Best setup for Arcade?

[lenniepaz]

I just bought a Pro Upright Xtension Arcade Cabinet "Emulator Edition", and I'm looking for help with using the best setup. I'll be using a Windows 10 PC with an SSD to run everything. I have all my ROMS and MAME ready, but I'm looking for advice for the best setup to run everything. Thanks 

[Cirion]

I am a long time user of Hyperspin, and after several years of setting it up, I ordered a Xtension Arcade cabinet. I went for the 32" 4Player.

While waiting for that I came across Launchbox. Seen it plenty of times, and tried it before, but this time it looked so easy. Whenever I tried searching for stuff for my hyperspin, I ended up with a guide for Launchbox. So I tried it again... Works out of the box, makes your Mame beutifull and easy to use, gui works with the Xtension Arcade, no antivirus problems, no worry about loosing critical files because you forgot the antivirus. It's what I run on my Arcade.

If you looking for the best solution for you Arcade, go with Launchbox.

I run mine on a Asus ROG GR8 II, Windows 10, 256GB SSD for Windows, 2TB SSHD for Launchbox, emulators and media, and a 10TB USB 3.0 drive with all the roms.

[SubRetro]

So the question for the Best Setup for Arcade is very general so I can give you the guidance I am taking on my Arcade Cabinet building journey.

 

1. What type of Games do you want to play?

 - For me I enjoyed a ton of Fighting (Street Fighter, Mortal Kombat, NeoGeo) and 2-4 player beatemup games ( Turtles, Simpsons, etc) Arcade games

 - I also want to run later emulated Arcade game boards (Naomi) and PC games that are fighting (Killer Instinct, MK11) and platformers (Cuphead, etc)

2. What frontend and how flashy do you want it to be?

- HyperSpin has been around for a long time. It takes a bit more time to setup  but is very rewarding to setup and works well after. There are great videos on how to setup.

- LaunchBox or "BigBox" paid version is an easy wizard setup on the frontend. If you have a complete MAME set you can use their new MAME importer and it can help you weed out Mature games, kid games, trivia games, etc so you don't import games in that you don't want. 

- I have seen people just use the MAME UI program still although I feel that isn't the most flashiness interface for an Arcade Cabinet but it works.

 

I can tell you personally I have had some recent issues with LB/BB that have caused me to just keep going with my HyperSpin build. I will tinker with LB/BB from time to time but my cabinet will always run the HyperSpin frontend. Right now the test PC build I am using is this.

 

Current Test Build

OS - Windows 10

CPU - Intel Xeon 8 Core 3.2

Memory - 32GB

C Drive - 256GB SSD

E Drive - 500GB SSD (HyperSpin w/media and some PC Games on it)

R Drive - 3TB Red label Drive for Roms (Will need to upgrade drive at some point as my later emulation roms require more space)

GPU - 1060 6GB (Best performance and price for the buck)

Going to do 32 inch TV as I feel its the best viewing distance for a four player cab for the price

 

Hope this helps. Questions are always welcome.