Will my cab pc benefit from more RAM?

[RedSquirrel]

Im going to be using my P4 1.9ghz pc in my cab and it has 784mb ram onboard.

Now the thing is i really dont want to use that much inside a mame cab so i have a choice.

remove 512mb chip (leaving 256mb)
or
remove 256mb chip (leaving 512mb)

I am pretty sure it would be fine on 256mb? I could sell the 512mb for a decent price so id prefer to do this.

But as well as this i want to use it for N64 emu, ps1 emu etc.

So is it a-ok to do these with 256mb? thanks in advance..

[paigeoliver]

You neglected to mention your OS.

But, in general with Windows 9x no emulator will need more than 128 MB of ram, and for windows 2000/XP make that 256.

[RedSquirrel]

You neglected to mention your OS.

But, in general with Windows 9x no emulator will need more than 128 MB of ram, and for windows 2000/XP make that 256.

Im going to use Win98 on the cab as this seems like the preffered choice of OS.

Saying that isn't Win98 only capable of reading 384mb onboard? So then yes i think ill go with 256mb.

[JoeB]

Read about 98 vs XP on this forum..

you'd be making a really bad mistake going to 98 with that CPU.. 98 doesn't even know how to squeeze the most power out of that CPU! XP is more stable, faster, never hangs MAME, and much much easier to remotly administrate!

Plus.. RAM is so cheap today, that XP will just FLY with that 256 chip!

[RedSquirrel]

Read about 98 vs XP on this forum..

you'd be making a really bad mistake going to 98 with that CPU.. 98 doesn't even know how to squeeze the most power out of that CPU! XP is more stable, faster, never hangs MAME, and much much easier to remotly administrate!

Plus.. RAM is so cheap today, that XP will just FLY with that 256 chip!

most threads i read say to go with 98 instead of XP? I have not decided yet., i would prefer xp because thats what i use now., but i dont want any probs using xp.

[TalkingOctopus]

Deciding between 98 and XP really depends on the hardware you are using

Pentium IIand below should use 98.  

Pentium III and above should use XP if they have at least 256 MB of ram.  

I have a PIII w/ 512 MB of ram w/ mamewah and XP.  It runs smoothly.

[RedSquirrel]

Deciding between 98 and XP really depends on the hardware you are using

Pentium IIand below should use 98.  

Pentium III and above should use XP if they have at least 256 MB of ram.  

I have a PIII w/ 512 MB of ram w/ mamewah and XP.  It runs smoothly.

Thanks ill probably go with XP then..

[paigeoliver]

I use Windows 98 on all my cabinets, but that is because I don't like wasting good ram that isn't needed, and I have about a zillion windows 98 licenses and like one XP license.

Also, Windows 98 is rock stable if it is just a fresh (minimal) install, ONLY the latest drivers (install the latest, don't do the old ones and then update), and Mame. I really can't recall ever having Windows 95 or 98 crash on me in a cabinet environment. Although I have had Mamewah crash on me.

Also, if you are going the windows 9x route for a cabinet that is just Mame, then Windows 95 is fine too. It needs less RAM, OSR2 is slightly more stable than 98 or 98SE is, and it still lets you use Windows Mame and (I think) all the major frontends.

Windows 98 is not limited to 384 RAM. But plenty of computers that were coming out around that time were limited to 256 or 384, thus the myth about that started.

[DAmnb]

I use Windows 98 on all my cabinets, but that is because I don't like wasting good ram that isn't needed, and I have about a zillion windows 98 licenses and like one XP license.

Paige you make Bill a very, VERY happy guy    

[_Iz-]

I'd run 512meg personally. Win9x has issues with more than 512meg (but is fine up to 512). Some of the Konami games in MAME need 512meg.

[paigeoliver]

I'd run 512meg personally. Win9x has issues with more than 512meg (but is fine up to 512). Some of the Konami games in MAME need 512meg.

Exactly which games are you speaking of here?

[Safron]

Windows98 can perform poorly (or crash) when it has in excess of 512MB RAM.

Microsoft is aware of the problem and has a workaround.
I have been using 1gig in my Win98 machine for years without problem.

Here is the knowledge base link:
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;253912&Product=w98

[menace]

You know i always wondered why i got that problem running a dos box--thanks--that being said, what things in an Xp installation can i safely discard to give more resources to mame?

[ashardin]

I run Win98 on an Athlon 1800+ machine with 256mb RAM.  My old machine was a little slower but had 384mb RAM.  I have noticed a few games will not run on the machine with the 256mb due to running out of room for graphics, Strikers III and The Fallen Angels.  Those are the only two though.  If you don't play those (unfortunately I did but it wasn't a huge loss) you might want to keep the 512 in the machine.

[RedSquirrel]

I run Win98 on an Athlon 1800+ machine with 256mb RAM.  My old machine was a little slower but had 384mb RAM.  I have noticed a few games will not run on the machine with the 256mb due to running out of room for graphics, Strikers III and The Fallen Angels.  Those are the only two though.  If you don't play those (unfortunately I did but it wasn't a huge loss) you might want to keep the 512 in the machine.

Hmm annoying. Ive already offered to to my brother, since he will give me about $65 for it. Surely its a bit weird old games run out of room for gfx on a 256mb? I dont know what Strikers 3 and Fallen Angels are, so i might be ok not playing them.

[Malachai]

I play Strikers 3 with 256MB, but it does take a couple minutes to load.  After that it's fine.  IIRC,  memory helps larger games load faster in MAME, but 256MB should be fine if you don't mind a little wait sometimes.  It's mainly on thoes 60MB and 70MB Neo Geo roms that take forever.  

[ashardin]

Malachai

It crashed back to arcadeOS with an "out of memory decoding graphics" error.

My Video Card shares memory but I've even set that to 0 in the bios and had this happen, I wonder if it still mucks up the total available.  

Anyway, I determined it was at the bottom of my list to troubleshoot.  Too many other projects around to spend time and money on.