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2023 Budget PC for MAME?
javeryh:
I’m looking to upgrade one (or two) of my cabinets and am wondering what you guys would buy if all you planned on running was MAME with bgfx enabled for CRT/scan lines.
I saw THIS on Amazon and was thinking about buying it. Will this be good enough?
TurboC--:
I can't say exactly what PC horsepower would be needed for a given setup. But I know it would greatly depend on the version of MAME and the newness of games you want to emulate.
For reference, I ran my old Pac cab MAME on a P2-era Celeron PC my friend found in the garbage. :lol (The only thing wrong with the PC was a corrupted windows install.) It ran perfectly for the really old stuff, up until like Galaga 88 or newer where it started to choke. Somehow I just never put a better PC in it. I guess I only cared about the really old games.
Hopefully someone here will have a better data point for you.
javeryh:
--- Quote from: TurboC-- on February 12, 2023, 01:06:09 pm ---I can't say exactly what PC horsepower would be needed for a given setup. But I know it would greatly depend on the version of MAME and the newness of games you want to emulate.
For reference, I ran my old Pac cab MAME on a P2-era Celeron PC my friend found in the garbage. :lol (The only thing wrong with the PC was a corrupted windows install.) It ran perfectly for the really old stuff, up until like Galaga 88 or newer where it started to choke. Somehow I just never put a better PC in it. I guess I only cared about the really old games.
Hopefully someone here will have a better data point for you.
--- End quote ---
Thanks. I suppose the toughest games I'd look to emulate would be Killer Instinct or Street Fighter III? I don't ever see it being used for any 3D games. I mostly play 70s/80s/early 90s games. I have to replace a PC in one of my existing cabinets which currently houses a potato but I'm also trying to plan for my 2023 cabinet...
Zebidee:
I'm still running a mame cab with a P4 3.2Ghz machine, but struggles a bit with more modern versions of MAME.
Core2Duo, E7XXX - E8XXX CPU systems, seem to be happier so I'm building some machines based on that. Seems to be quite sufficient for most except more modern and 3D games. Core2Duo uses bit less power too.
PCs with newer tech can use considerably less power to do the same things. So, you may be saving more anyway, in the long run, by using a somewhat newer (but still reasonably priced) rig.
BlueGhost:
I've been using Ryzen powered mini pc's lately. The Lenovo ones with a 2400GE Ryzen can be had for around $150 on ebay.