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Which mini PC?


nova13

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Hi Guys

 

I am planning an arcade cabinet and would like to know which kind of pc you use?

 

I have heard about these mini pc's like VOYO, Raspberry pi etc. but I don't know if this is the way to go.

 

I am a mac user but I saw that Hyperspin and mame better work on windows.

 

Anyway...your input is appreciated.

 

Thanks,

Patrick

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If you aren't planning on playing any newer generation consoles, PC games or newer arcade games, but keeping to just MAME and older consoles then a basic PC or mini PC would probably be just fine.

If you want to be able to play Street Fighter IV, The upcoming SFV, Killer instinct, new PC games, Taito Type X arcade games, Gamecube, Wii, PS2 etc... then you'd probably want a stronger full-on gaming rig inside.

I'm running an i3 (or is it an i5?) with an ATI R9 280 graphics card, 8 gigs of fast gaming ram on a mini motherboard in a low profile case and so far it runs everything great.

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If you aren't planning on playing any newer generation consoles, PC games or newer arcade games, but keeping to just MAME and older consoles then a basic PC or mini PC would probably be just fine.

If you want to be able to play Street Fighter IV, The upcoming SFV, Killer instinct, new PC games, Taito Type X arcade games, Gamecube, Wii, PS2 etc... then you'd probably want a stronger full-on gaming rig inside.

I'm running an i3 (or is it an i5?) with an ATI R9 280 graphics card, 8 gigs of fast gaming ram on a mini motherboard in a low profile case and so far it runs everything great.

... that sounds amazing lol. Was that a custom build, or something from a manufacturer?

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... that sounds amazing lol. Was that a custom build, or something from a manufacturer?

I looked up some articles on building a good gaming rig for under $1000 (Toms hardware had a good one), found one build that looked good and would be able to run any PC games at 1080p 60fps for the next few years, made some adjustments to it and ordered everything off Newegg. Then once it showed up I had a friend put it together (I hate messing with PC's). From there all I had to do was figure out how to wire it to my power button. The case is nice because it can't tip over being so low so I don't have to worry about moving it around, plus it's easy to take out of the cabinet.

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I'll have to check out this guide on there. Tom's Hardware is just a fantastic site.

I really wish there was an evolving list of recommended hardware types for differant level builds on here.

i.e.

What you'd need to run 8 & 16-bit games
One for 32 & 64 bit games
Another for more recent systems (DC, PS2, GC/Wii)

Something like that would be really helpful. Obviously no list like that could be perfect, but it'd be good to know how many GHZ of a CPU, RAM, & Video Ram you would need for that.

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I'll have to check out this guide on there. Tom's Hardware is just a fantastic site.

I really wish there was an evolving list of recommended hardware types for differant level builds on here.

i.e.

What you'd need to run 8 & 16-bit games

One for 32 & 64 bit games

Another for more recent systems (DC, PS2, GC/Wii)

Something like that would be really helpful. Obviously no list like that could be perfect, but it'd be good to know how many GHZ of a CPU, RAM, & Video Ram you would need for that.

I am running an overclocked G3258 to 4.0 Ghz and I can verify that I can run DC,PS2, GC and Wii and this cost me under $400.

 

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Pentium G3258 3.2GHz Dual-Core Processor  ($64.89 @ OutletPC)

Motherboard: Asus H81M-D PLUS Micro ATX LGA1150 Motherboard  ($49.99 @ SuperBiiz)

Memory: Team Dark 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory  ($37.99 @ Newegg)

Storage: Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive  ($52.33 @ OutletPC)

Video Card: XFX Radeon R7 260X 2GB Core Edition Video Card  ($115.98 @ Newegg)

Case: Fractal Design Core 1000 USB 3.0 MicroATX Mid Tower Case  ($28.99 @ Newegg)

Power Supply: XFX Core Edition 750W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply  ($34.99 @ Newegg)

Total: $385.16

Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available

Generated by PCPartPicker 2015-10-19 15:50 EDT-0400

 

I would recommend a better motherboard though as  the ethernet port on that board stopped working after 5 months for me.

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I am running an overclocked G3258 to 4.0 Ghz and I can verify that I can run DC,PS2, GC and Wii and this cost me under $400.

