128 MB RAM, what results to expect?

[ashardin]

I'm putting together a secondary MAME machine, and I got myself a deal on a machine that is 1.3 gig, but only has 128MB of RAM.  My main machine is 384 MB of DDR in with an Athlon 1800+ so I can run everything I want to just fine on it, but I'm just wondering about this new machine that I just got.

It was a new processor and stuck into an older machine so it looks like it has 2 64 MB DIMMS, and no empty slots.  So I could upgrade, but would have to replace one or 2 of the memory chips already in there.

Since it is a secondary computer, I am not worried about running the high spec stuff, but was just wondering if anyone currently is running with only 128 MB and what results they are seeing.

Thanks!

[Odonadon]

I'm putting together a secondary MAME machine, and I got myself a deal on a machine that is 1.3 gig, but only has 128MB of RAM.  My main machine is 384 MB of DDR in with an Athlon 1800+ so I can run everything I want to just fine on it, but I'm just wondering about this new machine that I just got.

It was a new processor and stuck into an older machine so it looks like it has 2 64 MB DIMMS, and no empty slots.  So I could upgrade, but would have to replace one or 2 of the memory chips already in there.

Since it is a secondary computer, I am not worried about running the high spec stuff, but was just wondering if anyone currently is running with only 128 MB and what results they are seeing.

Thanks!

I'm running a K6-3 450MHz with 128Mb of RAM and it runs great.  CPU's not fast enough to play the MK games at full speed, but they do play.  I think 128Mb is the bare minimum you should be running with.  The only problem I experience is randon sound garbling/skipping when running the windows command line compile.  I'm going to try fastmame and see how that goes later this evening.

Odonadon

[2slk]

 You will be OK with 128MEGS. You'll probably get better performance if you are running Win 98SE. WinXP is a bit of a resource hog and the difference can really be seen on lower-end machines.

[rampy]

You'll most likely see the difference with large games... especial the CHD/hard drive type ones...

You'll probably experience a slower load time for neogeo games...

*shrug* MAME is mostly processor intensive - but if you run into a virtual memory swapping situation your perforamnce will suffer...

good luck

rampy

[Silverwind]

I'm putting together a secondary MAME machine, and I got myself a deal on a machine that is 1.3 gig, but only has 128MB of RAM.  My main machine is 384 MB of DDR in with an Athlon 1800+ so I can run everything I want to just fine on it, but I'm just wondering about this new machine that I just got.

It was a new processor and stuck into an older machine so it looks like it has 2 64 MB DIMMS, and no empty slots.  So I could upgrade, but would have to replace one or 2 of the memory chips already in there.

Since it is a secondary computer, I am not worried about running the high spec stuff, but was just wondering if anyone currently is running with only 128 MB and what results they are seeing.

Thanks!

I'm running a K6-3 450MHz with 128Mb of RAM and it runs great.  CPU's not fast enough to play the MK games at full speed, but they do play.  I think 128Mb is the bare minimum you should be running with.  The only problem I experience is randon sound garbling/skipping when running the windows command line compile.  I'm going to try fastmame and see how that goes later this evening.

Odonadon

I'm running P3-450 with 384mb of ram.. and MK/NBA JAM don't run well at all.. very choppy even with hw stretch/scanlines off... running mame32..

[ashardin]

Thanks for the replies guys.  That is about what I was thinking, but wanted to put it out to the forum.

If I can run 95% of the games on this machine, I'll be more than happy.  I'm hoping NEO GEO won't be a problem, but I've run those on a 600 mhz machine before.  Midway games will be interesting, but I think the processor is there to support it.

I saw this thing and thought it would be perfect for MAME, good processor, small HD (big enough to fit an OS and all roms though) and 128 MB of RAM.  We'll see how it goes.

[Odonadon]

Thanks for the replies guys.  That is about what I was thinking, but wanted to put it out to the forum.

If I can run 95% of the games on this machine, I'll be more than happy.  I'm hoping NEO GEO won't be a problem, but I've run those on a 600 mhz machine before.  Midway games will be interesting, but I think the processor is there to support it.

I saw this thing and thought it would be perfect for MAME, good processor, small HD (big enough to fit an OS and all roms though) and 128 MB of RAM.  We'll see how it goes.

Neo Geo games won't be a problem at all.  In fact, they run better than Capcom's fighters.  I don't get half the amount of sound glitches in a Neo Geo game as I do in a Capcom fighter.  I'd say you can easily accomplish the 95% goal with that system.

Odonadon

[Nervous]

Win98 and ME will be fine with 128.  Upgrade to 256 if using 2000 or XP.  
The processor speed should be plenty to run those Neo Geo games (I run a 1.4 Ghz system).