Mame System Requirements?

[Jamesbeat]

Believe me, I didn't want to start this topic any more than you want to read it 

Now that I'm building a full sized cabinet, I have room to fit a PC instead of a raspberry pi.
I've been searching for some time now to pin down exactly what I need that PC to be, but the subject appears to be nebulous at best.

The mame faq is still recommending a PIII or above, and I know some people here are still using faster P4 machines.
Some people spend a grand on a top notch PC, others recommend pulling a machine from a dumpster.

The general advice seems to be 'it depends what games you want to play', and also that there are some games that just won't run at full speed on any current PC.

Is anyone able to give me some idea of what spec I should be looking for, or at least help me ask the right questions?

[dmckean]

What do you want to play? Are you planning on using a arcade monitor or LCD? If you're using a LCD, do you want to be able to use HLSL effects?

All this makes a big difference.

[harveybirdman]

I think the general consensus is the fastest Intel processor in your budget.

To me the price in system vs the playable games added makes the top flight systems wasted.  Honestly sometimes the issues seem to be with emulation with some hardware.

I mean STV and even some Cave Sh3 might have issues even on top tier systems because of how hard saturn/titan or the respective Cave hardware is to emulate.

[BadMouth]

Is anyone able to give me some idea of what spec I should be looking for, or at least help me ask the right questions?

The general advice seems to be 'it depends what games you want to play', and also that there are some games that just won't run at full speed on any current PC.

so....

what games you want to play

?

If you're used to MAME on the Pi, then you could use an ancient build of MAME (which the pi and android versions are) and it will run on any PC you find for free on craigslist.

If you want to use the newest version of MAME and want to play 3D games from the 90's and some Cave shmups from the turn of the century, then.....
MAME is optimized for Intel processors, get an Intel processor.  You'll need something like 3.4 to 4Ghz if you want to play those cave shmups and fast moving 3D games like Ridge Racer.
Most drivers in MAME are still only using 2 cores, so an i3 is ok.  The extra cores of an i5 might handle some overhead.

If you want to run Demul for the Sega Naomi games, you'll also need a Directx11 video card.

[haynor666]

http://forum.arcadecontrols.com/index.php/topic,146276.msg1522085.html#msg1522085

[P.H.U.]

Any 64-bit CPU with a minimum 4GB ram is fine. But then again, the bottleneck is your OS. If Windows 7 64-bit, I would recommend a Core 2 Duo or higher. You can get this PC for about $20-$40. MAME will run on an Athlon X2 just fine as long as you use XP 64-bit. I have a system running an AMD X2 5600+ w/4GB DDR2, it runs HyperSpin and MAME just fine.

With older lower minimum system requirements, always shoot for a 64-bit OS, namely WinXP 64-bit and you will be fine. Save yourself money. MAME alone is not resource hungry unless there isn't enough resources. If you need HLSL, well, that is another story.

[lamprey]

Any 64-bit CPU with a minimum 4GB ram is fine. But then again, the bottleneck is your OS. If Windows 7 64-bit, I would recommend a Core 2 Duo or higher. You can get this PC for about $20-$40. MAME will run on an Athlon X2 just fine as long as you use XP 64-bit. I have a system running an AMD X2 5600+ w/4GB DDR2, it runs HyperSpin and MAME just fine.

With older lower minimum system requirements, always shoot for a 64-bit OS, namely WinXP 64-bit and you will be fine. Save yourself money. MAME alone is not resource hungry unless there isn't enough resources. If you need HLSL, well, that is another story.

I think there are lot of assumptions being made here. We can't give much of a recommendation until we know what games the OP wants to play. However, I, generally, agree with what you are saying.

But, as an example, my main MAME machine is an older i7 920 OCed to 4.5GHz (with hyper threading off) and there are still games that don't run at 100%. So, saying any old 64bit CPU will work isn't right unless you are talking about some of the classics like Pac-Man and Donkey Kong.

Additionally, as MAME progresses they claim the emulations are getting more accurate, which is great. However, that also, in many case, means they run much slower. So, one might want to use an older version of MAME with an older CPU to get the best performance. Lots of potential trade offs at play.

[dmckean]

I think there are lot of assumptions being made here. We can't give much of a recommendation until we know what games the OP wants to play. However, I, generally, agree with what you are saying.

But, as an example, my main MAME machine is an older i7 920 OCed to 4.5GHz (with hyper threading off) and there are still games that don't run at 100%. So, saying any old 64bit CPU will work isn't right unless you are talking about some of the classics like Pac-Man and Donkey Kong.

