what win 7 for mame?

[danielmarokoi]

I want to move to WIN7 for mame, what win 7 is suitability for MAME? win 7 starter? or HOME edition? or maybe pro

 Thanks ahead

[PL1]

I went with 64 bit Windows 7 Home Premium.

IIRC, the newer builds of MAME see big performance gains using a 64 bit vs. 32 bit OS.

Here is the biggest difference between home and pro.

Windows XP Mode

Home Premium: No
Professional: Yes

This feature allows users to install Microsoft’s Virtual PC application and then install and run a complete fully licensed version of Windows XP SP3 from within the virtual PC environment. This feature was originally developed for businesses to migrate from Windows XP to Windows 7, and give them an environment from which to continue using any older non–Windows 7 compatible software. It is not suitable for applications which require 3D graphics or hardware accelerated sound, so gaming or even using your old TV tuner to watch TV are definite no-nos

As gaming in the VM is a no no and I very much doubt that you need to install more then 16gb ram then Home should be fine for your needs.

Scott

[jackiabu]

I went with 64 bit Windows 7 Home Premium.

IIRC, the newer builds of MAME see big performance gains using a 64 bit vs. 32 bit OS.

Here is the biggest difference between home and pro.

Windows XP Mode

Home Premium: No
Professional: Yes

This feature allows users to install Microsoft’s Virtual PC application and then install and run a complete fully licensed version of Windows XP SP3 from within the virtual PC environment. This feature was originally developed for businesses to migrate from Windows XP to Windows 7, and give them an environment from which to continue using any older non–Windows 7 compatible software. It is not suitable for applications which require 3D graphics or hardware accelerated sound, so gaming or even using your old TV tuner to watch TV are definite no-nos

As gaming in the VM is a no no and I very much doubt that you need to install more then 16gb ram then Home should be fine for your needs.

Scott

beside mame i want to run other application like flight sim,etc so the 64bit will cause some issue?

 can you be more specific please?  what the benefit to install win 7 64 bit and not the 32 bit?

[EMDB]

Being able to run the 64bit version of MAME. Other 32bit emulators will run just fine on 64bits Windows...

[Generic Eric]

I want to move to WIN7 for mame, what win 7 is suitability for MAME? win 7 starter? or HOME edition? or maybe pro

 Thanks ahead

Same.  The added feature set would have gone unused and it was too expensive.

can you be more specific please?  what the benefit to install win 7 64 bit and not the 32 bit?

run a 64-bit OS and 64-bit MAME which gives a significant boost

[PL1]

beside mame i want to run other application like flight sim,etc so the 64bit will cause some issue?

 can you be more specific please?  what the benefit to install win 7 64 bit and not the 32 bit?

With 64 bit XP, many devices didn't have drivers, but 64 bit win 7 has better driver support and is more widely supported and adopted.

If you run a 32 bit OS on a 64 bit processor you give up the advantage of being able to use 64 bit programs.

If you use a 64 bit OS on a 64 bit processor, you can run 64 bit programs or 32 bit programs.


Scott

[jackiabu]

Thanks scot for the info.


 for instance i want to run amiga emulator (WINUAE),Daphne,etc. if that can run on win 7 64 bit so its cool for me

[danielmarokoi]

thanks you guys i give it a try 

[dkersten]

I second the notion that the version (ie home, pro, ultimate) doesn't matter, all they do is add features you probably won't use in a mame cabinet.  The choice between 32 and 64 bit is what is important, so if you can get 64 bit in the basic version, that would probably be the smartest choice.  Keep in mind that finding 64 bit drivers for older hardware can still be a chore, especially on "OEM" computers like Dell or HP.  Sharpen up your "google-fu" before starting a project like this, you will need it. 

[Warborg]

I went with 64 bit Windows 7 Home Premium.

IIRC, the newer builds of MAME see big performance gains using a 64 bit vs. 32 bit OS.

Here is the biggest difference between home and pro.

Windows XP Mode

Home Premium: No
Professional: Yes

This feature allows users to install Microsoft’s Virtual PC application and then install and run a complete fully licensed version of Windows XP SP3 from within the virtual PC environment. This feature was originally developed for businesses to migrate from Windows XP to Windows 7, and give them an environment from which to continue using any older non–Windows 7 compatible software. It is not suitable for applications which require 3D graphics or hardware accelerated sound, so gaming or even using your old TV tuner to watch TV are definite no-nos

As gaming in the VM is a no no and I very much doubt that you need to install more then 16gb ram then Home should be fine for your needs.

Scott

beside mame i want to run other application like flight sim,etc so the 64bit will cause some issue?

 can you be more specific please?  what the benefit to install win 7 64 bit and not the 32 bit?

A big difference between using 32 and 64 bit versions is available memory...  I don't know how much RAM you have or are planning on running on your emu box, but 32 bit Windows can address 3-3.5 GB of RAM maximum...  So if you had 8GB installed for instance, over half of it wouldn't be usable by the OS.  Heck, even if you have 4GB installed you can't completely utilize it all on 32bit...  So anyway, that really is the biggest advantage of 64 bit Windows is being able to address larger amounts of RAM.  As mentioned elsewhere, older hardware might give you a challenge as far as finding 64bit drivers...  Also, you would have problems with much older software that is 8 or 16 bit as 64 bit dropped support for them.  It's not much of a problem with just about anything you would run now (including all the emulators), but might be a headache if you were trying to run some fairly old stuff (like for instance the older Star Wars games up to around X-Wing Alliance...  The games were 32 bit but they used 16 bit installers which won't work on 64bit Windows and you have to jump through a few hoops to get them installed and running).

[Benzinbruder]

I second the notion that the version (ie home, pro, ultimate) doesn't matter, all they do is add features you probably won't use in a mame cabinet.  The choice between 32 and 64 bit is what is important, so if you can get 64 bit in the basic version, that would probably be the smartest choice.  Keep in mind that finding 64 bit drivers for older hardware can still be a chore, especially on "OEM" computers like Dell or HP.  Sharpen up your "google-fu" before starting a project like this, you will need it.

It could be important when you start fiddling with shelling your emulators. There are some options that come in handy that are only available in the Professional / Ultimate / whatever they are called version. You should probably keep that in mind and do some research on the topic if that's important for you.