i would love to have a Mame arcade,  i already have a computer and an arcade mnitor, all i need is everything else (arcade cabinet, wiring,arcade control panel,etc) and someone to put it togther , since i know nothing about electronics. Just wondering if there are people in montreal area that do this sort of thing.


Just let me know how much it would cost, basically i can furnish the arcade monitor and computer, so please if u can help me, id appreciate it, thanks.

jim

Expect to pay quite a bit if you have someone put one together for you...

As Cooke mentioned in a previous message, look for a cheap Jamma cab with monitor & control panel ($100-$150), and go from there.

check out http://www.byoac.com. It's a good starting point to see what's involved in putting a MAME system together.

If you really don't want to do it yourself... check the classifieds for one to pop up...

You're looking at $600 - $1200, depending on the PC speed. (that's a ballpark.... they can go way higher)

Made a MAME for my sister last summer with a cheap cabinet (19 inches monitor).

Did kept the 2 players with 3 buttons each cp that was on it. Bought a JPAC and found an arcade resolution compatible videocard. Costed me 550$ IN PARTS...

With the time involved installing mame on the pc and making sure everything is working etc not beeing calculated. It would have been a good 800$ if i had to resell it...

If you want to keep costs down, you're MUCH better to build one yourself.

It's not as bad as it looks.
Here is a very quick and dirty way of doing it
(NB. It's not "elegant" but it's easy and pretty cheap )

1- Get MAME working on your PC.
(This can be as easy or hard as you want it to be.
Mame32 for Windows isn't the best front-end, but it's easy )
Most older classic games (up to mid/late 1908's) will work fine with a P2/200Mhz.
If you want the more complex games (K1/2. MK4, )
you'll need at least a P3 / 1Ghz, P4 /1.2+ Ghz would be better

2- You can use your arcade monitor if you want,
but you'll need a PC video card that work work those old monitors,
or you'll need one of these   :http://www.ultimarc.com/avgainf.html

OR

Use any old PC video card that has an RCA video out or S-Video out
and any old TV you have kicking around.
(...this is what I'm doing with an old 27" TV )
No screen burn, relatively cheap (compared to same size arcade monitors)
and very easy to install.

3- Then for your cabinet and controls, find yourself
a 2-player Jamma cab ($100-150), and buy one of these :
http://www.ultimarc.com/jpac.html

Then just plug everything up.
You shouldn't even need to solder anything !
(The J-Pac conenctor plugs-into your PC like a keyboard and connects
into the Jamma harness of the Jamma Cab .  Done ! )


With any luck, you can get away with spending $300 or less....
(... not counting the PC .. ! )

If you're looking to have someone build one for you,
you're looking at $800 +

Good Luck.
Steph

Yup I will agree with the others that it would be cheaper (and more fun) to build it yourself. And by building it yourself, it will help you learn basically how arcade machines work. I knew quite a bit about arcade machines before I built my mame, but I learned a lot of new stuff doing it myself.

The costs all depend on many factors like what parts you already have, the type of parts you want for your mame (controls like joysticks, trackballs, spinners, etc), and also the quality.

When I built my mame, I bought pretty much the best I could find. In the end I have a sweet looking and working mame. Cost me approximately $1000 in parts, aside from the stuff I already had and the things given to me (like a old, but good working computer from JD )

My mame project:
http://archive.maaca.org/s107351202.onlinehome.us/cgi-bin/Blah/Blah.pl?m-1122750989/

I have heard of people being able to build a mame for $200, which sounds like a great deal, but the end product was pretty cheap (it worked, but looked like mess).

I would say about $800 too for someone to put one together for you.

Below is a picture of my mame. An old picture where I still had a few things to do it (I haven't gotten around to taking a new picture).

BZM

At the risk of sounding a little cyincal, if you intend to make video games a hobby, you may want to educate yourself and do some research on how they work and how to make basic repairs. Otherwise, you'll find yourself with a large piece of useless furniture that collects a lot of dust.

No offense intended.  

Quoted from cooke

At the risk of sounding a little cyincal, if you intend to make video games a hobby, you may want to educate yourself and do some research on how they work and how to make basic repairs. Otherwise, you'll find yourself with a large piece of useless furniture that collects a lot of dust.

No offense intended.  

Im offended!  

I like my dust.

$1000 from scratch (cutting from sheets of MDF) and up for me.

As usual, I always go a bit overload with the video and sound card (which would of have saved some $$) but the sub-woofer system definitely worth the $200!

http://guystuff.fanspace.com/photo.html

Brian

I built my own from scratch.  Ordered pushbuttons, joys, trackball online, bought MDF at home depot.... etc.  

I found out that the cheapest route is to spend up to about 250-300 on a working cabinet with a crappy title in it, where most of the joysticks and buttons, coin door etc are in working order.  Strip down the cab and refurbish it.  This is, of course, considering that you have a computer that you're have or are about to retire.  A mame cab is a better life for an old computer than sitting in the basement or dump.

I spent about $200 on controls.  About $200 on MDF and lumber. Plus the intangible costs like purchasing a router, some clamps, glue, paint.  Acrylic.  Would have been cheaper to but my mame computer in a refurb. cab.  

Of course I did get to design my own.

http://forum.arcadecontrols.com/index.php?topic=43253.0

Here's my BYOAC Thread

It'd be nice if the links to pictures actually worked.  You should consider hosting your pics somewhere that's not bandwidth limited..

Mike

Well as i say it depends if you already have parts to build an mame machine..

Quoted from MrMikeman

It'd be nice if the links to pictures actually worked.  You should consider hosting your pics somewhere that's not bandwidth limited..

Mike

I won't derail the thread by starting a bitchfest about Rogers and how they sold the web services to yahoo, and now I have to put up with crap like no hot linking and limited bandwidth.  Guess I should eat another montly expense and get some web hosting.

Really??  I didn't realize Rogers did that.  OK Now that sucks..

The pictures did work the second time I tried..  Cool MAME!

Mike

Hey, thanks.  I'd offer to sell it to you, but I assembled it in the basement, and I'm not even sure if it will fit up the stairs.  That's how I keep my wife from telling me to get rid of it  

ok. So to start off I will need the Arcade VGA http://www.ultimarc.com/avgainf.html
aswell as the J-Pac http://www.ultimarc.com/jpac.html , just curious will I need an I-Pac http://www.ultimarc.com/ipac1.html  too? No I'm not being sarcastic...

A J-pac will convert the monitor signals.

You dont need both a Jpac and AracadeVGA....one or the other.