HTPC/MAME PC Build

[broken harbour]

OK I'll be the first to admit I'm a MAME noob and don't know much. I've not been following it since 1997, so please excuse the noob questions.

1st of all, I want to build a mid-price Micro-ATX Home theater PC for my living room for all my Films and TV shows, but I also want it to double as a MAME and Emulation box. Playing 1080p movies don't require megabucks computers these days (hell I use a raspberry pi in my bedroom), but I'm a bit fuzzy on what MAME requires. I'm not looking to emulate 3D hardware or anything, just 2D stuff.

Not looking to play any new AAA titles on it or anything either, except for maybe some indie games. I do most of my modern games on consoles these days.

I'm guessing MAME doesn't take advantage of graphics cards?

Would I be ok with something like an i3 2.xx GHz CPU and 4 GB ram?

Does MAME get along with Windows 8? I plan on using the Win7 disc I have laying around but if I ever needed to upgrade am I hooched?

[Xyga]

Been through this recently and here's what I would suggest;

cpu: Pentium G3258 (undisputed best value on the entry level market, easily overclockable, a beast for the price)

mobo: MSI H81M-P33, Asus H81M-PLUS, well just find the one you like on this list: http://forums.anandtech.com/showthread.php?t=2389948
or 'ASRock Z97 Anniversary' if you want a Z97 (more modern, not micro though)

gpu: here you really don't need much, MAME barely uses the gpu indeed... but... stuff like HLSL and shaders like those featured in RetroArch do. So I would suggest;
- the popular nVidia GTX 750 Ti, the one I have is low profile and the fastest of its kind (if you need low profile that is); http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00MW8 ... QU6DGLEEKT
- or the AMD R7 260X (a bit cheaper)
- third option even cheaper; http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00KO0 ... 2FLMJUU3EE

This is much more than enough for MAME, and even for Dolphin and PCSX2 (well not if you choose the GT 740, and maybe not for the few badly optimized games but most of the emulated games in both libraries will be okay).

If you don't care about MAME shaders or 128bit consoles emulation, don't buy the Pentium nor a gpu, and just buy an i3 4160 instead (it's integrated Intel GPU will be enough to handle HD videos and MAME).

EDIT: regarding Windows 8, I've heard the main issue is with DirectDraw, but you won't use that, you've got Direct3D, and OpenGL support is coming if that counts.
Some people say you can't have the lowest lag with Win 8, because Aero or desktop composition is impossible to deactivate. But I don't know if it applies in fullscreen too.

[Leandro]

and what about dat CRT tv for the perfect retro picture

[ZellSF]

When it comes to HTPCs, I found you always end up wishing you invested more. You always find something whatever low end hardware you pick can't do. Then you find something your mid end hardware can't do. Then something your high end hardware can't do

Not terrible helpful I know.


Should be no problems with Windows 8, unless you really want to run MAME windowed with no vsync.

[pawwa]

One issue with that setup might be that you can either play MAME or watch videos, but not at the same time. I assume you use a TV for video content, and a monitor for MAME?

I have similar plans, and my rough idea is to have a micro ATX motherboard + Intel i5 CPU that supports VT-x and VT-d virtualization features, and run a virtualization platform on this box (KVM on Linux). I would have an integrated GPU in the CPU for video streaming, and I would install another GPU for MAME or other emulators that might benefit from it. I would run two virtual machines:

1. Windows + MAME for best performance (SDLMAME on Linux adds performance penalties that results in input latency, and with hardware-assisted virtualization I believe MAME on Windows will not have direct CPU performance penalties, and I could also pass through the GPU)
2. Linux + tools to stream content to a TV

This would also need an additional audio interface to separate MAME and video sound.

[e_tank]

SDLMAME on Linux adds performance penalties that results in input latency

since when? (not being sarcastic, i haven't used sdlmame nor looked at mame's osd code in a long time)

also if vanilla mame on linux is giving you input latency probs you might want to look into using mame_libretro via retroarch instead (setup to use the kms video context driver, preferably).

[broken harbour]

One issue with that setup might be that you can either play MAME or watch videos, but not at the same time. I assume you use a TV for video content, and a monitor for MAME?

I have similar plans, and my rough idea is to have a micro ATX motherboard + Intel i5 CPU that supports VT-x and VT-d virtualization features, and run a virtualization platform on this box (KVM on Linux). I would have an integrated GPU in the CPU for video streaming, and I would install another GPU for MAME or other emulators that might benefit from it. I would run two virtual machines:

1. Windows + MAME for best performance (SDLMAME on Linux adds performance penalties that results in input latency, and with hardware-assisted virtualization I believe MAME on Windows will not have direct CPU performance penalties, and I could also pass through the GPU)
2. Linux + tools to stream content to a TV

This would also need an additional audio interface to separate MAME and video sound.

