How does this sound?

[cadmium]

So how does this sound for a dedicated PC for Mame cab:

• Asus M2A-VM HDMI $76*
• AMD Athlon64 X2 4800+ Retail $62
• Seagate Barracuda 250GB $55
• 2GB DDR2-800 ~$50
• Radeon X1550 or X1650 ~$30
• In-Win C589T $54

Total $337 or $299 with the MSI mobo.

Based loosely on the Ars Techinca Budget Box

I might go even cheaper on the mobo using something like a MSI K9VGM-V AM2 VIA K8M890 for $48.

I'll probably stick with onboard sound and video. If I did add a card, it would only be for TV-out (though I'm going to stick with a monitor for now), so I'd probably just get a super cheap ATI card.

I also priced a similar rig with an Intel E4600 C2Duo, but it was about $50 more.

*Edited to update the hardware, include case price.

[Ginsu Victim]

Go with the cheaper mobo and get separate video and sound cards. Some people have issues with onboard a/v.

[cadmium]

I think I have an old SB Live! Lying around.

Would a Radeon X1550 or Radeon X1650PRO be enough video card? Both are under $50.

[Ginsu Victim]

Yeah. I'm using an X1650 myself.

That sound card would work just fine.

[Paul Olson]

If you are near a Fry's, they have an e7200 with a cheap ecs mobo for $119. Mine is running hot with the stock heatsink so I am not able to oc it right now, but once I figure that out, this chip clocks to 3.17ghz just by changing FSB to 1333. Mine crashed after 10 minutes of burn in at that speed. I haven't tried MAME on it, I picked up an e8400 combo for $159 for the cab; I'm putting that one together now. You will get a lot more out of a c2d chip than you will with the AMD for MAME, so you might want to look into it. These are the first intel chips I have bought since the P3 first came out; but better performance and similar price was plenty to make me switch back.

[cadmium]

If you are near a Fry's, they have an e7200 with a cheap ecs mobo for $119. Mine is running hot with the stock heatsink so I am not able to oc it right now, but once I figure that out, this chip clocks to 3.17ghz just by changing FSB to 1333. Mine crashed after 10 minutes of burn in at that speed. I haven't tried MAME on it, I picked up an e8400 combo for $159 for the cab; I'm putting that one together now. You will get a lot more out of a c2d chip than you will with the AMD for MAME, so you might want to look into it. These are the first intel chips I have bought since the P3 first came out; but better performance and similar price was plenty to make me switch back.

That does sound like a good price, but I don't have a Frys anywhere near here and the normal prices are pushing past my budget.

Edit. I priced out a retail E7200 machine and it came in around $370.

Is there anyway I could get a direct comparison of the performance between the 2 processors to see if it worth the $70 price difference? Also, I don't intend to overclock, mostly do to the confined space of the cabinet, so I won't get as much out of it.

[cadmium]

Go with the cheaper mobo and get separate video and sound cards. Some people have issues with onboard a/v.

Just posting an update to say I tried the SBLive and it sounded terrible (static), while the onboard chip sounded just fine.

[Ginsu Victim]

Results may vary...

[massive88]

Unless you are needing full duplex, onboard sound should be just fine in any modern motherboard.

The only problem I have ever encountered is trying to record in fraps while playing.  For that I needed to throw in my old SB Live card.  Other then that, onboard audio is very adequate for the majority of applications, and most certainly for Mame dedicated boxes.

Personally on your setup above, I would cut the ram to a gig, and get a core 2 duo.  The performance is well worth the price difference.  And you can save a little on the ram, Mame shouldnt need 2gigs, and you shouldnt be running much overhead either.

[cadmium]

Personally on your setup above, I would cut the ram to a gig, and get a core 2 duo.  The performance is well worth the price difference.  And you can save a little on the ram, Mame shouldnt need 2gigs, and you shouldnt be running much overhead either.

I appreciate the performance of the core2duo, but it was just out of my budget. For the price, the Athlon64 X2 is plenty for what I want to run.

Besides, I've already built the machine (minus the video card, which arrives today). And yes, 2GB is probably overkill, but it's just so darn cheap. 

[ark_ader]

Athlon 3000 is cheap and works great.  939 Mobos are really cheap.  X1550 are good to get too.

Buy as much memory as you can and afford.

I always do, as you never know when there will be another shortage of memory.

All you need is an earthquake in Japan to send the memory markets through the roof.

Remember the last time?