Win800Plus and MAME PC requirements?

[Forrest]

Does anyone know how fast a PC is needed to run Win800Plus or MAME well. I'm thinking about getting an Espresso PC (VIA 900 MHz CPU) with 128 MB RAM and Windows XP Espresso PC just for emulation. The Espresso has 4 MB video (Intel i810). Comments

Edited November 24, 2007 by Forrest

[Forrest]

Hmm, no responses so I guess I'll need to answer this one myself

 

The system requirements for my Atari 80 Classic Games CD is a 200 MHz Pentium II with a 2 MB video card and Xformer 2000 running on a 486/66 is 4 times faster than a 130XE - so it looks like a 900 MHz Via C3 processor should work fine for my emulation needs.

[Trebor]

For MAME and a detailed explanation of what I am about to write see here:

 

http://www.mamedev.org/devwiki/index.php?t...CPU_is_2_GHz.21

 

Taking a piece from the above link:

 

"Why is MAME so slow? These games ran at less than 200 MHz, and my CPU is 2 GHz!

You are comparing apples and oranges.

 

MAME emulates every function of the emulated CPU(s), video hardware, audio hardware, and anything else on the board (including potentially IDE or SCSI harddisks and CD-ROMs). This is simply not something that can be done quickly in a high-quality fashion".

 

Basically for the system you sited most games will not run very well at all with the latest MAME. You are better off with a (much) faster system, or a (much) older version of MAME (0.36 final). As a simple rule of thumb, the newer the version of MAME the more detailed and accurate it becomes. The more detailed and accurate it becomes, the more processing power it needs to run games at full speed.

 

For more on MAME and its setup/usage see here:

http://www.mamedev.org/devwiki/?title=Freq...Asked_Questions

 

 

Atari800Win does not have nearly as steep requirements, taken from the help file:

 

"...

·Pentium 75 MHz or better processor

·Windows 95/98/Me/NT/2000 with DirectX

·6 MB RAM available

·a sound card supported by Windows (optional)

·a joystick supported by DirectInput (optional)

 

If you're not sure about your performance, after installation use View/Performance test and Sound/Performance test options. You should be getting < 10ms for graphics and < 2ms for sound."

 

-Trebor

Edited November 25, 2007 by Trebor

[Rybags]

For Atari800Win+, that machine should do fine.

 

It'll probably not be much faster in "turbo" mode, but should be OK.

 

MAME is highly variable since it emulates so many machines. Your graphics card can be important too, especially with the 3D games.

 

That machine should be OK with anything up to the end of the 1980s.

 

Some games after 1990 have pretty high requirements and will even struggle on a machine double that speed.

 

Also note that the VIA processors are somewhat slow per clock, it would probably be equivalent to something like a P3 800, possibly lower.

[Forrest]

Thanks for the feedback. As long as I can run my Atari 8-bit and ST games - I'll be happy and this appears doable.

[JellE]

I have a 566 MHz Pentium... with 256 MB RAM. Atari800Win+ 4.0 runs pretty well on it. As far as MAME... I haven't tried that on this machine yet. I also use Windows 98 SE.

Edited November 27, 2007 by JellE

[Kr0tki]

I've been using Atari800WinPLus on my Pentium II/233 with 32MB RAM for years, and it wasn't keeping up under only three circumstances:

- setting fullscreen resolution to 1024x768

- when a program intensely used expanded memory (that happened only for a few demos)

- when a program played a certain sounds (rare, and setting Sound Quality to 1 always helped)

In turbo mode it reached speeds as fast as 300% (in small window).

 

As for MAME, well, the newer the game, the more resources it needs. For example, on a 1000MHz Athlon, Mortal Kombat works fine, yet MK2 is a bit choppy. Also 3D games like S.T.U.N. Runner or newer, aren't very playable.

[Trebor]

I would also like to add that the year a game was made may usually serve as a good basis on deciding how much power/speed is needed to emulate it that is not always the case.

 

For instance, Donkey Kong and Asteroids in newer versions of MAME have most (all) their discrete components emulated. Those games were produced in the early 80's and late 70's respectably; however, they require a pretty fast machine (~2.0 GHz P4) to run correctly at 100% speed without frame skipping. Similar holds true for another “older” arcade game, Turbo.

 

On the other hand, the opposite is true for Neo-Geo titles. While there are several titles made in the late 90's as well as during this decade, the power/speed requirements to emulate it are (practically) the same as their earlier titles.

 

-Trebor