MAME questions, hardware oriented

[Avid Fan]

I plan on building a MAME box in a year or 2 and I have some questions.

I plan on using a fast processor, running at at least 4GHZ, and yes, I'll need that power (Dosbox). But the sound on my games gets f'ed up all the time. I know its a combination of my crappy sound card (integrated motherboard, video and sound card) and even worse speakers. But is the sound getting muffled because my compuyter is too slow, or because my sound card isnt the best.

I tried MAME on my friends new laptop, and all the games sounded fine, but he has a better processor and soundcard, so I dont know which is which? And will a new soundcard help if I put my games at 44mhz, and I want that sound quality consistantly?

Also, when it comes to video cards, I want to put a very powerful one in it. But does a good video card mean I can always draw ever frame (I dont expecto to on really hard core games like, Tekken or Area 51) Because since playing with no frame skipping, I cant go back. Also, does a good video card mean I can use Direct Draw? It just slows be down a lot, but it streatches some of the games out really nicely.

 

Anyways, I'm sure I'll have more questions or I'll have to make some clarifications

[Ze_ro]

4 GHz seems rather excessive to me... you could easily go with a slower processor and still play plenty of fairly new games.. but whatever.

 

As for sound, it's difficult to answer without knowing the situation... you say the sound is "f'ed up", but that doesn't really explain anything. You might be able to fix things by just tweaking some settings. Alternatively, just buy a cheap C-Media or SB Live card and it should do fine. I spent $20 on a sound card, and MAME sounds perfectly fine to me. Any sound problems would NOT be related to the processor speed at all.

 

When in comes to video, don't waste too much money on a card... it really won't help much. Framerates in MAME are almost entirely dependant on your processor and NOT your video card. MAME also makes no real use of any 3D aspects of your graphics card (There are versions that run through OpenGL, but this is really only for anti-aliasing and such), so you can safely use a cheap video card without any worries at all. On-board video will probably work just fine.

 

--Zero

[Avid Fan]

Thanks. My sound gets muffled and garbled at times, but part of it is my speakers (they muffle with music and everything else).

 

I know 4ghz is a bit excessive, but this wont be made for a while, and they should be cheap in a year and a half or so. I want to use a good video card, because my friend can use direct draw on all of his games, and its great for a lot of games that arent in the 4:3 aspect ratio.

MAME is the main concern for this project, but I plan on using it for some PC games, and a lot of DOSbox emulation which is pretty system demanding

[Blackjack]

4 Ghz for Mame is not excessive if you wish to be able to play all that it has to offer. By the time you get your system, some of the games will likely require 8 or 10 ghz. Even now there are a few games in Mame that no production computer is powerful enough to run at full speed. With that said, if you don't have a need to play all the latest games, Ze_ro is right. You can get away with less processor and still play 99% of the games just fine.

 

Sound - If you're getting choppy sound as well as slow framerates on the later games, then that is a result of not enough cpu power and when you put enough cpu into the system to play the game at full speed, the sound will be fine. Again I agree w/ Ze_ro that a cheap SBLive will do fine, but try your new machine with just the onboard sound first before you spend the extra cash. The sound on my ASUS mobo is pretty good.

 

Video card - Strange as it sounds a powerful video card does nothing for you in Mame (like Ze_ro said). It's all done w/ your cpu, however there have been some problems with people using Intel video, so stay away from those, and since you're planning on using it for "some" pc games, you'll want at least a little power in that area. By the time you build this, you'll be able to get a card that'll do what you need for under $100 I'll bet.

 

The most important and most satisfying investment you should make is that of a really good arcade style control panel. I've got a Slik Stik Classic and it was worth every penny! There is no substitute for real joysticks, spinners and trackballs to the true arcade lover.

[Avid Fan]

Well, as much as I love good contollers, I'll probably end up using something similar to a PS2 stick. But I've heard rumors that microsort may release a trackball controller (same thing as the X-box controller, but with a trackball where the r-analog is) which would rule, but I love the 4 triggers of the ps2 controller, but I also love the analog triggers of the Cube and X-box. A trackball/mouse does me good for games like Tempest and lightgun games

[Ze_ro]

If you're not going to get an arcade controller, then whats the point of having a dedicated MAME box in the first place? You might as well just play the games through your primary PC if you're only going to use a gamepad anyways.

 

--Zero

[Blackjack]

If you're not going to get an arcade controller, then whats the point of having a dedicated MAME box in the first place? You might as well just play the games through your primary PC if you're only going to use a gamepad anyways.

 

--Zero

 

He does have a good point there.

[Dones]

4 GHz seems rather excessive to me... you could easily go with a slower processor and still play plenty of fairly new games.. but whatever.

