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| What's the cheapest you've made a MAME cabinet for? |
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| Sephroth57:
i spent a decent amount on mine so far, i dont want it to be ghetto so im using mostly all new parts Empty Robocop Cabinet w/coindoor - 50$ 19 inch computer monitor - 125$ off ebay brand new athlon 2200xp setup - 230$ pricewatch.com speakers with subwoofer - 30$ controls - 60$ total so far - $495.00 still need marquee, CP overlay. probably repaint the cab |
| Trenchbroom:
I told the wife it would only be about $400 or so. Hah! Empty Blue Print cabinet--Free 3 sidewinders to hack--$15 Mobo & chip to put in freebie case-$25 paint, sandpaper, screws, etc.--$30 MDF to construct new control panel--$20 Plexiglass-$25 Coin door-$30 Joysticks, T-molding and buttons-$50 17" monitor--$80 Then things got hairy as my thirst increased: 20" TV w/ S-Video--$250 Video card w/ TV out--$30 Original Galaga marquee--$30 Reproduction sideart--$40 Used faster computer--$100 Capacitor blows up in new computer. Don't play cabinet for 8 mos. Now the itch is REALLY bad: Another computer--$280 J-Sticks, IPAC, wiring kit from Ultimarc--$120 Moral of this story--stay FOCUSED on one goal, not jump around from idea to idea like me! Oh, and don't buy used mobo's from Ebay. |
| Lilwolf:
NOTE: You CAN do it cheap... but you will spend extra time instead of cash... and in the end you wont' have as good a solution. Controls - Cheapest Encoder 29 bucks or something for one of the econs. Great little item (every one).. Hacked Joystick - limited buttons... usually need one per player.. so if you have them great... otherwise you might be 1/2 way to an encoder. Hacked keyboard - lots of troubles. some here have gotten VERY VERY good at getting around ghosting... but you will spend LOTS of time... and not configurable. Video - best cheap - Used free arcade monitor if you can find it and a trident ultra... next cheap - Any VGA you have around. best - 200 new 19" Arcade monitor (shipped) + 90 arcadevga... nothing better. next - SVid TV out with a good ATI card (or nvidia... but watch the tv-out chip on it.. some suck rocks... ATI is consistent if built by ati... not powered by ati).. TV + 30 bucks. next - B-Grade VGA monitor - industrial monitors with low resolution and scanlines already added. About 200 bucks or so. last - SVGA monitor... man they suck for arcade games. Don't spend money on this. Only do it if its free (and plan cabinet that you might get something better later.) Cabinet - Best cheap - Used cabinet (try not to mame a classic... please). Consider you can get them free and 5 bucks in wood putty and some paint (unless the sideart is good... then ignore repairs) next cheapest - Buy some wood... figure it out... Lots of free plans around... 60 bucks in parts? Add some paint.. next - Buy some $40 plans. Many ARE great and will help you out. (plut the same as above). next - buy a prebuilt kit - about 500 + shipping? BEST (cost not issue)- 1ups kit... wish I had money... sigh... |
| daeven:
I just converted a generic arcade cabinet for a friend with the following: -'Infinity 1' cabinet from his mother's basement - FREE -Pentium 233 MHz computer from another friend - $20 -Ipac (could have tried keyboard hack for this one) $42 -VGA extension cable for monitor hookup- too much at $10 -Leftover Soundblaster 16 card: FREE Total $72 It helped that the cabinet, monitor and controls are in EXCELLENT condition. It took some serious software configuration to figure out the integrated video and ADVmame and ADVmenu, but I think the results were worth it. |
| Nightmare03:
I havent built a mame cabinet yet, but i built a clone of arcade in a box, with 1 joystick and 6 buttons per player and player 1&2 start buttons, 233 mhz comp, speakers etc.. it cost |
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