Would this be a good Mame PC to buid?

[Timstuff]

I'm gonna build a new PC for my Mame cabinet, and I was thinking about using the following components.

CPU: AMD Sempron 2800 2.0 GHz
http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDesc.asp?description=19-104-213&depa=1

Motherboard:  EPOX "EP-8VTAI" VIA KT880
http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDesc.asp?description=13-123-226&depa=1

RAM: BUFFALO B-Line 184-Pin 512MB DDR
http://www.newegg.com/app/viewProductdesc.asp?description=20-150-619&depa=1

I've got a DVD drive, floppy drive, and case that I can re-use from my old PCs. And  I've also got a Nvidia GeForce 4 MX that I took out of my current PC, and should be fine for running Mame. I'll probably also use a copy of Windows 98 that I already have (I have several, almost all are for PCs that I don't even use anymore).

I want to make sure that this PC is 99.9% compatable with all of the ROMs I want to run on it, ranging from Asteroids to Mortal Kombat II to Marvel vs. Capcom. I just wanna make sure I'm getting the right set of parts to make my machine as good as I can without breaking the bank. Does anyone have any input? Thanks.

[delta88]

Sounds like you'll be able to run most everything thats runable. But I might suggest going with xp.

 d88

[Timstuff]

Right now, I'm going with a very tight budget for my PC. The way I see it, 98 should be able to tide me over till I can afford a legit copy of XP, which I can always get somewhere down the road.

[Jedi Master Matt]

Timstuff - Ditch the Sempron and slurge a bit more to buy this:

http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDesc.asp?description=19-103-436&depa=1

The Barton Mobile XP 2600.   The processor is much more powerful than the Sempron and only costs a few bucks more.   Plus you get the added advantage of overclocking the cpu up to XP3200 speeds without any issues.

The short version of the Mobile Barton story is that they are simply the best chips that come off of the Barton wafer.   They are the ones that need less voltage to run at high speeds, which is important for a laptop sense voltage equals battery life.   The next best Bartons become the desktop XP3200s and so on.

The other advantage of the Mobiles are that they are all unlocked because the laptops need to access the multipliers for PowerNow.  So, you can set the clock speed anyway you want.

I've got two Mobile Bartons.  One was a XP2400 that overclocked to 2.45 ghz in my desktop and it's now in my arcade cabinet at 2.2ghz (would've gone faster if I had faster RAM in my cab).  My XP2600 is in my desktop PC and has been OC at 2.7ghz for the last year with NO stability issues.

Don't be afraid of ocing the Mobile 2600 to 2.2ghz since the exact same chip is used for the desktop 3200 processor.

Let me know if you need more info.

[SirPeale]

I'm a bit behind in the times with my processors.  Has the Sempron replaced the Duron?

[Timstuff]

Matt, thanks for the advice about the mobile athelon. It's only a difference of $5, so I guess that it'd be worth pringing for if it means I'll get better performance. I've never really tried overclocking my hardware before, so once my PC is built I guess I'll need a tutorial of some sort about it.

[pointdablame]

The Semprons have replaced teh Durons.

And I will second the motion on a mobile AthlonXP.  You dont' even need the 2600+ if they have the mobile 2500+ still. A mobile athlong will almost GUARANTEE you an overclock in the range of a 3200+, and that's with no effort whatsoever.  It's highly probable that you could get more out of the chip.

Now, nothing is really guraranteed with an overclock.. it's luck of the draw.  But this is as close to a sure thing as you can get.

[Jedi Master Matt]

Glad to help Timstuff.   That

[Timstuff]

Eventually, I think I'll probably replace the GeForce 4 MX with Ultimarc's ArcadeVGA card, but there's really no sense in doing that until I get my hands on an arcade monitor, is there?