Seperate Pinball X and Arcade Machines (1 Computer) ?

[Aussie141414]

Have been thinking about making a seperate Virtual Pinball Table and 2 Player Arcade Emulator Machine with one computer system.  Both machines would be connected by one computer between both cabinets.  Is this possible?  

My build would consist of:

GPU	MSI GeForce GTX 1080 GAMING X 8GB
CPU	i5-7600K Kaby Lake Quad-Core 3.8 GHz
Motherboard	MSI Z270 GAMING PRO LGA 1151 Intel Z270
RAM	HyperX Fury 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR4 2400MHz
PS	EVGA SuperNOVA 750 G2 220-G2-0750-XR 80+ GOLD 750W
Storage HDD	WD Black 5TB
OS HDD	SAMSUNG 850 EVO 2.5" 500GB SATA III

 

• Virtual Pinball table would be running a 43 inch 4K playfield, 1080p backglass and DMD.
• Arcade Machine would be running a 43inch 4K screen.
• Both systems would only physically be connect by USB's and HDMI's.

Has this been done or attempted before and would the above system have enough grunt to run both.

My thought behind this is to not double down and purcahse two seperate systems.

[Draco1962]

I think it would be maybe possible, and here comes the big BUT...

- You would only be able to play one at a time due to frontend and application focus demands.

- IF you were able to overcome the above, and some how got it working, you would run into interference of two or more sets of inputs from both cabs.

If you really want a decent arcade cab for MAME and a few other systems (laser disc games, Sega Model 2 & 3 games as an example), you would be better off with a previous gen CPU/GPU combo running GameEx Arcade edition and save yourself a lot of headaches and premature greying and balding.

[Draco1962]

Another negative to consider (not that the previous are not enough to discourage you).

- if the PC crashes, both cabs are down for the count. Same goes for maintenance, backups, etc.

I don't think that it would be worth the effort when considering the immense cons associated with the endeavor.

[Aussie141414]

Thanks for the input Draco1962; greatly appreciated.  

I was thinking they may work at the same time as the Virtual Pinball is very GPU resource hungry, whilst the Arcade would be more CPU resource hungry.

I was thinking I could run the playfield, backglass and Arcade screen off the video card and run the DMD off the onboard video card.

Can you try to pinpoint where the above specs may become a shortfall?  Maybe purchase only 1080p screens for the whole systems and ditch the 4K screens to lessen the burden on the GPU?

I can see this new hobby is going to be an expensive one; but well worth it.

[Draco1962]

It is going to become a shortfall as soon as you apply power. You need separate PCs for separate cabs.Just the nature of the beast.

[rtkiii]

I have a pin cab and arcade cabinet and sure you could do it but like DRAC mentioned you'd only be able to play one at a time.  Plus MAME setups really do not need something super beefy at all.  So I'd look for a used PC like 3.0 GB Single process with 512 MB video card and you should be good.  Now 3D style arcade gemas typically cause issues but I find that age of gaming to be ugly anyway

[Aussie141414]

Thanks guys.  Looks like its going to be two machines with two computers.  Now to decide; Virtual Pin or Arcade first.

Cheers.