Help me buy a good MAME system

[IntruderAlert]

Here's a couple of combinations I am looking at
if you guys have any better ideas I'd like to hear 'em


AMD Athlon 64 3000+, 512KB L2 Cache 64-bit Processor - Retail
Item#    N82E16819103486  -  $146.00

WINTEC AMPO 184-pin 512MB DDR PC-3200, Model 35145588-P - Retail
Item#    N82E16820161615   -  $36.49

MSI "K8T NEO2-F" VIA K8T800 Pro Chipset Motherboard for AMD Socket 939 CPU
Item#    N82E16813130469R  -  $54.00

Rosewill Value Series 300W Dual Fan Power Supply for Intel and AMD systems, Model "RV300" -RETAIL
Item#    N82E16817182001  -  $13.99


Month-End Blowout Sale!
Intel Pentium 4/ 2.66 GHz 533MHz FSB, 1MB L2 Cache Processor - Retail
Item#    N82E16819116193  -  $133.99

WINTEC AMPO 184-pin 512MB DDR PC-3200, Model 35145588-P - Retail
Item#    N82E16820161615   -  $36.49

ASRock "P4V88 RAID" VIA PT880 Chipset Motherboard for Intel Socket 478 CPU
Item#    N82E16813157034R  -  $25.00

Rosewill Value Series 300W Dual Fan Power Supply for Intel and AMD systems, Model "RV300" -RETAIL
Item#    N82E16817182001  -  $13.99

[j123vt_99]

chip seems like overkill... and obviously you are missing a HD

[IntruderAlert]

I have a hard drive and ArcadeVGA already
This stuff is really all I need

I want to make sure I'll be able to run most games at 100% but if it's overkill please make some suggestions

[AceTKK]

if I were you I wouldn't cheap out on the powersupply.  Antec, Sparkle and a few others make quality, affordable PSUs.

-Ace-

[pointdablame]

if I were you I wouldn't cheap out on the powersupply.  Antec, Sparkle and a few others make quality, affordable PSUs.

-Ace-

listen to this man.

Antec, Enermax, Sparkle, even Vantec..... don't cheap out on a powersupply.

I've never heard of your ram either, but it be just fine.  I'd see what the price diff is for a comparable stick of Kingston or Corsair Value ram though.

My .02

[IntruderAlert]

I forgot to mention that this stuff is going inside my cab and I have no plans for using it for anything except MAME
The memory and power supply have gotten good reviews on newegg even though they are cheap
but I realize that reliability is important and I appreciate you guys pointing that out

I should also mention that both of the motherboards I am looking at are refurbished which is why they are so cheap

[DaveJ-UK]

IMO it's not worth spending that much.

I'd just grab a used mobo/cpu/ram bundle off eBay for a fraction of the price you'll be paying for that lot, especially if you already have a couple of the bits you need.

Boot sales and markets are also a good place to pick up used systems. I bought an Athlon 2000+ system (cpu/mobo/gfx card/40gb hdd/cd-rw/floppy/case/psu) for

[Bloinkxp]

What kind of games are you trying to play?  That can help a lot of us "guide" you.

With that said.  Get the AMD64.  Its "speed now", will be a big help with keeping things cool! Find a good Antec Case/PSU combo.  Believe me it is easier to hack your case in to the mame cab.  Simple things like the drive bay chassis and CPU tray are total time savers, plus I have never gotten a bad Antec PSU.

Later,
d

[DaveJ-UK]

Athlon 64's start at about $100... that's way too much to spend on a cpu for a mame system, regardless of the speed step bulls**t they pimp with it.

[IntruderAlert]

after reading topics like this one:
http://forum.arcadecontrols.com/index.php/topic,14155.0.html

..i came to the conclusion that I would need at least 2ghz to run the latest games

that's why I'm looking at the P4 and Athlon 64 cpus greater than 2ghz

[SOAPboy]

Athlon 64's start at about $100... that's way too much to spend on a cpu for a mame system, regardless of the speed step bulls**t they pimp with it.

yeah unless you wanna play killer instinct 2 at full speed 

need some powah!

[IntruderAlert]

so you agree?
any of the new CHD games are going to need at least 2ghz?

[SOAPboy]

so you agree?
any of the new CHD games are going to need at least 2ghz?

go for it.. if i had the cash my old 2.8c P4 (which runs EVERY game ive thrown at it at full speed), would be in my mame machine..

if you have the money, itll never hurt put it in a cab.. ^_^


Tho, the power supply.. hmm.. id grab a 50$ Thermal take pure power.. Great psu, cheap, and such

[IntruderAlert]

I was going to mount the mobo and everything to the inside wall of the cab where the original JAMMA PCB was installed (NO PC CASE)
Do you guys see any problem with that?

