Which one of these CPU/MB Combos will make a better MAME machine?

[G@M3FR3@K]

I want to build a PC (strictly for MAME use) and will probably get one of these combos as the foundation for it:

A) Intel Celeron D Processor 326 (Box Set) & ECS P4M800PRO-M Motherboard  - OR -
B) AMD Sempron Processor 3100+ ECS NFORCE3-A Motherboard

I'm not to familiar with Intel CPU's since I haven't used them in several years.  How does this Celeron compare to this (paticular) Sempron?  Is the Sempron faster?  If so, is it worth the extra $10 + HSF? Which one of these combos would you choose?

Fastest games I want to play will be the Street Fighter (MvsC, SNK vs Capcom, X-Men COTA) type fighters.  Will either of these be sufficient enough?  CHD games are not a necessity at all!

Some questions I have:
1) How much ram would be sufficient 128/256/512 mb?
2) What is the minumum PSU (watts) I should use on these systems?
3) I have a Geforce 2 MX400 32mb AGP card.  Would this suffice?
4) Which (older) build of MAME would be the best for these games?
5) What OS would be the best for this system: Windows 98/2000/XP?

Any advice/opinions will be greatly appreciated!  TIA!!

[G@M3FR3@K]

Here is a mini-review for the ECS NFORCE3-A Motherboard:
http://forums.anandtech.com/messageview.aspx?catid=29&threadid=1737408&enterthread=y

These are Fry's Electronics sale items.  Besides having some of the worst customer service in the world I rather buy from them to avoid costly shipping fees. I'm trying to build this as cheap as possible. 

Here is Neweggs pricing for same combos:

                                                                        Price        Shipping
A) Intel Celeron D Processor 326 (Box Set) - $46.99       +($5.46)
    ECS P4M800PRO-M Motherboard             - $45.99       +($6.67)
                                                                       ---------        ----------
                                                                       $92.88   +   $12.13   = $105.10 (Subtotal)


                                                                        Price         Shipping
B) AMD Sempron Processor 3100+               - $77.00       +($5.46)
    ECS NFORCE3-A Motherboard                  - $43.99       +($5.46)
                                                                       ---------        ----------
                                                                      $120.99   +   $10.92   = $131.91 (Subtotal)

[Silhouette]

I'd go with the Sempron, 512mb(1GB would be better and RAM is dirt cheap) DDR memory, and a 250w PSU. Also, the video card doesn't matter, because MAME doesn't use the video card at all, unless you use it for TV-Out, then it's fine.

Also, i'd go with the latest version of MAME, because that Sempron 3100+ is equivalent to a 3.1GHz Pentium 4. And for the OS, i'd probably dual-boot with Win98 and WinXP. 98 for running MAME and XP for system maintenance.

[MPS]

To me, this is a no-brainer.  Go with the AMD processor and ECS board.

I have two Midway cabaret cabinets running MAME -- one Rally-X cabinet with a horizontal monitor and one Pac-Man cabinet with a vertical monitor.  I purchased the AMD/ECS combination you list above to power both systems.  I am VERY pleased with the performance.

I had been powering these units off of some old P4 systems (1.4 Ghz and 1.6 Ghz) that were doing an OK job, but that processor/board combo price was just too good to pass up.  I have been a huge fan of the AMD-based systems and despite my concerns about using a non-ASUS board, everything worked out just fine.

The vertical unit has 512MB and an ArcadeVGA card running through a 13" arcade monitor.   Most of what I am running on that system are older games like Donkey Kong, Pac-Man, etc.  However, newer "shooter" games like Raiden and 19XX run at full speed with no issues.

The horizontal system is a slightly different story.  I am also using 512MB in this unit, but I elected to use a 15" PC monitor along with a GeForce 4 4600 card.  The reason was that I also wanted to throw in some arcade-style PC games like NFL Blitz, Pac-Man Adventures in Time, Frogger 2, and Dragon's Lair.  Just like the other systems, no problems with running any of these titles at full speed.

I'm not into fighters, but I would imagine that they would run OK considering how efficiently everything else seems to be.  I could try running some of those games on my rig and let you know how the performance is.  I probably won't get to it before this weekend.

Remember, the CPU in this bundle is OEM, so there is no heatsink or fan.  I found some nice Gigabyte heatsinks at my local Microcenter for $12 each.

[MPS]

Oops, I forgot to answer some of your questions.

1.  I have 512mb in both of my cabinets.

2.  I am using Seasonic 450 watt power supplies in both of my cabinets.  They are probably overkill, but they are VERY quiet.  The last thing I want from my cabinets are the sounds of PC's running inside.

3.  Video should be the last thing to concern yourself with in a MAME cabinet UNLESS you are going to do the things I am doing -- i.e. use a real arcade monitor or run 3D-enabled PC games.  Your card should be OK.

4.  I think the AMD/ECS combo will give you enough power to negate the need to run an older build of MAME.  I am using 0.96.

5.  I am using Windows 2000 in both cabs -- less unneeded crap to disable.