Additionally, as MAME progresses they claim the emulations are getting more accurate, which is great. However, that also, in many case, means they run much slower. So, one might want to use an older version of MAME with an older CPU to get the best performance. Lots of potential trade offs at play.

Even if you were to use an older computer to play golden age games, I would recommend using modern MAME for everything and only reverting to older versions on specific games that run slow. There's just been so many improvements and bug fixes over the years.

[DeLuSioNal29]

I would also add that your choice of Frontend makes a difference too.  If you're wanting to run Hyperspin with all the bells and whistles enabled, you'll want a faster processor.  If you're running MALA it will not need as beefy a system to run on.  Etc, etc.

Even though MAME uses one processor for example you'll want multiple to handle any background processes (like the Frontend) and or drivers, image mounting software, etc.

D

[Jamesbeat]

Tha is guys, it's becoming a little clearer now.

Part of the problem is that I don't really know what games I want to be able to play.

Well, that's not entirely accurate. I'd be happy with just the classics, but I also have a 14 year old son who likes fighting games. I'm sure there are loads of really cool games that I don't even know exist right now that I would want to have on the machine.

I suppose I should really take the time to watch a load of 'top 100 arcade games' type videos to find out what's out there.

[Jamesbeat]

I would also add that your choice of Frontend makes a difference too.  If you're wanting to run Hyperspin with all the bells and whistles enabled, you'll want a faster processor.  If you're running MALA it will not need as beefy a system to run on.  Etc, etc.

Even though MAME uses one processor for example you'll want multiple to handle any background processes (like the Frontend) and or drivers, image mounting software, etc.

D

I don't personally care for hyperspin, so that's not a problem.
To answer another poster above, I'm a heathen and will be using an LCD monitor with no effects/enhancements.
I know it's heresy, but I guess my tastes are not as refined as some on this forum.
I admire the attention to detail and the clever software tricks, but I'm currently happy with LCD and my family are casual players who don't know any better

[P.H.U.]

I would also add that your choice of Frontend makes a difference too.  If you're wanting to run Hyperspin with all the bells and whistles enabled, you'll want a faster processor.  If you're running MALA it will not need as beefy a system to run on.  Etc, etc.

Even though MAME uses one processor for example you'll want multiple to handle any background processes (like the Frontend) and or drivers, image mounting software, etc.

D

I don't personally care for hyperspin, so that's not a problem.
To answer another poster above, I'm a heathen and will be using an LCD monitor with no effects/enhancements.
I know it's heresy, but I guess my tastes are not as refined as some on this forum.
I admire the attention to detail and the clever software tricks, but I'm currently happy with LCD and my family are casual players who don't know any better

Ignorance is bliss. And that is not a bad thing in this case. Well, don't break the bank as you do this. Those games don't require too much processing power. Usually, when someone says MAME, I know they want to play the sprite-based games (and yes, that is an assumption) and not the later polygon based games. For those games, the system I spec'ed for you works fine.

Don't let the cost of hardware prohibit you from enjoying the good times of days long gone. The point is to play games.

[dmckean]

I don't personally care for hyperspin, so that's not a problem.
To answer another poster above, I'm a heathen and will be using an LCD monitor with no effects/enhancements.
I know it's heresy, but I guess my tastes are not as refined as some on this forum.
I admire the attention to detail and the clever software tricks, but I'm currently happy with LCD and my family are casual players who don't know any better

In that case, just a relatively fast computer with a Intel processor from the last 5 years or so but nothing crazy. It will cover everything from golden age to the mid-90s or so.

[Jamesbeat]

Thanks guys.

Am I right in thinking that GHz is king in this case like, for example, a 4GHz Pentium 4 would be better than a 3GHz dual core?

[smass]

Since dual core is all you need, if you want to keep the cost down and are going with new parts, I would say a Pentium G3258 with a $50 H81 motherboard and 8gb or RAM would be sufficient.  The G3528 runs at 3.2ghz and is a dual core processor.  You can get one for $65 regular price, or around $50 on sale.  Add a $30 power supply and $30 8gb ddr 3 ram and you are at $175 or less before adding an OS.  Intel integrated graphics will probably be sufficient, but you could always add a video card later.

If you don't mind used you can find off lease/refurbished 2nd gen i5 desktops for under $150 on ebay, and if you troll CL you may get lucky and find a deal.  I scored a 2nd gen i5 laptop with 8gb of ram and a broken screen for $75 a few months ago.  I am going to use it in my bar top build.

[smass]

Thanks guys.

Am I right in thinking that GHz is king in this case like, for example, a 4GHz Pentium 4 would be better than a 3GHz dual core?

