I ordered A new computer, Will it run newer mame games well?

[rlemmon]

Hi, I just ordered a new computer from dell. I told them it would be used primarily for gaming and they helped me customize it within my budget  (I only had $1500.00 to work with) My question is, Will it run newer games well (and some older ones like the Simpson's and ninja turtles I can play them on my current pc but the graphics are blocky no matter how I adjust the settings) Here are the main specs :


Dimension 4700 Series,Intel Pentium 4 Processor 520 with HT Technology (2.8GHz)


Dimension 4700 Series,

Intel Pentium 4 Processor 520 with HT Technology (2.8GHz)

 1GB DDR2 SDRAM at 400MHz

 Wireless Keyboard and Mouse Desktop Solution

 19 in (18.0 Viewable) M993 Monitor

256MB Nvidia GeForce 6800 Graphics Card

80GB Serial ATA Hard Drive (7200RPM)

3.5in Floppy Drive

Microsoft Windows XP Home Edition,Service Pack 2,English

Intel Pro 100M Integrated PCI NIC Card

56K PCI Data Fax Modem

16X DVD ROM and 48X CDRW

Integrated Audio Dell A215 Speakers

Wireless Keyboard and Mouse Desktop Solution

Any info would be greatly appreciated. Thanks

Ron

[JoyMonkey]

Will it run newer games well (and some older ones like the Simpson's and ninja turtles I can play them on my current pc but the graphics are blocky no matter how I adjust the settings) Here are the main specs :

These are old games you're talking about; they'll appear blocky no matter what because that's the way they were made. You could use one of AdvanceMame's scale filters to make it appear less blocky, but that's about all you can do.

That PC should play 99% of games in Mame perfectly, with the exception of Cruisin USA and a few other 3D games.

[GGKoul]

That machine will play HL2 or Doom3 well too...

That's a little over kill for a Mame only machine.

Also having a good graphics card has real benefit in Mame.  As Mame doesn't use Directx or OpenGL to render graphics.

[AlanS17]

Also having a good graphics card has real benefit in Mame.

[pointdablame]

Nope that system will not play the Simpsons.  You'd be lucky if you were able to play PacMan on that heap.

My opinion is.. if you ONLYYYYY had $1500 to spend, you shouldn't have even tried.  You won't play any old arcade games well until you cross into the $3000 range.

[Stormy151]

[monkeybomb]

Nope that system will not play the Simpsons.  You'd be lucky if you were able to play PacMan on that heap.

My opinion is.. if you ONLYYYYY had $1500 to spend, you shouldn't have even tried.  You won't play any old arcade games well until you cross into the $3000 range.

or 3500 to be safe

[Dire Radiant]

What gets me is that he had all that money and completely blew it by buying a Dell.

[EndTwist]

What a waste of perfectly good money. 

*sigh* Some people...

[paigeoliver]

Cancel your order if at all possible, that is the single WORST place to spend money on your project. That $1500 Dell is going to play about 14 more games than a $50 used computer will. 12 of those 14 require specialty analog controllers that you won't have. Hope you like Tekken, because you spent an extra $1400 to play it.

That 19" monitor is too small for anything larger than a caberet or cocktail cabinet (19" PC monitor is 2" smaller than a 19" arcade monitor, and only older classic cabs have 19", and MOST people here make larger new style cabinets).

[Dire Radiant]

What amazes me is that it's possible to spend $1500 on a PC that only has 80GB of storage! As for the "blocky" graphics comment does this strike anyone else as someone who wasn't around when games were all 2D?

[Lilwolf]

Also, get rid of the wireless mouse and keyboard.  There is a lag on those devices that aren't a big deal for typing... but suck for twitch games.

the 2.8ghz is great for many games... but you won't be enought for the 14 that Peal is talking about... For the price especially.  If you hit 3.4 you get a bunch more games... but more then 1/2 of those play perfectly in ZiNc....

19" monitors in my opinion are fine.  I would rotate them though.  Some games are worse on larger monitors (robotron for one.  You need to be able to see the entire screen in one shot...) but you can always add a bezel for those games.   But 400 on a nice 27" CRT is MUCH better for the project then the computer you selected.

The BEST computer for ANY project is the one your currently use for other purposes... And then you upgrade those.  When you first build your cabinet you will have 3000 games playable with a 1.2ghz machine.  And then a year from then you can get an extra 1000 by getting a 2ghz.   Ect.  No need to have them all on day one.

Last....  and what I think is most important.

What games do you like?  I spend 90% of my time playing games that don't push a 2ghz machine (That was cheaper then yours when new years ago and I used it as an office machine for year+ before moving it downstairs.)  I moved it down for area51 though (the old one didn't handle it)... And it was worth it.  But that upgrade took 1/2 a day.  But other then that (and a few vertical flight games) the processor is overkill.

[Stingray]

http://forum.arcadecontrols.com/index.php/topic,36698.0.html

[Kremmit]

Poor rlemmon, I hope you haven't been chased away..

[AlanS17]

For future reference, tha FAQ takes care of this stuff.

I should have kept my mouth shut. Now the poor guy is gonna have a complex. Well if I hadn't said it, someone else would have.

[rlemmon]

hi guys, thanks for the input, as for the graphics being block what i meant was that games like the Simpson's and ninja turtles
look really bad sort of like Lego people ( especially the outside lines of the character's they look like they were made of squares), i know there old games and are 2 d but they look terrible on my monitor ( i have played the arcade machines and they look 10x better)anothey thing is my current prcesser is extreemly slow and they keep lagging. As for spending that much on a computer I had alot of credit with dell and i wanted to get as much bang for my buck as i could , most of the games i play are  side scrollers. Another one i dig is robocop but it looks blurry on my computer,

thanks again for all the info Im just starting out with mame and your help is much appreciated.

Ron

[JB]

hi guys, thanks for the input, as for the graphics being block what i meant was that games like the Simpson's and ninja turtles
look really bad sort of like Lego people ( especially the outside lines of the character's they look like they were made of squares), i know there old games and are 2 d but they look terrible on my monitor ( i have played the arcade machines and they look 10x better

Arcade screens aren't as sharp as PC screens.
They naturally blur the image, so you can't see how blocky it is.

[paigeoliver]

You would be AMAZED at how much better a computer monitor looks in a cab if you crack it open and put it just slightly off focus.

[Tiger-Heli]

Arcade screens aren't as sharp as PC screens.
They naturally blur the image, so you can't see how blocky it is.

Good example page - http://www.oscarcontrols.com/monitors.shtml

[NoOne=NBA=]

You would be AMAZED at how much better a computer monitor looks in a cab if you crack it open and put it just slightly off focus.

Aren't there settings on the video card that will do this automatically?

I'm using a Radeon 7000 card in the Mac that's in my cab, and it does this automatically using the old Rage/RAVE filters.
I haven't tried to tweak my PC setup much because it's not in a cab yet, but I would assume there are counterparts to the filters I'm using built into it somewhere.

[AlanS17]

Try AdavanceMAME. It's got special video options to "dummy down" the image on PC monitors and make it look truer to the original.