BEST Build For MAME

[FrizzleFried]

OK... I asked this question in the past and got a bunch of answers all over the board (to be expected I suppose)... though I did ask it differently.  I'd asked for the "best bang for the buck" build for MAME...

My new question is more a series of questions...

(1) - What is the best CPU for MAME and emulation in general?
(2) - What is the best GPU for MAME and emulation in general?
(3) - What is the sweet-spot memory-wise for MAME and emulation in general?

The object being to build the best "current" emulation machine (within reason)... something that will play as many of the newer emulated games as possible... something that will run other emulators as well. I want to tackle this project with new PC components rather than recycle a computer I already have.

[Guywiththegun]

Just look up the best gaming machine. It always confuses me when I see people building these great cabs and then skimping on the hardware and monitor.

Mame is the GOAT but its stuck forever in 2003 in regards to what can be played.  Any good gaming pc will handle it. You want to have newer arcade games like Ultr Street fighter 4 and Mario Kart.. don't skimp

[Howard_Casto]

Yeah the problem is, as we tried to explain the last time you asked this, is that it's a very subjective question.  There are games that will never run full speed regardless of specs and games that really aren't worth the extra hp to run.  Which ones?  Well that really depends upon you but for most people a 10 year old pc will run everything worth running just fine.  So mame is really a non issue.  It's newer pc games and newer emulators like demul and the console emulators that take the system specs. 

[schmerzkaufen]

Also on this forum it is kind of a prerequisite to specify if CRT/15khz will be involved or not, because that influences the answers significantly.

[FrizzleFried]

Yeah the problem is, as we tried to explain the last time you asked this, is that it's a very subjective question.  There are games that will never run full speed regardless of specs and games that really aren't worth the extra hp to run.  Which ones?  Well that really depends upon you but for most people a 10 year old pc will run everything worth running just fine.  So mame is really a non issue.  It's newer pc games and newer emulators like demul and the console emulators that take the system specs.

...and is there a site other than this one where folks who are more in-tune with DEMUL and what not can answer this question?

[FrizzleFried]

BTW... no one ever "answered" the question.  I'm looking for specifics.  CERTAINLY someone has tested and has a general "feel" for which CPUS perform best... which GPUS,  etc?

No?  Even for MAME.  A general "any CPU from 10 years ago" is pretty broad.  How about some specifics as to which CPU performs BEST.... not just "any".

No one has done these test with MAME,  DEMUL,  other emulators?

Color me disappointed.

[schmerzkaufen]

Well for the CPUs it's easy, if you want the best get something 4+GHz or even 5GHz, at least quad core.
For a lower reasonable I'd say 3+GHz quad core as well, or minimal 3GHz 2 cores + hyperthreading (check the ark.intel website for cpu model names and specs)

Telling you exactly which games will work or not with that is indeed impossible, there are no thorough benchmarks available, differences in specs from CPU-to-CPU and various other factors, so the answer is always the faster/stronger CPU the better.
5GHz are kind of overkill and very expensive, requiring quite the beastly build it's for people who wish to explore the limits of emulation, personally I'm satisfied with a 4GHz quad core, though I still get some frame drops with several STV games, but System22 ones are fine.

For the GPU you didn't answer the question, whether it's solely for a flat panel setup, or a CRT on which you'll do true 15KHz emulation (w/ CRT Emudriver and GroovyMAME) in which case you'd have to look at AMD GPUs, but no one will bother listing all brands and models as a whole if you don't help narrow it down to your needs. Sorry.

[FrizzleFried]

AMD or Intel?  Ryzen?  i5?  i7?   Anyone know of anyone who has benchmarked different CPU's with MAME or other emulators?  GPUs?  I know at one point GPU meant very little... has that changed?  I can only imagine that by now MAME (or other emulators) are using GPU horsepower to accomplish tasks?

I'm quite aware of MAME circ. 2006 ... but I'm pretty green on anything since.  Back then,  Core 2 Duo's were the "big thing" in  MAME.  Today,   I'm not sure.

[schmerzkaufen]

Okay I see the type. Well I'm outta here.

[KenToad]

AMD or Intel?  Ryzen?  i5?  i7?   Anyone know of anyone who has benchmarked different CPU's with MAME or other emulators?  GPUs?  I know at one point GPU meant very little... has that changed?  I can only imagine that by now MAME (or other emulators) are using GPU horsepower to accomplish tasks?

