All in one motherboards...

[Iori]

I would like to find a mother board with integrated audio and video that would be good for mame...  Does anyone use or know of any that they would recommend?  I would like to have at least a an Athlon XP 2000+ processor in this machine, would like to have maybe a 2400+.  Wouldn't mind using a P4 either, but would prefer an AMD solution.  I would either be using Win XP or Win 98 not sure and a MAMEWAH front end.  Having composite and or S-video out would be a plus but not necessary.

Here is one that I have been considering...  any feedback from anyone that has used this mobo for mame?

http://shop1.outpost.com/product/3614175

I want to do this for space reasons and hell for simplicity as well, the few things in the case the better!    Thanks!

[Iori]

One other thing... if you knew that the motherboard supported the hold down space bar to turn on feature this would be a big plus too... but also not necessary.  Does anyone know what they call that feature officially?  Or is there really a name for it?  Thanks...

[paigeoliver]

Actually a large percentage of motherboards have onboard audio and video, it is pretty standard (most OEM computers are this way), although the local shops don't tend to stock these as much (you tend to have to order them), because people who build there own comps usually don't want these.

I can't help you with an exact model, but all you have to look for is the words audio and video listed with the motherboard specs.

I do also wonder why you are going "all-out" like that (processor-wise) for a Mame computer. The money might be best spent elsewhere on the project. Especially if you are planning a joystick-only cabinet, as most of the few games that require more than a 700 mhz computer use analog controls.

[Iori]

Actually a large percentage of motherboards have onboard audio and video, it is pretty standard (most OEM computers are this way), although the local shops don't tend to stock these as much (you tend to have to order them), because people who build there own comps usually don't want these.

I can't help you with an exact model, but all you have to look for is the words audio and video listed with the motherboard specs.

I do also wonder why you are going "all-out" like that (processor-wise) for a Mame computer. The money might be best spent elsewhere on the project. Especially if you are planning a joystick-only cabinet, as most of the few games that require more than a 700 mhz computer use analog controls.

Yea, I know that there are alot of them... but the onboard video and audio won't necessarily be good for MAME in all cases?  I don't think at least.    

As for the processor speed, maybe I am overdoing it... right now I am using a Celeron/P2 433 and a Voodoo 3 3000 card and it is working pretty well, though it doesn't do full frames for the newer fighters and it the Voodoo does a horrible job with doing any effects in mame...  maybe I should look at less of a computer than the Athlons mentioned...  not sure.

[paigeoliver]

Mame is not video card dependent, it really doesn't matter what card you have. Your current computer is actually a pretty darn good Mame setup, provided you use an older Mame version (use version .55 in my testing that version is fast enough on a computer like yours to run pretty much everything supported by that version). I have .55 on a Celeron 400 with 64 ram and onboard video and it even plays the Neo Geo games just fine.

Of course there ARE the different effects you can do with the newer Mame versions (which may be video card dependent, I am not sure), but with the speed of that computer,I wouldn't bother trying. Although I would still personally blame the processor and not the video card, since I have three different Mame cabinets that have that same video card, and the one with the fast processor (733 P3) has no problem doing effects at all.

Actually a large percentage of motherboards have onboard audio and video, it is pretty standard (most OEM computers are this way), although the local shops don't tend to stock these as much (you tend to have to order them), because people who build there own comps usually don't want these.

I can't help you with an exact model, but all you have to look for is the words audio and video listed with the motherboard specs.

I do also wonder why you are going "all-out" like that (processor-wise) for a Mame computer. The money might be best spent elsewhere on the project. Especially if you are planning a joystick-only cabinet, as most of the few games that require more than a 700 mhz computer use analog controls.

Yea, I know that there are alot of them... but the onboard video and audio won't necessarily be good for MAME in all cases?  I don't think at least.    

As for the processor speed, maybe I am overdoing it... right now I am using a Celeron/P2 433 and a Voodoo 3 3000 card and it is working pretty well, though it doesn't do full frames for the newer fighters and it the Voodoo does a horrible job with doing any effects in mame...  maybe I should look at less of a computer than the Athlons mentioned...  not sure.

