Back after a LONG time away- current hardware requirements

[johnm160]

Hi all,

A quick scan of the forums shows it has been 10 yrs since I was last here working with mame. Obviously life got busy. My last ROM set is 0.146 I am trying to get the new set but that is another story.

I searched the hardware thread but it has not been updated in several years. I am wondering what everyone is finding to be workable hardware (cpu/memory) for the latest version of MAME.

I will be turning my garage into a family/game room so I will finally have room to put my cabinets out again.

Thank you for any assistance.

[johnm160]

Let me ask this a different way after searching what I can source locally for a good price.  What are the thoughts on an I3 with 4 gig memory for the current mame set?

[PL1]

I am wondering what everyone is finding to be workable hardware (cpu/memory) for the latest version of MAME.

What are the thoughts on an I3 with 4 gig memory for the current mame set?

It depends on which titles are on your game list.
- Most of the old-school classics are no problem, though the ones with analog audio circuits can be surprisingly demanding.
- CPU intensive games like Gauntlet Legends or NFL Blitz might be sluggish, depending on the CPU clock speed.

General specs that should work for most MAME games:
    Processor - I3 or higher and 6th gen or newer
    Clock speed - 3.5 GHz or higher (higher is definitely better)
    Number of CPU cores - 4 is the most that MAME can currently use
    Memory - 4GB or higher
    GPU - MAME doesn't need a powerful GPU, but you might want a good card if you plan to run any Steam or other modern games.  If you have a CRT setup, you may want to use one of the not-so-new cards that are known to work with GroovyMAME.


Scott
EDIT: Added processor generation.

[Malenko]

You can pick up a used Dell i5 6th gen CPU for like $100 on ebay with 16GB of RAM and a big hard drive. You can get 8th gen i5 dells with 16 GB of RAM and SSD HD for about $300.

[pbj]

You can pick up a used Dell i5 6th gen CPU for like $100 on ebay with 16GB of RAM and a big hard drive. You can get 8th gen i5 dells with 16 GB of RAM and SSD HD for about $300.

Will these run NFL Blitz 100%?

[johnm160]

You can pick up a used Dell i5 6th gen CPU for like $100 on ebay with 16GB of RAM and a big hard drive. You can get 8th gen i5 dells with 16 GB of RAM and SSD HD for about $300.

Thanks, I have a guy that sells these local, just trying to find the sweet spot after being away from this for so long.

[johnm160]

I am wondering what everyone is finding to be workable hardware (cpu/memory) for the latest version of MAME.

What are the thoughts on an I3 with 4 gig memory for the current mame set?

It depends on which titles are on your game list.
- Most of the old-school classics are no problem, though the ones with analog audio circuits can be surprisingly demanding.
- CPU intensive games like Gauntlet Legends or NFL Blitz might be sluggish, depending on the CPU clock speed.

General specs that should work for most MAME games:
    Processor - I3 or higher
    Clock speed - 3.5 GHz or higher (higher is definitely better)
    Number of CPU cores - 4 is the most that MAME can currently use
    Memory - 4GB or higher
    GPU - MAME doesn't need a powerful GPU, but you might want a good card if you plan to run any Steam or other modern games.  If you have a CRT setup, you may want to use one of the not-so-new cards that are known to work with GroovyMAME.


Scott

It is going to probably be a mix. The ancient board in my Tempest died, I am not interesting in figuring out if it is the cpu/ram or HD I would rather just replace it as it is easily 15 yrs old if it is a day.

I am not sure if I am going to mess with the arcade monitors anymore, I have not made that decision yet. Connecting an LED monitor to it is naturally much easier.

The next project will be another classic, I have been wanting to do a Donkey Kong for a long time. Then I need to pull my vertical machine out of storage and see if the board in that still works. I built that one in 2003 I think. After that will be a machine that does all of the multi player fighters.

I know tempest and donkey kong will play on anything, I was not sure about the other games on this new rom set.

Since these will be in arcade cabinets I am not anticipating anything steam related.

Thanks I appreciate the input.

[Haze]

    Processor - I3 or higher

I think it's time to start being more specific here.

i3 / i5 / i7 labels alone are meaningless as this point, because there are so many generations of them (14 at this point)

The difference between a first gen i3/i5/i7 and a current gen i3/i5/i7 is huge, and in many cases can be 2-3 times the performance at the same clock speed as far as MAME is concerned.