[SOAPboy]

I was going to mount the mobo and everything to the inside wall of the cab where the original JAMMA PCB was installed (NO PC CASE)
Do you guys see any problem with that?

nope.. mines kinda like that..

just throw a fan or two blowing across everything and have a fan or two pulling said air out..

[elvis]

I was going to mount the mobo and everything to the inside wall of the cab where the original JAMMA PCB was installed (NO PC CASE)
Do you guys see any problem with that?

nope.. mines kinda like that..

just throw a fan or two blowing across everything and have a fan or two pulling said air out..

Ditto for my cocktail unit.

[Shep]

Do you guys see any problem with that?

Worked for me... also, don't rush to add extra cabinet fans - I've been running temperature logging software on my jamma->mame cab (which has an uncased motherboard) for the last fortnight, and discovered that the CPU (Sempron 2400) runs at a steady 43C, using no cabinet cooling other than the original (passive) convection vents.

[Felix T Cat]

For what it's worth you can get a 2.4g cell system from Dell with 512m ram and 80g hard drive for $284 plus tax.  It's a refurb but has the same 1 year warranty as new and they have free shipping on refurbs until 4-6-05
http://www1.us.dell.com/content/default.aspx?c=us&l=en&s=dfh&~ck=bt

[Truecade]

I was looking at this system for a cheap MAME box.  It might suit your needs, and comes with a 1 year warranty for $200.  The RAM is kind of skimpy, but 128 should be enough for MAME.

http://www.walmart.com/catalog/product.gsp?product_id=3380786

[IntruderAlert]

Do you guys see any problem with that?

Worked for me... also, don't rush to add extra cabinet fans - I've been running temperature logging software on my jamma->mame cab (which has an uncased motherboard) for the last fortnight, and discovered that the CPU (Sempron 2400) runs at a steady 43C, using no cabinet cooling other than the original (passive) convection vents.

yeah.. quiet is better 

For what it's worth you can get a 2.4g cell system from Dell with 512m ram and 80g hard drive for $284 plus tax.  It's a refurb but has the same 1 year warranty as new and they have free shipping on refurbs until 4-6-05
http://www1.us.dell.com/content/default.aspx?c=us&l=en&s=dfh&~ck=bt

cell system???
That link just takes me to the main page
Where can I find what you are talking about?

I was looking at this system for a cheap MAME box.  It might suit your needs, and comes with a 1 year warranty for $200.  The RAM is kind of skimpy, but 128 should be enough for MAME.

http://www.walmart.com/catalog/product.gsp?product_id=3380786

Thanks for the idea
I looked around in there for a while but everything in my price range at walmart.com is Sempron and 1.5ghz is a bit weak for CHD  imo

[caffinefiend]

i have a 2.2 ghz celeron with 300 some megs of ram, 20 or 40 gb hd i forget, but i can fit a complete mame rom set for .69 along with mamewah and nes, sega, snes, genesis, tg16 full rom sets and emulators, i also have joypads that light up (the retrocons hooked to it and a steering wheel) anyway

2.2 ghz with the 300 some megs of ram runs everything, unlcuing the nba jam, mortal kombat (both suck anyway) and marvel vs capcom, metal slug, samsho5, and some sutff like that all full speed no frameskip... you should be just fine with a 2 ghz celeron pick up a full system on ebay for like 100 bucks

[IntruderAlert]

Thanks for the info dude
I was worried about going with celeron or sempron
do you ever get any glitches or lags or anything with the CHD games at all?

[caffinefiend]

chd is the only games i don't play, so i woulnd't know

it runs every other game full speed quick loading as well

[elvis]

Try these links for more info:

http://benchmark.mameworld.net/

http://www.classicgaming.com/mame32qa/bench.htm

[testicle187]

The Athlon 64s are not a big jump over regular Athlons or Semprons for that matter in terms of speed with Mame.  My last MAME Cab had MSI Neo2 Platinum, Athlon64 3200+, 1 gig Corsair PC3200 value, and an ATI Radeon 9600 Pro 256meg AGP graphics card.  It was hardly (if any) faster on any games than my Athlon XP 2700+ system with 512 meg PC-2100 ram. 

