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current Mac Mini capable of running HS along with PS2, DC and Wii?

flyer6

By flyer6
in HyperSpin

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flyer6 Newbie

flyer6

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Dear HS members ;-)

I've been googlen my *** off, checked out some videos on youtube and saw some people running HS with Bootcamp (so it's basically a windows 7 x64 version) and played PS2 with it.

My question as someone who's just looking into HS and setting up his "arcade machine":

Is the current mac mini along with it's graphics card capable of running Dreamcast, Wii PS2 and possibly Taito X2, CPS3, etc. lag free?

Here's the current setup of the most recent mac mini.

2.6GHz dual-core Intel Core i5

8GB memory

1TB hard drive1

Intel Iris Graphics

Furthermore, I have absolutely no idea what I need to run PS2 and that stuff smoothly. I've seen people going with those barebones for $300 and I've seen ppl telling others to get a high end PC for $1500 in order to get PS2 emulation or something similar smoothly.

I just want something SILENT (as it would be in my living room) to run my games on. I'm mostly interested in Wii, PS2, Taito X, CPS3 and so on. I know that SNES and MAME, etc. don't need high end computers. But is the mac mini enough? Maybe someone of you is running that setup?

Thanks in advance. :-)

PS: If this wont be enough... maybe some advice on a mini or micro ITX board along with cpu and all that set up? I'd like to order something... since I'm in Europe, I'd like to have some links if possible. Thanks so much for the help. I thought of the Alienware X51 maybe? Looks good and fits perfectly into a living room.

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Trnzaddict Newbie

Trnzaddict

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Dear HS members ;-)

I've been googlen my *** off, checked out some videos on youtube and saw some people running HS with Bootcamp (so it's basically a windows 7 x64 version) and played PS2 with it.

My question as someone who's just looking into HS and setting up his "arcade machine":

Is the current mac mini along with it's graphics card capable of running Dreamcast, Wii PS2 and possibly Taito X2, CPS3, etc. lag free?

Here's the current setup of the most recent mac mini.

2.6GHz dual-core Intel Core i5

8GB memory

1TB hard drive1

Intel Iris Graphics

Furthermore, I have absolutely no idea what I need to run PS2 and that stuff smoothly. I've seen people going with those barebones for $300 and I've seen ppl telling others to get a high end PC for $1500 in order to get PS2 emulation or something similar smoothly.

I just want something SILENT (as it would be in my living room) to run my games on. I'm mostly interested in Wii, PS2, Taito X, CPS3 and so on. I know that SNES and MAME, etc. don't need high end computers. But is the mac mini enough? Maybe someone of you is running that setup?

Thanks in advance. :-)

PS: If this wont be enough... maybe some advice on a mini or micro ITX board along with cpu and all that set up? I'd like to order something... since I'm in Europe, I'd like to have some links if possible. Thanks so much for the help. I thought of the Alienware X51 maybe? Looks good and fits perfectly into a living room.

They want 700 beans for them now? Dude you can build something for that price that will blow that out of the water. Those specs will probably run up to nulldc in 1080p, but Demul right now is the most accurate emulator and that mac will fall flat on it's face. As far as PS2 goes, you MIGHT be able to run some light to medium titles at native resolution but that's pushing it, same for Dolphin. Taito Type X it will probably run the games don't need much horsepower but still.

I had a 2009 mini I tried to make a HS machine but I just got rid of it....once you get into the realm of HD dreamcast they run out of steam.

Go to Newegg and try to price out an i5 4670k mini itx build and something like a Nvidia GTX 750 TI, that should suffice for what you want.

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Trnzaddict Newbie

Trnzaddict

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Oh matcha... :-)

Can you let me know how things go? Maybe some DC, Wii and PS2 emulation if possible?

Thanks in advance!!!

Just one more thing....you do realize by using intel Iris you will not be able to use mp4 on HS. You will be condemned to FLV which are slower and larger...

