A great new platform for emulation gaming

[amadama]

Nvidia and VIA are planning a sub $45 system that may end up being a great all in one solution for using as a system for emulation gaming:

Shrink those links!

With an inexpensive DIMM (say 1gb for $50) and a USB thumb drive (say 2gb for $25) it may be a great Mame platform.
What do you guys think?
Alex

[patrickl]

Cool. That would allow for an affordable portable emulation solution.

Is it powerful enough though?

[amadama]

The power of the system (from the claims made at least) appear to be in line with a Pentium-M of the same clockspeed. The graphics would appear to be six times more powerful than an onboard Intel GMA950.
Not a speed demon, but powerful enough to run the majority of classic emulation games, and some DX-10 Windows games (probably at lower res like 800x600).
I'll gladly buy some if/when they come out. With Advancemame for Linux or Windows XP with Soft15Khz this should run like a champ and power a CGA monitor nicely!

[patrickmaher]

It would be great, but I think we have to wait and see before we get our hopes up.

Nowhere does it guarantee the clockspeed that will be included for <$45. HD video takes a good deal of processing power but it looks like that will be handled by the Nvidia IGP, which I don't think MAME will make much use of.

It really looks most useful for doing what they are planing for it, playing video. It should handle classics fine but I think most people have found similarly priced solutions that already do that.

[WareWolF]

Why limit yourself to a propritary cheapo system when you can just buy a cheap motherboard and a (core 2 based) conroe celeron.  Will run most mame games just fine. and you can just drop in a conroe Pentium Dual Core, Core 2 Duo or Core 2 Quad at anytime if you want more speed.


single core conroe celeron http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819116040

or

dual core conroe celeron http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819116064


cheap motherboard http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813185107

or

better cheap motherboard http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128078


1GB dual channel memory kit http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820313010

or

2gb dual channel memory kit http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820313015


2gb usb drive http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820211226


total = 100.96 - 157.96 after rebate + shipping

[Ginsu Victim]

^Where's psu, case, hard drive? You're leaving out some of the costs...
With both of those mobos, you'd need a better video card, as well.

[WareWolF]

^Where's psu, case, hard drive? You're leaving out some of the costs...
With both of those mobos, you'd need a better video card, as well.

The $45 "system" mentioned above is a motherboard only and does not include case hard drive etc.  The OP stated he was going to use a 2GB flash drive for storage (no HD needed) and for MAME you do not need a special video card (unless using arcade monitor), on-board video will work just fine.

[nukedawg]

[Ginsu Victim]

Ah, the $5.00 Hot -n- Ready model with the pepperoni-type CPU. The only time running a PC hot is a good thing.

[Organic Jerk]

Spend another 30-50 bucks on the system configured above and you can get a pretty good vid card for most intents and purposes

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814161191


If you Really needed a case you'd probably be better off going to a local computer show or store and picking up the cheapest case you can find.


Either way it's still a great deal for the money.

[MazzMn]

Cool. That would allow for an affordable portable emulation solution.

Is it powerful enough though?

What about this new Shuttle PC, 1.8 ghz, 80G HD for $199. It even has an optional carrying case

http://www.tomshardware.com/2008/04/10/shuttle_ninty_nine_dollar_kpc/

Edit, oops, 199 thought it was cheaper

[Organic Jerk]

Cool. That would allow for an affordable portable emulation solution.

Is it powerful enough though?

What about this new Shuttle PC, 1.8 ghz, 80G HD for $99. It even has an optional carrying case

http://www.tomshardware.com/2008/04/10/shuttle_ninty_nine_dollar_kpc/

From what I see in the article you linked, $99 is for a barebones setup, being just the case and the motherboard.  A full setup starts at $199 and can go to more than $500 when fully configured.

The KPC has an MSRP of $99 for barebones and $199 for the complete system. Pricing out a similarly equipped complete system (but with a mid tower case) showed that even the cheapest list of parts weighed in at about $185 with shipping. This is cheaper than the Shuttle, but not for the small form factor and not with it pre-built and the OS loaded. As far as the value of the barebones KPC, things are pretty close in the retail world, in that by the time you put a case and motherboard together you are at $90 for the cheapest combo with shipping.

Personally I think you still get a much better value product for gaming when you price it our yourself, especially when looking at the bang-for-buck you get with memory and video card options

[FrizzleFried]

If you are looking to "save a buck" and that is all,  pick up a 1104-in-1 for $180.00...includes everything you need minus the JAMMA cabinet...no real setup involved...if it comes down to $$$ that is.

Motherboard - check
CPU - check
Memory - check
Hard drive - check
I/O interface to CGA monitor - check
Keystroke encoder - check