At this point, I think it's best to say a 6th generation or above.  Technically I still do dev on an i7-4790K, which is 4th generation (10 years ago!) but it's was one of the fastest CPUs of that generation so *just about* still holds up for the more demanding netlist audio etc.  A weaker CPU of that generation might not.

[johnm160]

    Processor - I3 or higher

I think it's time to start being more specific here.

i3 / i5 / i7 labels alone are meaningless as this point, because there are so many generations of them (14 at this point)

The difference between a first gen i3/i5/i7 and a current gen i3/i5/i7 is huge, and in many cases can be 2-3 times the performance at the same clock speed as far as MAME is concerned.

At this point, I think it's best to say a 6th generation or above.  Technically I still do dev on an i7-4790K, which is 4th generation (10 years ago!) but it's was one of the fastest CPUs of that generation so *just about* still holds up for the more demanding netlist audio etc.  A weaker CPU of that generation might not.

I currently have an i5 6500 3.2ghz sitting here doing nothing. I can repurpose that into something. I was thinking an i3 6th gen or better would probably be fine for donkey kong and tempest. My local guy does have limited i3 that fit that. I would rather try to fit the pc to the specific games on these two at least since they will be dedicated to one game each.

[Malenko]

Will these run NFL Blitz 100%?

I only test on Gauntlet Legends.

[johnm160]

Will these run NFL Blitz 100%?

I only test on Gauntlet Legends.

If I remember correctly Gauntlet Legends use to be a bear to run. What processor / mem are you currently using to run this?

[Zebidee]

    Number of CPU cores - 4 is the most that MAME can currently use

Interesting - many people talk about MAME mostly being single-core processes. To what extent is that no longer true?

Having enough RAM certainly makes a difference, 8GB+, especially if you are running a multimedia-hungry frontend and/or artwork.

[PL1]

At this point, I think it's best to say a 6th generation or above.

Good point, Haze.  Added it to my earlier post.   

    Number of CPU cores - 4 is the most that MAME can currently use

Interesting - many people talk about MAME mostly being single-core processes. To what extent is that no longer true?

I'm not sure about the extent of multi-core/multi-threading in MAME, but there are limits on it.

Here are some (hopefully) related Dev Quotes from MAMEWorld.

"...emulation has to be performed sequentially. The results of each operation are heavily dependent on the results of the preceding operations."

- smf

"Yes, multi-threaded emulation is possible, but only on games we can routinely run 4000 FPS already. The games that most need more CPU oomph are a single RISC or x86 processor at insane MHz (NFL Blitz, Gauntlet Legends, Area 51 Site 4, etc) and you simply can't slice that any finer."

- R. Belmont

Scott

[Zebidee]

Thanks Scott. That's pretty much what I thought!

I just made a CPU decision based on that, though I'm seriously lowballing you and Haze!
I've got a LGA775 Asrock G41C-VS mainboard here with a core2quad Q8200 2.33Ghz in it already, but I'm going to swap in a core2duo E8500 3.16Ghz (~$5 local online). Both can use same 8GB DDR3 1333 RAM I already have. Four cores down to two. Seems like a downgrade, but the E8500 will perform significantly better on single core operations (and TDP, power use, is significantly lower). Gosh, for about $15 I could grab an E8600 3.33Ghz, three times the price for that last 0.17Ghz, dang, hmmmm.... 

One of these days I'll advance up to the last decade. These CPUs don't even belong to an Intel "generation"   

[Zeosstud]

I think a good game to test on.. Golden Tee FORE!, set it on Medium rez and bash some balls into the woods.. If the speech is clear and not stuttering, that is a good setup for todays stuff. :-)

Zeosstud

[Zebidee]

FWIWm Just tested Gauntlet Legends 1.6 on Core2duo E8600 3.3Ghz, 8GB DDR3 RAM, GPU HD6450 2GB DDR3... no significant slowdown graphics-wise, play smooth, except sound stutters a little.

Playable, just.

On a Core2Duo E7500 2.93Ghz, 4GB DDR2RAM, GPU same as above, chugs a lot. Significant slowdown. Sound stutters a lot. Not playable unless you are really keen.

I think that, with a bit of overclocking, the E8600's sound issues could improve.