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bandit721 Newbie

bandit721

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I thought it was hardware acceleration in flash. Install firefox. Install flash. Go to youtube. Play a video. Right click vid. Disable hardware accel

That's the fix exactly...for some reason you can't do it in IE. I was running base Intel video on my Haswell-based rig until I rec'd a GTX 750ti from Santa :) Intel video ran fine with the MP4 vids from EmuMovies once the acceleration was disabled in Flash.

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Styphelus Newbie

Styphelus

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Why would you even think about getting a Mac to run Hyperspin knowing that this thing runs on Windows and so do most emulators? Hyperspin on it's own is a pain to setup and a blackhole when it comes to sucking time out of you, so why on earth would you give yourself even more headaches? Get a proper computer - a windows based computer. One that will run anything you throw at it.

If you ask me, you are asking for a world of pain.

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Trnzaddict Newbie

Trnzaddict

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Why would you even thing about getting a Mac to run Hyperspin knowing that this thing runs on Windows and so do most emulators? Hyperspin on it's own is a pain to setup and a blackhole when it comes to sucking time out of you, so why on earth would you give yourself even more headaches? Get a proper computer - a windows based computer. One that will run anything you throw at it.

If you ask me, you are asking for a world of pain.

I know thats why I told the op to head to Newegg. The price is outrageous for a new mini, he could build something much better. Not to mention I had one that was only slightly weaker than the one he's looking at and it just runs out of power when you hit DC emulation. Simply not powerful enough, but in one ear and out the other.

I don't know why people ask for opinions and suggestions when they just do they really want anyway.

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flyer6 Newbie

flyer6

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I don't know why people ask for opinions and suggestions when they just do they really want anyway.

No no no wait...

I have a spare mac mini here which I never really use. THIS is the reason I wanted to set this up as a Hyperspin Machine. I already thought of getting the Alienware X51 as a gaming PC since that computer setup will eventually land in a Vewlix Cabinet at some point.

Why buy new stuff if you can build it on top of something you already have. PLUS: Not everyone is a PC fan and loves big bulky loud fugly machines laying in front of the TV. PCs just look butt-ugly while a mac mini looks perfect. Also: in an all mac environment, it's more than understandable I'd prefer the mac option.

Now as you have already tried it out and let me know that DC emulation was choppy, I'm looking into building something cheaper, with better specs (we all know that Apple doesn't use the best specs in GFX cards, etc.) but with a great clean look. The Alienware X51 looks like a nice Xbox360 and would look great.

That's why I was asking.

When people ask for your opinion, it's still just an opinion which people want to consider. They are very helpful and people are grateful for it. It doesn't mean people HAVE to act like you said and it's not disrespectful either.

I'm VERY grateful for your opinion and upon your opinion I reconsidered this and might get a PC. Now I've already posted a different thing where I've configured a €400 PC, hoping to be sufficient for everything.

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matchaman Newbie

matchaman

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Everything seems to be working fine on my setup, even GC & PS2 emulation (though I don't include these systems on my HS setup anyway) :)

The Mac Mini is nothing but a mid to high-end laptop without a screen and features 100% PC architecture.

It's absolutely silent, while it never, ever runs hot. Call it proper engineering. Running Windows natively makes it a perfect HTPC + HyperSpin system.

Buying it solely for that purpose would have been over the top but I got mine for free from work... so why not? :D

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pofo14 Newbie

pofo14

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The specs of the mini seem capable, but as previously mention there won't be much support for issues you encounter if running a Mac OS. Are you considering dual booting the mini and running windows on it? I know you can do that, and a Mac person probably would ask why run windows on a Mac, but if you want to build out a machine for HS and emulation I think that is a good use case for running windows. Since you got the H/W for free I would say it's worth a shot.

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flyer6 Newbie

flyer6

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I wanted to run Bootcamp, so it would be a complete WIndows machine, no emulation.

Nevertheless, I've decided to build myself a nice mid to hi end gaming PC which will be put in a mini itx case and be used for hyperspin

Thanks for your opinions on the mac mini

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