But MAME isn't multicore now? Everyone else seems to be recommending the dual core CPU's. Apart from of course probably the best overall choice price and performance wise which is the i3 8350k but a bit out of my price range. So basically, dual core with good single performance speeds will be better now but multicore better in the future? I don't want to have to replace the CPU in a year, hoping to have it last at least 3.
I have yet to read anywhere about the
number of cores recommended, they'll only tell you that some drivers indeed do use more than one core, but I've never read anyone specify how many exactly or with what efficiency.
I've spent hours the other day monitoring my CPU while playing many different games up to 3D behemoths, and I've never seen more than 2 cores among 4 being obviously more solicited (with typically one much more than the other)
It's either that or all 4 cores working together at similar loads, which doesn't really tell what's the strategy in effect.
So yeah I think at least until the day mamedev clearly specify they have a driver using and really taking advantage of more than 2 cores, a strong dual-core will still be enough.
In regards to future emulation in MAME that would require a lot of processing power and actually be of interest for many users, I can only think of Naomi, but nobody knows when games of that system will start being labelled as 'working', nor if more than two cores will put you at an advantage.
I haven't yet begun to try out frame_delay but I want to in the future. It's just a shame every game needs to be tweaked as there is thousands
Depends, some systems produce a very stable and constant output, with those you can often set a single frame_delay value that you'd define in a system.ini or source.ini and be done; all games of that arcade hardware configured.
With some it'll depend on the game itself.
Then there will be variables such as using filters or HLSL
(I still don't get if you'll be using a CRT or LCD, if the former then you won't need filters and shaders anyway so that'll be one less thing to worry about in regards of individual settings)