CPU performance question

[jmcginley]

I've got an empty SF2 cabinet with a K7000 monitor that I'm turning into a multi-fighter cabinet (SF, MK, Tekken, etc). I've got a PC with GroovyMAME .171 and the matching romset. The PC has an E6600 cpu and a Radeon HD4350 graphics card.


I haven't loaded up all the games I plan to put on the machine, but I have tested out a couple. I've noticed Mortal Kombat is having issues and isn't running at 100%, and Tekken is completely unplayable.


I'm wondering what would be my best option here. Anyone know if I can pop an E8600 in there and get the desired results? 3.33Ghz compared to the 2.4Ghz I have now should make a difference, right?


I'd like to not have to buy a new PC (or new Mobo/CPU combo) however if that's what I have to do, then could someone recommend a good CPU to go with?


Another thought -- is there something I need to change with the configurations? Maybe these games can run on my current setup if I tweak something?

[JDFan]

You would need to look up the MOBO info to find out if the e8600 is supported (sometimes requires a Bios update) - it definitely should help some and for $15 isn't too expensive to try if the MOBO supports it ( Another option for just a $5 investment an e8400 3.0Ghz. would be a really cheap test - http://www.ebay.com/itm/Intel-Core-2-Duo-E8400-Wolfdale-Dual-Core-3-0-GHz-LGA-775-65W-BX80570E8400-/331975122331?hash=item4d4b425d9b:g:11AAAOSwCGVX3xxI )

[BadMouth]

It shouldn't have any problem running Mortal Kombat.  (MKIV would be a problem)
Tekken 1 might work.  You do need to get north of 3Ghz for Tekken 3.

Using an older version of MAME (circa v.128-v.138 would help with MK and Tekken 1.
It's probably not going to help with anything newer than that.

I'm not familiar with groovymame, but if there is an option for HLSL prescale, turn it off for the games that aren't running full speed.


Tekken 3 is playable on a Pentium 4 (maybe even 3) with zinc emulator.

[paigeoliver]

Roll back your mame version. Mortal Kombat 1-3 can run full speed on a 500 mhz Pentium 3 if you use an old enough mame version.

Also, a k7000 generally isn't able to sync to both the 53hz signal that the Mortal Kombat series puts out and the 60 hz signal that everything else puts out, at least not without hitting the sync knobs. So you won't be able to run the EXACT video mode for it.

[jmcginley]

Thanks for the responses, everyone. This might be a question for the GroovyMAME forum, but would I still be able to use GroovyMAME with an older romset? I'll do some checking on this. Might ditch GroovyMAME and see how MAME .138 with .138 roms work.

[paigeoliver]

Don't be afraid to go way far back if you need to. Almost everything people actually want to play was running good at full speed back in Mame .55. Sure there have been a lot of bugfixes and improvements since then but you would be really surprised at how good mame was in the .55 to .80 days.

[BadMouth]

v.106 romsets are fairly easy to find because there was a big video update on v.107 that made MAME much more demanding.
A lot of people with older computers use v.106

I have v.142 on my cab because there were some newer PGM games added around that time.
More recently I tried v.170, but the 3D games from the late 90's all choked on it.
My cab just barely runs them with v.142, but it does run them with only an occasional slowdown or sound skip.

[jmcginley]

Thanks, guys! I was able to find a romset for .106. I haven't messed with it yet, but I will check if the performance is 100% on that version.

[nitrogen_widget]

Just compiled .177 on linux for a 2.6ghz core2duo for the heck of it and 1941 was struggling to run full speed.
will continue using Advancmame .106 on that PC.

[lilshawn]

mame favors core speed over core count.

[menace]

mame favors core speed over core count.

That one line should be a sticky.