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Built the cab, now my computer

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JuddWack:

Anyone know anything about these:
http://www.mini-itx.com/store/default.asp?c=2
Sounds like it may be pretty good for what we are doing.  I want to be able to play all games available on Mame.

Odonadon:


--- Quote from: JuddWack on April 01, 2003, 09:26:30 pm ---Anyone know anything about these:
http://www.mini-itx.com/store/default.asp?c=2
Sounds like it may be pretty good for what we are doing.  I want to be able to play all games available on Mame.

--- End quote ---

Don't forget that inside the cabinet there is TONS of spare room - no need to spend the extra money on a mini-itx when you get spend the money on a faster regularily sized board.

But I agree - they are cool :)

Odonadon

Wienerdog:

The nice thing about a cab is you have all the room you need.  I don't see a reason to use that mobo.  The mini boards are cool, but you will pay more money for less of a board.  The only advantage of the mini-itx is that it is small.  

I would use a mini-itx board if I was building a portable computer (and didn't want a traditional laptop).  I would use one if I was building a PVR or some kind of game system that would output to TV but wanted to take with me places.  Actually, I think I would still use a full size mobo in a mini tower case.  

You have all the room you need, you might as well use it.  

Silverwind:


--- Quote from: Odonadon on April 01, 2003, 09:39:41 pm ---
--- Quote from: JuddWack on April 01, 2003, 09:26:30 pm ---Anyone know anything about these:
http://www.mini-itx.com/store/default.asp?c=2
Sounds like it may be pretty good for what we are doing.  I want to be able to play all games available on Mame.

--- End quote ---

Don't forget that inside the cabinet there is TONS of spare room - no need to spend the extra money on a mini-itx when you get spend the money on a faster regularily sized board.

But I agree - they are cool :)

Odonadon

--- End quote ---

yes those mini-itx are cool.. those are better suited for a tight fit cocktail cab or maybe a NES modification.. that would be cool..

also.. you have to look at the speed.. the mini-itx does not support as fast a processor as standard venues..

jalidi:

Tom's Hardware did a review on these IPX motherboards. Go right here for some reading. I personally think that, while it's cool that they've managed to integrate what's essentially a complete system on a tiny mobo, it's underpowered for MAME use... even the 1 ghz version probably wouldn't be much faster than a P3-450 on a regular-sized mobo.

I say P3-450 because that's what I'm using in my cabinet---I can run probably like 50% of all MAME games (games before the early 90's) at stock speeds and then up to maybe 80% with some degree of frame skipping enabled. The 20% (eg. mostly games after 1993, like Mortal Kombat 2, any of the CHD games) run like a slide show. MAME is hungry for processor power and lots of RAM so I would recommend at least a gigahertz processor (low-end P4 from Intel or Athlon XP 1700+ from AMD) and 512 megs of RAM... fortunately hardware prices have really fallen so you can get a pretty nice machine for a small investment.

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