Since you can get a 2nd gen core i5 system for under $150, I would not recommend bothering with a Pentium 4 system unless you get it for DIRT cheap.  Like basically free. CPU speed is an important factor, but newer systems use faster RAM and much more powerful motherboard chipsets.  I am running an older version of MAME on a 3.2ghz Pentium 4, and it runs okay with classic games, but it chugs noticeably with certain newer games. 

If you find a $25 Pentium 4 system on CL then you are welcome to give it a try, but personally, I would not bother and go for a newer system for a few bucks more.

[haynor666]

Since dual core is all you need, if you want to keep the cost down and are going with new parts, I would say a Pentium G3258 with a $50 H81 motherboard and 8gb or RAM would be sufficient.  The G3528 runs at 3.2ghz and is a dual core processor.  You can get one for $65 regular price, or around $50 on sale.  Add a $30 power supply and $30 8gb ddr 3 ram and you are at $175 or less before adding an OS.  Intel integrated graphics will probably be sufficient, but you could always add a video card later.

If you don't mind used you can find off lease/refurbished 2nd gen i5 desktops for under $150 on ebay, and if you troll CL you may get lucky and find a deal.  I scored a 2nd gen i5 laptop with 8gb of ram and a broken screen for $75 a few months ago.  I am going to use it in my bar top build.

I 100% agree with processor - fantastic ratio power/price but should be overclocked to at least 4.0 GHz (with ease on H81 boards with overclocking option). Also 8 Gb RAM is too much, for XP 2 Gb and for 7x64 4 Gb is more than enough.

Please note that some old intel integrated cards does not work anymore with mame. Better choice is to grab some cheap ATI HD4xxx serie if You are going to use groovymame or cheap Nvidia card.

[Generic Eric]

echo on:

What monitor will you use?
Arcade CRT, pc CRT, LCD

What games do you play?
This used to be a common questioned with a reply along the lines if it was pre Street fighter you could put in any machine from the garage.

Will you connect this to the internet?
If so, consider this step of the project as buying a PC that will connect to the internet.  As such, buy a PC that runs the latest version of Windows.  It doesn't have to be an F1 racer of a machine.  Just a CJ that can go anywhere.

Consider the following:

Do you have old PCs with OS keys you can use?  Do you have a box of PCs maxed out with ram?  Where are you starting at is the most important question we can reply with.  Run mame now on your current machine, then upgrade what you need until you are satisfied.  Upgrade until it hurts.

Do you maintain an index of roms per version of mame that plays on "any old machine"

Ultimately, as with upgrading any PC, this will come down to a cost benefit situation.  Not to mention you will spend in man hours of troubleshooting getting different romsets to work on outdated pc platforms.

I've waxed on and on for years OP; without a mame machine that I played for more than a few months - so take this with a grain of salt. 

Since dual core is all you need, if you want to keep the cost down and are going with new parts, I would say a Pentium G3258 with a $50 H81 motherboard and 8gb or RAM would be sufficient.  The G3528 runs at 3.2ghz and is a dual core processor.  You can get one for $65 regular price, or around $50 on sale.  Add a $30 power supply and $30 8gb ddr 3 ram and you are at $175 or less before adding an OS.  Intel integrated graphics will probably be sufficient, but you could always add a video card later.

If you don't mind used you can find off lease/refurbished 2nd gen i5 desktops for under $150 on ebay, and if you troll CL you may get lucky and find a deal.  I scored a 2nd gen i5 laptop with 8gb of ram and a broken screen for $75 a few months ago.  I am going to use it in my bar top build.

I 100% agree with processor - fantastic ratio power/price but should be overclocked to at least 4.0 GHz (with ease on H81 boards with overclocking option). Also 8 Gb RAM is too much, for XP 2 Gb and for 7x64 4 Gb is more than enough.

Please note that some old intel integrated cards does not work anymore with mame. Better choice is to grab some cheap ATI HD4xxx serie if You are going to use groovymame or cheap Nvidia card.

Isn't there an underlying matter of how modern hardware works together?  AMD+AMD Radeon= works with better with less hassle than AMD+Nvidia?  Maybe we are past that point. *shrug*

Good luck, upgrade your current desktop until it plays your favorite games well.  Then you are done.

[smass]

Isn't there an underlying matter of how modern hardware works together?  AMD+AMD Radeon= works with better with less hassle than AMD+Nvidia?  Maybe we are past that point. *shrug*

We are way past that point, makes no difference which video card (NVidia or Radeon) you use with which CPU (Intel or AMD).  I think the best bang for the buck is squarely Intel right now.  So I would recommend building around a socket LGA 1150 motherboard which will allow you to use a cheap powerhouse like the G3528, and give you an upgrade path up to 4th gen i7 later if your needs change. 