On a side note, hardly any CHD games are going to be playable on any system you can currently buy.  Killer Instinct 1 and 2 ran fine on my Athlon XP 2100+ system and basically the same on my Athlon 64s.  You will not be able to play games like Cruisin USA anytime soon on anything.

I would go with a Sempron 2600+ from newegg as your processor and an ASRock motherboard (if you insist on cheaping out a little ).  Like others said, Corsair Value ram and Kingston Value Ram is really cheap and WILL save you headaches found with cheap ram.

[elvis]

Simply put, if you want to play more modern 3D games, use ZiNc, or go out and buy a Playstation/Xbox/whatever console. 

MAME is about retro gaming.  For most of us, that means games that are 15+ years old that aren't around any more.  Not 3-4 years old, that can still be bought on store shelves.

[Felix T Cat]

Go here:
http://www1.us.dell.com/content/default.aspx?c=us&l=en&s=dfh&cs=22

Click on Desktops
On the next screen where it say's "View Current Inventory" select Dimension Desktops
Then click on the price colum to sort by price.

[IntruderAlert]

Simply put, if you want to play more modern 3D games, use ZiNc, or go out and buy a Playstation/Xbox/whatever console. 

MAME is about retro gaming.  For most of us, that means games that are 15+ years old that aren't around any more.  Not 3-4 years old, that can still be bought on store shelves.

MAME is about whatever games the MAME developers decide to work on
and I just want to be able to run them

[Zeosstud]

A Celeron 2.0Ghz runs Simpsons Bowling like crap, almost unplayable.  A true 2.4Ghz P4 runs Simpsons Bowling just fine in a system running windows XP Pro SP2 and 128 Megs of Ram,  I know this for a fact.  Almost none of the chd games run anywhere near playable anyway on ANY system.  I am not an expert, but I can confirm my above statement to be fact.

Rodney

[IntruderAlert]

Ok guys,
Thanks for all of the input.
I guess I'll need at least 2ghz to run the latest games and I shouldn't expect to run the CHD games very well or at all even with 3ghz or higher..  at least for now..

I'm looking forward to seeing how well M3talHead's 3ghz Athlon 64 system works for him

I think I'll hold off a bit longer on my purchase until he lets us know what he's able to run with it

[CPickler]

This makes me feel inferior.

I am running a P3 for my MAME system.  It's an old box I had lying around that used to be the music server for my fraternity.

I thought that most MAME games would run on a P3 with 128 MB RAM quite well.

Am I wrong?

[paigeoliver]

This makes me feel inferior.

I am running a P3 for my MAME system.  It's an old box I had lying around that used to be the music server for my fraternity.

I thought that most MAME games would run on a P3 with 128 MB RAM quite well.

Am I wrong?

No, you aren't wrong. A 128MB P3 with the proper mame version (somewhere around .70 would be correct for a P3), will run roughly 98 percent of the games in Mame full speed.

The problem is that people won't stop talking about that other 2 percent. Half of that other 2 percent won't run on ANYTHING. Of the remaining ones roughly 75 percent require specialty analog controllers that most people won't have.

The list of games that need big hardware is pitifully short, and almost ALL of them are analog games. In basically EVERY case you gain more games by investing in more controller types than you do by investing in a faster computer.

Invest in a spinner, a true analog joystick, a trackball, even those little analog SNAP joysticks for the sports games, rotary joysticks, 4-way joystics, or a steering wheel. Each and every one of those controls enables more games than a faster processor does.

[SOAPboy]

This makes me feel inferior.

I am running a P3 for my MAME system.

[paigeoliver]

This makes me feel inferior.

I am running a P3 for my MAME system.  It's an old box I had lying around that used to be the music server for my fraternity.

I thought that most MAME games would run on a P3 with 128 MB RAM quite well.

Am I wrong?

No, you aren't wrong. A 128MB P3 with the proper mame version (somewhere around .70 would be correct for a P3), will run roughly 98 percent of the games in Mame full speed.

The problem is that people won't stop talking about that other 2 percent. Half of that other 2 percent won't run on ANYTHING. Of the remaining ones roughly 75 percent require specialty analog controllers that most people won't have.

The list of games that need big hardware is pitifully short, and almost ALL of them are analog games. In basically EVERY case you gain more games by investing in more controller types than you do by investing in a faster computer.

Invest in a spinner, a true analog joystick, a trackball, even those little analog SNAP joysticks for the sports games, rotary joysticks, 4-way joystics, or a steering wheel. Each and every one of those controls enables more games than a faster processor does.

