mame or xbox cabinet

[marra]

hi im looking at making a game cabinet i was going with a mame machine with mini i-pac controls but i was looking around last night and am now considering use a old xbox i have about as i have a dvd with alot of mame games on and i also have a spare tv not doing much can anyone tell me which they would advise.

if i was to make the mame machine i think i have a old p3 machine that should do the trick id just need another crt monitor and the ipac contols on the other had if i built the xbox cab i have the xbox,tv and i would just need the controls which i was considering using the x-arcade 2 player for about 130 i think, would i be able to fix this straight to my cabinet to save messing with the wiring etc or is this not recomended.

i have board, table saw and other tools at work so i have pretty much everything ready to go its just im not sure which way for the best to go, 1 more question can i use pc games if i decided to go for the mame option to use quake etc, any help is appreciated, thanks.

 

[joghuj]

If I was building one (been thinking of starting for ages but not got round to it!) I would definately go for PC option - more flexible for adding other systems later and also more choice in frontends. Also, you'd be limited to the number of games you can fit on a DVD (or whatever the XBox takes) or have to swap them each time. A PC can have every mame ROM available instantly.

My thoughts anyway...

 

[marra]

cheers m8 ill keep that in mind i have a dvd for my xbox with 2000 i think it is emulated games mame, mega drive etc but i was thinking the pc would be the best option am i better using tv out and using a normal tv or am i better getting something like a 21" crt monitor (would that be big enough), thanks.

 

[bigeasy_uk]

definately go with the pc, xbox is just too underpowered for some of the more intensive games. also, in my experience, the x-arcade is a bag of crap, not very responsive and seems to have problems with multiple button presses, go with the i-pac.

 

[marra]

thanks for that m8 what spec pc do you recomend (min) can you tell me what size monitor you use aswell bigeasy, cheers.

 

[bigeasy_uk]

i would say at least 1.2 ghz, 512 ram and 64mb graphics (geforce or radeon, no on-board rubbish) for smooth play in most games, for the more intensive games you can enable frameskip. although the more the merrier! any size monitor will do as well, the bigger the better, i've got a 21" in one and 19" in another.

 

[marra]

cheers m8 that pretty much answers everything, can you tell me where you got your measurements/tut from for the cabinet ive got one tut but it dont really show the measurements, thanks

 

[bigeasy_uk]

the one i built from scratch i did by eye, based on the shape of my original space invaders cabinet, but being 6'6" i needed the monitor and controls a little higher. you might want to get someone to get a tapemeasure and measure the height of your hands at a comfortable control height and plan around that. another thing you might want to take into consideration is the screen placement ie. do you want to be looking straight at the screen or downwards at an angle. if you are going to use a lightgun then you will want the screen upright, but if you are going to be using it for fighting games then i would suggest an angled screen, its easier on the neck over extended periods.

It might be easier for you to buy an old second hand cabinet and gut everything but the controls and speaker/s. as long as its 2 players with 6 buttons each you will be fine. just drill a few holes in the side or front for the extra buttons you need for credit insert/escape/enter/etc. you will probably spend over 150 on materials/paint/controls anyway so you might as well spend 120 on a cabinet and the extra on the needed extra buttons. you might be able to wangle a few extra buttons when you buy the cabinet, arcade suppliers usually have a few spares kicking around.

 

[Mick]

i also think youshould go with a medium powered PC

i have upgraded to a 2.4ghz p4 i know if you are just running mame then its over kill but you have the options with a software like GAMEX to include many emulators and trust me some of them are powerhungry (PS1 emuator for example!)

mini ipac is great tends to do crazy things sometimes for me lol

but you wont be disapointed whatever cabinet you build the kids love it and so do all your mates lol and my mrs even goes on it to play wonderboy lol

Regards
Mickie D

 

[marra]

cheers for the info im gonna dig some old pc parts out before i start lookin at flebay ive been meaning to start one for ages ive foud a 21" monitor with dual vga (for what it matters) on ebay local for 26 quid i own a kitchen company so i have the board and a saw so im only short of the ipac controls and pc so far. i have a athlon xp 2600+chip somewhere so i might just buy a few parts mo-board etc that should do the trick i think, thanks for the info lads

 

[marra]

i got rid of the idea of rebuilding ive just bought a p4 1.6 256 ram not sure what the graphics card is but im assuming will be good enough for £55 built with other bits from flebay not a bad price imo and i wont have to change it in the future think i have some spare ram somewhere too, ill pick my monitor up tommorow then just the ipac needed, im well on the way lol

 

[Mick]

you need the buttons aswell pal

dont forget them!

are you rebuilding a old retro machine or are you making a cabinet from scratch ???

Regards
Mickie D

 

[marra]

cheers mickie im building from scratch im buying one of the kits of flebay ipac, buttons, switches etc i should of mentioned that 65 + vat ithink they are.

 

[alexh]

How to build a Mame Cabinet in 24 hrs

If there is a bit of Blue Peter in you, this is a good site for Inspiration, a mame cab built from scratch in 24 hrs : http://chris.polymathic.net/cabinet/index.shtml

The advantages of the XBOX (15KHz Video) are outshadowed by the speed & RAM of a PC.

MameOX on the Xbox is good, but a little old now.

You dont need to get special expensive VGA cards to output 15KHz, with driver / bios tweaks a lot can be modified.

 

[headcase151]

Where would one look to get the control parts.Is there some place that sells those type of parts.