[ark_ader]

$10 Xbox with coinops 7 should be enough with two kades.

Fastest processor, 4gb ram,etc...... what a load of crap!

Really?



On a side note: happy 4700 to me.   

[kenkraken]

Since dual core is all you need, if you want to keep the cost down and are going with new parts, I would say a Pentium G3258 with a $50 H81 motherboard and 8gb or RAM would be sufficient.  The G3528 runs at 3.2ghz and is a dual core processor.  You can get one for $65 regular price, or around $50 on sale.  Add a $30 power supply and $30 8gb ddr 3 ram and you are at $175 or less before adding an OS.  Intel integrated graphics will probably be sufficient, but you could always add a video card later.

If you don't mind used you can find off lease/refurbished 2nd gen i5 desktops for under $150 on ebay, and if you troll CL you may get lucky and find a deal.  I scored a 2nd gen i5 laptop with 8gb of ram and a broken screen for $75 a few months ago.  I am going to use it in my bar top build.

dont cheap out on psus, NEVER, they handle electricity and you don't want a cheap one. they may fry a component or even burn. pay 50$+

[Yenome]

Since dual core is all you need, if you want to keep the cost down and are going with new parts, I would say a Pentium G3258 with a $50 H81 motherboard and 8gb or RAM would be sufficient.  The G3528 runs at 3.2ghz and is a dual core processor.  You can get one for $65 regular price, or around $50 on sale.  Add a $30 power supply and $30 8gb ddr 3 ram and you are at $175 or less before adding an OS.  Intel integrated graphics will probably be sufficient, but you could always add a video card later.

If you don't mind used you can find off lease/refurbished 2nd gen i5 desktops for under $150 on ebay, and if you troll CL you may get lucky and find a deal.  I scored a 2nd gen i5 laptop with 8gb of ram and a broken screen for $75 a few months ago.  I am going to use it in my bar top build.

dont cheap out on psus, NEVER, they handle electricity and you don't want a cheap one. they may fry a component or even burn. pay 50$+

Ive seen one power supply in 30+ years of building and working on/with computers that actually caught fire. Even then it was my fault cause it had just been running fine for months up to 20 mins prior to me burning it. If you want to save money in the long run make sure what ever power supply you get is 80% eff rated.

like the others have said dual-core 3ghz 4gb ram would be around the min i would start with now if your going to use screen effects, get some video card as they will handle the filters. mame has been using more than one core for a long time now so might as well have a multi core. Personally i only go up to the late 90s' with the games. If it can handle KI and UMK3 then im good it will play any others that i want to play KI being the only CHD game i play. I do use SF 3rd strike and NFL blitz as a test sometimes. My rig is a simple 2.4ghz amd athlon II x2 240 with gb ram and an amd hd 5750 i can even play some ps2 games.

[smass]

Since dual core is all you need, if you want to keep the cost down and are going with new parts, I would say a Pentium G3258 with a $50 H81 motherboard and 8gb or RAM would be sufficient.  The G3528 runs at 3.2ghz and is a dual core processor.  You can get one for $65 regular price, or around $50 on sale.  Add a $30 power supply and $30 8gb ddr 3 ram and you are at $175 or less before adding an OS.  Intel integrated graphics will probably be sufficient, but you could always add a video card later.

If you don't mind used you can find off lease/refurbished 2nd gen i5 desktops for under $150 on ebay, and if you troll CL you may get lucky and find a deal.  I scored a 2nd gen i5 laptop with 8gb of ram and a broken screen for $75 a few months ago.  I am going to use it in my bar top build.

dont cheap out on psus, NEVER, they handle electricity and you don't want a cheap one. they may fry a component or even burn. pay 50$+

I would generally agree with you, for systems used as your regular computer for sure.  I only use seasonic evo psus on my main systems - the last one I bought was about $65 for my main computer.  For a home arcade build I would not be as picky. 

[BadMouth]

I've used the Corsair CX430 in nearly all my emulator PC builds.
Mostly because it goes on sale for less than $20 after rebate fairly often.
They are 80+ certified and quiet for a cheap PSU.

I did get one DOA (out of 6 ordered over the years), but corsair replaced it quickly.
None of them has failed yet.

[kenkraken]

i wouldnt take chances

[DeLuSioNal29]

I'm one of those guys that bought a cheap $20 power supply for my first arcade machine build.  I figured, it was 500w, why not?  Well, it failed within a year.  I ended up replacing it with a Corsair brand.  (bronze rated).  It's been chugging along ever since.  All of my builds, including my high end gaming PC with dual video cards have Corsairs in them.  I've never looked back.  Those things are quality power supplies.  Period.

