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Author Topic: Need advice - inexpensive PC build for MAME bartop cabinet  (Read 2521 times)

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acjgoblu

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Need advice - inexpensive PC build for MAME bartop cabinet
« on: December 26, 2015, 03:02:09 pm »
Looking for advice on a build for an inexpensive (ideally $200 or less) PC to run MAME cabinet that I'm building. I'll likely just be putting the components directly into the cabinet. I had looked over some of the Micro PC options (Kangaroo, RaspberryPi, NUC, etc), but it seems like doing a build with individual components would be a cheaper way to get much better specs than you can get from those machines. I'm hoping to emulate mostly older games (NES, SNES, Genesis, earlier MAME) but would like to at least get through N64 and some of the late 90s early 3D fighters on MAME (think Virtua Fighter-ish). I'll probably run this off of Linux with Hyperspin or MALA on the frontend.

I had looked at some components on sites like NewEgg and came across chips like the AMD A6-5400K, which (on paper) seems like it might be a nice option - clocks to 3.6GHz, has an integrated graphics card (which, from my understanding, is nice to have but not as critical as clock speed for most emulators and frontends), and is only $40 at the moment. Combining that with an entry level MicroITX motherboard and about 8GB ram with a ~120GB SSD seems like a reasonable package for this purpose and would come in around $150 or so, which would be great. I'm just wondering if I'm kidding myself to think that this processor would run the type of games that I'm looking to play without hiccups. If it is inadequate for what I'm looking for, any recommendations for "budget" processors that might work better?

Any advice would be much appreciated, especially from those of you who have built for this purpose before. I'm new to building computers but thought this would be a fun project to try it out...
« Last Edit: December 26, 2015, 03:22:30 pm by acjgoblu »

JDFan

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Re: Need advice - inexpensive PC build for MAME bartop cabinet
« Reply #1 on: December 26, 2015, 04:00:17 pm »
THere is a member here selling some off lease systems that would work well for the sub $200 price you could get the modder system from him  and add a GPU if wanting to play some of the newer games (the onboard is fine for the older classics but newest games may need a bit of a boost so a separate GPU would help) SEE THIS THREAD : ( http://forum.arcadecontrols.com/index.php/topic,133968.0.html )

HE has a basic unit for $110 including shipping

Quote
The Basic: This is the same model PC that has been sold before in the promo run.
-   i5 CPU ( model  660 – 3.33 GHz )
-   8GB DDR3 RAM (Can use 16GB Maximum)
-   250GB HDD
-   DVD Drive
-   VGA and DisplayPort out
-   Windows 7 Pro 64-bit pre-installed and activated
-   Shipped with new USB keyboard and mouse, power and network cables. 

or the modder system for $150
Quote
The Modder: This desktop is a step above the Basic.
-   i5 CPU (model 2500 – 3.3GHz)
-   8GB DDR3 RAM
-   All other specs similar to Basic model above

Either of which is probably better and cheaper than anything else you could put together for the sub $200 mark. and they include the windows OS license as well. (so would qualify for the free upgrade to win10 )

acjgoblu

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Re: Need advice - inexpensive PC build for MAME bartop cabinet
« Reply #2 on: December 26, 2015, 06:31:49 pm »
Thanks for that link, hadn't seen that before...I'm definitely interested, but part of me thinks I would like the challenge of building my own, even if it would be a bit lower powered...

Even though that's clearly a better unit, I'm mostly still just curious if my build would be adequate. I would guess that a lot of the power in that i5 unit would not be necessary for what I'm looking to run? Just not sure exactly what's needed to achieve my goals...
« Last Edit: December 26, 2015, 06:36:08 pm by acjgoblu »

langlem

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Re: Need advice - inexpensive PC build for MAME bartop cabinet
« Reply #3 on: December 26, 2015, 06:47:12 pm »
I recently thought exactly the same...but after I added it all up... Buying one of his units and adding a mid range Amazon special grapics card was pretty much a no brainer.

He was very easy to deal with...not the fastest shipping innthe world but I got the impression that I placed my order when he was pretty busy in the "real" world.

Ordered the basic...kind of wish I had gone with the "modder" now.  Was just trying to save a few bucks...

acjgoblu

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Re: Need advice - inexpensive PC build for MAME bartop cabinet
« Reply #4 on: December 26, 2015, 09:22:28 pm »
Hmmm, yeah that does seem like a great option. May have to PM and set up a deal. I didn't know a lot about processors, but from everything I can find, it's impressive how much better his processors are than what I could afford in a sub $200 build

Slippyblade

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Re: Need advice - inexpensive PC build for MAME bartop cabinet
« Reply #5 on: December 26, 2015, 09:33:32 pm »
He's a good guy to deal with as well.  He's got a great rep on the board here and I am very happy with the system I bought from him.  It was a replacement for the wife's desktop.

acjgoblu

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Re: Need advice - inexpensive PC build for MAME bartop cabinet
« Reply #6 on: December 26, 2015, 09:41:39 pm »
That seems to be the consensus...gonna have to stick with that plan then!

BTW your NeoGeo bartop looks sweet.

Slippyblade

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Re: Need advice - inexpensive PC build for MAME bartop cabinet
« Reply #7 on: December 26, 2015, 10:02:01 pm »
BTW your NeoGeo bartop looks sweet.

Thank you. Mine is a poor second to some of the other projects here.  Take a look at Unstupid's version.  Very sweet.  There's another one that even has an LCD mini marquee that swaps with the games.  Some of the builds here are just mind blowing.

haynor666

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Re: Need advice - inexpensive PC build for MAME bartop cabinet
« Reply #8 on: December 27, 2015, 05:45:44 am »
For about 250 USD You should have PC with G3258 so maybe it's worth add a little more.