bored-help me with new MAME machine

clok1966

Golden Member
Jul 6, 2004
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I used to keep on the latest hardware PC wise, but after the sandbridge 2600K (my current system) i haven't kept up the last 2 years roughly.

I'm looking at building a MAME machine that will play the latest/greatest stuff and was thinking, whats the best board CPU memory setup price wise.. AMD or Intel?

how cheap can i go (overclocking is fine but not edge of your pants stuff, stuff that will run for 2-4 years, but include a Heatsink in prices then). make me some builds with some info on where to buy..

I3- 3220? and a $100 MB? which one? better speed out of some AMD combo.. remeber MAME is CPU, graphics card is notthing..

give me some ideas, cheaper the better.

Should this be in general Hardware? sorry... if so..i figured pc gamers are hardware fanatics too.. damn no i think im in the wrong spot.



Moved from PC Gaming

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Cerb

Elite Member
Aug 26, 2000
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For really old/simple arcade hardware, even a RPi will do.

But, if you want to play the latest and greatest, rather than just some emulated goodies, budget is rather important. Latest and greatest could mean a lot of different things. All MAME needs is a single fast CPU thread, and that's assuming you want to play stuff that's harder on it, such as CPS-3.
 

clok1966

Golden Member
Jul 6, 2004
1,395
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Im open on budget.. but as with all things, best bang for buck is where im at..

Can i do something for $3-400 (MB/cpu/memory and heatsink if needed?)

I may be more then a little out of the loop on MAME too.. last stuff iw as working on 100% was Gauntlet legends and such (E8400 OC to 4 was playing it at about 120%).. CPS-3? capcom im guessing but what games.. dang more research, least its fun research.
 

Cerb

Elite Member
Aug 26, 2000
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I got $280 for a i3-3245, GeIL 2x4GB 2133MHz RAM, and a GB B75 board. I would generally consider that going into overkill, and that's still leaving budget to spare. Honestly, I figured I could at least break $300, if I tried :p.

Make it a Pentium 3.1GHz with 2x2GB, instead, and it should be $220 or less, and that should still be plenty. Where, "plenty," means, "I have a hard time recommending slower new parts, on general principle, since I know Atom and Zacate won't be up to the task." Such a Pentium would offer fairly similar performance to your C2D (it would probably beat it silly if they made 6-8MB cache versions ;)).

The only thing as you go cheaper/slower, is that what you can run is a moving target. Next year, random obsolete Board X will get fully emulated, and might need more than an Athlon XP...or not :). Add to that that used PCs haven't gone down in price like they used to, so the costs of them, compared to building new, may or may not make for better value (older stuff tends to be more prone to breaking, RAM is more expensive, and so on, and a decent C2D/AII/PhII box will run you $150-200 anyway).

Are you making an actual cabinet, BTW, or just setting aside a spare machine?
 
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clok1966

Golden Member
Jul 6, 2004
1,395
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its going to be a bar top, I have a cab i built in.. geez.. 92-94? Based off Lusids cab (does anybody know what that means anymore?) frankenpanel.. 4 player (we used to play alot of Gauntlet, and Total carnage), with trackball and TRON DOT spinner, a 4way, and a PC flight stick (converted to a TRON joystick top). its got the E8400 OCed to 4GHz.. I alos have what i call a B@tch box.. its hooked to my TV and has one of the "everything" setups with Hyperspin, but it was set up about 2 years ago.. so its out of date (also a E8400 OCed).

My new machine is going to be a DO all too.. but bar top, I have some of the OLD 19" Square LCD's (non widescreen) want to put a copy of my do all Hyperspin setup in it (2 gig, as I say its a Do all emu box.. everything but PS2 (to much more space needed for CD images for that system, but who knows? maybe one day?) 2 joysticks, 7 buttons each... no trackball , maybe a small spinner, no flight stick.. no 4 way (maybe a restirctor plate on one of the other joysticks?) But Im looking at the most speed and bang for buck. I know 99% of all games will run on some pretty simple stuff, but a few of the newer games do require some CPU speed, and more speed will also make it a tiny bit future proof.. and with prices what they are on intel stuff a $200 cpu and $100 or so MB and memory while.. a bit much.. if it will play almost everything at 100%.. why not...

i set up a I3 for a freind awhile ago ( or was it a I5?) any OCing on your i3? if you have mame going how is gauntlet ledgends? Blitz play on it? (blitz wont play on my 8400 at full speed, but it will play ok).
 
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Cerb

Elite Member
Aug 26, 2000
17,484
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I'm still using a C2D for myself, trying to hold out for my killer apps (The Witcher 3 and Cyberpunk 2077 :)), but you don't OC a Core i3. You don't OC anything from Intel, today, that isn't a special SKU, most ending in K. Not sure about Blitz, but Gauntlet, FI, can get slow in spots on anything out there. It's just a problematic title, to date, but it plays full speed most of the time (even OCed i5/i7 systems can't stay always at 100%).