Would this be a good pc for mame?

[dreamakuma]

I have mame 0.81(I belive) and i'm running Mame 32(not ui,old school 32,I got it all from a friend, which got me wanting arcade stuff, so I don't know much). Since I'm looking at the risks of how My CPS2 hardware will cost me, I think I'll mame.I don't need any fancy frontends because I'll be to busy playing games to care.  so would this pc work?

http://stlouis.craigslist.org/sys/965208320.html

Just want to know...Thanks

[jessybr]

hello
ik think you should look for a pc that is al little faster then 1.8 more like a 2.4 and up
and also a bigger harddrive .
geetings from holland

[Blanka]

If you play only 8-bit and 16-bit arcade games (up to multiple processor 68000 games), it will do great. For the more modern 32-bit games a fast Core2Duo is prefered.

[dreamakuma]

would this be better?

http://stlouis.craigslist.org/sys/985790929.html

[jessybr]

yes that schould do better

[Blanka]

Barely. Almost the double price for just 0,6 ghz extra is not doing much. Guess it still is limited to old games. If the second one is 100$, then it might be Ok.

[dreamakuma]

Okay...would the second PC be able to play...Marvel vs capcom on mame? That's the newest game I got and the best I'm interested in playing. The cps 2 titles are where I get most of my gaming on, followed by neo geo titles.   

[CathalDublin]

I'd try get a cheap dual core with 1gb ram minimun. It will be worth the extra few dollars

[jessybr]

yes im runnig a 2.4 ghz with 1028 mb ram
and it runs almost everything
and some games will just run not good
neo geo goes without a problem

[gonzo90017]

Marvel vs Capcom runs full speed on my Pentium 2 @233mhz.
Just go with the first pc. And make sure you stick with the mame version you have and
don't try to upgrade to newer versions.

[Jack Burton]

Also, keep in mind that your operating system will influence your performance with MAME. 

Linux compiled for your particular setup should give you a performance boost.

and yeah, if you are only interested in the classic stuff up to the CPS2 then just about anything that will run Windows XP will work.

[kelemvor]

I'd check out the cheap systems you can buy at any normal store or even Dell or something.  Most PCs come with fancy video cards and things like that which you don't need.  All you need is the fastest processor you can find and a bunch of memory so the OS doesn't hamper you.

GO to Dell's site and spec out a system by removing everything you don't need.  Can get a brand new one for just a couple hundred dollars.

Or even better, the Dell Outlet:
http://outlet.us.dell.com/ARBOnlineSales/topics/global.aspx/arb/online/en/InventorySearch?c=us&cs=22&l=en&s=dfh

[dreamakuma]

On both dell sites, I found most PC's to be $300+. And I can't wait on shipping because I have a due date.  I got to get it running by Feb 6. so I look locally. All I have to do Is get a PC that will run these ten year old games on mame,nothing fancy, no frontends, no advaned settings, just fullspeed,I don't even need highscores, just solid emulation. Then A cheap 21" CRT till I can buy A Wells Gardner D9800 from Xgaming($350 aint cheap where I'm from, so that will be after due date) and I'm looking at an Ipac ve to hook my joysticks and buttons to. Other than that and some work I'd be done. so I'm looking at the $50 and the $130 one. If both suck Please post a link to A suitable PC that will run up late cps2 and neo geo titles and xp, and cost less than $200. I'm on a very fixed budget. 

[kelemvor]

If all you need is those certain games, then the first one would probably work.  I'd definitely add more memory though (which is very cheap).

My machine is a P4 2.4 or 2.8 or something like that and it works fine.  I'm running Mame 106 or 115 or something in that range I think.  Haven't looked at it in a long time.

The ones at the Dell Outlet site are around $280 or so and would be far better for future upgrades and things but if that's not a concern, then go with the cheapie one.

If it turns out it's too slow, you could probably just put in a new processor as well and still be cheaper than that second one.