ArcadeVGA

[yuppicide]

Has anyone ever built a MAME cabinet using the ArcadeVGA card from Ultimarc?

 

http://www.ultimarc.com/avgainf.html

 

I am just wondering how well it works?

 

I mean, I don't know exactly what video card it is exactly. I did ask him a year or two back what kind of card it was and how much video memory.. I forget what he said, but I do remember it was an outdated card model.

 

I am thinking a better video card should be better.

[+remowilliams]

Could be quite wrong, but that sticker on it might indicate that its a Radeon 9250 / 128MB card.

[Plink]

I have one of the AGP ones in my cabinet.

 

They are some sort of ATI, don't have a clue about the specific model. I think it has 128 mb memory (but not certain about that).

Also it has it's own special windows driver ..

 

The card actually decreases the output to 15khZ so the arcade monitor can handle the pc signal.

It works quite well in low resolutions, even windows are useable...

 

If you want to use a real arcade monitor with a mame pc ...then the arcade vga is a one way road

[yuppicide]

128mb sounds correct from that he's told me a year or two ago.

 

But here's my question. Emulation requires a better CPU on some games.. such as something like Rival Schools or graphic intense stuff as opposed to old games.

 

For the stuff in MAME that requires more CPU power does the ArcadeVGA card do good or would I be better getting a better video card and just using a LCD monitor?

Edited May 10, 2009 by yuppicide

[Rybags]

A better video card makes practically no difference in MAME, except for some 3D games.

 

I don't quite get this... you can do custom modes on ATI/nVidia cards, and interlaced ones at that. No idea if you can get down to 15 KHz though... I've never really tried since modern monitors don't handle it too well.

[telengard]

Has anyone ever built a MAME cabinet using the ArcadeVGA card from Ultimarc?

 

http://www.ultimarc.com/avgainf.html

 

I am just wondering how well it works?

 

I mean, I don't know exactly what video card it is exactly. I did ask him a year or two back what kind of card it was and how much video memory.. I forget what he said, but I do remember it was an outdated card model.

 

I am thinking a better video card should be better.

 

Do you have an arcade or PC monitor?

 

I spent a lot of time considering putting this into my cabinet. It seems to be pretty plug and play, and he makes great stuff (I have an OptiPac and I-PAC in my cab). I opted for a standard video card upgrade instead and found a very cool program that can do all of the lower resolutions by just changing the registry. It works *excellent* with an arcade monitor. I was coming from a standard PC monitor and the difference is amazing for raster games.

 

This is what I use:

 

Soft 15Khz

 

~telengard

Edited May 11, 2009 by telengard

[Plink]

Of course there are software solutions/hacks to drop hz's in half....but I personally wouldn't trust that solution for my precious arcade monitor.

 

Especially here in Greece, real arcade monitors are ultra hard to find, so imo the ArcadeVGA is the perfect solution if you can spent the cash and don't want to get into the hassle of hacking registries and risking the good operation of your monitor.

 

If you can use an Arcade monitor...then DO IT.....do not consider using a crappy lcd screen if you can!!!

 

As for the card power, as already stated, mame mostly uses cpu power...so the 128 should be more than enough for everything.

I've never found a mame game that cannot run flawlessly with arcade vga

[+remowilliams]

They are some sort of ATI, don't have a clue about the specific model.

Then it's almost certainly what I posted above - an ATI Radeon 9250 / 128MB card.

[yuppicide]

Well, I don't have a computer or arcade monitor for my MAME. I was just thinking which would be better to purchase for games. I just figure newer video card must make things run better.

[youki]

Don't buy an ArcadeVGA for that.

 

The ArcadeVGA is really usefull to play classic arcade game from mame on a real Arcade Cabinet 15khz monitor.

 

Otherwise tons of video a card are better.

 

The ArcadeVGA most of native arcade video game resolution built'in , when you use it in combination of mame and arcade monitor the result is really good.

 

I have one in my arcade cabinet and i love it!. But for general gaming , 3d games etc..etc.. the card is no more than a ATI Radeo 9200 (or something like that).