Suggestions for hardware for current MAME

[wivelden]

Can anyone suggest a motherboard, amount of memory and CPU etc for a cocktail cabinet for the current version of MAME? I know it's not worth getting anything higher than a dual core CPU but what about motherboard and memory etc? Is it worth getting a barebones system? I'm in the UK so only UK suppliers please. Thanks!

[GregD]

What are you using for an operating system?  That is a factor when determining what you need for memory etc. 

[Kangum]

it depends if you want to just run the classics or stuff with chd files. the chd games are fairly demanding but honestly for a cocktail you should aim for the mainstream classics which even atom computers can handle.

[wivelden]

Will be running windows standard 7. Not too fussed about the chd games as most dont work anyway yet.

[wweumina]

Depends on the front end. Hyperspin is more demanding than a lot of games (that is not a criticism btw). If ur buying new you can get away with the cheapest core i3 you can find or an Athlon II or above to run things reasonably well. Even the AMD E-350 should run mame pretty well though hyperspin would baulk at it.

[kahlid74]

For a cocktail cab I would go with a dual core atom and 4 GB of memory.  The memory is so cheap and windows 7 will be happy you got it.  I'd opt for Nvdia ION as well and you should be all right.

Something like this would work well - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16856173015

[wivelden]

Sorry I meant to add that I will be using Hyperspin as the frontend too.

[wivelden]

For a cocktail cab I would go with a dual core atom and 4 GB of memory.  The memory is so cheap and windows 7 will be happy you got it.  I'd opt for Nvdia ION as well and you should be all right.

Something like this would work well - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16856173015

Are these really powerful enough to run MAME? Ive never heard of them before but they do look ideal and neat little systems

[Bramlet]

I just finished installing Mame .145 on my old AMD 3400+, socket 939, single core 2.2ghz, 1 gig ram, 8500GT. I only have two button games right now but if it works at all it usually works fine. So even with this modest hardware, current mame runs fine. Now with modern emulators and front ends you will probably want better. Just throwing out my data point for everyone. But if you just want classic games you can get away with using a couple cell phones and some paper clips.

[kahlid74]

For a cocktail cab I would go with a dual core atom and 4 GB of memory.  The memory is so cheap and windows 7 will be happy you got it.  I'd opt for Nvdia ION as well and you should be all right.

Something like this would work well - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16856173015

Are these really powerful enough to run MAME? Ive never heard of them before but they do look ideal and neat little systems

Yeap as long as we're talking classic games and a simple front end like MAMEWah.  If you're looking at Hyperspin I would go with a Core i3 at least and 4 GB.

[Green Giant]

On my old AMD 3500 with 1 GB ram and some kind of old video card, I used to run most fighters such as Marvel vs Capcoms and more.  This was all on whatever mame was new in 2006-2007.

Currently updating my collection to see what it can handle on a new install.


I can't see how mame would have trouble running any kind game now that it supports dual core processors.  Although I think windows 7 could be taxing the system a little more than micro-XP would.

[wivelden]

Graphics cards are not essential either then right? Onboard graphics would be ok?

[GregD]

Onboard graphics should be fine for Hyperspin...as long as it is a newer pc. 

[Green Giant]

Graphics cards are not essential either then right? Onboard graphics would be ok?

Only if it is of the current generation cpu's that incorporated the graphics card onboard.  Something like the i3/5/7 line or the many low power micro computer setups like the AMD E-350.


Any old system where the onboard graphics was handled completely by the motherboard probably won't be enough.

[kahlid74]

Graphics cards are not essential either then right? Onboard graphics would be ok?

Only if it is of the current generation cpu's that incorporated the graphics card onboard.  Something like the i3/5/7 line or the many low power micro computer setups like the AMD E-350.


Any old system where the onboard graphics was handled completely by the motherboard probably won't be enough.

This.  Additionally the new onboard graphics have lots of memory too so that's another way to know if it will handle it.  You would be looking for onboard graphics with 512MB to 1GB. 

[paigeoliver]

If budget for PC is a real issue then you can always run an old version of Mame. A 10 year old computer can run a Mame .55 setup and that is going to have almost every game you actually remember.

Overall you get more bang for your buck when you allocate more money to your controls and display than to the PC.

Remember, you can always replace the PC later.

[wivelden]

This is what I bought in the end..
http://www.envizage.com/products/bdl-g41mvs3-e5700-2gb-asrock-g41m-vs3-intel-e5700-3.0-dual-core-cpu-2gb-ddr3-motherboard-bundle.html

I will be adding a 4gb stick later for more memory.

[solinvictus21]

I've just finished setting up my cocktail cabinet with an HDC-I2 motherboard with the AMD E350 and 4G of RAM. All classic games I've thrown at it run just fine including, surprisingly, Mortal Kombat. Here is a list of games that do NOT run at full speed on this setup, some of which I was quite disappointed about...

