Stupid Q - computer-related

[Lex_the_Impailer]

Currently I am using old Duron 1.0 Ghz rig, 512 megs ram, Win XP to run my mame.  Works reasonable well for the most part.

Am looking at snagging a Intel  2.0 Ghz dual core, 2 gigs ram (will be using Win Xp as well).  Can I expect to see improvements?  Thanks folks.

[testicle187]

I believe you will see quite a big difference.  Raw processing power is important and newer builds of MAME can take advantage of multiprocessors.  2 Gigs of ram and a dual 2.0 cores will run about anything feasibly possible to run.

***EDIT...  Did not see where you mentioned for MAME.

[Lex_the_Impailer]

I believe you will see quite a big difference, especially in multitasking.  Duron processors are like Celerons and they really hold a system back with their lack of cache.  2 Gigs of ram and a dual 2.0 cores will be more than enough for almost anything you could want to use it for right now.

Thanks...never know with mame what will improve things.  Figured it would, it's an old computer, pretty much Frankensteined together...

[Turnarcades]

Good that you didn't ask for specific game benchmarks, as like previously mentioned MAME results are unpredictable. We use 1Ghz P3's which perform brilliantly on all but later, polygonal games. I've done plenty of benchmarking on lower range PC's and can assure you you will see an improvement on not only arcade, but also N64, 32X, Mega CD and other 'medium demand' emus too.

[Lex_the_Impailer]

Good that you didn't ask for specific game benchmarks, as like previously mentioned MAME results are unpredictable. We use 1Ghz P3's which perform brilliantly on all but later, polygonal games. I've done plenty of benchmarking on lower range PC's and can assure you you will see an improvement on not only arcade, but also N64, 32X, Mega CD and other 'medium demand' emus too.

generally the games ru perfect, but games like metal slug for example, when there is lots of action, slows down a fair bit.  Benchmarks don''t mean much to me, I want to see the actual difference:D

[ahofle]

generally the games ru perfect, but games like metal slug for example, when there is lots of action, slows down a fair bit.  Benchmarks don''t mean much to me, I want to see the actual difference:D

The actual Metal Slug arcade game slowed down too though.  You'll need to press F11 in game to see if you are skipping frames in MAME. 

[Lex_the_Impailer]

generally the games ru perfect, but games like metal slug for example, when there is lots of action, slows down a fair bit.  Benchmarks don''t mean much to me, I want to see the actual difference:D

The actual Metal Slug arcade game slowed down too though.  You'll need to press F11 in game to see if you are skipping frames in MAME. 

Well, it seems to be.  With metal slug the % bounces aroudn 90-100% with the auto frame skip at auto 2 for the most part.

Dragon spirit 's skipping is running at auto 7 or so.....would the new system fix stuff like this?  Tough to answer I suppose, but I don't want to spend the $ on something that will give me marginal if any improvement.

[ahofle]

Yes you are skipping frames.  A faster CPU would definitely help you.
I didn't see a mention of what MAME version you are using, but generally an older version of MAME will also give you a performance boost.

[MrMojoZ]

We use 1Ghz P3's which perform brilliantly on all but later, polygonal games.

I bet you can't run KI well and it is purely 2d. 

[Turnarcades]

We use 1Ghz P3's which perform brilliantly on all but later, polygonal games.

I bet you can't run KI well and it is purely 2d. 

I new someone would call me on that. I meant it as a general term. I should have put later/polygonal/chd/Midway as a more general term, but I'm not as pedantic as some! 

To be honest I've never been happy with the performance of .chd games anyway on higher spec machines. The only one I'm remotely interested in is KI1, which is the only one I endeavoured to get working on my own personal machine.

Good point about natural slowdown in games, whoever mentioned it. The amount of times I've had to explain the slowdown in Double Dragon is natural to people....

[Malenko]

My Machine plays Killer Instinct 2 absolutely PERFECTLY no frame skips or anything, it runs on an R4600 RISC CPU and a  ADSP2150 sound chip.



/lame joke

[Lex_the_Impailer]

Yes you are skipping frames.  A faster CPU would definitely help you.
I didn't see a mention of what MAME version you are using, but generally an older version of MAME will also give you a performance boost.

I`m (or my buddy) is in the process of updating me to .127.  Actually got a great price on a system I may order this weekend.

Intel Quad Q6600 2.4 Ghz
2 gigs 800 Mhz RAM
500 gig HD
256 ATI Radeon HD 3650
Will be running windows XP Pro

Perhaps overkill on the processor, but I can get this one for less than the price of a much lower performing e2180.

Only thing I am waffling on is....bump up to 3 gigs ram and stick with the 128 meg Radeon 2400 Pro, or get 2 gigs ram and get the above 3650.

I have read that mame benefits little from vid cards per se, but I`ve heard soso stuff about the 2400 pro card.

Any opinions from you mame vets would be appreciated..thanks.

[ahofle]

I have read that mame benefits little from vid cards per se, but I`ve heard soso stuff about the 2400 pro card.

Any opinions from you mame vets would be appreciated..thanks.

You have heard correctly -- your video card will basically be sitting there yawning while MAME is running.  Although I doubt you will get any additional benefit from 3 GB of RAM in MAME either.  If I had to pick I would probably go with the better video card though for other games/emulators.

[Lex_the_Impailer]

I have read that mame benefits little from vid cards per se, but I`ve heard soso stuff about the 2400 pro card.

Any opinions from you mame vets would be appreciated..thanks.

You have heard correctly -- your video card will basically be sitting there yawning while MAME is running.  Although I doubt you will get any additional benefit from 3 GB of RAM in MAME either.  If I had to pick I would probably go with the better video card though for other games/emulators.

thanks for that.  Yea thats what I was thinking as well....there may be some other games on there , it's more for my kids than me.  2 gigs RAM is plenty for XP.

In  any case this will be a nice upgrade from the old Duron setup I have now.  Thanks again.

[Lex_the_Impailer]

We use 1Ghz P3's which perform brilliantly on all but later, polygonal games.

I bet you can't run KI well and it is purely 2d. 

For the record, Killer Instinct runs at 100% no skipped frames on my new machine.  Flawless.