Built the cab, now my computer

[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]

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.

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]

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.

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

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.

[shmokes]

I've been thinking of this a bit lately.  I'm not going to do it cos I'm not THAT interested in it, but it's interesting all the same.  

Lots of people who don't have the space or $$$ for a full-size cab build a standalone controller.  Why not mount a little motherboard (I'm thinking a shuttle N-force2 board since it's small, but not crippled like those mini-ITX boards -- good video, great sound) inside the control panel and instead of having just one cord coming out the back (USB) you could have two or three (Power, S-Video -- USB maybe so you could hook up gamepads or something).  All you'd need is enough space for the Motherboard, a hard drive, and a little power supply.  I believe that most two player panels have plenty of room for this.  

It would become a completely enclosed Mame console that could quickly hook up to any TV.  Take that Nintendo!  Speakers could even be mounted inside the panel.  Or you could have outputs on it.

[CitznFish]

I've been thinking of this a bit lately.  I'm not going to do it cos I'm not THAT interested in it, but it's interesting all the same.  

Lots of people who don't have the space or $$$ for a full-size cab build a standalone controller.  Why not mount a little motherboard (I'm thinking a shuttle N-force2 board since it's small, but not crippled like those mini-ITX boards -- good video, great sound) inside the control panel and instead of having just one cord coming out the back (USB) you could have two or three (Power, S-Video -- USB maybe so you could hook up gamepads or something).  All you'd need is enough space for the Motherboard, a hard drive, and a little power supply.  I believe that most two player panels have plenty of room for this.  

It would become a completely enclosed Mame console that could quickly hook up to any TV.  Take that Nintendo!  Speakers could even be mounted inside the panel.  Or you could have outputs on it.

how would you get MAME (or anything for that matter) on the hard Drive. No CDROM.  Maybe through a network port?  preinstall on HDD before placing inside controller? But then updates would suck.  

[Valiam Arkais]

Can anyone suggest a full-sized all-in-one computer deal, that is near the same price (under $200)?

[JuddWack]

the miniTX boards didnt seem that expensive to me.  LIke $140US?  How much would you recomend spending on a regular sized CPU.  I dunno where to buy the stuff.  i went to a computer show last weekend looking for a Thunderbird 1.4 and everybody was looking at me like a idiot.  Also a ATI rage fury pro and nobody knew about them.  Did I do something wrong?

[SNAAAKE]

Can anyone suggest a full-sized all-in-one computer deal, that is near the same price (under $200)?

You always get more if you build your own but this sounds like a fair deal.  

http://www.pricewatch.com/1/43/4783-1.htm

Under $200 for complete system with 1.3 duron cpu..

[shmokes]

If you used an N-Force2 motherboard you'd already have an onboard network port so updates wouldn't be bad.  You could put everything you wanted to on it that way, but I'd probably get it all set up first.  You'd have USB 2.0 ports on the motherboard also, so an external USB 2.0 CD-RW could be easily attached for something like that.  I really don't see any significant roadblocks to this.  If someone wanted they could do this very easily.  It would be far easier than building a full on cab.  Less rewarding, but less expensive and far easier.

[marcoval]

If you are comfortable building it, and aren't buying an OS, you should easily be able to find one on Pricewatch.com. It also depends on how you want to do the video on this. If you want to do the TV out thing, you will need to buy that card seperately.  

Example I just looked and saw an  Athlon 1500+ MB combo with on board video and sound for $94 on PW, add a 20 GB HD for $41, and a RADEON 7000 for $30 and 512 Ram for $40 and you've got a decent MAME machine for $205 shipped.

Now would I trust this machine for my regular gaming machine? no....  On board video and sound are historically pieces of poo by today's standards and D3D performance is abysmal. Have I ever had problems getting PW vendors to fess up to their price... Yes. Check their reseller ratings at your favorite site and see if they are trustworthy and check out reviews on the hardware. But if I were not recycling my old computer, I would probably do it this way.

[marcoval]

If you used an N-Force2 motherboard you'd already have an onboard network port so updates wouldn't be bad.  You could put everything you wanted to on it that way, but I'd probably get it all set up first.  You'd have USB 2.0 ports on the motherboard also, so an external USB 2.0 CD-RW could be easily attached for something like that.  I really don't see any significant roadblocks to this.  If someone wanted they could do this very easily.  It would be far easier than building a full on cab.  Less rewarding, but less expensive and far easier.

Only problem with this is that N-Force2 boards tend to be on the pricey side for boards. But, very nice and stable.

[rampy]

If you are comfortable building it, and aren't buying an OS, you should easily be able to find one on Pricewatch.com.

Example I just looked and saw an  Athlon 1500+ MB combo with on board video and sound for $94 on PW, add a 20 GB HD for $41, and a RADEON 7000 for $30 and 512 Ram for $40 and you've got a decent MAME machine for $205 shipped.

. Have I ever had problems getting PW vendors to fess up to their price... Yes. Check their reseller ratings at your favorite site and see if they are trustworthy and check out reviews on the hardware.

 (I snipped some text to be concise)

Just to highlight what marcoval is saying...

http://www.pricewatch.com/1/306/4106-1.htm
http://www.pricewatch.com/1/306/4109-1.htm
http://www.resellerratings.com/seller1977.html
http://www.resellerratings.com/seller1812.html

I've had excellent luck (little more money, better reliability) with newegg.com and mwave.com

rampy

[Lilwolf]

Pricewatch all the way!

Unless you don't mind referbished.  If not, check out compgeeks.com.  They sometimes have some great deals on older computers.

DONT go Mini-ITX since they run about 60% speed as a athlon/pentium per clock.  So expect the 800mhz around 400mhz speed.

but not needing a fan is AMAZING when you need it!

[_Iz-]

I've been thinking of this a bit lately.  I'm not going to do it cos I'm not THAT interested in it, but it's interesting all the same.  

Lots of people who don't have the space or $$$ for a full-size cab build a standalone controller.  Why not mount a little motherboard (I'm thinking a shuttle N-force2 board since it's small, but not crippled like those mini-ITX boards -- good video, great sound) inside the control panel and instead of having just one cord coming out the back (USB) you could have two or three (Power, S-Video -- USB maybe so you could hook up gamepads or something).  All you'd need is enough space for the Motherboard, a hard drive, and a little power supply.  I believe that most two player panels have plenty of room for this.  

It would become a completely enclosed Mame console that could quickly hook up to any TV.  Take that Nintendo!  Speakers could even be mounted inside the panel.  Or you could have outputs on it.

Been done!

http://www.arcadeinabox.com/

(site was down when I checked though, YMMV)