Re: Specs for an in-cabinet PC


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Posted by Just Michael on October 14, 1999 at 13:04:52:

In Reply to: Specs for an in-cabinet PC posted by Pengo on October 14, 1999 at 11:21:43:

: I'm planning to buy a PC specifically for embedding in a cabinet. Before I do, however, I'd like to run my specs by this group. Is there anything I'm forgetting?

:
Specs (tentative)Comments
AMD K6-2 400-450Seems to be the best price/performance right now. I've seen processor/mobo combos for under $100. I think it'll run all the games I'm interested in (classic early 80's mostly).
Motherboard w/ 100MHz FSB, with button and/or keyboard power on, soft power off. AGP slot.Should I avoid on-board audio, or is that OK? Can I utilize the soft power off in DOS?
Video card: Cheap ATI
ATX power supply and drive cageI don't really need a case, right? I can just mount the mobo in the cabinet and screw a floppy and HD into the cage. On the other hand, it may not be any more expensive to get a case too. But I think I'd prefer to actually not have a case in the cabinet--is this any better for cooling?
FloppyDon't need a CD.
Hard diskAny cheap IDE oughta do it I think. MAME/ArcadeOS doesn't take up much space.
RAM: 32MBI assume this will be plenty for DOS.

: Thanks!

Make sure you can disable the onboard sound. The couple of motherboards I tried with it were "soundblaster-compatible" BUT the sound was messed up. It was very slow and out of sync with the game (Star Trek). I would try to find a real Soundblaster card if I were you. I got an AWE64 and poof! the sound is great now. As far as the case, in my area a mini case and power supply are just $5 more than just the power supply. You can always just leave the cover off and use the inner part of the case as your "cage". I have never used ATI video cards, I have a Viper 330 which works great for me. 32mb ram should be enough for the early 80's games but if you want to play later games, you will have to up the ram.



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