Bare Bones PC for MAME

[PokerMan]

I need to pick up a Bare Bones PC kit for my MAME cab.

Anybody reccommend some on-line places for cheep cheep here in the USA

tks

[cholin]

Tigerdirect?  Newegg?

[GGKoul]

ebay....

[paigeoliver]

I usually just go to the local surplus computer shop and just buy a used computer for $20-$50. That new computer is going to cost 10 times as much and will play about 12 games more than the old one will, and most of those games use specialty analog controller.

[daywane]

I usually just go to the local surplus computer shop and just buy a used computer for $20-$50. That new computer is going to cost 10 times as much and will play about 12 games more than the old one will, and most of those games use specialty analog controller.

man... That must be nice. We have no such thing around here. we have flee markets and the jerks are selling PII for $300.00.
blows my mind people are buying them.

I have allways had quick service and the prices are fair. There is cheaper out there but i do not like change much so I just never checked into them.
maybe if Tiger ever messes up with me I will check into other places.

have you posted in the buy /sell/ trade on this board?
good people there. I have bought a few things from fellow mamers here

[paigeoliver]

Ebay will pretty much get you the same computers for the same prices, you will just have to add $20 for shipping.

Try ebay seller tommygunepc, I have bought a lot of computers from him.

[cholin]

Paige, what you should do for us MAMErs and to make some cash yourself -- go to that store, pick up maybe 3 or 4 computers that will run mame decently.  Sell them on the B/S/T board.  Im sure people would rather buy a used computer from you and give you a little profit than buy a new computer of the same type for $300

[paigeoliver]

Paige, what you should do for us MAMErs and to make some cash yourself -- go to that store, pick up maybe 3 or 4 computers that will run mame decently.  Sell them on the B/S/T board.  Im sure people would rather buy a used computer from you and give you a little profit than buy a new computer of the same type for $300

Well, I just buy them from that guy on ebay and then go to his retail store to pick them up (they are always cheaper from him on ebay then they are in the store). I have to pay sales tax because it is local, out of state buyers won't and thus that will cover most of the shipping price.

[j123vt_99]

i;m still trying to get a feel for what the minimium requirements are for a suitable mame machine

[paigeoliver]

i;m still trying to get a feel for what the minimium requirements are for a suitable mame machine

300 mhz for vertical, 400 mhz for horizontal. Using a Mame version .55 to .60.

[GGKoul]

i;m still trying to get a feel for what the minimium requirements are for a suitable mame machine

I would say a PIII/AMD Duron 1gig will play 95% of the games.

It all depends what type of games you want to play.

[DrewKaree]

Isn't there a thread in the sticky/FAQ's about this specific topic? 

To think, Peale went through all that trouble for nothing!

[paigeoliver]

Isn't there a thread in the sticky/FAQ's about this specific topic? 

To think, Peale went through all that trouble for nothing!

It has been argued endlessly. But it basically comes down to this, if you are willing to skip the hard drive games and use an older Mame version then the specs I listed run essentially everything in Mame full speed. There are exceptions, but the list of those exceptions is very short and most of them require specialty analog controls.

For most Mame projects you will end up happier if you cut your computer budget way down and move that money over to use on more (or better) controls and a proper display. I have seen way too many Mame cabinets with brand new $500 computers either driving a 17" (or less) PC monitor, or being controlled by an X-Arcade or some other 2 dollar imitation joysticks.

[vrf]

So, I could get a mini-itx board with an 1.2 ghz processor, and be able to run most games at full speed? (or do those Epia processors suck for this kind of thing?)

What about two players with stereo sound and some display filters to make my LCD look closer to an arcade monitor? (I'm designing a portable MAME cabinet.)

[paigeoliver]

So, I could get a mini-itx board with an 1.2 ghz processor, and be able to run most games at full speed? (or do those Epia processors suck for this kind of thing?)

What about two players with stereo sound and some display filters to make my LCD look closer to an arcade monitor? (I'm designing a portable MAME cabinet.)

Any display filters are going to kill processing speed.

A 1.2 Ghz is over twice what I put in most cabinets.

[vrf]

I'm not sure the the clockspeed ratings on the Epia CPUs really give an accurate idea of how quick they'd be. Like it seems I've heard a 1gig Epia CPU is more like 500 mhz or something. The price you pay for the fanless nature of it, I guess. If I knew the 1.2 ghz Via board would go as quick as a 1 ghz P4, I think I'd be okay with it. But the rough equivalent of 500 mhz is a little slower than I'd like to be.

But, if you say it would still run just about everything, than maybe it's still a good idea...

Here's the mobo I was thinking of:

http://www.mini-itx.com/reviews/mii12000/default.asp?page=2

Could I play Metal Slug 4 or 5 at full speed with this thing?

[paigeoliver]

I'm not sure the the clockspeed ratings on the Epia CPUs really give an accurate idea of how quick they'd be. Like it seems I've heard a 1gig Epia CPU is more like 500 mhz or something. The price you pay for the fanless nature of it, I guess. If I knew the 1.2 ghz Via board would go as quick as a 1 ghz P4, I think I'd be okay with it. But the rough equivalent of 500 mhz is a little slower than I'd like to be.

But, if you say it would still run just about everything, than maybe it's still a good idea...

Here's the mobo I was thinking of:

http://www.mini-itx.com/reviews/mii12000/default.asp?page=2

Could I play Metal Slug 4 or 5 at full speed with this thing?

I don't have those roms (I stopped updating about the time the hard drive games came out), but the other Neo Geo games go full speed on a 400 mhz computer with mame .55

The problem is that those games aren't in the old mame versions, and the newer mame versions require about 3.5 times as much horsepower for neo geo.

[Lilwolf]

You should do the follow.

1) See what you already have... many have extra crap computers laying around... these are prefect to start (you can always upgrade later)

2) Ask your friends.

[cholin]

Yeah ask a few friends   I use MSN and within 10 minutes of asking somebody offered me a free one because Windows wouldnt boot on it and the case was a little messed up -- perfect   I figure, I get it, wipe the HD, boot it all up without the case and I've got myself MAME!

[daywane]

I just put Mame 56 on a PII 200 mhrtz (200 + )
not sure yet how much CPU power yet
has win 95 2 gig hard drive
all old school games are running fine with sound.
as a mater of fact galaga is running to fast? go figure
I have tried to install 98 on it but It just upgraded it ( )
I will format it and try again this week end.
also 64 meg memory

[Goz]

Yes you can play Metal Slug and the rest of the Neo Geo games on a mini itx Via 1.2Ghz. I play them all the time on my Via 1Ghz mini itx.

-Goz