800 mhz or 533 mhz FSB?

[Crayola]

I am building a PC to run my mame system. I am trying
to decide between a 2.8ghz cpu with an 800 mhz fsb,
and a 2.8 ghz cpu with a 533 mhz fsb. The "what pc to buy"
doesnt address the front side bus issue. Any reason to buy the
higher bus speed? I will mainly play classic 80's games but
occassional will want to play newer games like tekken that
require a lot of horse power.

Thanks,
Crayola

[IG-88]

I don't think even that 800mhz bus will be fast enough for any of the 80's classics. You probably better go out and buy A new mobo that runs those AMD 64 cpu's.  When you do I'll take your old system off your hands. I might be able to find a place to use it.  

[Jakobud]

Yeah man, WWWWAAAAAYYYY overkill for 80's classics.  If you want to play 80's classics we are talking about 400Mhz or less cpu speed.  Like P3 or P2 era cpu's.

[Stingray]

I'm constantly amazed at the systems some of you guys run in a MAME cab. I'm using a 233 mhz Power Mac G3 and MacMAME .66, which runs everything I want to play with no problems at all.

-S

[Crayola]

Yeah man, WWWWAAAAAYYYY overkill for 80's classics.  If you want to play 80's classics we are talking about 400Mhz or less cpu speed.  Like P3 or P2 era cpu's.

Well I realize it is way overpowered for those games.. I am thinking about the newest games that mame emulates as well. Also.. PC games, N64 emulation, etc. I tried running tekken/primal rage on my 500 mhz celeron laptop and if I got 1 frame per second I would be amazed. I would think the newest games would demand even more.

[IG-88]

Sorry for the sarcasm    On one of my set-ups I run my PC games (along with all MAME can throw at me on one of my old EMachines with a 1 gig cpu, 256 of ram, onboard video & sound. It did have a 600 mhz cpu and I probably could have gotten away with that. Let me guess. You got your eye on that Doom 3 or Halo 2 thats coming out soon?  

[maraxle]

What's the price difference between the 800 and the 533 bus?  If it's not much, I'd go ahead and get the 800.  It can't hurt, you know?  If it's substantial, I'd get the 533, as like everyone else said, it's overkill either way.

[Minwah]

What's the price difference between the 800 and the 533 bus?  If it's not much, I'd go ahead and get the 800.  It can't hurt, you know?  If it's substantial, I'd get the 533, as like everyone else said, it's overkill either way.

Well I built a 2.8Ghz 800FSB PC for my cab...so it will last for ages basically.  I haven't even used it much yet but I did get a solid 60fps in Tekken when I was testing it.  Not that I particularly like Tekken but it gave me something to test it against...I get ~35fps on my Athlon 1.4Ghz.

FWIW I picked a Pentium as they (arguably) seem to have a slight edge over AMD atm, and they tend to run cooler - ie less fan speed + noise.  My AMD sounds like a vacuum cleaner in comparison!

[Sephroth57]

pentiums are more efficient, but as far as pricing you could get a faster rated AMD for the same price as a lower rated pentium, therefore the difference is usually made up and you end up gaining bang for your buck

[SirPoonga]

I am on a PIII 500 with a 100 FBS and I play classics just fine.  I need a little more of a boost to play neogeo at full speed.

[Sylentwulf]

Seems half the people know you're talking about FSB, and the other half think you're talking about CPU speed

A 533mhz FSB is plenty. MAME isn't really going to be using it in any way that the increase would matter. Of course, if it's only $10 more, then by all means, you might as well get the 800 bus speed.

[Minwah]

pentiums are more efficient, but as far as pricing you could get a faster rated AMD for the same price as a lower rated pentium, therefore the difference is usually made up and you end up gaining bang for your buck

Agreed, but 'bang' in terms of power and NOISE!  I want my cab to be as near as silent (apart from the speakers!)...

Going back to the overkill factor, I notice that my AMD 1.4Ghz has a job running some games like Bubble Bobble 3 at full fps now - it had no problem in the past.  They say MAME gets slower each release, and I want to keep using latest versions, but I don't want my cab PC to start struggling in a hurry.