 

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Pentium G3258 3.2GHz Dual-Core Processor  ($64.89 @ OutletPC)

Motherboard: Asus H81M-D PLUS Micro ATX LGA1150 Motherboard  ($49.99 @ SuperBiiz)

Memory: Team Dark 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory  ($37.99 @ Newegg)

Storage: Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive  ($52.33 @ OutletPC)

Video Card: XFX Radeon R7 260X 2GB Core Edition Video Card  ($115.98 @ Newegg)

Case: Fractal Design Core 1000 USB 3.0 MicroATX Mid Tower Case  ($28.99 @ Newegg)

Power Supply: XFX Core Edition 750W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply  ($34.99 @ Newegg)

Total: $385.16

Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available

Generated by PCPartPicker 2015-10-19 15:50 EDT-0400

 

I would recommend a better motherboard though as  the ethernet port on that board stopped working after 5 months for me.

 

Your build is very similiar to mine specification wise, from what I can see.

CPU: AMD A8-5500 3.2 GHZ

RAM: 2x Corsair 4GB

GPU: AMD R7 260X 2GB

I have a lot of trouble running PS2 though, and every time I run my system against game requirements (Gamedebate, or CYRI) I find that my CPU is extremely underpowered in comparison to the rest of my machine.

So I figured the CPU is why I can't run PS2 games very well.

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Your build is very similiar to mine specification wise, from what I can see.

CPU: AMD A8-5500 3.2 GHZ

RAM: 2x Corsair 4GB

GPU: AMD R7 260X 2GB

I have a lot of trouble running PS2 though, and every time I run my system against game requirements (Gamedebate, or CYRI) I find that my CPU is extremely underpowered in comparison to the rest of my machine.

So I figured the CPU is why I can't run PS2 games very well.

As far as I know all emulators right now run on single core performance and the single core performance of the G3258 is rated higher than the A8 5500.

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As far as I know all emulators right now run on single core performance and the single core performance of the G3258 is rated higher than the A8 5500.

You are correct.

 

The G3258 destroys the 5500 in single thread performance. In fact, it even beats the 9590 by over 400 points. That little chip is a beast for this type of application.

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As far as I know all emulators right now run on single core performance and the single core performance of the G3258 is rated higher than the A8 5500.

 

You are correct.

 

The G3258 destroys the 5500 in single thread performance. In fact, it even beats the 9590 by over 400 points. That little chip is a beast for this type of application.

 

This is the kind of stuff I'm talking about that we need a sticky for lol. I only have a vague grasp of what you guys mean here, but I was honestly under the impression that all I needed to do was make sure my Ghz rating was higher. Makes me glad I haven't upgraded yet... I'll need to do more research.

EDIT:

I found the following page of information that seems to be pretty handy for this:

https://www.cpubenchmark.net/singleThread.html

 

So it certainly seems like the g3258 is better, as their rating is double that of the a8-5500 lol.

(I didn't see an i3-4960 on there at all)

 

Personally, I'm thinking of grabbing that G3258, seems like a lot of bang for the buck. However, jcrowly30, you mentioned your CPU is 'overclocked'? That's above my understanding of CPU operation (although given my lack of understanding of single thread performance, is anyone here surprised?) So my question is, did you buy it pre-overclocked? If not, is that something that's simple (or necessary) to do?

 

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My mistake. I'm actually running an i3-4160 from this years Tom's Hardware budget PC build:

In the link they originally used the 4150 (instead of the g3258), but I followed their upgraded build with the 4160. No overclocking needed.

(I also used a mini motherboard from another build so I could used a low profile case that can't tip over)

Give it a read:

http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/build-budget-gaming-pc,4065.html

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This is the kind of stuff I'm talking about that we need a sticky for lol. I only have a vague grasp of what you guys mean here, but I was honestly under the impression that all I needed to do was make sure my Ghz rating was higher. Makes me glad I haven't upgraded yet... I'll need to do more research.

EDIT:

I found the following page of information that seems to be pretty handy for this:

https://www.cpubenchmark.net/singleThread.html

So it certainly seems like the g3258 is better, as their rating is double that of the a8-5500 lol.

