PC Guts for My Cab

[MUKid]

I'm about to buy the PC guts for my MAME cabinet.  Could you guys glance over this hardware list and tell me if you notice any major problems?  Also, if you have comments on whether this PC will run most games in MAME, let me know.  I think it'll be fine -- right now, everything runs okay on my old Athlon 1 GHz with 384 MB of RAM.

The goal here is good, but cheap.  I'm already over budget on this project of mine, and I'm trying hard not to spend the extra $5 here or there.

I use Newegg for all my hardware purchases.  It's usually not the absolute cheapest, but it's really close.  And they have great service, good cheap shipping, and have never screwed me over.

MSI SIS 745 Ultra Mobo - $40 at Newegg  (Not the absolute cheapest mobo, but it gets better reviews)
AMD Duron 1.3 GHz CPU (OEM) - $34.50, also at Newegg
Onboard AC 97 sound - included
256 MB PC2100 DDR RAM - $29 from someplace in California
ATI Radeon 7000 VE 32 MB DDR w/TV out - $32 at Newegg  (this is the cheapest TV-out vid card that Newegg has... for $7 more I can get 64 MB -- is it worth it?)
WD 40 GB 7200 RPM Hard drive - $40 at Circuit City (much more HD than I need, but it was on sale so I bought it already)
Allied 250 W Power Supply - $17 (the absolute cheapest PS I can get at Newegg)
Thermaltake Volcano II Heatsink and Fan - $3.55 at Newegg (wow, these have really come down to minimal prices)
Raidman Model 208 10-bay case - $18 at Newegg (the cheapest is only $15, but this one gets five stars instead of three; I really have no idea why)
CD Burner - I already have one I'm going to use
Keyboard, Mouse - Probably like $5

Total:  $215, plus shipping, which shouldn't be too much since I'm getting almost everything from one place.

[PedroSilva]

Great price ...

Here's what I got for 417

[TalkingOctopus]

for $7 more I can get 64 MB -- is it worth it?

No it's not.  Everything looks fine to me.  Enjoy!

[slicer_d]

The only things I would consider upgrading is the ram I really dont like no-name ram sometimes its just better to spend the extra 10 bucks and get some kingston PNY or Corsair it might save you some head aches in the end.

Also the powersupply seems on the low side but maybe thats just because I have been looking at P4 stuff and for a fast machine there with a cdburner dvd and 2 hard discs about 400 watt is recomended.  Newegg should have some sort of case+ps special for 40-50 bucks and those ps are ususally between 300-350 watts.

[JustMichael]

MuKid,  I was wondering why the 1.3 Duron?  The motherboard and cpu are costing you about $75.  I picked up a motherboard and an AMD 2400+Athlon XP combo for $99 from Fry's (in Renton) a while back.  You might want to think about upgrading your specs for just slightly more cash...

[Nailz]

Yep, they have some great deals over there don't they JustMichael?  I can't stay out of that damn place since they opened up.  I thought I saw one the other day, with a 2200 for $84.

[slicer_d]

MuKid,  I was wondering why the 1.3 Duron?  The motherboard and cpu are costing you about $75.  I picked up a motherboard and an AMD 2400+Athlon XP combo for $99 from Fry's (in Renton) a while back.  You might want to think about upgrading your specs for just slightly more cash...

Dont get these deals!  You are getting what you pay for and that is a ultra crappy mobo.  In those deals they ususally have the worst no name mobo brands ever.  I wouldnt get anything other than ABIT ASUS MSI SIS even if you go for the 2400 and mobo on neweggs site you are still only at 120-140 and the extra couple bucks is well spent considering that you can get about 15% better performance if you have a good board with a good chipset.

[Lilwolf]

Crappy motherboards do suck... and you do get some extra performance out of them... but take note....

if you pay an extra 50 bucks for a motherboard.. take a look at what it will take to get a 20% faster processors... There are times when you can get 2x the speed!

The difference in the speed of the motherboard usually only effects 3d gaming (faster pipeline to video slot)..  But not as big a deal for others.   The seem to optimized to games that get reviewed / benchmark more then non-3d games.  So I haven't tested it... but chances are it doesn't make a lot of difference for a 100% mame computer.

