I'm gonna give it a try

[markt]

O.k. income tax refund came today.
I have decided rather than buying a prebuilt mame unit I am going to go ahead and build one.
I am going to a arcade game auction tis coming weekend to find a dead cab., and maybe a working game or two (crazy climber or frontline if i am lucky).
I am going to buy a new computer for this unit.
What are some recommendations on specs for the computer and hardware??

[leapinlew]

What are some recommendations on specs for the computer and hardware??

Hi Markt -

First thing you need to decide is the kind of games your playing. Either way - don't spend a ton of money on a high end computer. Most likely you'll be just fine with any pentium4 and if it's classics only, you can get by with a lot less of a machine.

So Mark... what kind of games do you play?

[markt]

The classics, Pac man, galaga, frontline, crazy climber, dragons lair, ect.
I enjoy all the games from the early days of video gaming.

[leapinlew]

Nice - your computer options should be pretty good. I'd say you might be able to get a freebie computer to handle that load.

The bigger decision for you is going to be monitor orientation. Many of us have built 2 cabs. Dedicated vertical and horizontal cabinets.

[markt]

What the best monitor to use?
I know a pc monitor would be the easiest but I would like to have a large monitor.
The Pre built unit (retro pcarcade) I was looking at uses a 27"svga monitor that looked pretty good.
I saw happ sells a  Vision Pro 27" SVGA  Universal Mount Monitor, how hard is this to hook up to a pc?
I saw a post earlier about using a tv, which would definitely be cheaper.
I was just looking at a sale flyer from a computer store and they have 22" widesceen lcd displays (1680 x 1050 panel resolution) on sale.
Would this be a good choice?

[am_monkee]

personally, i don't like the look of tvs as much as monitors. monitors are easy to get a hold of for cheap (or for free if you have one lying around). if you're interested in arcade monitors, i always liked the wells gardner ones. good quality, good pic. really it's up to you and depends on how much money you want to shell out. look in the buy/sell/trade here and search around on the net to get a feel for the price of things.


also: i'm amazed you got your refund already--i haven't even sent mine in yet 

[markt]

After doing some looking around, I am thinking about using a arcade monitor and the ultimarc arcade vga video card.

[leapinlew]

I've used a few monitors both  LCD and CRT and I've used a TV. I don't have an issue with any of them. Maybe because I don't really see the difference.

[btp2k2]

A little shop down the street from me sells 2.8 Ghz Celeron computers they market as their "Internet Machine" for $250. They might as well call them "MAME machine" cause they work great! I spend an extra 50 bucks to buy a video card to avoid using the integrated shared memory video and the thing works like a charm. I have never had any issues at all with any of them.

[(+_+)]

"I'm gonna give it a try", "I'm gonna give it a try". Your going to more than just try. Your going to build the best darn machine your hard earn money and time can buy. When it's done, you're going to be playing it with all your buddies and have a great time doing it. You're also going to be the coolest guy on the block and all children who see your masterpiece will look up at you with the utmost respect and awe. You'll grow old and be able to tell your grandchildren you're wondrous accomplishment and how you took home the Mamey award (even if you really didn't since all grandparents embellish their stories).
 

Have loads of fun.

[somunny]

Do... or do not.  There is no "try".

[Dmod]

A little shop down the street from me sells 2.8 Ghz Celeron computers they market as their "Internet Machine" for $250. They might as well call them "MAME machine" cause they work great! I spend an extra 50 bucks to buy a video card to avoid using the integrated shared memory video and the thing works like a charm. I have never had any issues at all with any of them.

That's  good data since I'm thinking about upgrading from my PIII at some point.  I thought a Pentium might have an advantage over a Celeron for some of the newer games.

Do you use this just for the classics, or does it run the more recent stuff as well?  Also, which version of Mame are you running?

[btp2k2]

I run all the stuff....The only games I am having a problem running are some of the Midway games from the late 90's (Gauntlet Legends, Blitz, etc), but those run poorly on my main system too, so I don't sweat em. I have heard these games work, so I am sure it is just a settings issue....just don't have time farting around with settings right now

I run EasyMAME .106 (not been a big fan of some of the changes they have made lately) and using the Maximus Arcade frontend. I run MAME, Daphne, Visual Pinball, KEGA, ZNES, FCE and Magic Engine without any performance issues at all.

[markt]

I picked up the components for the computer today.
Pentium 4 processor 631
Gigabyte motherboard GA-8VM800PMD-775-RH
Western Digital 250 gb hard drive
512 mb ddr2 memory
Samsung writemaster dvd rw/cd rw rom
EVGA e-geforce 6200 le video card
Soundblaster  audigy se card
USB 2.0 4 port pci card