Forgot to mention to keep an eye out for rebates with the Corsair brand on Newegg.com.  They go on sale often and with the rebate, come out to be cheap and a great value for your dollar.

Good Luck!

D

[Rob_Lo]

Will those 6th gen pentiums handle Demul and some of the heavier titles like Shenmue II or Capcom vs SNK 2?

Even with a burly GPU, surely there will be some bottlenecking or a major compromise in the settings.

I ask because I've been racking my brain trying to budget a rig, absolute minimum $, to handle those Naomi titles, HLSL in MAME and some of the retroarch shaders.

[paigeoliver]

I have a stupidly high end mame cabinet. D9200 monitor, Happ P360s with Robotron handles, and the best spinner and trackball money could buy in 2004. The PC in my cabinet is an Athlon 64 from 2003 or so. I am only just now thinking about maybe upgrading it with another computer I have that itself is 5 years old already.

Put your budget everywhere else besides the computer. As it is the only component in your cabinet that you will certainly replace one day anyway.

[Rob_Lo]

I'm not actually building a cab, just connecting to a 55" 4k display. Getting Demul to play full speed and a nice resultion is going to require some high end components unfortunately.

60fps? I don't even know if 30fps is acceptable for some of the faster fighters. But then again this may be the "PC Gaming Master Race" rhetoric infecting my brain.

[BadMouth]

I'm not actually building a cab, just connecting to a 55" 4k display. Getting Demul to play full speed and a nice resultion is going to require some high end components unfortunately.

60fps? I don't even know if 30fps is acceptable for some of the faster fighters. But then again this may be the "PC Gaming Master Race" rhetoric infecting my brain.

Not sure how relevant it is anymore since it's old hardware at this point, but I'm running a 3.4Ghz Athlon X3 in my cab.
The NAOMI shmups choke on Demul .58, so I run them on Makaron.  It runs just well enough to not have sound skips after some tweaking to the video card settings (single monitor performance mode mainly).

The Cave 3D shmups run acceptable on MAME v.142(7b?), but choke hard if run on MAME v.170

That was with a 9800GT.  I just updated to a 750ti with more video memory so I could run MKX, but haven't had time to see if it made a difference for Demul.

I stand by my recommendation of the fastest Intel processor you can afford paired with a 60 series or better video card (460, 660, 860 etc).

[paigeoliver]

Nothing less or more than 60/60 is acceptable for fixed framerate games that ran at those framerates.

I'm not actually building a cab, just connecting to a 55" 4k display. Getting Demul to play full speed and a nice resultion is going to require some high end components unfortunately.

60fps? I don't even know if 30fps is acceptable for some of the faster fighters. But then again this may be the "PC Gaming Master Race" rhetoric infecting my brain.

[Rob_Lo]

I'm not actually building a cab, just connecting to a 55" 4k display. Getting Demul to play full speed and a nice resultion is going to require some high end components unfortunately.

60fps? I don't even know if 30fps is acceptable for some of the faster fighters. But then again this may be the "PC Gaming Master Race" rhetoric infecting my brain.

Not sure how relevant it is anymore since it's old hardware at this point, but I'm running a 3.4Ghz Athlon X3 in my cab.
The NAOMI shmups choke on Demul .58, so I run them on Makaron.  It runs just well enough to not have sound skips after some tweaking to the video card settings (single monitor performance mode mainly).

The Cave 3D shmups run acceptable on MAME v.142(7b?), but choke hard if run on MAME v.170

That was with a 9800GT.  I just updated to a 750ti with more video memory so I could run MKX, but haven't had time to see if it made a difference for Demul.

I stand by my recommendation of the fastest Intel processor you can afford paired with a 60 series or better video card (460, 660, 860 etc).

I'd be very interested to see your results in what internal rez and layer settings you can pull off in Demul with that 750ti and what framerate you can sustain.

Have you tested HLSL with V Sync enabled in MAME on that ti?

[BadMouth]

I'd be very interested to see your results in what internal rez and layer settings you can pull off in Demul with that 750ti and what framerate you can sustain.

Have you tested HLSL with V Sync enabled in MAME on that ti?

I'm still using v.146 on the cab.  It's less demanding than the current MAME build.
I had no trouble using HLSL in most games, but had to turn down the scaling on older games with discrete sound and had to turn it completely off for games like NFL Blitz and Tekken 3.

Demul has changed a lot since the version I have in the cab (.58 IIRC)
I don't see myself having time to mess around with it anytime soon.
As long as the games are still working, I probably won't mess with anything.