Next... DON'T GET INTEGRATED VIDEO.  Not bad I guess if you are using a PC monitor (but don't do that)... you will probably need a special video card... and this will take you out of most cheap motherboards.

So finally... my recommendation..

1) get the fastest processor you can.  Stay away from Durons and Celrons (their lack of cache shows up in emulation more then other places).  2.1 - 2.4 athlons are the best price / performance.

2) Get a good motherboard... don't worry about great...  Unless you plan to use it for other things also.

[bionicbadger]

SiS chipset MB is fine.  Upgrade to the cheapest athlon instead of duron, if you are using a TV, skip the Radeon 7000, you dont need that much power, grab a cheap old ATI card (4 or 8MB rage is fine) with TV out off e-bay for less than $10.

[Nailz]

If you are getting this cab to play more than just MAME games, then I would agree with some of these guys about buying a better motherboard.  

However, if it's strictly MAME, why would you spend an extra $50 to get 20% faster processors or 15% more speed.  I think some of you guys are just pulling numbers out of your butts  , if you are going to spend $50 more and get a $100 mobo, a 20% increase is just not worth it, there is a break point in there and that doesn't even come close to hitting it.

Again, that being said, MAME only, a cheaper mobo will be ok, if you want to play BF1942, or anything else new with some intense graphics, spend a bit more.

[pointdablame]

DON'T GET A CRAPPY POWER SUPPLY. I REPEAT... DON'T GET A CRAPPY POWER SUPPLY.

Spend a few extra bux and get an Antec or Enermax, or at least a Sparkle or Vantec power supply. I have seen so many computers get fried/crash often/be generally unstable all because of a crap power supply. Trust me on this one, get a 300watt antec or the like. It may be 10-15 bux more now, but you wont be replacing fried parts or cursing when your system just decides to not boot.

[MUKid]

That advice on processors is well-taken.  Newegg just changed their prices, and the 1.3 Durons went up... but now I can get a 1.4 Duron for $36.  Or for $40, I can get an Athlon Thunderbird 1.33 GHz.  That's probably worth the extra four bucks (although it's $7 more than what I was going to spend!)

I've looked for video cards with TV-out on ebay, but I can never find very good deals.  I don't know which ATI card to look for, so I wind up with millions of pages of video cards and I usually give up.  Do you guys have any specific brand recommendations?  I'd be happy to get a cheap old card with tv-out for $10 if I can find it!

If I step up to the Athlon, will I need more wattage in the power supply?  Seems like the last time I built an Athlon computer they recommended at least 300W.  I think 400W is probably too much for this particular computer.

And by the way, yes, it'll only be used for MAME, and it'll be housed inside my cabinet.  The only thing I can conceive of using it for otherwise is maybe some web surfing, but no computer gaming.  I'll be using a 27 inch cheap-o TV (hopefully I'll find a good deal in the day after Thanksgiving sales).

Thanks for all the advice, you guys... I don't want to spend a ton of money on the cabinet only to have it all screwed up because I should have spent $10 more on the computer.

Jay

[slicer_d]

First off to Nailz you dont need to spend 100 bucks on a MOBO, 70 bucks for a SIS is perfectally fine and it is only 20-40 more then a creally crappy no name one.  Maybe you wont get a full 15% extra like you would with a 3d game but I'm sure you will get some extra and also the service and support is a very nice thing to have with a mobo.

I would follow pointdablame's advice for the power supply antecs are nice but pretty pricy a splarkle would probably be optimal.  I would saw the two things that cause the most headaches at least for me are psu's and hd.  If you go cheap on either you get what you pay for they may work just fine at first but just wait 2-3 years and see how they are doing, most go dead.

I would think that 300 should be min for an athalon if you are going to have a bunch of cdroms and hd then 350-400 would be better but I'm assuming you will only have one of each.

Also on the video card I think the 7000 would be fine.  Mabye it is more expensive then a used 8 meg card but after shipping and everythig its only like 10-20 more bucks and can handle a lot more if you ever wanted it to.