Is it worth going the extra mile to use a proper PC in a cabinet

I dunno, power consumption and boot time are the biggest deal breakers.

But I personally absolutely hate the boot screen of any computer. I'd much rather push power on and get the game loaded instantly. No "welcome to fucking windows" or raspberry pi matrix screen or retro pie menu or lakka gui.

The Pi can only do so much. Going beyond the 4th generation will bring you troubles. A PC is way more expensive but you'll really have no limits on what you can emulate.

Yes. Yes, it is worth going the extra mile of finding a slim used PC or a laptop for a MAME cabinet over using a Raspberry Pi. You are fucking retarded to even need to ask that question. The only reason I ca/n imagine is that you plan to do other retarded things like use a USB joystick and a composite display but the PC

>>3077929
>A PC is way more expensive

Even some $30 eMachine from a decade ago is going to emulate way better than a Pi could.

>>3077943

If you're going to buy a PC for emulation then you're best off getting a rig that can handle 6th and 7th gen games. Why pussyfoot around?

>>3077929
>A PC is way more expensive
It depends on how many reusable parts you already have. Try looking around for a case or drives.
A new Mobo and CPU are $60 together, RAM is $20 and a PSU $40.
All in all maybe twice as expensive as a Pi with all necessities but magnitudes more capable.

>>3077948
Because you're comparing a $20 craigslist tier PC to a $300+ PC and it's still not going to run most 6th & 7th gen console games. Quit shitposting.

>>3077954
>it's still not going to run most 6th & 7th gen console games.

Who said anything about console games?

>>3077970
You did when you started talking generations, Moron.

>>3078035

Generations apply to PC games as well too, moron.

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>>3078036

OP, use whatever computer you have around. If don't have a computer around, the Pi 3 will do fine. The hard part is building the cabinet -- switching the computer out afterwards is easy if you decide you need to do so.

>>3078047

Everybody point and laugh at this fucking idiot.

Console games have PC ports, dipshit. SFIV is a 7th generation game and you can get it on a PC. Having SFIV in an arcade cab is a pretty good reason to use a proper gaming PC instead of a cheapo Craigslist shitbox.

>>3078059
So you ARE talking about console games. In that case, see
>>3077954
Even including the decent state of PS2 emulation and ALL ports, it's still not going to run most 6th & 7th gen console games. Quit shitposting.

>>3078116
>So you ARE talking about console games.

No, I'm talking about PC games that have been ported from console games which will run perfectly fine on a gaming PC.

>>3078126
that's not really relevant to the discussion of generations though. when you're talking generations on PC, the logical assumption is that you're talking about emulating them. PC games, even if they are console ports, don't have generations. It's just whatever they're compatible with, whatever era they come from, etc. and even that isn't really widely defined and accepted compared to console generations. It makes much more sense to just say "game X will run on a PC but not on pi so that's a clear upshot"

In the case of emulation, yes I'd argue that a pi wouldn't handle much past 5th gen very well. A PC would be better in the case that you wanted newer games. How new is the deciding factor of what hardware to go with past that. I'd be pretty surprised if a '10 year old emachines box' could handle PS2/GC/Wii emulation very well. It might do it, but it might not be something that you'd want to play.

>>3078126
It's probably best you just stop talking. Not only are you embarrassing yourself with your video game illiteracy you're advocating OP more than double the cost of his project for non-/vr/ reasons.

>>>/v/

>>3078059
>Having SFIV
NOT /VR/
>>>/v/

Summer kids should fuck off.

>>3077939
Maybe he uses Retroarch maymays.

>>3078164
Then he should use a Wii over a RPi

Maybe when Mame4all on the Pi is updated to the latest version.Until then, PC.

>>3078148
>that's not really relevant to the discussion of generations though.

This isn't a discussion of generations.

>when you're talking generations on PC, the logical assumption is that you're talking about emulating them. PC games, even if they are console ports, don't have generations.

No. The logical assumption is that generation is being used as a shorthand which, while not technically accurate, effectively conveys the point. The point in this case being PC games from the time period roughly parallel to certain console generations.

It makes sense if you aren't a pedantic ass with an autistic compulsion to interpet every statement 100% literally.

>It makes much more sense to just say "game X will run on a PC but not on pi so that's a clear upshot"

I'm not talking about just one game, I'm talking about an entire era (or two) of games. Thats why I used console terminology.