I agree with Zero's opinion. The most demanding games in MAME are those with 3D graphics (eg, Cruisin USA, Prop Cycler). Even with 4 GHz you won't be able to run them at decent speeds, which I assume is what you are aiming for. Like someone else said, MAME uses its own video subroutines so it doesn't really matter if your card isn't the latest and greatest. Right now I am running MAME v.90 with an Athlon 1.3GHz processor and a Geforce2 video card with silky smooth, excellent performance. If you are looking to save money you have the option of going for something less expensive. Oh and yes, every 3D card today supports DirectX, so DirectDraw is also supported.

 

As for your muffled sound: have you tried disabling the equalizing and 3D ambience features of your integrated audio? You know, usually you get a custom control panel setting that lets you set up things like "Arena" or "Stadium" so that your audio sounds richer. This could be making your audio sound muffled.

 

If your are getting crackles and pops when playing games, then the problem probably is that your sound chip is sharing IRQ's with another device. Unfortunately fixing this is kinda hard because windows is the one who decides how to assign IRQs. Sometimes having the right driver combination (and installing them on a certain order) can help Windows assign exclusive IRQs to video and audio. If you get a sound card, you can check with your motherboard manual and see how the motherboard assign its IRQs to the PCI slots. That way you can choose a PCI slot which isn't shared (usually the one farthest away from the CPU).

 

Good luck!

[Avid Fan]

Actually I'm going to gamepads cause I suck with arcade sticks. Last week I played some Ultimate MK3, which I dont wanna brag, but I consider myself damn good at it. Well, I couldnt even beat one round with multiple tokens. Now, if I ever become good enough, I would love to build a cool control panel with all the trimings (analog stick, 4-way stick, 2-8 ways, a trackball, and perhaps a spinner)

 

Also, the plan is to be sitting on a couch and play off of a 35+ inch tube TV with S-Video (I love playing on this thing)

I want the extra power to be able to play CDs and some MP3s while playing. Also its because I havent had a truly bitchin computer since I had a Pentium 133 with 16 meg of ram, and a 1 gig HD and another HD on it too, since then I'm constantly living in the stone age, or having a newer nicer computer be raped by small childen

 

I dont plan on umulating anything like Crusin, I'd love to just get an N64 for that. I just want some proper Mortal Kombat since Midway decided not to give it to us

[Dones]

About the S-Video, make sure you get a video card with a good quality tv encoder chip. Lastest NVIDIA models come with an tv encoder chip called "MV" which provides mediocre quality. Avoid cards with MV chips. Search for a utility called "TV Tool" to learn more about what to look and avoid.

[Ze_ro]

I want the extra power to be able to play CDs and some MP3s while playing.

It's worth pointing out that playing CD's costs your computer essentially zero processor time. Assuming you have your CD-Rom hooked up properly, the CD-Rom just sends the audio straight to your sound card, which can mix it with whatever else it's already doing, so you get sound for free. Of course, MP3's are a different story...

 

Oh, another thing I thought I'd point out is that there ARE other emulators out there that DO have 3D accelleration for newer 3D arcade games... like Zinc, Modeler, Viva Nonno and a few others. A card with decent 3D support would help these. If you're going to use a 4 GHz computer too, you're well within PSX emulation range, so a 3D card would help you there too.

 

--Zero

[Avid Fan]

Ya, but with the last 3 computers I've had, they just all suck for some reason or the other. Mostly cause they're not mine, or not meant for gaming. Their more for on-line which means we have A LOT of background things working like a firewall,, multiple virus scans, etc. My dad needs it all for his work, but he barely uses it, he's just paranoid.

But I like to use the Microsoft Media Player, and it always makes my computers sluggish. Even with all of the equalizer, echo, psychadelic images turned off. But now that I think about it, I would probably be playing 90 percent MP3s on it. My friend got a laptop with like at least a 10 gig hard drive (I just know it was prety big compared to the bunk laptops my dad brings home), and he had plenty of completely ripped CDs on there, its just convenient as hell.

It reminded me of when I would play deathmatch Duke3d and listen to my own music, its cool as hell. Something about massarcing people while listening to My Sharona, it was just really funny to me.

 

I guess I just want the power for the same reason that people buy fast cars and dont drive them fast, its nice to know its there. .......like handguns

[crc_73]

the CD-Rom just sends the audio straight to your sound card, which can mix it with whatever else it's already doing, so you get sound for free. Of course, MP3's are a different story...

 

Are there any CD/DVD-ROM units for PC's on the market that will read and decode MP3's directly to the sound card?

 

I know there probably isn't much call for this, but just wondering...