I'm quite aware of MAME circ. 2006 ... but I'm pretty green on anything since.  Back then,  Core 2 Duo's were the "big thing" in  MAME.  Today,   I'm not sure.

I run Mame .201 via Win10 on an 8 core AMD 3.2 Ghz processor with 16 gigs of RAM and an Nvidia GTX 950. I can emulate PS2 decently well, but 3D games on Mame still run badly. That seems to support the claim that Mame pretty much only cares about processor speed, doesn't use graphic cards or multiple cores, etc. I recently upgraded from a spinning hard drive to an SSD and it doesn't seem to have made a difference for Mame, although I haven't exactly tested many 3D games.

In summary, I suggest getting a fast processor of at least 4 Ghz if you're only looking for Mame perfection. I've always heard that Intel processors are better, but they cost more.

[newmanfamilyvlogs]

As has been stated, I can't think of any emulators, Mame, or otherwise, which will utilize a tremendously high core count. Secondarily to the clock speed of the CPU, it seems as though having a larger L2/L3 cache on the processor benefits emulators. Historically, while AMD processors could reach higher clock speeds than Intel processors it was at the expense of the on-board cache. This would result in lower performance per cycle in emulators because it couldn't hit the onboard cache as frequently, so cycles are wasted while it fetches from system ram.

An Intel i7-7700K will run at 4.2Ghz stock on 4 cores with air cooling. It's also fast enough to run games in bleeding-edge emulators such as Yuzu, the Nintendo Switch emulator, at close to 100% when paired with a sufficient video card. For Mame the video card is only going to matter if you're using shader effects on an LCD display. For modern console emulation, you're going to find the best compatibility across the board with an nvidia card. A GTX 1070 will give you as good as you can expect, unless you intend to play things upscaled to 4k, in which case it's worth looking at the 20 series, like the 2060, 2070, or 2080. However, those cards are extreme overkill for any other emulators.

If you're intending to run an actual CRT, then an older AMD R5 230 would be a reasonable choice. This will work with the aforementioned CRT Emudrivers. I am running this on a mame-only cabinet. They are available in low-profile models which fit easier inside smaller cabinets.

[keilmillerjr]

Also on this forum it is kind of a prerequisite to specify if CRT/15khz will be involved or not, because that influences the answers significantly.

+1 This thread is useless without this info.

[Jimbo]

Then there's g-sync and freesync....

[Mr. Peabody]

Also on this forum it is kind of a prerequisite to specify if CRT/15khz will be involved or not, because that influences the answers significantly.

+1 This thread is useless without this info.

PILE ON

[schmerzkaufen]

As has been stated, I can't think of any emulators, Mame, or otherwise, which will utilize a tremendously high core count.

Just a last one to mention this; MAME these days uses both HT and as many cores as it can: http://wiki.mamedev.org/index.php/FAQ:Performance

[newmanfamilyvlogs]

As has been stated, I can't think of any emulators, Mame, or otherwise, which will utilize a tremendously high core count.

Just a last one to mention this; MAME these days uses both HT and as many cores as it can: http://wiki.mamedev.org/index.php/FAQ:Performance

Good to know! However, this still makes the point that only in very specific instances will you ever see more than 8 threads being used. So with processors such as the Ryzen or newer i7/i9 now sporting 8+ cores/threads, you'd be need to be building specifically to those corner cases for it to make sense to go that route.

[schmerzkaufen]

As has been stated, I can't think of any emulators, Mame, or otherwise, which will utilize a tremendously high core count.

Just a last one to mention this; MAME these days uses both HT and as many cores as it can: http://wiki.mamedev.org/index.php/FAQ:Performance

Good to know! However, this still makes the point that only in very specific instances will you ever see more than 8 threads being used. So with processors such as the Ryzen or newer i7/i9 now sporting 8+ cores/threads, you'd be need to be building specifically to those corner cases for it to make sense to go that route.

Yeah but I'm not quoting only the extremes, cases where MAME will use more than 2 have only increased with time, I've mentioned System 21/22 which for instance uses even 4, and as they say it's a bit better to leave some room for the other/OS processes too. So I recommend quad cores as a good basis (or well why not 2+HT) since those aren't exclusively 'luxury' high-end CPUs anymore.

