what is the slowest cpu speed that should run MAME fine?

[thetered]

I am trying to find a cheap CPU/Motherboard combo, what is the slowest speed that should play MAME fine, new games and all?

[paigeoliver]

Loaded question, asked daily. There is not a computer that exists on earth that can actually run every game in mame. But the cheapest computer in the store is overkill for 99 percent of them. A 1ghz CPU is overkill for 98 percent of them.

[thetered]

even a celeron or a duron i'm guessing?

[paigeoliver]

even a celeron or a duron i'm guessing?

They don't make a CPU today that isn't overkill for 99 percent of the games in Mame. Out of the 4000 games there are only like 40 (1 freaking percent), that won't run full speed on a 1 GHZ cpu, of those 40 about 30 of them won't run full speed on anything, and the majority of the 40 require specialty analog controls that no one has anyway.

My personal suggestion is to buy a used 1ghz comp on ebay and channel those extra funds into a larger monitor or better controls.

[IntruderAlert]

or decide how much you want to spend and try to get the most for your $$

I recently picked up a p4 2.4ghz system on ebay for $100 plus freight which was fine by me
I ended up spending around $120

just make sure to always check the freight costs before bidding as they are sometimes inflated

[thetered]

i'm looking around the 50 buck range which is why i'm just looking at cpu/motherboard combos, i have all the other stuff lying around, and I dont think I want a case, I am just going to mount the board in the cab.

[IntruderAlert]

well just listen to paige
and if you happen to run across something faster for the same $$ then why not go for it
but 1 ghz is plenty fast for MAME and well within your price range i think

[paigeoliver]

You can also completly skip the freight cost on ebay on used computers, ebay is so packed with them that you can ALWAYS find a local one that you can just pick up.

[IntruderAlert]

unless you live in the sticks like me

..then again.. if ebay starts dealing in live farm animals i'm all set

[rackoon]

First of all, PIMPING farm animals is illegal, try Nevada you might find a loophole, If there is even a market for that. I have herd stories. -- Just kidding!

SECOND, can anyone tell me how much speed I need to run Street Fighter and Mortal Kombat. I herd it runs slow on a celeron 1.4. Yet I dint know if this guy had a bunch of other stuff on his computer or not.

[AlanS17]

Those games will run fine on that processor.

[tommy]

That processor is fine, but you have to test what version of mame runs MK better, i have 2 versions of mame installed and one is horrible for MK and the other runs perfect(nothing to do with a cpu) I think some people pick the wrong Mame version sometimes and think they have a cpu not fast enough.

[AceTKK]

On my old computer ( Athlon 1.4 ghz.) I could run most everything at full speed.

[AlanS17]

On my old computer ( Athlon 1.4 ghz.) I could run most everything at full speed.

[conseit68]

Ok...after reading this I have a question. My computer specs are as follows.

• 3 ghz P4 Processor
• 512MB Ram
• Asus P4P800 Motherboard
• Mame v.93

Now my question is that games like Crusin USA, Mortal Kombat and Killer Instint dont run well...are you guys telling me that it could be that version of me mame?...

[AlanS17]

There is no reason MK shouldn't be working prefectly. KI and Cruisn' USA are both much more processor-intensive games. It could be any number of things, though.

I think even an improper version of MAME wouldn't explain why MK wouldn't be working on a PC that fast, though.

[tommy]

Try a lower Mame version, i use Mame32v66, this for MK2, it works great on that version and not well on a higher version.