First Arcade - OK specs. on computer?

[tore-]

I've just placed an order over at ultimarc, now im making a list over what to buy for my computer to be in my MAME-tower.

This is what i've added:
MSI KM3M-V, KM266PRO, Socket-A, LAN, VGA
Q-Tec Midi tower ATX 6022MD
Crucial PC2700 DDR-DIMM 256MB CL2.5 6ns
AMD Sempron 2200+ 1.5GHz Socket A
DiFusion 19 CRT E900 TCO99 White
Sapphire Radeon 7000 64MB DDR

This should be okey to run MAME and most of the roms?
Do i really ned a gfx card, or will the built in chip in the motherboard be more that enough?

Im doing this as cheap as possible, dont have alot of money theese days, and really. its just for MAME, ive allready got a OC-gaming station and a good server

[AlanS17]

If you're outputting the a computer monitor then I'll go out on a limb and say you're fine with the onboard video. That's if MAME is the onyl thing you're using it for.

A nice graphics card isn't necessary to power the graphics in MAME. You just need a video capable of handling all the video modes that different games require. That's only if oyu're outputting to a standard resolution *arcade) monitor, though. Otherwise, you ought to be just fine.

You can still find a PCI video card for super cheap that's capable of handling the video modes you'll need, though, if it comes to that. I paid 15 bucks for mine and it never failed me once.

Is that 64MB video card what you put on your list or do you already have it?

I don't know what you want to be playing, but you may wanna double up on the RAM. 256MB is good but 512 is better.

All-in-all, you should be set to play the vast majority of games without a hitch. Hell, I was playing the vast majority of games without a hitch using a P3 @ 450MHz with 256MB of RAM and a $15 video card.

I halved the number of unplayable games when I got a P3 @ 866MHz, 512MB of RAM, and a Radeon 7500 AGP card in there.

OH yeah one more thing... You probably would have already known this if you'd read the FAQ, and shame on me for entertaining the question. No offense, but this is the single-most common question. People are tired of answering it (or even seeing it).