I would use this exclusively on my tv, no monitor, not interested in playing MAME and watching tv at the same time.

[pawwa]

SDLMAME on Linux adds performance penalties that results in input latency

since when? (not being sarcastic, i haven't used sdlmame nor looked at mame's osd code in a long time)

SDL-introduced latency is confirmed by tests here -- http://forum.arcadecontrols.com/index.p ... 4.120.html

Thanks, I'll look into mame_libretro as well!

[broken harbour]

So recently my work PC died and our IT replaced it with a mini-pc by Gigabyte and it works shockingly well, and the footprint is tiny, about the size of 2 raspberry pi's... and it got me thinking... perhaps this is a good option for a MAME-box?

http://ca.gigabyte.com/products/list.aspx?s=47&ck=104

Lots of different options there, not sure what would be my best bang-for-the-buck. I am mildly interested in shaders, mainly to get decent looking scanlines, I don't mind the hyper-crisp pixel look.

Any suggestions?

[Fudoh]

I got the i5 Brix Pro (that's the red one). Used it for Model3 emulation and other stuff. Very potent.

The smaller Brix units with Intel HD4x00 graphics are fine for most emu, but the graphics section is too weak for full shader support (HSLS in MAME and such). Maybe some of this year's models got an Intel HD5xxx (like my Brix Pro).

[broken harbour]

How's the noise on your Brix? I read a few online reviews where on occasion it was screaming at 60db.... that's... very loud.

[Fudoh]

On everything I've tried (emu-wise) it's just idling, so almost inaudible.

I can very well imagine that it gets loud if you push it, but I can't think of anything emu related to do that.

[BuckoA51]

Having built them for about a decade, I have come to hate HTPC with a passion, but I'd recommend you check out Plex for your media - https://plex.tv/

The best HTPC I've ever built sits in my attic and streams media to a couple of streaming boxes around the house. I'd never use PC as a playback device in a home theatre setup ever again.

Of course for emulators and gaming they are awesome though.

[emphatic]

The best HTPC I've ever built sits in my attic and streams media to a couple of streaming boxes around the house. I'd never use PC as a playback device in a home theatre setup ever.

Curious, what type of streaming boxes do you use? I agree that PCs kinda sucks for media playback, most of that because I use Windows.

[broken harbour]

Having built them for about a decade, I have come to hate HTPC with a passion, but I'd recommend you check out Plex for your media - https://plex.tv/

The best HTPC I've ever built sits in my attic and streams media to a couple of streaming boxes around the house. I'd never use PC as a playback device in a home theatre setup ever again.

Of course for emulators and gaming they are awesome though.

What don't you like about it? Also, plex looks pretty cool.

I used a PC for movies, music and games on my TV for a couple years till it died and I really had no complaints. Since 2013 I've used an iMac and... well.... once that dies I won't be going back.

I the meantime I'm on the fence weather I want to spend a moderate amount of money on a micro-pc for emulation and movies, or spend a larger amount on something with a decent GPU, etc... that can do everything, most AAA games I play on consoles these days but there is the occasional PC-exclusive that they don't get. I'd have to build something very small form factor, as my home theater setup is very cramped at the moment.

[emphatic]

I use MediaPortal, as the picture quality is better than XBMC in Windows. Works great for me, but Windows 7 and HDMI has lots of issues.

[BuckoA51]

Media playback on Windows (and Linux and Mac) is just a complete clusterf**k basically. It works, but typically a $50 media streamer works better and more reliably. Getting things like 24p, smooth video playback, reclock, DTS/Dolby digital, to work consistently and reliably is enough to make you want to slit your wrists. Getting video that pans smoothy rather than lurching across the screen is a challenge in itself. No doubt someone will chime in somewhere and claim they have the perfect HTPC setup with no flaws, I don't care any more, I tried for nearly 10 years and I can't do it, for me HTPC just blows.

Right now I'm using a Dune H1 streamer, it's awesome for streaming your own media, but for Netflix and online streaming services its sorely lacking. If I need any of that I just use my PS3 at the moment.

[broken harbour]

interesting, I had none of those problems back when I used MPC-HC from 2010-2013. Surround Sound was kind of weird on some files, but I think it was more my receiver not liking the signal it was given, most cases I could work around it.

[Fudoh]

interesting, I had none of those problems back when I used MPC-HC from 2010-2013.

you didn't care about proper cadence during playback back then.

[broken harbour]

interesting, I had none of those problems back when I used MPC-HC from 2010-2013.

you didn't care about proper cadence during playback back then.

The only thing I noticed was a slight stutter on some files, but I see that on Blu-ray's some times too.