Hello bros, I wanted to make a thread about a recently finished project of mine, a "MAME" Arcade machine. Here is a video:
This is my 2nd build, and I wanted to document some thoughts, maybe it'll be useful to someone else, or to myself if I decide to make a 3rd one in the future.
IMO the best (and cheapest) way is to find an old, broken arcade machine on Craigslist (or letgo, etc), rip out the old parts, spray paint it, and then add new parts (monitor, PC, etc). I did this on my first built
The 2nd option (and still very cheap) is to cut the wood yourself. I have zero woodworking skills so this wasn't an option.
The 3rd option is to buy a precut kit which you can then assemble & add parts. This is what I did for the build above.
Hardware:
Parts:
~1. RecRoomMasters Cocktail Build Kit ($300) recroommasters.com
~2. RRM Controls ($200) recroommasters.com
~3. Two 19" monitors ($70) eBay.
~4. Fan ($20) Amazon
~5. 500GB SSD (Had a spare, they're about $50 now) Amazon
~6. Volume Control ($20) Amazon
~7. Vinyl artwork design ($50) I had this done by THK on the hyperspin-fe.com forums
~8. Old Dell OptiPlex PC (I had a spare, you can get these for well under $100 on Craigslist or eBay)
Total cost:
~9. Custom top to house 2 monitors ($100) Had a local guy cut this (could have been avoided if I went with smaller monitors)
~10. Power switch ($10) Amazon
Altogether: $820
I could have built it for a lot less if I rehabbed an old arcade, or if I knew woodworking.
Software:
Hyperspin front end (hyperspin-fe.com)
Windows 7 (I used software & registry edits to hide all traces of it)
MAME emulator
A lot of other emulators
EmuMovies.com for the video clips
This took more time than anything. I recommend making it as simple to use as possible; This means a switch to turn it all on at once, using only a few emulators, and making sure you hide Windows as much as possible. You don't want someone accidentally getting out of the front-end and messing up your build! If I had to do it over, I'd probably set it up to work only with Arcade (MAME) games, since that's all my family plays anyway.
I hope this is useful to someone; I typed this up quickly as I'm inbetween work appointments, but I will be checking back, so feel free to ask any questions!
This is my 2nd build, and I wanted to document some thoughts, maybe it'll be useful to someone else, or to myself if I decide to make a 3rd one in the future.
IMO the best (and cheapest) way is to find an old, broken arcade machine on Craigslist (or letgo, etc), rip out the old parts, spray paint it, and then add new parts (monitor, PC, etc). I did this on my first built
The 2nd option (and still very cheap) is to cut the wood yourself. I have zero woodworking skills so this wasn't an option.
The 3rd option is to buy a precut kit which you can then assemble & add parts. This is what I did for the build above.
Hardware:
Parts:
~1. RecRoomMasters Cocktail Build Kit ($300) recroommasters.com
~2. RRM Controls ($200) recroommasters.com
~3. Two 19" monitors ($70) eBay.
~4. Fan ($20) Amazon
~5. 500GB SSD (Had a spare, they're about $50 now) Amazon
~6. Volume Control ($20) Amazon
~7. Vinyl artwork design ($50) I had this done by THK on the hyperspin-fe.com forums
~8. Old Dell OptiPlex PC (I had a spare, you can get these for well under $100 on Craigslist or eBay)
Total cost:
~9. Custom top to house 2 monitors ($100) Had a local guy cut this (could have been avoided if I went with smaller monitors)
~10. Power switch ($10) Amazon
Altogether: $820
I could have built it for a lot less if I rehabbed an old arcade, or if I knew woodworking.
Software:
Hyperspin front end (hyperspin-fe.com)
Windows 7 (I used software & registry edits to hide all traces of it)
MAME emulator
A lot of other emulators
EmuMovies.com for the video clips
This took more time than anything. I recommend making it as simple to use as possible; This means a switch to turn it all on at once, using only a few emulators, and making sure you hide Windows as much as possible. You don't want someone accidentally getting out of the front-end and messing up your build! If I had to do it over, I'd probably set it up to work only with Arcade (MAME) games, since that's all my family plays anyway.
I hope this is useful to someone; I typed this up quickly as I'm inbetween work appointments, but I will be checking back, so feel free to ask any questions!