So, What exactly does it take to get Killer Instinct 1 and 2 running at 95%-100% speed..
Other than blitz, those are the only ones i know of people trying to get running right.. oh well maybe street figher 3 or whatever..

Who knows, I never even bothered trying them. I already have 90,000 other games I don't have time to play, so I am certainly not going to start sweating over a few non-unique titles.

I have always figured that eventually the computer in my main cabinet will crap out. When it does then the replacement computer will certainly play all those games that everyone today is struggling with. I waited for STUN Runner, I'll wait for those.  The hardware will catch up, the hardware will always catch up.

[CPickler]

good mantra

[IntruderAlert]

This makes me feel inferior.

I am running a P3 for my MAME system.  It's an old box I had lying around that used to be the music server for my fraternity.

I thought that most MAME games would run on a P3 with 128 MB RAM quite well.

Am I wrong?

No, you aren't wrong. A 128MB P3 with the proper mame version (somewhere around .70 would be correct for a P3), will run roughly 98 percent of the games in Mame full speed.

The problem is that people won't stop talking about that other 2 percent. Half of that other 2 percent won't run on ANYTHING. Of the remaining ones roughly 75 percent require specialty analog controllers that most people won't have.

The list of games that need big hardware is pitifully short, and almost ALL of them are analog games. In basically EVERY case you gain more games by investing in more controller types than you do by investing in a faster computer.

Invest in a spinner, a true analog joystick, a trackball, even those little analog SNAP joysticks for the sports games, rotary joysticks, 4-way joystics, or a steering wheel. Each and every one of those controls enables more games than a faster processor does.

So, What exactly does it take to get Killer Instinct 1 and 2 running at 95%-100% speed..
Other than blitz, those are the only ones i know of people trying to get running right.. oh well maybe street figher 3 or whatever..

Who knows, I never even bothered trying them. I already have 90,000 other games I don't have time to play, so I am certainly not going to start sweating over a few non-unique titles.

I have always figured that eventually the computer in my main cabinet will crap out. When it does then the replacement computer will certainly play all those games that everyone today is struggling with. I waited for STUN Runner, I'll wait for those.  The hardware will catch up, the hardware will always catch up.

So what about the people who's computer has already crapped out?

[pointdablame]

So what about the people who's computer has already crapped out?

You still don't need a NEW system.  If you're system craps out (or has) maybe you could take your current main computer and use that for your MAME system... and upgrade your main computer.

Or an even cheaper thing to do is just buy a used system or parts that are slightly out of date.  Yes you could spend $150 on an Athlon64, but you could get a nice Socket A motherboard, a 1800-2100 Athlon XP, and 512 of ram for that same $150 (or less).  Or you could very easily find a complete used computer in that same price range.

I love building computers, and if you have the cash.. go for it.  But I do agree with paige to an extent... it's definitely not necessary

[Nocturnaloner]

I guess there's always sort of a conflict between those who feel that MAME is only for the classics, versus those who want every game to run smoothly.  Gross generalization, but you get the point. 

I just bought an upgrade kit, and I "settled" for an AthlonXP 3200+ (up from an Athlon 1.33ghz), even though $25 more would've gotten me into an A64, because I set a spending limit and stuck to it.  I'm sure it'll play Area 51 though, and I'm also going to check out Daphne and Zinc.

[pointdablame]

I guess there's always sort of a conflict between those who feel that MAME is only for the classics, versus those who want every game to run smoothly.  Gross generalization, but you get the point. 

I just bought an upgrade kit, and I "settled" for an AthlonXP 3200+ (up from an Athlon 1.33ghz), even though $25 more would've gotten me into an A64, because I set a spending limit and stuck to it.  I'm sure it'll play Area 51 though, and I'm also going to check out Daphne and Zinc.

see but that's the thing.. .you CAN'T play ever game.  I don't care what system you have.. you just can't. The debate is really about those who DEMAND to be able to play as many games as possible even if a $2000 computer can only play a dozen or so more games than a $300 computer.  I'm not directing that directly at you... I know you were generalizing like you said.. but the point still stands

CHD games and a rare handful of games that take a lot of PC power are the only things you add.  Now if you plan on doing more than MAME, I can see the point in it.. but if you are strictly MAME only... it really is overkill

[CheffoJeffo]

Another thing to keep in mind is that performance is going to change with each new release ... games that you might be gearing your system towards today might be slower or even unplayable in the a future (hence, so many people locking in on particular versions).

It's a moving target and the target doesn't always move in the direction you might think.

