Questions about which video card to purchase?

[Rattus]

I have two Astro City cabs running Groovymame PCs and my set ups and roms etc are now 8yrs old so I have decided to upgrade both hardware and software at the same time. Vertical cab first then Horizontal.

I did try out a Recalbox to see if I wanted to go that way but decided I prefer the configurability of Groovymame on a PC.

But what Recalbox did show me was the picture was slightly sharper and the colors more vibrant, not a huge difference, but worth pursuing.

So after much research I am now thinking that a contributing factor to that might be that my current video card has a HDMI to VGA adapter to display, edit- I meant DVI-I to VGA adapter. Googling "hdmi to vga adapter mame low dotclock issues vibrant colors" the AI summary tells me that the adapter could be causing image issues.

I have read this guide https://www.buriedbits.org/building-a-groovymame-crt-emudriver-pc-in-2025 and come up with a powerful budget PC that I am running windows 10 on and I'm waiting for the video card I selected to arrive.

I bought a AMD Radeon R7 340, 2GB, GDDR3, HDMI, DVI, VGA because after searching eBay (Australia) it seemed to be the most current and powerful card I could find that was Supported by Groovymeme and has VGA output.

My question for the experts, especially those in Australia @buttersoft is I see most of the newer video cards in the Groovymame supported list do not have VGA, so how important is it?

I still need to buy another video card for my other setup, could people please advise what they think is the best video card I can easily purchase on eBay (Australia) for my new mame set ups.

Is a powerful video card even going to make much difference or is the CPU still more important for mame? I mostly play 80s 90s games, but I do want to try to play Cave Muchi Muchi Pork which my old system really struggles with.

[Endprodukt]

Your GPU will not help with your mame games. It still is relying on single core speed. The higher, the better. A fast GPU is going to help with other emulators if you care. Flycast for example.

You don't need a VGA output but you do need DVI-I for analog output.

If you want a CPU recommendation I was investing a lot of time and the for me the winner was the 13600k.

[Rattus]

Thanks for those answers, I'm starting to understand more about the Graphics card output options and performance requirements.

I re-checked the video card I have coming and did more research and I found I might not be happy with it because the cards VGA port is on a ribbon cable to the card and people have said that can reduce picture quality.
Anyway I have bought another card (These old cards are fairly cheap on eBay) it's a HD8570 with a DVI-I port that might give a better picture than the other VGA on ribbon cable.

Yes mame is my priority, so I guess these old cards will be ok for me, will be interesting to see which looks best or if I can tell the difference.

The CPU in the PC I got is a core i3 12100 which is not as fast the processor you have, but I hope it provides a sweet spot of cost/performance for me. If this set up is not fast enough it will go on my Horiz cab and I will get something faster for my Vert set up.

[Zebidee]

I re-checked the video card I have coming and did more research and I found I might not be happy with it because the cards VGA port is on a ribbon cable to the card and people have said that can reduce picture quality.

"People have said..." well, we've all recently seen how people have many different ideas and say a lot of things, but none of that makes them right. In this case I know that they don't know what they are talking about.

From experience, knowledge and common sense, I know that any RGB signal degradation over a few inches of ribbon cable would be somewhere between insignificant and minimal. Compared to the VGA cable (shielded I hope), DVI-VGA adapter and the wiring inside the display itself, it would be inconsequential. Don't worry about it.

Lot of misinformation out there. Careful what you read on places like Reddit, Facebook and Discord, at least half of the CRT-related "technical advice" I see on these platforms is either made up or just pure fantasy. Keep your ---That which is odiferous and causeth plants to grow--- detector charged and activated.

Be careful about trusting AI too - I find its technical answers hit-and-miss, and include common prejudices and misinformation (partly from the people mentioned above). However, AI may have a point about the HDMI-VGA adapter you are using. Some of these adapters are better than others. I've seen various reports but am definitely not an expert. @Buttersoft may know more.

Anyway, am not looking for an argument. Just glad you found a good card. I'm sure that DVI-I will be fine too. A card that can do both VGA and DVI-I would be perfect for setting up various two-monitor games between your two astrocity cabs (certain racing and fighting games come to mind).

Stay skeptical, and good luck!

[Rattus]

Thanks Zebidee (BOING!!!) yeah I know about "people have said" but I'm a mame player rather than a Groovymame technician so research is difficult. I know not to trust AI in general and to be skeptic of it's summaries, but sometimes it is a time saver.

That is why I'm posting here, so people like yourself can correct and advise me

Thanks for your input about the ribbon cable, it does make sense that it wouldn't really matter, and I did see Calamity say that the card he uses has one, so there is that.

I made a mistake in my previous post when I said my current set up uses a HDMI-VGA adapter, I currently am using a DVI-I to VGA adapter, and yes have a well shielded VGA cable.

I have spent many hours researching the hardware, it will be a long and challenging process for me to set up all the software also, but hopefully will be worthwhile in the end

[Zebidee]

Thanks Zebidee (BOING!!!)

Heh, glad somebody gets the reference! Used to watch it in B&W on ABC.