Video Card for MAME

[agent4877]

Hi All,

 I'm new at the hobby and was hoping to get some help. I'm currently building the computer for my first MAME cabinet, I currently have a 3GHz Core 2 Duo with 4GB of RAM .. Now I need to get a video card. Are there any suggestions? I plan on running HyperSpin as a front end and will play wide range of games from the classics to newer games like killer instinct. My cabinet will have an LCD monitor. I've read about the arcadeVGA card, but is that pointless with an LCD monitor?

I appriciate all the help!
Thanks

[paigeoliver]

Any budget card should do, mame doesn't really make much use of your video card and while hyperspin does it has been around long enough that an off the shelf $70 card should handle it fine.

[cmoses]

If your running on a LCD monitor you may want to consider running mame's HLSL feature. It will allow your LCD to emulate some of the features of a crt monitor. You don't need a top of the line card but something in the middle would be good (around $50 - $70).  I am building a cocktail cabinet and will be using a 19" LCD monitor. My PC has a nVidia 9600 GT in it and it runs HLSL fine at 1280x1024. HLSL requires directx 9.0c and pixel shader 3.0. So keep that in mind.

Do some searching for HLSL and you will see that it can make a LCD look more respectable.


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[Gray_Area]

Any budget card should do, mame doesn't really make much use of your video card and while hyperspin does it has been around long enough that an off the shelf $70 card should handle it fine.

MAME handles more than ever, particulary effects and artwork shown in-game (bezels, etc). There are some other things I've seen Arby mention....so, for current MAME, no GPU use is becoming a myth.

[LeedsFan]

Any budget card should do, mame doesn't really make much use of your video card and while hyperspin does it has been around long enough that an off the shelf $70 card should handle it fine.

MAME handles more than ever, particulary effects and artwork shown in-game (bezels, etc). There are some other things I've seen Arby mention....so, for current MAME, no GPU use is becoming a myth.

I would tend to agree with this, certainly if you want to use the HLSL feature.

I bought a GeForce 6200 carb as it has Pixel Shader 3.0 supprt (needed for HLSL) but in reality the card cannot handle it. With HLSL turned off Mame works like a charm. 100% speed etc. and I'll probably just end up using the old scanlines effect.

For the actual ROM emulation and the gameplay on screen then it is totally CPU related.

[sandheaver]

Any budget card should do, mame doesn't really make much use of your video card and while hyperspin does it has been around long enough that an off the shelf $70 card should handle it fine.

MAME handles more than ever, particulary effects and artwork shown in-game (bezels, etc). There are some other things I've seen Arby mention....so, for current MAME, no GPU use is becoming a myth.

Original post said nothing about HLSL, don't blame paigeoliver for not bringing it up.  He's right if you don't worry about HLSL, and and maybe he's right anyway.

Artwork doesn't tax the GPU much at all.  You're right that HLSL does, though.

[agent4877]

Thanks for all the help .. I was able to get an nvidia GT630 cheap. It really made a difference running hyperspin

Just have a follow up question regarding the following

HLSL requires directx 9.0c and pixel shader 3.0. So keep that in mind.

Do I need directx 9.0c? Or can it be higher? .. directx 11 is also good?

Thanks

[Gray_Area]

Good. No reason not to go with something somewhat contemporary. Higher's fine, if the card can handle it. The card specs'll say what it supports.

By the way, resolution is a big factor in HLSL dogging a system or no. Basically, above 1024x768 you need at least a Geforce 7 card.

[Angus]

Does anyone have an examples of a sub 200 dollar card that can currently be purchased that would work well?  Some of these cards look older and can no longer be found and i don't know how to compare them to current offerings.

Thaks!

[EMDB]

You could just use a simple card and run MAME without any effects and let this be handled by an additional piece of hardware like the mini SLG (scan line generator) : http://forum.arcadecontrols.com/index.php/topic,128970.0.html

 

 

The screen images are from my personal build: http://forum.arcadecontrols.com/index.php/topic,130690.msg1358280.html#msg1358280

It looks great and your PC is not burdened by this and all for a fraction of the cost of a hi-end graphics card.

[404]

Any budget card should do, mame doesn't really make much use of your video card and while hyperspin does it has been around long enough that an off the shelf $70 card should handle it fine.

FYI hyperspin doesn't make use of the gpu. It does not use the flash 10.1 actionscript API.

[lettuce]

Would a ATI x600 card handle HLSL?

[404]

Would a ATI x600 card handle HLSL?

short answer. no

it requires a card with pixel shader model 3

[lettuce]

Would a ATI x600 card handle HLSL?

short answer. no

it requires a card with pixel shader model 3

Ah ok, i need a pixel shader model 3 card with a VGA socket, any suggestions?

[404]

Would a ATI x600 card handle HLSL?

short answer. no

it requires a card with pixel shader model 3

Ah ok, i need a pixel shader model 3 card with a VGA socket, any suggestions?

absolutely

Here is the threshold of Pixel Shader 3.0 support and up

ATI  Radeon x1000 Series and up.
Geforce 6000 Series and up.

You can get any of these cards dirt cheap second hand on ebay and PC enthusiasts forums.

I've never personally used HLSL so i really can't recommend a specific card for you to use. Some nice forum members in this thread have already chimed in. Using their trials you can set your sights on a Geforce 7 series card. The ATI Equivalent to a Geforce 7 series card is an ATI 3000 series card.

[sublimejhn]

It doesn't take much, I bought mine back in November because it was $50 after rebate, and I see they still have the same rebate if you don't mind messing with those. Works well for everything I've thrown at it

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814125403

[404]

It doesn't take much, I bought mine back in November because it was $50 after rebate, and I see they still have the same rebate if you don't mind messing with those. Works well for everything I've thrown at it

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814125403

quite the sexy card for 50 bucks

most of the newer cards, even some of the more low spec models can push pixel shader 3 in their sleep.