Challenge: Build a ~$100 computer for MAME?

[javeryh]

I know that's pretty cheap but all I'm going to run on this machine are vertical classics - mainly Donkey Kong since it is going in a Donkey Kong cab but I'd also want the ability to play Pac-man, Frogger, Dig Dug, etc. Basically anything that can be played with a 4-way and one button - nothing more.  I was hoping someone could put something together for me using older parts or whatever.

I guess I'd need a case, a motherboard, some RAM, a processor and a hard drive.  Anyone up to the challenge?   

[jholman76]

Ive had some good luck with Dell Optiplex Machines. Mainly GX-260, 270, and 280's. They will run almost everything fine as long as it doesnt require 3d rendering.  They come in a range of sizes. I'd stay away from the Ultra Small Form Factor, they seem to over heat a lot easier and blow caps, but are ok if you run them open with good ventilation.

KI/KI2 runs great on a USFF GX270 with onboard vid card and 1GB ram. ( P4 2.8 )

Ebay has a slew of them. They are starting to get replaced in businesses, etc that are upgrading. I work in a large business that uses them. They are great. Just have to watch out, the 270's had a bad history of bad Caps on the MOBOs, so you want an updated one of those (to get a new, fixed MOBO), and the 280's have had bad PSU's and an occasional bad MOBO.

The 260's/270's run from Celeron 1.7 to P4 2.8 and handle up to 2GB ram with an IDE only HDD with the older style socket p4 (the 1in x 1in size). Half Height AGP video card slot and a Half Height PCI slot availible

The 280's are socket 775's and I've seen them from celeron 2.0 to P4 3.2. they handle 2 GB ram and have SATA HDD's.Half Height PCI-E x16 video card slot and a Half Height PCI slot availible

Just make sure you get an optical drive too if you go this route. most businesses didnt order them, I'm sure.

[Neverending Project]

Did you see this thread?
http://forum.arcadecontrols.com/index.php?topic=93033.0

Sounds like you could use one of these platforms if all you need/want is the older classics.

[FrizzleFried]

Done....

http://boise.craigslist.org/sys/1260448292.html

Took all of 5 seconds to find.

LCD Monitor
Desktop Case
Intel 845 Chipset Motherboard w/ Integrated Graphics
Intel Celeron 2.6GHZ
AGP Port
Integrated Sound
Integrated 10/100 Network (For Broadband Internet or Office Network Usage)
512 MB RAM
80GB Hard Drive
DVD-ROM Drive
Keyboard
Mouse
Speakers
Windows XP Professional
OpenOffice 3.0
Avast Antivirus

only $100

[Neverending Project]

I *just* left a garage sale where he had a stack of about 30 P4 2.6GHz Dells for $50 each. I am sure he would have taken $40. Sorry that is in Oregon, though. 

[javeryh]

I *just* left a garage sale where he had a stack of about 30 P4 2.6GHz Dells for $50 each. I am sure he would have taken $40. Sorry that is in Oregon, though. 

Damn.  That would be perfect.  I didn't really think about eBay or craigslist... I guess I don't trust that they will work which is kind of irrational...   I forgot to add that I'd like the computer to be powerful enough to run MaLa as the front end as well.  I will be installing TinyXP on whatever I end up getting and setting it to boot straight to Donkey Kong (through MaLa).  I also want to be able to set everything to one button power on/off.  I'm not sure if this is just a setting in XP or if the computer has to support it...

[Ginsu Victim]

Would this work?

[BASS!]

Try for p4 over celeron, they are pretty much all garbage.

[drventure]

Will those older onboard graphics chipsets run mame with some of the advanced graphics support?

For instance, on my main workstation, I run a 24inch dell and the graphics in mame just blow away any other emulator. they "fuzz" them or something, apply some sort of filter that really makes a high res LCD monitor look very close to an old school arcade monitor (Please, no flaming me on that! I'm not much of a purist, and after programming for 20+ years, my eyes aren't as picky as they used to be 

But when I ran mame on an older laptop, it degraded the graphics so much, they looked terrible, though the games were still more or less playable.

[King Nerd]

There's an ad in the paper here all the time for, I believe it was Compaq P4, 512MB RAM and a 60 or 80GB HDD for $80CAD.
I'll have to check the classifieds on Monday and get back to you.

[sirwoogie]

A second vote on Dell Optiplex machines. You can get some good deals on eBay for a decently configured system. Just a quick scan shows you can nab a P4 2.8Ghz with 1G RAM for $71 (that's buy it price). I also agree that you should avoid any Celeron based machine. Just be sure to by from someone on eBay that has good ratings, and you should be fine.

[Beretta]

will free work? you can find computers in the trash that will run those 100%

ask around for old systems, someone probably has a old system collecting dust, check thrift (junk) stores (although they sometimes over value computer stuff) &  get a hold of a copy of fastmame .56 and run it on pretty much any pentium 2 or better system.

probably still run 100% even on newer versions of mame.

you dont need a 2ghz+ system for those.

check ebay or if you can wait check out freecycle.org
they're groups across the country (US), i think even in other countries, you can post stuff to get rid of and others in your area will do the same, old tv's, computers, basically anything other then animals, guns, or porn.

PS. skip the case it's dead weight.
you just need mobo,cpu,ram,hdd, and power supply, just get a scrap piece of board and mount it directly to it using some standoffs, either ruber or plastic washers, or you can make some out of a ball point pen by chopping it up, 3/4  OR 1 inch wood screws should do the trick.

[Hornpipe2]

Yeah I'd just hop on Freecycle and pick up whatever is being thrown out.  For those games consider getting a copy of SpyStyle's boot CD and install DOS + VAntAGE + GameLauncher, you're all set with a net cost of $0.  Should run on any Pentium 100+.