>>3078201
Seriously stop talking you're both wrong and off-topic

>>3078206

Nope.

>>3077939
>You are fucking retarded to even need to ask that question.
I don't get this. The RP3 is reasonably powerful for thirty bucks. What's wrong with it, besides muh hipster reddit shill or w/e?

>>3078201

There's no need for name-calling either, this isn't /v/

It's understandable that you would think that your assumption was correct, but clearly it wasn't as it spawned this entire thread of discussion.

Going back and re-reading it, it seems that your writing was just poorly executed. You say (I assume since I can't REALLY know for sure unless you say so):

>"if you're going to buy a PC for emulation then you're best off getting a rig that can handle 6th and 7th gen games."

This might have made sense if PC games were already part of the discussion, but if you read the posts leading up to yours, you'll notice that only consoles were really being talked about. Even the OP pic is console-themed. Combine that with the speech about raspPi and you get a mindset that is decidedly console-focused. There was no precedent for your comment to be understood as a PC-related one, because there was no precedent for the discussion of PC games in this thread until you yourself introduced it. As much as you wanted to use generations as shorthand for discussing similar-time period PC games, there was no basis on which anyone could have gotten that impression as you intended it, based on the previous discussion matter and based on what you said.

The correct thing to do there would have been to clarify that you were discussing the upshots of an old PC comparable in price to a raspPi being able to not only better emulate certain sets of old games, but also be able to play some PC games released around the same time as the PC was made, something that a raspPi clearly would not be able to do. The comment you made was wise, it just assumed too much about the existing conversation, and didn't introduce enough relevant new information. It's just unfortunate that the resulting chain of posts became so emotionally charged and divisive. I only hope that we can move past this now and continue the thread in a calm and orderly manner.

>>3078246

Fuck off cunt, I'm done with you and this thread of aspies.

Nah, it's not really worth it. You have to put a bit more effort in, and when you're stupid enough to be building something as utterly meaningless as a cabinet, you might as well save a bit of time on your pointless piece of "nerd cred".

There's nothing that disgusts me more than emulation boxes. Buy or build yourself a decent arcade stick, mount it in a fucking table if you want it rock solid, but why encase it all in a bunch of wood?

If you're building something, at least make it neat. Some guy building his own Pinball machine or something, that takes a lot of work and dedication. Hooking up a stick to a computer with a MAME pack, and then chucking it in a box is pointless.

>>3078419
>Some guy building his own Pinball machine
Jesus Christ you don't ask for much do you?

Building a MAME machine is actually a fairly noble pursuit even to those of us who own arcade hardware but 95% of us will tell you that the most important part is getting the display right which means sending real RGB at the proper frequency to a CRT monitor which is something you absolutely need to be using a PC to do right, although you can get pretty nice results cheaply from a Wii too.

That's basically why I started my replies ITT by telling OP he was retarded right out of the gate for even thinking about using a fucking Raspberry Pi.

>>3078430
What's the point? Arcade cabinets have the shape because of the way they were used. There's no real reason to restrict yourself to that in your own home.

>>3078419
>>3078445

Yeah, whats the point having a nice emulation box that looks nice, makes better use of space and can be moved around as easily as an iMac. It's much better to just have a bunch of shit lying around. /s

Having everything self-contained in a single unit is not only much better aesthetically, it also lets you use dedicated components in a more practical and space-efficient design while also mimicing the physical experience of playing on an arcade cabinet, which you don't get by sitting on a couch holding a fight stick staring at a TV mounted on the wall. And if you build a bartop like in the OP it's even portable.

Theres no fucking reason not to do it, if you can afford the (pretty minimal) costs.

>>3078430
This guy gets it. Use a wii. Spend the extra dosh on a p/bvm.

>>3078445
Yes, form follows function I agree but there is a certain small allowance to be made for aesthetics. A small entertainment center with a CRT sitting on it, its own powered sound system and a fixed arcade stick is going to be basically the size and shape of an arcade cabinet anyway so why not give it the style to go along with it? Lighted marquees are cool too and also can take the place of a floor lamp.

>>3078430
Sure, but there's no possible reason to put it in a fucking cabinet aside from as a conversation piece. By all means, connect an old PC up to an RGB monitor if that's what you're into.

