MAME help? Hardware needed.

gozer5454

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Sorry, this is the only spot I could think of to ask this jackhole question.

Here's the deal, I'm an idiot with computers. I'd like to be able to run mame (older versions are fine if necessary.)

I only need it to have three game roms on it: Star Wars, Empire Strikes Back, and ROTJ. I'd like to download and run a few others like Afterburner, Hydra, stun runner, older flyers etc, but these are not necessary.

The question: Given those three simple games, and maybe running windows 98, what should I look at getting for the main computer to run these games smoothly? hardrive space? speeds? etc. I'm a total dufus so just throw some specs out there, so I know what to look for when cruising CL. thanks.
 
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How about free ( you pay shipping)

let me look through my invitory and i will see what i have

free computers are always nice. But I'd really like to know from the experts on the right specs the computer should have before I waste too much time on a older computer. I've got two pretty old ones in my parents attic. One was nailed if a virus, the other is way old like windows 95.
 
Star wars and empire used a vector monitor and do not look good on raster mame. ROTJ is raster. All 3 need original controls to be any fun at all to play. They are all old games and don't need a new computer
 
Star wars and empire used a vector monitor and do not look good on raster mame. ROTJ is raster. All 3 need original controls to be any fun at all to play. They are all old games and don't need a new computer

Agreed, thanks.
I've seen the first two played with MAME on a typical computer monitor and agree they don't look perfect, but I don't need perfect, just smooth and playable.

I have controls taken care of as long as I know what kind of old, shitty computer to use.
 
Just build yourself a cheap AMD Phenom machine with a Geoforce 250...

I can't get my MAME Battlezone or Defender to work, and a gamepad with Frontline sucks...
 
if it helps any, I played all those games on my Celeron 500 with a mere 128 mb ram. any video card made in the last 10 years should suffice for MAME, MAME derives its magic from raw CPU power.

I didn't start getting into games that ran slow or occasionally skipped audio etc. until MK2 and MK3 were emulated in MAME around the summer of 2000, when like I said I only had a Celeron 500. upgrading to a Pentium III 800 helped a lot, until like... I played NBA Hangtime. then the big step up to an Athlon 1800+ made the difference there. lol I always evolved along with MAME for some reason. like now I can run Tekken (!!) on my Core 2 Duo E6300, only game that's given me heat alarms was MK4, and actually own that one on PS1 and arcade so it's silly to play it in MAME, but it was more a test of how well it emulated (which is still way too early for the Zeus)

so, maybe not a Win95 machine, but I think a Win98 era machine will work fine for this. Win2000 or later if you can get your hands on something. if SeaWolf's comp falls through, I built a PIII 933 comp last year for a mere $30 (don't ask) from parts I got on ebay, just a point to consider.
 
My MAME cabinet still has a Pentium II 233 in it with 64 megs of RAM. It runs all the "classics" just fine - Galaga, Pac-Man, etc. Star Wars works fine, but it's pretty much unplayable with an 8-way joystick.

Just about any PC should work, but givin how easy it is to find machines these days, look for a high end Pentium III. Expect to pay between nothing and five bucks.

-Ian
 
guys, thanks. This gives me a good idea of which computers to look for. I've seen older computers pre-2000 surface on CL all the time for like $30-$50, so now I can pinpoint what I need.
 
Hey MAME guys....

Based on what I'm fixing to play, this is the computer I think I'm gonna grab. What are your thoughts? I think he said 256 ram when I asked.
 
Hey MAME guys....

Based on what I'm fixing to play, this is the computer I think I'm gonna grab. What are your thoughts? I think he said 256 ram when I asked.

Hmmm...I think you forgot the link. :)

You could check out recoupIT.com...I bought a Dell P4 2.0, 512mb ddr, 20gb hdd desktop for around $55.
 
Laptop

I would say consider running it on a 5-8 year old laptop.
Bring the laptop back to windows 98 if possible and you should be good.

Everyone wants to toss a laptop from that era... with the small footprint and low heat, it'll be better for any place you want to install it.
 
A slower P4 will probably get it done. A P3 800 or so will be a close call and you may have to do some "frame skipping", especially when the Death Star blows up, you'll need a bit of CPU there. It also depends upon the version of mame that you run...
BYOAC is the best place for questions like these!
 
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