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**thop** · 30 January 2003, 12:56

The FPU only runs at half speed. Does MAME make extensive use of the FPU?
You might want to check out the new EPIA-M which is about 160€.

**TnT** · 30 January 2003, 15:53

I'm doing research on building a small computer to hook up to a TV to do all the multimedia stuff, play some games and such too. Although after a little bit of debating I decided to spend a little more and get higher quality parts (P4/Celeron micro atx board) and separate video card (maybe a year old Radeon). I think you may be happier because then you could run emulators for Playstationbesides MAME and play movies smoother. Although you don't have to go P4 mobo, there are matx boards for pIIIs and AMDs (although all the AMD ones I could find are either crappy VIA or SIS without AGP), I just wanted something that I could easily upgrade to play new games on.

If you really find out you want to spend a little extra you can then get some wireless gamepads from Logitech...

Thien

**WyWyWyWy** · 30 January 2003, 16:32

Epia 800 performs okay in MAME. Since you are using TV-out, you don't need those triple-buffer 50% scanline 1280x960 stuff, a simple 640x480 would look (almost) as cool.

Secondly, you'd better wait a month or so. There are new versions coming out which has 1G cpu and supports DDR, mpeg4 hardware decoding and other good stuff. Performance is much improved (1GHz C3 = Celeron 800MHz, or so I'm told).

With Epia, yes, I think you can have TV-out in BIOS/DOS. And the good thing is you don't need an OS to play music & watch films

I haven't done such cabinet, but I have read quite some articles on that and been using MAME for a few years already

Anyway, how are you going to construct the cabinet? Would it be full-size arcade machine or just a box with TV & joysticks?

**drslump** · 30 January 2003, 17:00

@Thop: I've checked the EPIA-M but it uses DDR and I've got already 512mb of PC133.

@TnT : I'm just interested in MAME since I own a PlayStation and I'll hook it to the cabinet. I think the p4 will be a bit overkill and definitely way out of my budget

@Wy x4 : If the 800mhz is able to run most mame games I'll go for it since I have only 600 euros to spend in the whole project (cpu, tv, wood ...).

It'll be a full-size cabinet!!! with the PC running MAME and a playstation attached to the 20" TV too. It'll be about 170cm tall, 65cm wide and 65cm deep. Quite a monster.
I'll order the joysticks and buttons from ultimarc.com, it'll have 2 joys with 6 buttons each and 4 extra for number of players and "insert coins"

I'll leave the space to add a trackball in the future. I plan to add two guns too if the CPU can handle such games.

Once I get the cabinet buildt I'll drop by here and ask for some help for the painting and graphic design. I'll be cool if some of you could create great logos to put on it!!!! I suck with graphics

btw, does anybody know of an util I can download to design the layout of the cabinet? I mean a little CAD program very simple to use for this small projects.

see ya
Dr.Slump

**K6-III** · 30 January 2003, 17:02

Wait for the Epia M1000, based off the 1ghz Nememiah CPU....

**Nowhere** · 30 January 2003, 18:02

The new games implemented in mame need a far better cpu than that found on epia...if heat (and noise of the fan) generated by some powerful athlon or p4 is a problem, I wouldn't go for anything less than celeron tualatin.

**thop** · 31 January 2003, 07:21

The Nememiah is really not much faster on a mhz-per-mhz basis, probably 20%, mostly because the FPU runs at full speed now. it comes with SSE though.

**WyWyWyWy** · 31 January 2003, 12:43

C3 800MHz is not fast enough for later CPS2 games and some NeoGeo games. So, depends on what games do you play.

--------------------

Many cabinets

http://directory.google.com/Top/Games/Coin-Op/Arcade_Games/Cabinets/Constructing/?tc=1

Arcade flyers for you to print out and stick on

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http://cps2shock.retrogames.com/gamelist.html

**drslump** · 31 January 2003, 13:09

I'm not a gamer myself, well I just play FPS so the PC is my main gaming machine. My brother is completely mad about computer games so we agreed into building this cabinet. He is thinking in playing games like Virtua Cop or House of Death. I'm not even sure if they will run on an emulator but I'm sure that they'll need a very powerfull cpu to run.
So I guess I'll have to look for a cheap mobo+CPU (Duron or Celeron) that will allow me to upgrade the CPU in the future.
Anyway I can't spend more than $150 on the PC parts so it's going to be hard to find it.

I've got the deisgn finished and I'm looking for the wood to build it. I'll make some photos when there is something to show and I'll publish them here.

thanks for the help

**Kooldino** · 31 January 2003, 14:23

Originally posted by drslump
@Thop: I've checked the EPIA-M but it uses DDR and I've got already 512mb of PC133.

@TnT : I'm just interested in MAME since I own a PlayStation and I'll hook it to the cabinet. I think the p4 will be a bit overkill and definitely way out of my budget

@Wy x4 : If the 800mhz is able to run most mame games I'll go for it since I have only 600 euros to spend in the whole project (cpu, tv, wood ...).

It'll be a full-size cabinet!!! with the PC running MAME and a playstation attached to the 20" TV too. It'll be about 170cm tall, 65cm wide and 65cm deep. Quite a monster.
I'll order the joysticks and buttons from ultimarc.com, it'll have 2 joys with 6 buttons each and 4 extra for number of players and "insert coins"
I'll leave the space to add a trackball in the future. I plan to add two guns too if the CPU can handle such games.

Once I get the cabinet buildt I'll drop by here and ask for some help for the painting and graphic design. I'll be cool if some of you could create great logos to put on it!!!! I suck with graphics

btw, does anybody know of an util I can download to design the layout of the cabinet? I mean a little CAD program very simple to use for this small projects.

see ya
Dr.Slump

What OS is it gonna run? Linux or WIndows?

Why not buy an old arcade machine and modify it?

**Kooldino** · 31 January 2003, 14:25

Go with something like an ECS K7s5a, use your RAM, get a duron 1.3, and a cheap G2mx400 w/ TV out.

**drslump** · 31 January 2003, 14:49

Actually I was thinking to go for a new mobo to replace the K7S5A in my main rig.

Why not buy an old arcade machine and modify it?

because it'll be half the fun

I never worked with wood before, so I think it's going to be a fantastic experience! and since I'll work along with my brother, I think we can enjoy some great time together.

as for the OS I think I'll put Win98 and make it boot in plain dos by default. It all depends on the gfx card since some of them will not allow to output to TV in Dos video modes.

dr.slump

**Kurt** · 31 January 2003, 20:15

try the ECS with integrated Pro1200/1300 or 1400+ Duron chips. They have everyting onboad, work with sdram and cost below 100 EUR.

or you can reuse your old mobo and add a duron 1300/1400 or an athlon 1800+ and a radeon 7000 (or VE) with tv-out. Nvidia tv-out can be tricky to set unless you buy a 3rd party TV program (TVTool?)...besidesthe radeon is cheaper than most nvidia cards, now you can even find some cheaper than tnt2 cards (and they're faster)...

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VIA Epia 800mhz for MAME cabinet

VIA Epia 800mhz for MAME cabinet

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