cheap computer

[pezkore]

If i wanted to get a computer to run my mame machine off of, but had very little money with which to do it, what would you guys recommend is my best way to get a sufficient but cheap computer? what would my minimum performance have to be?

[jakejake28]

depends on what u wanna play. if u r playin Mortal Kombat or the newer fighters, don't go less than 800 mhz, better if you get 1 ghz. if u only play some of the pre-90's stuff, no less than 600 mhz.

just my .02236 euros


Jacob Azimi

[anthony691]

Clock speed dosn't mean as much as one would think. (even though it is still very important, it is not the only factor; check your FSB speed!

I have a HP Vectra VL (corparate series) PIII 450 that plays CPS II stuff 60/60 FPS; on the other hand my Compaq Presario 2255 K6 450 gets about 40/60 FPS. Some preform better than others. Of course my P4 2Ghz is nice too (plays all the good stuff) They have the same amount of RAM and stuff.

[SirPoonga]

what's your budget?


Look at tigerdirect.com or newegg.com too.

[paigeoliver]

Something in the 300s or 400s will play the vast majority of Mame games just fine. It is only a small percent of games that require anything more.

Sheesh, don't you guys remember running emulators a few years back when a 300 or a 400 was a hot PC? Even a Pentium 200 will play quite a lot of games. That is what I have at work and it plays lots of games at full speed (even with that OLD computer in most of the games you can hit F10 and get 90+ frames per second).

[JLR2000]

My dedicated Pole Position Mame cabinet has a Dell PII 233 w/128 mb memory and it plays Pole Position I/II full speed just fine.....

My cocktail cab has an old NEC PII 350 with 128(?)mb memory and it plays everything I could want to play on a cocktail cabinet (vertical monitor).

The cabs I have to play the "latest & greatest" are all newer, fast machines, but you could make great cabs with older PCs.  If you have an older machine and you want to squeeze the most out of it try:

1. Running an older version of MAME
2. Running under DOS
3. Use a cheap soundcard, don't use integrated sound
4. Put a good amount of memory in it, it's relatively cheap.

These have been IMHO the best ways to get the most out of an older/slower PC.

Good Luck.

[crsdawg]

i also use an older p II (350, 128 ram) in my current cab. runs the classics just fine. seems like once you get to games of the later 80's i see slow downs. i mainly play the older games (galaga, 194X, qix, and etc) so it's not a problem.  it also does well with many computer games, golden tee pc comes to mind.

as for buying, another place to check out would be computer geeks (compgeeks.com) . i think they have p II systems for around $100, a p III system for $150, and kits that have everything but cpu(athlon or pIV) in the $250 range(this could be a relatively cheap yet fairly fast choice).

good luck.

[StephenH]

It depends on the games you want to play.  For example, if you like early 80s games you can get buy under 500MHZ.    If you like 16-bit games of the late 80s, get a P3 of at least 800MHZ.   If you like 32 bit games, then you need a fast PC of 2GHZ or more.  

As for RAM, you can run most games with 128MB.   However, 256MB is needed for some newer Neo-Geo Games, and some other very large games.

For a cheap PC, you may want to check local stores that deal in generic brand equipment.   You can get a lot of PC for a lot less, buying local, with generic brand componets.    If this is going to be a MAME-Only PC, you can leave out printers, DVD drives, high end keyboards, etc to save cost.

[paigeoliver]

It depends on the games you want to play.  For example, if you like early 80s games you can get buy under 500MHZ.    If you like 16-bit games of the late 80s, get a P3 of at least 800MHZ.   If you like 32 bit games, then you need a fast PC of 2GHZ or more.  

Why would someone need 800 mhz for the late 80s games now? You didn't need that a few years ago. Most of the late 80s games were running full speed long before 800 mhz processors even came out.

And as far as early 80s games go. Think more like 200 mhz. I have a Pentium 200 at work and have tons of 79-83 era games installed on it (DOS Mame on top of windows 95), and it runs them all full speed, most of them it can run at double speed even.

[Lilwolf]

Well.. here are some suggestions...

Look around on ebay for a week... then place bids when you know whats a good deal.  Try and bid on some that have shipping prices mentioned.  You can get some SWEET deals on old computers... as long as they aren't in domand.

Next... if you want something more reliable... www.pricewatch.com is another good place to look.

Next... Athlons (especially 800-1.2ghz) are MUCH better price/performance... and faster at those speeds then pentiums at that speed.  Especially for emulation.

Next...  Video Cards means nothing... unless you want some Zinc type emulators running, or if your Monitor requires hwstretching/d3d.  So go with an old TNT/Geforce or old ATI and you will be fine.

Next...  Decide what games you really really want in a cabinet.  Then work that way... OR... find out how much cash you really really have... and go that way... but probably not good to go both ways (because you might not be able to satisfy them both and might annoy you).

Good Luck!

[radiator]

when i was deciding what to buy computer-wise, i figured i'd spend a bit extra money and go for something that i can play LOADS of games on...

in the end i went for an AthlonXP 1700 (the JIUHB DLT3C stepping model...nice overclockability, i can get mine running at 2500)
abit nf7 mobo (mmm, NForce goodness, and nice onboard sound)
512Mb PC2700 DDR ram
Western Digital 40GB HDD
picked up an ATI Radeon 7500 off ebay
...also got an old case off ebay (

[MattMaan]

Most important trick to playing games on a slower computer is use an earlier version of MAME.  I'm running a 266mhz with 196 ram for my MAME machine, and on v0.67 (the latest) games like The Simpsons were completely unplayable.  Now they run just fine, running v0.37, IIRC...

Unfortunately, the further you go back, the less games are emulated... but if you're buying an older computer, you're probably not looking to play the latest and greatest anyhow.

-Matt

[anthony691]

Most important trick to playing games on a slower computer is use an earlier version of MAME.  I'm running a 266mhz with 196 ram for my MAME machine, and on v0.67 (the latest) games like The Simpsons were completely unplayable.  Now they run just fine, running v0.37, IIRC...

Unfortunately, the further you go back, the less games are emulated... but if you're buying an older computer, you're probably not looking to play the latest and greatest anyhow.

-Matt

The idea with that is that you can add new drivers to old MAME if you can compile your own MAME! That is what makes MAME so great!

[m3talslug]

Xbox + Modchip = $250USD

Plays most CPS2 games w/ FBA at fullspeed
Plays most MAME games are under 64MB in size uncompressed.
Runs SNES
Runs TG16 about as well as the PC version of Hugo (pretty much the same source)
Runs GBA
Runs Genesis
Runs SMS
Runs Daphne
Runs a number of PSX games very well
Has a 10/100 NIC
Has pretty good 3D accellerator
etc

lastly.... it runs XBOX games perfectly.. duh

[Valiam Arkais]

Xbox + Modchip = $250USD

Plays most CPS2 games w/ FBA at fullspeed
Plays most MAME games are under 64MB in size uncompressed.
Runs SNES
Runs TG16 about as well as the PC version of Hugo (pretty much the same source)
Runs GBA
Runs Genesis
Runs SMS
Runs Daphne
Runs a number of PSX games very well
Has a 10/100 NIC
Has pretty good 3D accellerator
etc

lastly.... it runs XBOX games perfectly.. duh

I tried this route before, and I couldn't find a Mod chip.  The reason, probably because people are going to jail for it.  Anybody know where to find one?

[m3talslug]

http://www.modchipsource.com