Upgrade a W7 Cab to change the motherboard

[JMD]

Hello,

It's a bit of a recurring subject but being a bit worried by nature, I prefer to ask questions before getting started 😊

For quite a few years I have had a cab running Windows 7 with Groovy MAME / Mednafen / FS-UAE / Null DC, a CRT monitor with Calamity drivers and lots of custom configurations (Buttons, images, scores …): here is the detail.

My motherboard has some signs of weakness and I was able to get a new, more efficient (P8Z68 / i7-2600K / 8GB ... same Cab, Gfx & sound): I am therefore wondering about its integration!
What do you recommend to me today? Migrate my W7 system that gives me satisfaction or upgrade to Windows 10 and more recent versions of emulators?
Can Groovy Arcade now replace a windows configuration with attract mode (which I still have quite customized)?

I am aware that in the end, anything is possible and that it depends on the investment I am prepared to devote to it (I don't have much free time but I'm in no rush), but I am taking feedback from experiences and advice on comparable cases.

Thank you in advance!

JMD

[JMD]

So I embarked on a complete "clean" reinstallation with WIndwos 10.

First, The new items that I collected (probably too powerful for this use) :
     - Asus P8Z68 V-LX
     - I7 2600k 3.4G
     - 8G DDR3
     - A card for 2 additional USB ports
 
I bought in addition:
     - A power supply (MPB550)
     - A small SSD (EMTEC 128G)
     - 2 buttons with led for power and reset
     - A USB port extension
     - Power supply cables, disc power cables and wire extensions with dupont connectors and a few 4.8 terminals to connect the buttons

I recovered from the current terminal
     - The M-Audio Audiophile 24/96 sound card (useless since the card itself has sound but I like it)
     - The Radeon HD 7850 2GO graphics card (VTX)

I started by creating a sturdy wooden frame to which I attached with scrap iron brackets a frame to hold the cards. I also made a groove so the bottom of the cards could fit in.
I fixed the same card on it and plugged everything in


Install Windows 10 Pro, activate + update
     - Local account, with password
Install drivers:
     - Motherboard: ASMedia USB3 drivers (VER116120); Intel (Intel chipset drivers 8.1 64b VER9401026 & Raid VER 12801016); realtek audio
     - Sound card: M-Audio Delta Audiophile 6.0.8
    - Graphics card: CRT Emudrivers & CRT Tools 2.0b15 (Adrenali, 18.5.1 GCN Cards) W10 64Bits
Fits Windows
    - Rename the PC
    - Uncheck Windows Fast Startup
    - Removes everything that is useless (search bars, icons ...)
    - Opening when Onedrive starts
    - Adds remote control
    - Uninstall what does not interest me: Office (Outlook, OneNote, One drive), Spotify, Skype
    - Find a nice wallpaper (I'll make one of my own later) and tweak the theme colors a bit and change my avatar

Install basic utilities
    - Speccy
    - WinRar
    - NotePad ++

Disable Windows Hello and Add automatic sign-in when opening (via netplwiz)

I copy the entire configuration of the emulators to the disk: front end, emulators, roms, images, videos ...

I install the new computer in the cab and set it vertically instead of horizontal as before. A bit of redevelopment work but in the end it's much better!
I plug everything abd a monitor (HD TV) in HDMI + the 15khz arcade monitor in the DVI socket next to it.
I run VMMaker and set the EDID emulation on the DVGA output then generate the modeline and install them.
 
I restart by unplugging the TV… And it works fine !!!

The image appears more beautiful and stable than before and the sound is the same

Very happy and frankly not that complicated. I still have a lot of things to do now: check everything and generate set up the auto start of the front end and the specific modelines that I had installed (I forgot to save them before starting ... was silly, think about it if you get into it)