>>3078448
Oh, yeah, 20+" CRTs are super portable. If you need to wheel it around, buy a fucking cart. If you wanted the "actual experience", you wouldn't be using MAME.

>>3078460
There's no style. An actual cabinet has style. I could stretch to something like gutting a shitty JAMMA cab for swapping out games. Building a cabinet, or worse, taking a decent game and butchering it to stick MAME in on a fucking LCD makes me want to cave your head in.

>>3078479

Lol @ how mad this fag is getting over nothing.

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>>3078479
>There's no style.

Yeah OK buddy

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>>3078479
>There's no style. An actual cabinet has style
Dude traditional American style cabinets are literally particle board boxes with a certain profile. That having been said I will agree that authenticity also is a small factor. My MAME project is a conversion of a Bally Sente that had already suffered multiple period conversions (to Magic Sword then to Wrestlefest) before it came to me. It has a cool looking plexi topper on it that's also a nice resonant chamber.

>>3078498
But that's a progressive scan display though so I also can't approve of that.

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Look at the total lack of style going on here. No sane person would ever want something like this in their house.

My PC and an snes controller have been serving me well enough.

>>3078513

It really doesn't matter that much.

>>3078419

I have a cabinet sitting on my bar in my basement. Everytime I have a get together or party it's a hit, people love playing with it and it's a neat experience. But I'm guessing you don't have a lot of experience with social interactions.

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>>3078498
>>3078514
>>3078517
Dudes there's definitely a limit. If this is all you want you may as well just buy this and a cheap 10" tablet and you're done.

>>3078540

What are you talking about?

>>3078542
That if all you want is a small cabinet with a modern flat display there's no point in building something from parts. You may as well use an Android plus a prefab tab cab.

>>3078556

Thats not true though.

>>3078514
I don't think a sane person would play retro games anyway

>>3078558
What are the advantages? There are literally none from a /vr/ perspective as a decent 10" tablet will play all retro games. Subjectively, there's not even a cost:benefit advantage for non-/vr/ purposes either.

>>3078587

How about the fact that it's a tiny ass 10" tablet?

>>3078587
also if you get an ipad then you can download that sick Vectrex app that supports game controllers and aims to accurately emulate all of the games they can get the rights to, including homebrew releases.

>>3078591
How big are the displays in these LCD bartops?

>>3078597
There's a Vectrex emulator for Android it even supports overlays. I know because I'm the person who converted all the overlays to the correct format for it.

>>3078598

For fullscreen, 19". For widescreen, upwards of 23".

>>3078606
Around the 20" point I'd have to go back to advocating a CRT.

>>3078619

The benefits of CRT aren't enough to offset the disadvantages but there are bartop designs that can accomodate CRT.

>>3078587
>>3078591
Tablet controls are shit, just strap keypads to your cellphone.

>>3078650
What are you talking about? The iCade is a bluetooth arcade stick dock, as should seem clear from the pic. It uses real arcade components too. Cheap ones out of the box but standard format so easily upgradeable.

>>3078624
That's subjective. At that 20" size it becomes mainly a difference of weight considering the relative depth of most of these bartops. I had no idea they were that large.

>>3078780
>bluetooth
What's the point of a wireless connection on a strapon?

>>3078832
It was made for iPads. Android compatibility was something devs added.

>>3077685
There are many reasons. Key one being a PC that can run loads of stuff more/better would add maybe $50 to the total cost. Pis are shit tier hipster shit.

>>3078780

You're right, it is subjective and I apologize for making an objective statement.

For me, the form factor is a good reason to go LCD. Part of the fun of a bartop is that instead of being a big fucking piece of furniture that sucks to move around it's relatively portable and can be sat on any countertop, table, desk, etc. With an LCD they're around 40lb. With a CRT the weight would just be insane. A CRT would also require a larger cabinet with a larger footprint, negating another advantage of the bartop.

For a full cab, CRT all the way. CRT, four planel controls, full on Frankenpanel with spinners, trackballs, etc. Thats what the full cab is for. But on a bartop less is more, and having a big heavy CRT in there defeats the purpose IMO.

>>3077685
you can buy a PC that will run everything up to dreamcast and will cost you about 50 bucks plus you can do more with a PC besides play games on it. Pis are a waste of money I've said it before.