(I didn't see an i3-4960 on there at all)

Personally, I'm thinking of grabbing that G3258, seems like a lot of bang for the buck. However, jcrowly30, you mentioned your CPU is 'overclocked'? That's above my understanding of CPU operation (although given my lack of understanding of single thread performance, is anyone here surprised?) So my question is, did you buy it pre-overclocked? If not, is that something that's simple (or necessary) to do?

You don't need to overclock it, I do it because I feel like it helps me running the newer systems like wii,gamecube, ps2. Here is the guide I used to overclock. http://api.viglink.com/api/click?format=go&jsonp=vglnk_144585993148912&key=984ed3ed6aa9a69986f88d56d10e7616&libId=ig7vh3z801000a17000MAbflntma6&loc=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.tomshardware.com%2Fanswers%2Fid-2276816%2Foverclock-intel-pentium-g3258-gigabyte-b85-hd3.html&v=1&out=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.overclockers.com%2F3step-guide-to-overclock-intel-haswell&ref=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.google.com%2F&title=How%20to%20overclock%20Intel%20Pentium%20G3258%20%2B%20GIGABYTE%20GA-B85-HD3%3F%20%5BSolved%5D%20-%20Overclocking%20-%20Overclocking&txt=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.overclockers.com%2F3step-guide-to-overclock-in...

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G920A using Tapatalk

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Hm, see that's the whole reason I'd want to upgrade (Aside from the fact I think my HDD is crashing :'( ) I need to bump up to the next level to be able to play PS2 games at better speeds. Then with the Wii U emulator on the rise, I'm sure it has more power requirements than the PS2.

Plus I was reading that a PS3 emulator isn't too far behind as well.

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Hm, see that's the whole reason I'd want to upgrade (Aside from the fact I think my HDD is crashing :'( ) I need to bump up to the next level to be able to play PS2 games at better speeds. Then with the Wii U emulator on the rise, I'm sure it has more power requirements than the PS2.

Plus I was reading that a PS3 emulator isn't too far behind as well.

I'd say those emulators are a few years from being usable. You can always upgrade the g3258 to an i3 or i5 later on. Prices of those will keep dropping over time.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G920A using Tapatalk

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This is a little off topic, but I'm actually planning on building a low profile HTPC from a mini itx myself. I was thinking of getting a shield tv and giving a go at hyperspin for android, but I'm still not completely satisfied with android's offering on the emulator front - I like exhaustive hyperspin builds with some of those off the wall systems that only windows supports. Plus I think I would really miss the versatility of RocketLauncher.

 

Anyway, my biggest issue with HTPCs has always been their ability to pass the family friendly test (i.e., could a layman actually get it to work without breaking something). My biggest problem in this regard was the streaming services such as netflix. Microsoft recently dropped support for netflix from WMC and Amazon Instant is difficult to access using a third party app that doesn't always work right for me. Accessing them from an HTPC browser is also a prohibitively clunky option.

 

Well, I just thought of a great solution this morning that I could probably integrate pretty seamlessly. I could launch the android variants of the popular streaming services from hyperspin using bluestacks. Stock android already has a fairly HTPC friendly interface and with a little tweaking, it could actually work really well. I was even thinking of creating a separate hyperspin build that would boot with the HTPC and have a very basic interface with only a few wheel options from which I could launch my main HTPC apps (WMC, Netflix, Amazon, Plex, the main HS build, etc.) I don't know why this never occurred to me, but if anyone else is having a similar struggle, this might be a really solid option.

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  • 7 months later...

I have a Gigabyte Brix 2807 with a 1TB HDD.

 

Currently running most 8bit, 16bit, 32bit consoles and MAME. I haven't added any disc systems yet.

 

Just added N64 with Retroarch as the emulator. Starts fine but gets laggy when lots on screen but I haven't messed around with Retroarch settings yet, so could be fixable!

 

PROS:

Very small, light, almost silent, doesn't run too hot and boots up into Hyperspin in under a minute. Great system for anything older than PS1.

 

CONS:

Could be more powerful. Could run a bit faster. Can't say as yet but I think it will struggle with anything above PS1.

 

For now its perfect for my needs but I will probably upgrade to something more powerful in the future!

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