Advice for a MAME Computer for use with D9200

[Hexray2]

My MAME computer was recently stolen and I'm looking for advice on what hardware I should be considering for building a new MAME computer.  The computer that was stolen had a Pentium 4 3GHZ and an ATI x600 (or maybe an x300) video card.  It was running Windows 98 SE with Groovymame and was connected to a WG D9200 monitor.  I was very happy with the setup and all the games looked great in their native resolution/video mode.  Luckily, they did not steal the monitor so I just need to replace the computer.

I was hoping to try and re-create something close to my old computer but the hardware is ancient and difficult to find (or very expensive).  Can anyone give some advice on what hardware/operating system would give the best results for Groovymame on a D9200?

[Hexray2]

I may have been able to answer my own question while reading some other threads on this forum.

I'm currently thinking to build a Windows 7 based PC with an ATI 5450 card with a VGA port.  Something like this:

https://www.amazon.com/Diamond-Multimedia-Express-Graphics-5450PE31G/dp/B006MBP7R2

I'm assuming the video card is really the key component in terms of getting GroovyMame/CRT Emudriver to be able to use proper video modes of the D9200 and that the CPU/RAM/etc won't have an impact.

Does this seem like a reasonable setup?

[buttersoft]

Well, the CPU and system are what you're running GroovyMAME on, but they don't need to be huge. It's the GPU that's key for video modes and installing  crt_emudriver though, yes.

I would recommend Win10 as being newer and faster in general.

[psakhis]

Hi,
a 5450 AMD card it's fine; i recommend you GroovyArcade.

[markran]

About a year ago I upgraded my 10 year old CRT MAME cabinet which is based around a 27" Wells Gardner D9400. The "right" CPU/GPU combo depends on what you want to emulate. Previously I'd only run GroovyMAME on that cabinet but after the upgrade I wanted to add some other console emulation targets, mostly Sega Genesis / Saturn but possibly a select few PS2 / N64 / DC titles suitable for Arcade cabinet-style play.

Here's the system I went with:

• CPU: i5-4590 CPU @ 3.30GHz / 8GB RAM / SSD + HD / Win10
• GPU: ATI R9 380X OC (factory overclocked version)

I bought a used HP ProDesk 600 G1 on Ebay with SSD boot drive and Win10 Pro pre-installed for ~$120 and added an HD I already had for ROM storage. The 380X GPU is the *last* & fastest card ever made with an analog output (which is only on one of the two DVI connectors). They are somewhat rare but I found one for $100 on Ebay, a bit steep for this era of card (2016) but I wanted to get the max possible GPU power to 4x upscale a few 3D PS2 titles to an internal res of 1600 x 1200 for analog display on the D9400 at non-interlaced 800 x 600 @59.94fps  - while keeping that visual retro magic only an analog component signal on a quality multisync RGB CRT can give.

Note: The 4GB RAM R9380x (2016) and the earlier 3GB RAM R9 280x (2014) are nearly identical in performance (2013-2016 was a weird era in Radeon evolution), so those looking for the best analog output card ever made can choose either one. The 280x has the advantage of a wider memory bus (384 bits) but runs hotter, while the 380x (memory bus: 256 bits) has the advantage of the more recent Tonga / GCN 1.2 architecture with texture compression and faster tessellation. This works out to be within a few percent in FPS depending on the game according to reviews published at the time (380x +4% to -2% vs 280x). Also, be aware the similar-sounding 390/390x cards can cause confusion because they were faster than the 380x and 280x but didn't have analog out (despite some product spec listings erroneously saying they had DVI-I, actual photos of their DVI connector reveals they don't have the extra four analog pins and are thus DVI-D (for digital-only vs "DVI-I" for both analog & digital). The 280x and 380x both look like this:



But the 390/390X look like this:

[Hexray2]

Thank you everyone for your input and thank you markran for the detailed information on the video cards.  My only goal is to run MAME using authentic resolution/refresh rates but it looks like I can get one of the 390/280 for not too much more than the HD 5450 so seems like I may as well just go for one of those.

[markran]

For just standard MAME on CRT and fifth generation consoles (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fifth_generation_of_video_game_consoles), most post-2010 Radeon GPUs (ie HD 5000 and up) should be more than fast enough. Generally, MAME is more CPU hungry than GPU hungry. Before the 380x I had a 9250 ArcadeVGA card (2006) and it was fine for MAME. It's only if you ever get into sixth generation consoles (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sixth_generation_of_video_game_consoles) that GPU can sometimes matter. Just make sure you get up to a 380x but NOT a 390 (as it doesn't have analog out).

And enjoy sharing that sweet retro bliss with family and friends!

[fuchi_jeg]

Thank you everyone for your input and thank you markran for the detailed information on the video cards.  My only goal is to run MAME using authentic resolution/refresh rates but it looks like I can get one of the 390/280 for not too much more than the HD 5450 so seems like I may as well just go for one of those.

Make sure you get a 380 and not the 390. They are generally $50 to $100 on ebay depending on the market at the time. 

[Hexray2]

Thank you for the reminder on 380 vs 390! I ended up getting this card on eBay:

https://www.ebay.com/itm/155232625870

I can see in the picture the DVI port on the bottom has the extra four pins on the connector so hopefully I should be good to go!

[markran]

Awesome! Enjoy!