....those processors were designed for low power, low heat output, not performance (it looks like, at the same Mhz rating an i7 has roughly 6-7x the single core performance of the Atom)