Help Findin old Computer

[the3eyedblindman]

Hi, Im in the process of buildin an arcade and i want a computer that will only be used for mame and occasionally goin online. I want to know if anyone knows where to look for computers from like a few years ago, maybe like old pentium fours or pentium 3's with dvd, cd rw, dont care bout memory, maybe 40 gig hd. I want to know if anyone knows any stores or companies sell old computer for cheap, like below 100 bucks, suggestions wanted and needed. Please

[DaveMMR]

Yard Sales are a good start.  So are local ads.  Ask around, it's getting easier and easier to find old computers for next to nothing.

[the3eyedblindman]

ill probably try the classified adds, look in the paper

[Sasquatch!]

eBay.

[the3eyedblindman]

will someone give me like some specs that would be good for a mame computer, like cpu speed, ram ,hard drive, components, ect so i can search on ebay, i searched "pentium computer" and got like 3 billion results, just like an example of some specs of a comp i could look for cheap

[RacerX]

will someone give me like some specs that would be good for a mame computer, like cpu speed, ram ,hard drive, components, ect so i can search on ebay, i searched "pentium computer" and got like 3 billion results, just like an example of some specs of a comp i could look for cheap

http://www.arcadecontrols.org/yabbse/index.php?board=1;action=display;threadid=14155

[maraxle]

Check your newspaper and see if there's any computer shows coming to your town.  You can often get really good deals there.

[seibu]

will someone give me like some specs that would be good for a mame computer, like cpu speed, ram ,hard drive, components, ect so i can search on ebay, i searched "pentium computer" and got like 3 billion results, just like an example of some specs of a comp i could look for cheap

MAME PC specifications are completely depend on what you want to play. Some games are unplayable on any PC currently made - some could get by on an original Pentium.

Basically:

P2 = 80s only, really. Not Hardware heavy games (e.g. Out Run / Space Harier, unless you can live without sound)
P3 = 80s and early - mid 90s (e.g. SF2 - but probably not MK2)
P4 = Basically everything up to CHDs & 32 bit systems.

Remember that your CPU speed is by far the most importannt factor with MAME. RAM is useful so the whole game + MAME can fit in memory. Graphics card largely unimportant.

Note that older versions of MAME are faster!