I need a low powered computer (note computing power, not low wattage)to go into the awesome retro MAME arcade cabinet I'm working on. I want it cheap, but probably with two cores. It's replacing an AMD 64 3200+ w/ Radeon X800XL (AGP) that ALMOST did the job, but appears to be dying . That computer handled everything I needed except the Tekken series, which it was able to handle at 75% speed (getting 100% on this one would be nice!).
Prices shown include MIR.
I think that comes out to only $180, including the case? Nice.
Open Questions
1. Pretty sure 1.5V memory and higher rated than the FSB that I put it on are all okay. Also I noticed that the timing of the memory I got is a little slower than some of the previous stuff, but this box will probably be a touch overpowered for what I'm using it for. Let me know if I'm wrong on any of these two or three memory questions.
2. What OS do I put on this? XP Pro or Windows 7 Pro? If I go with XP I can't use all the memory, but if I go with Windows 7 I probably have a nicer OS that I'll never use and it will hog a bit more of my resources. That might be a better question for the arcade boards, but input would be appreciated.
For your reference, I have another thread on this build as well.
Prices shown include MIR.
- PSU - Corsair Builder 430 $20. Might have to wait awhile to find that good of a deal - Newegg sells them for that price every couple of months.
- Motherboard - ASUS M4A87T AM3 AMD 870 SATA 6Gb/s ATX AMD Motherboard $50 - A NEW, UPDATED great deal that will probably expire before I can grab it, but I'm assuming I can find something comparable. I'd like gigabit Ethernet.
- CPU - AMD Athlon II X2 260 Regor 3.2GHz 2 x 1MB L2 Cache Socket AM3 65W Dual-Core Desktop Processor $57 - Again, probably will expire before I pull the trigger, but with the current special it's the price versus performance leader (I think). Is the PhenomII upgrade worth the extra money? I'm thinking probably not for what I'm going to use this machine. This deal has expired, but I'd be looking to hit the $60-$65 price range here.
- Memory - Crucial Ballistix sport 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 Desktop Memory Model BL2KIT25664BA160A $20 - I hope this is a good plan because I just pulled the trigger and purchased it this morning. My other option was to get 8GB and swap it with one of my other computers (both have G.SKILL 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory Model F3-12800CL9D-4GBNQ.
- GPU - Right now I'm planning on using an EVGA 9800 GT 512 MB that I just happen to have lying around.
- Case - Thermaltake has case I like that often comes up on special for $30, but I might go without a case since it's going in a cabinet.
I think that comes out to only $180, including the case? Nice.
Open Questions
1. Pretty sure 1.5V memory and higher rated than the FSB that I put it on are all okay. Also I noticed that the timing of the memory I got is a little slower than some of the previous stuff, but this box will probably be a touch overpowered for what I'm using it for. Let me know if I'm wrong on any of these two or three memory questions.
2. What OS do I put on this? XP Pro or Windows 7 Pro? If I go with XP I can't use all the memory, but if I go with Windows 7 I probably have a nicer OS that I'll never use and it will hog a bit more of my resources. That might be a better question for the arcade boards, but input would be appreciated.
For your reference, I have another thread on this build as well.
Last edited: