u/thebatmanandrobin

During an upgrade to the newest MAME (0.287), I realized that my MAME machine's CPU doesn't support x86-64_v2 😭 .. so I'm looking at upgrading my machine without breaking the bank (my MAME machine only plays MAME and nothing else, so I don't need an ultra-gaming rig).

I was able to find a decently priced Dell that I can throw my current GFX card in, but was curious how well the CPU would really handle some of the games?

It's got 16GB of DDR4 RAM, with an Intel i7-8700 and I'm throwing in my Geforce GT 610 2GB PCIe x16.

I could also get that machine but with the i7-9700 ...

Would that be enough to run some of the later titles (like Gauntlet Dark Legacy, NFL Blitz, MK4, Tekken 3/4, etc.)?

I'd be willing to spend a little more on the machine, or even a better GFX card, but was curious if the 8th or 9th gen i7's would be acceptable, or if I really should just see if I can get something with a 10th+ gen?

Hey all! I've got a custom arcade build I made that's running MAME 0.144 and I've been happy with the games that I play on it (mostly 80's - 90's games). There are a few that I'd like to see have some better frame rates on it (like Gauntlet Dark Legacy), so I've been looking to upgrade and was curious if it's "worth it" (I know that can be a loaded term).

I'm looking at going to 0.151 or to the latest 0.287 .. I know it means getting the updated ROM sets for them, but I was more curious if there's been that much actual improvement between 0.144 to 0.151 or 0.287?

I know after 0.165 (or so) that other systems (like consoles) were integrated into it, but I'm really only concerned about the arcade games, so the console support isn't on my wish-list.

Looking through the changelogs for all of them is quite tedious and "AI" isn't much help beyond essentially saying "things have changed" (obviously, haha!).

My 0.144 setup is pretty stable, so I guess I'm curious if there's any answers to some of the following:

1. Has there been a significant improvement to performance from 0.144 (e.g. general emulation speeds have necessarily increased)?
2. Has there been a significant improvement to compatibility/performance for the ROMs themselves (e.g. MK4, Gauntlet Dark Legacy, etc. etc. run better than 10FPS)?
3. Has there been any GPU offloading where it makes sense (e.g. certain games are actually rendered direct to GPU and not CPU bound anymore)?
4. Is there a list somewhere that can culminate what games are more generally working vs. looking at the changelists?
5. Is there a more specific MAME version that I should look at (e.g. go with 0.285 because of X, Y, Z)?
6. Is the upgrade process "smooth" and can I go from 0.144 to X without too much fuss, or do I need/should I incrementally update?

Sorry if some of these might be answered elsewhere, but it's been well over 10 years since I've touched my MAME files and I thought it was about time to do some updates.

Thanks!