Cheers,

JAKD

[Nocturnaloner]

see but that's the thing.. .you CAN'T play ever game.  I don't care what system you have.. you just can't. The debate is really about those who DEMAND to be able to play as many games as possible even if a $2000 computer can only play a dozen or so more games than a $300 computer.  I'm not directing that directly at you... I know you were generalizing like you said.. but the point still stands

Oh I know that, no worries.  I have no expectations of playing Blitz in the near future, and don't really care about it, frankly.

I guess my point is that different people want to get different things out of a MAME box, and no one is 'right'.  I just struck the best balance between my budget and the games I want to play.

[CPickler]

How much power does it take to play Blitz?

[Nocturnaloner]

No one really knows.  I've seen estimates range from a 7 to 10ghz processor.

[pointdablame]

I don't know much about Blitz, but I know people have estimated similar speeds for the Cruisin' games.... it'll be a while.

[CPickler]

how do they run them in the arcades then?

whoa.... do they have to run like quad Xeon boards or something?

[pointdablame]

how do they run them in the arcades then?

whoa.... do they have to run like quad Xeon boards or something?

No.  Its just that the hardware used in the arcade.. when run through standard computer components... takes a lot of horsepower.

Remember, our PCs are EMULATING these games.  A lot of people forget that emulation requires the compter to BECOME the hardware, for lack of a simpler analogy.  You are not just playing Cruisin' USA.. you are turing your computer INTO a Cruisin' USA machine.  When you factor in the fact that every chip/board/processor/etc has to be emulated, you can see why games could run full speed in the arcades years ago, but can't be played right on PCs

Cruisin' and other games didn't use super uber 1337 hardware when they were made... they were simply made in a way that makes emulating it a very processor and system intensive process.

[SOAPboy]

This makes me feel inferior.

I am running a P3 for my MAME system.

[IntruderAlert]

I ended up with a good deal on a P4 2.4ghz and 512mb ram.
I'm planning to try mame096b unless you guys recommend a different version for this setup.

[AlanS17]

If you have have a local Fry's, I'd check there. They have weekly circulars that ALWAYS include at least one cpu/mobo combo on the front page. They post these circulars in the store, too, in case you don't get the newspaper. These sales usually go from friday til tuesday. They happen every wekk, though. They're pretty much always AMD combos, but some of them are rediculously cheap.

Case in point, the sale ending today has an AMD Sempron 2600+ with mobo for $69.99. Don't worry, though. They'll have something comparable coming up this weekend again. They ALWAYS do.

I know it's not quite the stats you're looking at, but it plays that vast majority of truly playable games. Anything faster may be an exercise in futility.

DISCLAIMER: I have not read all the posts following the initial post so I don't know if the person in question has already chosen his CPU/mobo. However, this info is still good for anybody.

[IntruderAlert]

LOL 
..eh .. read the post right above yours dude 

..thanks for the suggestion though

[AlanS17]

LOL
..eh .. read the post right above yours dude

[IntruderAlert]

how much is too much? 

[IntruderAlert]

Case in point, the sale ending today has an AMD Sempron 2600+ with mobo for $69.99.

That's a good deal Alan
Your DISCLAIMER just caught me as being funny..  lol

I got the P4 2.4ghz, mobo and 512mb RAM shipped for about $140
not too bad.. but maybe not as good as your deal
I got tired of waiting around though

so anyway..
should I go for mame096b ? 

[AmericanDemon]

*couch* paid too much *couch* 

Heh.  Dont you mean Cough? 

[markrvp]

In my main "Do-Everything" cabinet I have a 3 Ghz P4 machine with 1 gig of RAM.

[IntruderAlert]

so anyway..
should I go for mame096b ? 

[elvis]

how do they run them in the arcades then?

whoa.... do they have to run like quad Xeon boards or something?

elvis fires up the MAME-FAQ-O-MATIC (tm)

*whirrr*  *whizzz* *chugga chugga*

A01. Why this FAQ?
http://www.mame.net/mamefaq.html#a01

G02. What do I need to run MAME?
http://www.mame.net/mamefaq.html#g02

T10. Why do some games run so slowly on my system?
http://www.mame.net/mamefaq.html#t10

T11. How can I get <insert game here> to run faster?
http://www.mame.net/mamefaq.html#t11

M13. When will MAME use Direct3D/OpenGL to emulate <insert insane 3D system here>?
http://www.mame.net/mamefaq.html#m13

M14. Why does MAME become slower all the time?
http://www.mame.net/mamefaq.html#m14

M15. Why is MAME so slow? These games ran at less than 10 MHz, and my CPU is 500 MHz!
http://www.mame.net/mamefaq.html#m15

M16. Why don't the developers put more hacks in MAME?
http://www.mame.net/mamefaq.html#m16

All questions answered yet again by the marvellous FAQ.

[Flinkly]

i'd run 96.

[IntruderAlert]

Thanks Flinkly

[AlanS17]

*couch* paid too much *couch*

[krick]

the computer in my mame cab is a 2.8Ghz P4 with 512M of memory.

The board is a hand-me-down from a friend.  He got rid of it because it tops out at 533 FSB and doesn't support hyperthreading.  ASUS P4S533 if anyone cares.

The memory is a couple of sticks that I had laying around from other upgrades.

I bought the CPU.  2.8GHz is the fastest non-hyperthreading intel P4 (533 fsb) CPU available.  Or at least it was at the time.

I also bought a good power supply, the Vantec ION.  It has a standard 3-prong power outlet on the back that turns on and off with the computer.  No need for a smart strip.

I really like the board for several reasons...

1) very stable and not too much onboard crap

2) decent onboard sound that doesn't use a lot of CPU cycles.

3) dual serial ports in case I decide to run DOS mame with my Opti-PAC and two trackballs.

4) ASUS has a cool utility to create custom BIOS boot screens.


Anyway, it's capable of running every game I've tried so far.  I don't run any of the really cutting edge stuff (mainly CHD) though.

[Fat_Trucker]

My MAME cab runs on a socket A, Athlon 3200+ and 512Mb Ram and runs everything without any problems except some of the CHD games like cruisin etc.

My Main PC is an Athlon 64 4000+ with a GeForce 6800GT, 1Mb RAM etc etc and it still doesn't play some of the CHD games like Cruisin etc with a playable framerate.

In terms of a MAME machine any Mid level Pentium or Socket A Athlon will run everything that is currently playable in MAME. There's nothing wrong with future proofing and building it on a high spec system just bear in mind that for a dedicated MAME machine its money down the drain at the moment and for the foreseeable future since some of the CHD games won't run in a playable state on any home system regardless of how many whistles and bells its got.

Might make more sense to build a cheap mid level system now and spend the extra moolah in a year or two when there might actually be a need for it.

[HaRuMaN]

I run Killer Instinct 1 at 100% and KI2 at close to 100% with a P4 2.8 ghz with hyperthreading, and 512 megs of ram...  god I love my laptop...   

[Tiger-Heli]

how do they run them in the arcades then?

whoa.... do they have to run like quad Xeon boards or something?

According to MAWS, Blitz used a RISC ( I think) R5000 @ 150 Mhz.

Okay, here's an example that maybe some of us (older) folks can relate to.

PacMan according to MAWS ran on a Motorola Z80 @ 3.072MHz

This is roughly equivalent to the first IBM Desktop PC's which ran an Intel 8088 @ 4.77 MHz.

For Desktop PC's this was replaced by the Turbo 10 Mhz machines, The 80286 - 20 Mhz, The 80386, 80486 (around 75Mhz), the Pentium at 150 to 200 Mhz, and modern hardware.

Somewhere around the Pentium 150 - Pacman became playable in MAME (older versions), but this is a 30x increase in clock speed, not to mention 5 GENERATIONS of processors.  (A game that was designed to run on a 80286 without speed throttling would be unplayable (too fast) on the same system).

By the same logic, a 4.5 Ghz system should handle Blitz, but you also need a 4.5 Ghz system that is five generations beyond a Risc R5000 processor (probably about Pentium class hardware).  So the MAME devs are probably pretty close with estimates of a P4 at 7-10 Ghz or a P5 or P6 at 5 or 6 Ghz.

Another thing to keep in mind is that performance is going to change with each new release ... games that you might be gearing your system towards today might be slower or even unplayable in the a future (hence, so many people locking in on particular versions).

It's a moving target and the target doesn't always move in the direction you might think.

CheffoJeffo

CheffoJeffo -

It IS a moving target, but you don't have to move along with it.

Case in point - PacMan is currently probably unplayable on a Pentium 200 with the latest build, but they haven't updated the driver, so it won't play any better in MAME 0.96 on a Sempron 1.5 than it did in MAME 0.36 on a Pentium 200.

For that matter, some of the sound in CABAL was fixed in MAME 0.8x something, but it was fun to play before that, so if you never tried the later one, you wouldn't notice.