Minimum specs for a PC playing Shumups on MAME (w/ no issues

[g_block]

Hey guys/gals

Just a quick question.

Been playing Cave shooters recently on MAME via my PC, but some of them have musical studders.

If I was going to get another (new or used) PC, what are the minimum specs to run all shumups (Radiant Silvergun is another one that studders bad musically) without music hiccups/play issues like video or lag (caused by an older proccessor)

Thanks in advance!

[Kyle]

Make sure to give the Demul alpha a try. It's less demanding than MAME.

http://shmups.system11.org/viewtopic.ph ... &start=450
http://forum.emu-russia.net/viewtopic.p ... 973#p23973

[Xyga]

^ +1

Still, to answer your question I guess the minimum req to have most games run smoothly-enough on MAME is a decent Intel dual core like the famous Pentium G3258 (overclockable to 4GHz and up!) or an average i3 (i3-4150 up to 4170, or above series i3-43**) with a STP also around 2,000.
http://www.cpubenchmark.net/singleThread.html
A STP around 2,000 seems to be the 'sweet spot' to get most existing emulators to run fine I believe, that's enough for PCSX2 and Dolphin for instance.
But the 'i' series handle more bizarre stuff/instructions and as a whole perform better (if you want more future-proof for your money).

Note: two cores don't help much with MAME, but it's silly to hunt for single core cpu's nowadays, plus the Intel Haswell have excellent power to performance ratio so why bother with anything else ?

Not sure for laptop cpu's but I can tell about my 'low power' i3-4030U; most emulated games can run full speed with it but it's giving me more stuttering and hiccups (during loading times for instance) than my desktop i5-4690k that's for sure! And even more if I apply some of the heaviest pixel shaders, which also give me slowdowns anyway.
So I bet for a laptop you would need something like an i5 or i7 with a STP sensibly higher than 1,000 to be safe (keeping in mind mobile cpu's are always weaker than desktops, unless you put a lot of money in it).

[KBZ]

I've had good results using a P4 3.2ghz chip and 2GB DDR2. Had it in my astro city running groovymame for sometime and never had any issues. Ran CPS3 just fine.

It was an old thinkcentre SSF desktop off craigslist for $60.

[Xyga]

I remember a good P4 could do even some Dreamcast emulation, yeah, but Cave cv1k in MAME is another thing.
It might be okay with the new dEmul though (and that's kind of awesome).