Hey everybody, it's been awhile. I'm back with computer questions.

[JonnyBoy]

I know this has probably been discussed before, but searches haven't helped as much as I like. Basically, my processor in my MAME machine is lousy and it's simply time for an upgrade. I figure I might as well go with a kit or something all inclusive. My current motherboard is a PC Chips and I've had pretty good luck with it. I'm probably going to get another PC Chips to keep the same footprint, so I won't have to rearrange a lot of stuff within the box. The fit is pretty tight. Is there any real advantage to going dual core? I figure something along the lines of a Pentium 4 or an Athlon 3800 or something. Basically I want to run N64 very smoothly. The added advantage of being able to run the Zinc games flawlessly is a plus. No high end PC gaming needed, so I think 512 megs of ram will suffice.

I'm just looking for a little direction, I've sort of been out of the PC hardware ring for awhile. Good to talk to you all again, and thanks for the help.

[JonnyBoy]

Maybe something along these lines?

http://www.partspc.com/Recommend.asp?Qty=1&ProdID=8817&imageField3.x=50&imageField3.y=12

[BobA]

No point at this time for dual core as none of the emulators take advantage of them.  Down the road there is always room for improved performance but who knows who or what dual core will be required for. As for getting the same foot print.  If you have mini itx then all the other manufacturers make the same footprint MB.  If you like PC Chips then go with them.

[JonnyBoy]

Thanks for the reply. I will probably go for something along the lines of a single core Pentium 4 machine around 3.0 ghz.

[JonnyBoy]

Does anybody know which form factor 12" by 7.5" would be?

[NightGod]

Does anybody know which form factor 12" by 7.5" would be?

Pretty sure that's standard ATX form factor-it's roughly the size of a piece of paper, to give you a frame of reference.

Make sure you check out Ebay for your processor, they have some insane deals there, 25%+ off typical prices.

[u_rebelscum]

No point at this time for dual core as none of the emulators take advantage of them.  Down the road there is always room for improved performance but who knows who or what dual core will be required for.

Mame does now on a couple games, if you enable the -multithreading (or -mt for short) option.  Performance increase, from what I hear, is about 5% to 15% for the very few games that support it, -3% to +4% for those that don't

Add that the core 2 is the pretty much the best CPU for mame ATM (ignoring price), and it doesn't come out in a solo model yet.  Don't get confused between the "core 2 duo" and the older "core duo" & "core solo"; the core duo/solo are closer related to the Pentium M than the core 2 duo.  Dual coring a P4 or Athlon, OTOH, is probably not worth it. 

I'd say go core 2, athlon64, or core, in that order, and stay away from the P4 if you can help it.