>>3079776
A slim CRT will be a little over a foot deep and add maybe 10kg to the weight. I don't see either as a major obstacle to using one in a table top. You can get one of those little table top style controllers you stick your ipad into if you need something small that won't strain a girls back.

Jesus Christ.

OP here. What a fucked up thread.

Anyways, I've decided to go with the Pi. Before I catch a heap of shit for it, I'm going to clarify that it is going to be temporary. I already have some decent PC parts from an older gaming rig that I would like to use in a cab, but that build is still outside of my budget. With the Pi I can get a barebones cab going for much cheaper, and then when I can afford it I can buy the computer components I need and give the Pi to my little cousin.

I'm going to go with a Pi3 as well, but simply because my Arcade cabinet is already fully set up so with a NeoGeo 4slot and a jamma switch.
So I'm going to build the Pi3 into a project case with a goldfinger sticking out of it.

Pretty much my own small Mame pcb.

>>3080198
>>3080365
>our mame cabs are going to be shit
See how much easier it would have been to just type that? RPis cannot put out authentic RGB signals ergo by even putting a Pi in "temporarily" you are building the rest of the cab wrong.

Basically if you're putting a flat panel in your arcade machine and you want praised for the portability or aesthetic that offers you...
>>>/diy/

>>3080384

CRT elitism is hilarious.

>>3080386
I just don't understand why you would build an arcade machine with a smaller, shittier display in it than what you already have for your modern gaming. The logical conclusion of the line of reasoning that leads someone to build an arcade machine should be authentic recreation of the experience. Something less is just half-assed and superficial hipsterism

>>3080392

Because the overall experience of playing on a cabinet isn't defined solely by the presence of a CRT monitor.

>>3080395
Just largely

>>3080402

More like not at all.

>>3080404
So... you're saying that the entirety of the arcade experience comes from the shape of the box your monitor and arcade stick are bolted to. Okay.

>>3080420

Yep, pretty much.

>>3080395
I just played a cabinet at the theater that had an LCD, it looked terrible. Pi is dumb too. If you're going to use an LCD just get an older laptop and case it in MDF.

>>3080431
Thank you! By the time someone pays for an RPi and a monitor they could buy a used laptop and just unhinge the monitor (save extra money by buying one with already broken hinges). If they're doing it wrong anyway then they might as well do it the easiest, cheapest way to get the best possible performance.

I think a lot of people do stuff just to do it and those types of people are mysteriously drawn to RPis.

I have a crt cabinet.

>no ur a flat panel scumbag whos ruining mame cabs by using pi

>>3080441
>I think a lot of people do stuff just to do it and those types of people are mysteriously drawn to RPis.

You do realize that building things is a popular hobby, right?

>>3080447
>>>/diy/


This board is about retro gaming. If you're using completely modern hardware then it's best to only post about software. Posting hardware bearing only at best a superficial resemblance to authentic retro hardware cheapens the board.

>>3080491

That is some seriously nitpicky faggotry right there, but I'll complain.

Farewell aspies.

>>3080441
Best way, solder connections of arcade buttons to an extra USB keyboard, map the keys boot into mame. Cheap and dirty

>>3080585
USB actually has a slight delay that's why IPACs and JPACs connect via PS/2. Since you're disassembling the laptop anyway and most likely mounting the PCB parts in an inaccessible location you may as well solder to the integrated keyboard and use your USB keyboard/mouse to control Windows when and if you need them.

>>3080610
Good thinking. I have an old laptop Knight try this with if I can fix it. Want to make a cocktail style though.

>>3080441
>they could buy a used laptop

Look at this broke ass ghetto niggah, look at him and laugh.

>>3080624
...I was suggesting a vastly superior option inside the same budget as using a Raspberry Pi. It has nothing to do with my personal budget.

>>3080619
Hit up thrift stores for glass-top end tables.

>>3080624
Expense=/=performance.
Upgrade the ram, pop a ssd in it, connect an eGPU
And have an arcade cab that can play any /vr/. Could even soft 15khz and put a rgb crt monitor in it later.
https://youtu.be/bP_8EYQ-2RA

No pi is going to do that for you.

>>3077685
Go with the PC. Any old shitbox computer will work fine, and has a lot more flexibility.

