CGA vs. VGA

[Calawala]

Bring out yer favorite beating stick, I've got a dead horse here...

I'm building a mame cocktail cabinet so I am resistricted to 19" monitors.  I am in the research phase and was looking for peoples opinion on whether I should go CGA (arcade monitor) or VGA (PC).    Specificaly I was looking at  Wells-Gardner U3100 for VGA, which has a native 640 x 200 mode, but at 30khz refresh.  If I went CGA, it opens the possible monitors up a bit (WG K7200, WG K7300, Happs Vision Pro).

Is there a big difference with picture quality using a CGA monitor for arcade games (w/ArcadeVGA card)?

Anyone have a rough idea on how many games use the CGA resolutions vs higher standards (EGA, VGA)?  Or maybe a better way to ask it is if I go with CGA, will I be limiting myself out of a lot of games?  Even better, if anyone knows if there is anywhere I could find specifically which games use which standards (without having to load Mame up).

Thanks everyone,

Calawala

[StephenH]

Most arcade games are CGA res.  A few games used EGA and VGA, but not the majority.     If you do go CGA, it is worth buying ArcadeVGA.

If you go with a VGA only display, you will need hardware stretch

[bloodyviking77]

Is there a big difference with picture quality using a CGA monitor for arcade games (w/ArcadeVGA card)?

yes!! no amount of fancy filters/effects applied to a stretched vga display matches the picture of a standard res (CGA) monitor. No contest IMO.

The arcadeVGA is very popular and seems to be a great way to go, too (haven't got one yet myself - I use advmame).

But note that using a real arcade monitor will be a (fair bit) more expensive  solution than using an old 19" pc monitor that you can pick up for basically nothing.

Comes down to what you prefer and what you are willing to spend.