What computer brands/models do you recommend for parts?

[jgossin]

Later this month I plan on working on my first MAME-Cab project.

I will be converting several Japanese Aero-City cabs for use with MAME.

As far as the computer components go, I was wondering what brands/models you guys would recommend using and what store is reputable and has fair prices.

Since I am conveting several cabinets, I would like to keep all the parts the same standard in each cab and keep the costs down as much as possible. My budget is $500 or less. This includes ArcadeVGA and a J-PAC.

Looks like I need a motherboard, CPU, RAM (I'm thinking 256mb will work), sound card (that is easy to connect to an arcade cab, if such a thing), hard drive, power supply and probably a floppy to install DOS off of.

I wouldn't mind even buying a complete system if it had all the right parts and then just scrap the video card for the avga. I'm just not sure which route would be best, but I'm almost leaning towards a complete system to just save some time...hopefully money.

Thanks for any assistance you guys can offer.

Jon

[shmokes]

Personally, I think you should save yourself some time and money and pick up a cheapo Dell computer for $299.  Sure, it's got some proprietary components and is less upgradeable than a top-o-the-line unit, but this is for a MAME computer and $299 is a steal.

If, however, you don't want to do that I recommend getting your parts from www.newegg.com .   Newegg is a great store with great prices and their shipping is almost impossibly fast.  For the Motherboard I recommend Asus, though they aren't the cheapest.  They just make the most stable motherboards IMO.  For RAM you should get it directly from www.crucial.com or www.kingston.com.  Depending on what type of RAM you're buying (and both websites will walk you though picking out exactly the right kind of RAM for your hardware) it will be cheaper at one or the other, but both companies make excellent, affordable RAM.

Also, keep an eye on www.bensbargains.net -- especially for the hard drive.  There are incredible hard drive deals on practically a daily basis and they all show up at Ben's.

[MonitorGuru]

Ditto exactly what Shmokes said.

The only thing propretary in a Dell is essentially the heat sink/fan assembly and sometimes the motherboard, but even those are getting more standard and you CAN replace them if you get small enough ATX boards.

If you plan on not using the built in VGA, make sure you get a unit that will allow you to put in whatever card you want. (All Dell's have PCI, only the better models have PCIexpress or AGP)


For a hard drive, I recommend Seagates. They usually have rebates making them between 25 and 33 cents a gig (e.g. 160 gig for $40-$50) AND they have 5 year warranties, run cooler and quieter and less failure than Maxtor or Western Digital's currently based on my experiences.

With 5 yr warranty, they will replace it with a larger unit if it ever fails in that time.  Most others only have 1 year warranties

[CJK]

Dell's reliability isn't the greatest because they tend to use commodity (i.e., cheap) parts, particularly the power supply.

I'd go the second route shmokes recommended -- build your own with reliable parts and none of the extra cr*p you don't need for a MAME machine. Newegg is great, as is Cyberguys. I also completely agree with the recommendation for Asus motherboards and Kingston or Crucial RAM.

-- Chris

[BarontheFirst]

Well if you like building comps you could always go that route! Athlon XP CPU a ASUS MOBO to start. Then the usual parts ram 512mb hd and disk drives. It only took me a few hours to get my cab up and running that way. Doing this leaves alot of room to do what you want hell I didn't even use a tower I mounted all parts inside. People through towers away all the time good for parts most of the time atleast for mounting items!

[testicle187]

Well if you like building comps you could always go that route! Athlon XP CPU a ASUS MOBO to start. Then the usual parts ram 512mb hd and disk drives. It only took me a few hours to get my cab up and running that way. Doing this leaves alot of room to do what you want hell I didn't even use a tower I mounted all parts inside. People through towers away all the time good for parts most of the time atleast for mounting items!

I noticed that the Semprons (when it comes to MAME) are just as good as the Athlons and save you a little more cash.  But I know how most people are with Durons, Semprons, or Celerons...

[USSEnterprise]

Also, check out www.tigerdirect.com, www.computersurplusoutlet.com, and www.geeks.com

[CJK]

Also, check out www.tigerdirect.com, www.computersurplusoutlet.com, and www.geeks.com

I'd stay away from Tiger Direct. They have quite a bad rep (and deservedly so) for horrible customer service, bait and switch tactics, etc.

-- Chris

[USSEnterprise]

I've been fine with anything I bought from there.