Emulation build

martineatworld

Looking to put together a cheap machine for the inside of an arcade machine.
I was looking at 2nd hand machines and am open to one, but was thinking about a g4560 build if it's good value. If there's any 2nd hand ones on adverts/donedeal that can be recommended, it'd be appreciated.
Any 2nd gen onwards i5 should be fine.

Price is the main concern here, and I probably won't need a case/I would need a matx build if it's cased.


1. What is your budget? €250-350, but as cheap as possible

2. What will be the main purpose of the computer? Emulation

3. Do you need a copy of Windows? No

4. Can you use any parts from an old computer? Could source a 2tb hard drive

5. Do you need a monitor? No

6. Do you need any peripherals? No

7. Are you willing to try overclocking? Yes

8. How can you pay? Any way

9. When are you purchasing? Next three weeks

10. If you need help building it, where are you based? Should be fine

Xenoronin

I'd say second hand is actually your best option here as a g4560 build would lie just outside your budget, or hitting the ceiling with some corners cut.

Actually, if it is very retro, why not just use a Raspberry Pi? Or any of the competitors.

K.O.Kiki

Xenoronin wrote: »

I'd say second hand is actually your best option here as a g4560 build would lie just outside your budget, or hitting the ceiling with some corners cut.

Actually, if it is very retro, why not just use a Raspberry Pi? Or any of the competitors.

Most emulators need a 3+GHz CPU for accurate emulation IIRC

Xenoronin

Don't know enough about what type of games the OP expects to play tbh. If it's NES games then the pi is just fine. Things start getting hairy at the n64 and ps1 level.

http://www.pocket-lint.com/news/137374-can-t-buy-a-nes-classic-mini-how-to-build-your-own-retro-console-for-just-50

Edit: A raspberry pi 3 running RetroPi can emulate up to PS1 games (the RetroPi forums suggest they run at a stable framerate for the vast majority of games). It supports PS2 and N64 but cannot run them well/at all.
NES games would be it's forté.

martineatworld

Thanks for the replies.

I should have made my emulation request a bit more specific!

It's mainly for arcade games, so it would be everything on MAME, and newer shmups and fighting games - Street Fighter 3rd strike and the Cave games would be latest stuff I'd be hoping to play.

Xenoronin

Seems like the RetroPie supports MAME very well. If you want complete control and want to throw more money behind it, the g4560 is a damn good chip and gives you a bigger selection of games, especially the newer games. The budget option is the raspberry pi 3 model b which would restrict you to a slightly older selection


PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Pentium G4560 3.5GHz Dual-Core Processor (£74.95 @ Amazon UK)
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-B250M-DS3H Micro ATX LGA1151 Motherboard (£69.24 @ Aria PC)
Memory: Crucial Ballistix Sport LT 8GB (1 x 8GB) DDR4-2400 Memory (£66.17 @ Amazon UK)
Case: Fractal Design Core 1100 MicroATX Mini Tower Case (£29.99 @ Amazon UK)
Power Supply: Corsair Builder 430W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply (£47.99 @ Amazon UK)
Total: £288.34
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2017-02-16 15:11 GMT+0000

Alpha8

PCPartPicker part list: https://uk.pcpartpicker.com/list/9r6QM8
Price breakdown by merchant: https://uk.pcpartpicker.com/list/9r6QM8/by_merchant/

CPU: Intel Pentium G4400 3.3GHz Dual-Core Processor (£52.43)
Motherboard: MSI H110M PRO-VD PLUS Micro ATX LGA1151 Motherboard (£56.34 @ Amazon UK)
Memory: Kingston HyperX Fury Black 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR4-2133 Memory (£64.98 @ Amazon UK)
Power Supply: SeaSonic ECO 430W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply (£45.71 @ Amazon UK)
Total: £219.46
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2017-02-16 16:28 GMT+0000

You can get a cheaper PowerSupply if you want to. Here's a case -
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Aerocool-QS240-Gaming-M-ATX-Window/dp/B01ANXJNRE/ref=sr_1_11?s=computers&ie=UTF8&qid=1487262525&sr=1-11&keywords=aerocool
and a cheaper PowerSupply :
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Aerocool-Integrator-500W-Power-Supply/dp/B00JKVHKSU/ref=sr_1_3?s=computers&ie=UTF8&qid=1487262603&sr=1-3&keywords=aerocool+500

K.O.Kiki

I'd also consider old office PCs, e.g. i5-2400, 4Gb RAM (€180)

2ndcoming

Have a similar build planned myself and an old pentium 4 or core2duo machine for under 100 quid on adverts along with any old GPU will provide you with everything you need up to about PS2 level as well as an ideal 4:3 monitor for sticking in your machine.

An added benefit is you won't worry about doing any soldering / stripping on old, cheaply replaced parts and also lots of those emulation programs seem to work best on XP as that was really their heyday.