3 replies to this topic

[rxd]

I'm looking to replace my Mame Cabinets PC that died due to a lightning strike at my place. I used it with my Wells Gardner monitor for Mame, Visual Pinball and various other emulators. Along with an act labs light gun. What should I look for in a replacement pc and what is a waste of money for a Mame cab?

[Hatta]

Depends on what you need it to emulate. The important part is the CPU. How fast it needs to be will depend on what you want to play. If you're happy with what you could play before, you could get a similar machine. If you want to play more recent games, you can get the fastest processor you can afford.

You won't need a super fast video card. MAME renders in software for accuracy and portability reasons. Any HTPC card will do well. You might even be able to get away with Intel integrated graphics, but I haven't tried it. Just make sure you have the right plug for your monitor, there are so many these days DVI, HDMI, DisplayPort, etc.

I don't think you'll need more than 2 gigs of RAM, probably less but RAM is cheap these days. You can probably reuse your case, but get a new power supply. Buy a decent one from Antec, Corsair or whoever. Getting an 80PLUS supply will help save power. I'd get a slow, power efficient hard disk (like a WD green), a MAME machine shouldn't be reading from disk too much.

You can get away with a cheap HTPC motherboard for a MAME machine. You shouldn't need too many slots. Just make sure it's compatible with the parts you choose.

[mbd30]

The cheapest modern computer from Wal-Mart or even an old Pentium 4 should be sufficient for everything except later 3D titles. You shouldn't have to spend much.

You might want to go with CRT for the monitor for authenticity, if you can still find one.

[desiv]

I was thinking about this and the Raspberry Pi mini machine...
True, it's not a powerhouse... 700Mhz ARM with a 3D chipset that runs Quake III over 100FPS.

But I currently have a really slow PC in my CAB with Vantage for some vertical old school games...

I was thinking this tiny board (supposed to sell for $25-$35) might be a great MAME machine for older games..

Looks like it uses USB for input, so I probably won't be able to use my JPac, as it's the old version that expects a DIN PC keyboard input.
(Keyboard to USB adapter might work???)

And it has an HDMI, so I'd need an HDMI to VGA / audio cable...
And hopefully the chipset will scan down to Arcade monitor resolutions...

But, IF so, it would be a kual JAMMA board...

:-)

desiv

Edited by desiv, Sat Sep 3, 2011 8:52 PM.