Building a PC -- HELP!

[dema]

After resurrecting an older PC I realized that the processor was not going to be fast enough to handle games like MK2 and Killer Instinct. Killer Instinct is unworkable in on my older 1.4 GHz model, but it runs perfectly in my everyday 2.8 GHz PC, which I don't plan on using for a cabinet. I decided that I either need to upgrade the motherboard and the processor on my old PC or I need to buy a new PC that is bareboned, save for the speed. My main question is this...

How many of you are able to smoothly run KI and what is your processor speed and RAM? I am debating whether or not to buy a 3GHz processor in order to run these awesome fighting games like KI and MK, or if I can save by going somewhere between 2.4 and 3.0 GHz.

Would it make more sense for me to simply pay for the motherboard and CPU upgrade and just install it myself?

Any suggestions before I bite the bullet and buy a customized DELL online?

Thanks for your help.

[Sephroth57]

first off, if you know about computers or even know a friend who could help you, dont buy a dell. theyre way overpriced, i just built myself a 2.2ghz computer without a monitor for 250$ that will play almost every MAME game. i ordered all the parts from www.pricewatch.com and assembled it myself. i can play KI 1 perfectly, KI2 is a little bit slow but still very playable. you might want to check my sticky thread on top of this forum for more info

[Witchboard]

Killer Instinct is unworkable in on my older 1.4 GHz model, but it runs perfectly in my everyday 2.8 GHz PC, which I don't plan on using for a cabinet.

Gah?  I can play KI1 great on my Duron 900.  KI2 is too slow to play.  I'm not using MAME to run it though, so that may be where the difference is.  If MAME is going to be a bigger resource hog than I though, I'll have to re-think my PC setup strategy.  I wouldn't think there would be that big a difference between emulators.

[Trenchbroom]

MAME strives for portability and for completeness/accuracy of the emulation, whereas most other emulators strive for speed.  It's always been like that.  It's one of the reasons why MAME is the biggest and baddest--as computers get faster and are able to handle MAME's more accurate code, the other emulators fall by the wayside in importance (Retrocade, anyone?).  

[Minwah]

Gah?  I can play KI1 great on my Duron 900.  KI2 is too slow to play.  I'm not using MAME to run it though, so that may be where the difference is.  If MAME is going to be a bigger resource hog than I though, I'll have to re-think my PC setup strategy.  I wouldn't think there would be that big a difference between emulators.

What Trenchbroom said  I can't play KI full speed (in MAME) on my 1.4ghz, MK plays fine tho.

[PaulG]

My biggest suggestion:  Buy from Newegg.com and build your own.

That said, I can play Killer Instinct 2 at a locked 60fps on an Athlon Barton 2500 with 1 stick of 512MB Ram (333Mhz).  I'm currently reevaluating all my settings and only the CPU is slightly overclocked at the moment(166*12 instead of 11).  Not sure if it's still locked at 60fps at the lower speed.  My motherboard is an Abit NF7-S (rev 2.0... although it's been flashed beyond that).

[Sephroth57]

anyone recommend a good overclocking software? ive never done it before but I want to try it out see if i can get some better FPS on high end games

[greywolf22]

Running KI and KI2 smoothly with my Athlon XP 2400+ with 512MB of ram, Mortal Kombat plays great on this system as well

[PaulG]

anyone recommend a good overclocking software? ive never done it before but I want to try it out see if i can get some better FPS on high end games

I'm assuming you checked the obvious:  The BIOS?  I know there a lot of software for overclocking video cards, but I haven't seen any for processor overclocking.  Can't say for certain there isn't any though.  Never found a need to look.  I am skeptical, however.  

[Sephroth57]

i never actually even looked at the bios this is the first time i even thought to overclock my processor. Next time i boot it up ill take a look

[SpamMe]

On my 1.4 KI plays kinda slowly, KI2 is just terrible, and MK1 2 & 3 all run great.

[Witchboard]

MAME strives for portability and for completeness/accuracy of the emulation, whereas most other emulators strive for speed.  It's always been like that.  It's one of the reasons why MAME is the biggest and baddest--as computers get faster and are able to handle MAME's more accurate code, the other emulators fall by the wayside in importance (Retrocade, anyone?).  

Well, I don't live and breath KI, but the Ultra64 Emu seems to reproduce it at arcade quality to me.  I could be wrong though.

[dema]

first off, if you know about computers or even know a friend who could help you, dont buy a dell. theyre way overpriced, i just built myself a 2.2ghz computer without a monitor for 250$ that will play almost every MAME game. i ordered all the parts from www.pricewatch.com and assembled it myself. i can play KI 1 perfectly, KI2 is a little bit slow but still very playable. you might want to check my sticky thread on top of this forum for more info

Thanks for the suggestion. I'll look into doing that.

[tuttle]

Can anybody tell me the computer parts I need for a MAME cabinet.  I have a monitor already.

[CthulhuLuke]

You need a computer....

motheboard, processor, ram, hard drive, *network card optional*, sound card *not necessary if built in*, video card *ATI Radeon 9700 made by ATI w/ the s-video out, VERY good card for mame*, a 300w power supply unless you're going to have a lot of USB equipment, if so get a 350w - 400w power supply.

try looking at www.maincomp.com 's build your own computer section.
this is way overboard, but this is what my friend's computer sort of looked like *we got rid of some of the stuff and bought cheaper stuff elsewhere, like I got him a cd-burner/dvd-reader, and a cheaper video card cause they were out*
($89.99) AMD Athlon XP 2400+ Socket A 266FSB 2.0GHz
($79.99) ASUS A7N8X-X Socket A, AMD ATHLON/DURON/...
($67.99) 512MB DDR PC2700 333mhz Memory
($97.99) SPECIAL EDITION 120GB 7200RPM Model #WD....
($37.99) Samsung 16x DVD-ROM Drive Internal EIDE OEM
($65.99) Chaintech Geforce FX5200 128M DDR

most definitely overkill, and this is not including the case or the floppy drive.

[Minwah]

Well, I don't live and breath KI, but the Ultra64 Emu seems to reproduce it at arcade quality to me.  I could be wrong though.

It might appear like the arcade, but that certainly does not mean it was emulated (coded) accurately...

[paigeoliver]

or if I can save by going somewhere between 2.4 and 3.0 GHz.

Truthfully, if you REALLY want to save some money, then do this.

Use your current system for now, it is quite nice, and can pretty much handle everything in Mame with about a dozen exceptions (many of which are analog games, or lightgun games, or other nonsense that you may want to play, but probably don't have the right controls for anyway).

Yes, your current system probably isn't going to handle Killer Instinct, but it will pretty much handle everything else, and the amount of money you will spend paying extra right now for that one game is a sizeable chunk of change towards what an actual Killer Instinct machine would cost.

Meanwhile, play your cabinet, enjoy everything else, in two years you will be able to buy a much better computer for that same money, and that better one might actually have a shot at playing those other problematic games.

Or you could toss another $250 at your project in order to boost your "playable game" total from 3900 to 3902, that is your choice.

[Sephroth57]

id say dont go over 2.4ghz processor, anything over that is still high priced now and wont help much anyway. you can easily make a 2.0ghz setup for less then 300$, or you could buy a KI2 machine for like 300$ and keep it jamma/MAME switchable.

[dema]

Thank you everyone for the suggestions. I'll play around a little more with some of the options and suggestions and see what I come up with.

I appreciate everyone's input.

[RacerX]

Can anybody tell me the computer parts I need for a MAME cabinet.  I have a monitor already.

*ducks to avoid Howard's wrath aimed at tuttle*

You did not just post that question on this board.