    - Puzzle Bobble 2
    - Puzzle Bobble 3
    - Puzzle Bobble 4
    - Sonic the Hedgehog
    - Sonic the Hedgehog 2
    - Tekken
    - Tetris The Grand Master

Also, HyperSpin is a bit of a dog on it, but works well enough if I disable the top 50% of the most processor-intensive settings under the "Main Settings->Optimizer" tab. I'll include a list of games that do work fine below (in no particular order), to give you an idea of what WILL work.

    - Donkey Kong
    - Pac-Man
    - Dig Dug
    - Ms. Pac-Man
    - Frogger
    - Galaga
    - Donkey Kong Jr.
    - Space Invaders
    - Mappy
    - Burger Time
    - Xevious
    - Donkey Kong 3
    - Kangaroo
    - Time Pilot
    - Pooyan
    - Journey
    - Bagman
    - Gorf
    - Satan's Hollow
    - Phoenix
    - 1942
    - Congo Bongo
    - Galaxian
    - Gyruss
    - Circus Charlie
    - Monster Bash
    - Pengo
    - Bagman
    - Kung Fu Master
    - Q*bert
    - Sinistar
    - Super Pac-Man
    - Galaga '88
    - Swimmer
    - Mr. Do
    - Mr. Do's Wild Ride
    - Mr. Do's Castle
    - Jr. Pac-Man
    - Astro Blaster
    - Tutankham
    - Lock 'n' Chase
    - Scramble
    - Vanguard
    - Carnival
    - Crystal Castles (joystick version)
    - Pac & Pal
    - Anteater
    - Up 'n' Down
    - Karate Champ
    - Joust 2
    - Dig Dug 2
    - Bump 'n' Jump
    - Arabian
    - Crazy Kong
    - Qix
    - Pleiads
    - Joust
    - Popeye
    - Moon Patrol
    - Tapper
    - Asteroids
    - Bubble Bobble
    - Ghosts 'n' Goblins
    - Track and Field
    - Hyper Sports
    - Wizard of Wor
    - Defender
    - Jungle King
    - Mario Brothers
    - Berzerk
    - Star Trek
    - Pac-Land
    - Mouse Trap
    - Altered Beast
    - Robotron
    - Super Mario Bros
    - I, Robot
    - EPROM
    - Rally X
    - Dragon's Lair
    - Dragon's Lair 2
    - Space Ace
    - Elevator Action
    - Guantlet
    - Guantlet 2
    - Simpsons
    - Asteroids Deluxe
    - Mortal Combat
    - Excite Bike
    - Space Duel
    - Crazy Climber
    - TMNT
    - Black Tiger
    - Bomber Man World
    - Rastan
    - Stargate
    - Major Havoc
    - Omega Race
    - Venture
    - Ghouls 'n' Ghosts
    - Punch-Out!!
    - Street Fighter
    - Choplifter
    - Cyberball
    - Domino Man
    - Golden Axe
    - Gravitar
    - Karnov
    - Klax
    - Krull
    - Lemmings
    - Lode Runner
    - Pepper II
    - Tetris
    - Tetris Plus 2
    - Xenophobe
    - Xybots

[paigeoliver]

If you aren't getting full speed emulation than roll back your mame version. Install a second (older) version just for specific titles if you need to.

The puzzle bobble games were running full speed on Pentium 2 era hardware 10 years ago, so they are certainly capable of running full speed on anything you can buy today.

[solinvictus21]

The original Puzzle Bobble works great, but I was quite surprised that the Puzzle Bobble 2/3/4 games were so choppy. They run at about 60-80% without frameskip and top out at about 95% with 2 or 3 frameskips. I compile a custom MAME build with high score support and no nag screens for my cab, and my full ROM set is from 1.42, so I'm a little loathe to go back to much earlier MAME versions, since some ROM sets have inevitably changed, which means I'll be scouring the internet to find the correct ROM sets. I'll probably just live without them for now and maybe look at upgrading the PC later. I chose this particular motherboard because it is passively cooled and thus very quiet. I don't like a lot of fan noise from inside the cabinet while I'm getting my Galaga on.

Kyle

[solinvictus21]

Update: I hadn't yet started tweaking MAME, and I went in and adjusted a few performance options, and now all the Puzzle Bobbles and Sonic games are running at full speed. The only games I've tried so far that are still too slow are Tekken and Tetris The Grand Master. Other than those two games, everything I've thrown at it so far seems to be running perfectly smooth.

The only options in the mame.ini file that I had to tweak were "priority" and "multithreading", both of which I enabled and seemed to help quite a bit. I plan to play around with the performance options a bit more to see if I can improve it even more, but I'm happen that these options had such a positive impact.

[Yenome]

i might of missed it but. if you have a 64bit windows 7 that will give a big boost to performance. plus only 64bit os use more then 3gb of memory. tho most will list more than 3gb 32bit os wont use more than 3 or 3.5gb.

[draginit]

Onboard graphics should be fine for Hyperspin...as long as it is a newer pc. 

not recomended far as i can tell...

perhaps this will shed some light -->  Hyperspin(and mame) explained