[Setabs]

If you are still looking for a mobo w/ video and audio for  an AMD.  I say choose the nvidia nforce2 boards.  There are 3 different versions of this board.  The difference in the boards is the north and south bridges.  I cant remember the different names but the combinations I have seen are:

*mobo w/ all features w/o on board video or audio
*mobo w/ on board video and audio no features
*mobo w/ on board video no features

Asus did have the best quality and price on the nvidia boards over a year ago.  A-bit, MSI and most other big companies have there own version of the nforce2

I have an AMD 2500+ and have no problems running any games except the usual, Crusin' usa, tekken, etc..

[krick]

I can't speak for MAME use specifically but anyone looking for a really cheap P4 motherboard with integrated sound/lan (but not video) might want to pick up a Shuttle AV49PN for $52.50...

http://www.mwave.com/mwave/viewspec.hmx?scriteria=BA19740

Features...
Uses the new VIA PT800 chipset
Intel Pentium 4 400/533/800MHz FSB
DDR 400 (single channel) (2 slots - 2GB max)
AGP 8X
4 PCI slots
8 USB 2.0 ports (4 onboard, 4 via cable)
onboard 10/100 Lan
onboard sound
Serial ATA with RAID 0,1

The board seems to be very well made and is quite compact in size.

Also of note is the fact that one of the PCI slots (slot 4) does not share IRQ lines with any other slot or onboard device.  This is exceedingly rare in modern motherboards.  That slot would be ideal for tempermental PCI cards like the SoundBlaster Live/Audigy line that don't like to share.

I just purchased one of these boards and paired it with an old 1.6GHz (400fsb) P4 and DDR266 memory that I had left over from another computer upgrade.  Then in the future, if I desire, I can upgrade to more modern technology (a 800FSB processor and DDR400 memory) when the prices come down.

...
Krick

[JamesS]

Where do you find mame v.55?

It took me forever to get the roms I have, will they run in v.55 or am I stuck at the latest version forever?

[SirPeale]

http://www.mame.net/oldmame.html

It's right on the MAME site.

[paigeoliver]

And the vast majority of your old roms will work just fine. The majority of Mame roms have been unchanged since they entered Mame. The ones that have changed tended to change several times, and many of those were large newer games that wouldn't run well on that comp anyway.

Also, be use and use the pentium version of mame (mamepp.exe or dmamepp.exe) it makes a bit of a difference in some titles.

[Iori]

I think I will eventually have to break down and get a nforce...  My cabinet is small and I don't have room for my machine in it.  If I get a mobo with video and audio onboard it will save alot of space...    So if anyone has any suggestions of other mobos that would be good please post so I can look at all my options...  For now I will mess with the Mame v.55 and see how that works, though looking at the supported game list there are a few that I would like to play and can play decently in a more current version that are not in .55.  I can always have both installed of course though, just not as convenient.

If I don't upgrade the machine I am using now, I have to rip apart the one I have now and mount it in the box in order to get a monitor I want into the case fully...  That is going to be fun if I end up doing that.  

Thanks!

[PaulG]

http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProduct.asp?submit=manufactory&catalog=22&manufactory=1315&DEPA=0&sortby=14&order=1

It's the 1st mobo on the page.  A direct link for some reason is linking to round ide cables.

I personally have a bias towards Asus or Abit.  The above board is an NForce 1 board, but considering your needs, that's not necessarily a bad thing.  The NForce audio specs were weakened when going from Nforce 1 to Nforce2.  You can get NForce2 boards that have the same high quality as the 1st boards, but the majority of the boards are actually inferior to the 1st NForce (audio).

[JamesS]

Thanks.

And v.55 will run most games with a pIII 550?

And the pc is running win98, with mamewah frontend.  Or will the 98 be siphoning too much from mame?

[Iori]

http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProduct.asp?submit=manufactory&catalog=22&manufactory=1315&DEPA=0&sortby=14&order=1

It's the 1st mobo on the page.  A direct link for some reason is linking to round ide cables.

I personally have a bias towards Asus or Abit.  The above board is an NForce 1 board, but considering your needs, that's not necessarily a bad thing.  The NForce audio specs were weakened when going from Nforce 1 to Nforce2.  You can get NForce2 boards that have the same high quality as the 1st boards, but the majority of the boards are actually inferior to the 1st NForce (audio).

Nice!    Thanks...  Nice and small mini ATX will take up almost no space at all...