Which version of MAME best for "potato" PCs?

[DaveC1964]

So from what I heard MAME gets more and more resource hungry with every release.  If I just want to run classic games (1990s and older) what is the best performing MAME version running on weak spec PCs such as AMD 6800H and other SOC used in handhelds like ROG Ally, Steam Deck, GPD Win etc?  If I go too old I miss out on features, too new and it is too laggy.  Any recommendations?

[Lordmonkus]

Mame gets more resource intensive because it gets more accurate and accuracy requires more CPU power.

For lower end hardware not capable of the more recent versions of Mame check out the Mame 2003 Plus core in Retroarch which has a rom set specifically for it or the Final Burn Neo core in Retroarch.

[DaveC1964]

2 hours ago, Lordmonkus said:

Mame gets more resource intensive because it gets more accurate and accuracy requires more CPU power.

For lower end hardware not capable of the more recent versions of Mame check out the Mame 2003 Plus core in Retroarch which has a rom set specifically for it or the Final Burn Neo core in Retroarch.

Do you know how to get it to work with LB?  I tried that first (2003 plus in RA) and when I selected the game nothing happened.  I assumed maybe it was because LB didn't like that old version.  The games imported, box art loaded, but it doesn't seem to work.  The category was arcade with retroarch as the emulator.  I am guessing it isn't loading the right core but I don't know how to tell it to.  I also then tried the MAME standalone for 2003 and had the same result, nothing loaded.

Edited January 31 by DaveC1964

[Lordmonkus]

You probably have the check box for extracting zip files enabled, that needs to be off for Mame and FBA games.

Easiest solution is to add another entry of RA to LB with that unzip roms box unchecked, you can use the same install of RA.