[FrizzleFried]

Cab currently has a standard res monitor in it... but I wouldn't be averse to dropping something else in if warranted.

[Haze]

For CPU the answer is simply the highest clocked 6+ core Intel you can afford from the current generation.  At worst getting something 'too good' gives you a bit of insurance (and means most of what you do run pushes the CPU less, which is good for temperatures)

People aren't giving you specifics because the very best one is always absurdly priced and might give you an extra 2% performance if you're lucky.

For GPU, if you're going to be running with the CRT simulation shaders you need something decent, if not, for MAME, even the onboard GPU is fine on the current CPUs.  If you're running actual CRTs you'll probably need something specialist (which likely won't handle other emulators / current PC software too well as afaik none of those custom cards are built off the latest tech)

For other emulators (eg PS3 emulation) you absolutely need a top end GPU and the very top end CPU with as many cores as possible (and even then, for the most part, it's going to run the majority of the library badly as there are some near unavoidable issues with emulating that level of system, like having to cache shaders the first time they're used, making the first time anything happens in a game a not very pleasant experience)

One hard and fast rule that has remained true for at least 15 year is avoid AMD.  AMD sadly still leaves something to be desired across the board, especially with emulation.  I wish it didn't, and it is getting more competitive, but they simply don't have the single core performance to match the higher end Intels, and that will always become a bottleneck with emulation regardless of how many other cores something uses.  Mobile chips, low power chips etc. are trash for emulation, avoid them most of the things they cut back on are the very things emulation needs.

[FrizzleFried]

Well... I figured I would dip my toes in and stick with the current "standard res" monitor for now.  That means I'm limited to MAME/Daphne and maybe Dreamcast emulation for the most part... right?   I just spent $250.00 on parts ... about the most I wanted to spend just "dipping my toes in".  I ended up with an AMD (for better or worse) Ryzen 2200G, 2x4GB DDR4 RAM,  a 128GB SSD for the system and a 2TB 7200RPM HDD for data.  From the benchmarks and a number of reviews I read the on-board graphics should handle MAME without issue... whatever is playable in MAME that is.  Dreamcast emulation shouldn't be a problem either.  Not sure about anything else.  I figure one day when I want to upgrade the display,  upgrading the horsepower is just a matter of dropping in a dedicated video card...

We'll see.  Parts should be here Saturday.

Whatever the result,  I am sure it'll be an improvement over my Intel Core2Duo rig from 2007 that died earlier this year.  That rig just about struggled with Blitz 2000 ...

[Osirus23]

I emulate everything up to and including PS2 and Gamecube @ 4K on an i3-8109U.

[newmanfamilyvlogs]

if the CRT Emudriver support the onboard Vega 8 graphics on that chip, it will have been a very recent addition.
What motherboard did you get for that chip? Does it have a VGA port on it?

[FrizzleFried]

if the CRT Emudriver support the onboard Vega 8 graphics on that chip, it will have been a very recent addition.
What motherboard did you get for that chip? Does it have a VGA port on it?

According to the website,  it does support the 2200G APU...

I went with a super cheap MB... GIGABYTE GA-A320M-S2H.  I'm not looking to overclock though so it should suffice.  I'm not expecting much more than bare-bones for $50.00... though it actually does support M.2 SSDs... and yes,  it does have DVI and VGA out.

[adamcian]

If you want a bit more of a varietal analysis, check out both ‘ETA PRIME’ and ‘Home Arcade Systems’ users on YouTube. Both of them are always posting new hardware videos and letting you know what emulators/games run well with that particular combo of gear. They have everything from single board computers to bargain PCs to custom fully-fledged builds.


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[keilmillerjr]

If you want a bit more of a varietal analysis, check out both ‘ETA PRIME’ and ‘Home Arcade Systems’ users on YouTube. Both of them are always posting new hardware videos and letting you know what emulators/games run well with that particular combo of gear. They have everything from single board computers to bargain PCs to custom fully-fledged builds.


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I recently found the etaprime channel, and stopped watching it when in one of his videos he didn’t recommend linux, but recommended a linux distro without realizing it was linux. All set dude.