>>3080624
Hi, looser. I play my emulated games on an Iphone 6S because I'm so class. I also watch uncompressed AVI videos and listen to only WAV soundtracks.

>>3080198
Pie shilling
>>>/g/

Pi is shit because you can't run hyperspin or most other half decent frontends
>building an arcade machine
>raspberry pi
>wanting to fuck around on the desktop with a mouse and keyboard tucked away everytime you boot the damn thing
Fuck no

regarding CRT monitors in cabinets, I have an old 17" CRT computer monitor, would that be capable of receiving the proper video signal for the old CGA/VGA games? Or would I need to get something older?

>>3083225
A VGA monitor won't display CGA signals generally speaking, no. They don't sync down to that low a frequency.

>>3082857
>Hyperspin

lelmeme

>>3078419
not anyone in this thread, but got links for building your own pinball machine?

I have an Alienware Alpha i3 model in my cabinet and it runs all emulators flawlessly with enhancements for ePSXE, Mupen, Project 64, Model 2, ZiNC and dosbox svn daum including post-VR emus like PCSX2, Demul, Dolphin and PPSSPP.

>>3082857
What is retropie?

>>3085704
vpforums.com

>>3077793
For an arcade machine, you're unlikely to get that.
Even arcade machines had boot screens.
To get something that real, you're looking at possibly a real arcade cabinet.

The real thing.

Good luck weary traveler.

>>3086418
He should be fine as long as he sticks to pre-CPU hardware. kek

>>3085704
i have nothing else to do for the next 10 years .com
Seriously. Maintaining them is work enough. Building one is not something you just read an instructables and do. Good luck if you wanna try. If you succeed post back here I'd love to see it. Even some of the more technically simple custom machines can look great and are impressive simply because so few people even make it that far.

>>3086626
I'm more interested in design theory and learning how all the subsystems work in conjunction with each other over actually building one, cause I don't even think I have the technical skill to build one yet

>>3086689
Learn some basics and see if you can find someone who will pay you to maintain them and build on that knowledge.

>>3085753
Dude fuck that alienware alpha shit.

>literally laptops in boxes
>No disc drives
although given exception because emulation is 99.99% digitally distributed
>HDMI only
If you're planning to do any kind of gaming on a PC, make sure the graphics card interfaces over a DVI or VGA to eliminate monitor/tv post processing and in turn reducing input delay as much as possible.

If you wanted a prebuilt, shoulda went with Syber Vapour so you can upgrade everything as you go.

>>3077685
PC, mo games

>>3088669
>literally laptops in boxes
implying that shit GPU is as powerful as an M model.

>>3089054
It's actually a rebranded GeForce 800m. Even uses a Dell laptop power cord.

>Used to have a gigantic old Pentium 4 Windows XP pc in my arcade cabinet that ran up to Dreamcast pretty decently and used hyperspin, though it was a bit laggy.
>It commited seppeku on a hot summers day
>Replaced it with a Raspberry Pi 2, and then a while later a Raspberry Pi 3, which pretty much does what the old Pentium 4 could do but at a fraction of the size and with much less power consumption and heat, (I got a mini fan case and heatsink and it never goes over 40 celcius), and has built in WiFi and Bluetooth now so even less stuff to fiddle with internally, so I can use a handheld keyboard/mouse device and PS3 controllers as an alternate control scheme.

I'll tell you one thing. Yes. You can get better emulation out of cheap PC hardware these days, but Retropie is pretty fast to setup, and in some ways easier to tinker with, and has the added benefit of learning a bit of Linux ontop.

The Pi was originally a stopgap for me, but once you get a nice theme, scrape covers, make a custom video intro, and skip the loading text, mod the thing to play music from a folder randomly whilst in the menu, and mod some of the binaries to fully support IPAC keyboard inputs, it's pretty sweet.

I just wish I had a newer IPAC, because mines an old PS/2 cable model and the USB adaptor I use has odd glitches, like sometimes moving right on P1 joystick activates the P2 start button.

Also I need to do a lot of reworking to the cabinet itself, (the paint work and control panel needs re-doing). One day I'll have a great PC cabinet and move this Pi model to a smaller, portable, custom cabinet rig, but until I have the money and time I need, Pi is OK in my book.

You get what you pay for and put into it.

>>3089706
So a GPU a little less than twice as powerful as the 650M in my 5 year old laptop.