ArcadeVGA now based on Radeon 9200 chipset

[sirwoogie]

I see on the Ultimarc website that Andy has begun using the 9200 Radeon card as his basis. I wonder if exchanges can be made to those that purchased the card close to when the switch was made, but received 7000 based cards? I'll email him and report back.

EDIT:
Got an email with Andy. He won't be offering any discount or exchange for the 7000 based card owners. I understand this completely as it'll be pretty costly for him to do that anyway. Any potential owners will be lucky to get a better chipset. Enjoy

[whammoed]

I have seen a lot of posts recently of people having trouble with the avga.  Are you sure you want the new one?  I wonder if it has anything to do with it?  I suppose there isn't too much to worry about though, Andy always stands behind his products.

[Breaker]

Hey,

I agree whammoed...

I've recently been researching various video cards for my MAME cab (thank you for your help BTW) and have noticed several posts regarding triple buffering problems with the 9200-based AVGA card. It's a brand new chip so I guess there may be a few glitches along the way...you're very right though, I suspect Andy will be very diligent in checking these problems out and resolving them ASAP if they turn out to be related to the recent chip switch.

[AndyWarne]

I have not received one single email about any problem with the new card. Looking through the postings, none seem to stand out as being related specifically to the new card.
If anyone is having problems with the new card (or the older one!) please do email me about it. Thanks
Andy

[whammoed]

I have not received one single email about any problem with the new card. Looking through the postings, none seem to stand out as being related specifically to the new card.
If anyone is having problems with the new card (or the older one!) please do email me about it. Thanks
Andy

Yes, please listen to Andy here.  Posting here is a great way to solve problems when it is something you are doing wrong and one of the other members can correct you but if the problem doesn't get resolved soon don't be afraid to go to the source (Andy).  He has always answered my questions within a day.  Here is a list of some of the recent avga posts I've seen.  I just found it unusual to see so many at once.  Just found it odd since besides maybe having to install the drivers in vga mode it normally seems like smooth sailing to use this card.
http://www.arcadecontrols.org/yabbse/index.php?board=4;action=display;threadid=22913
http://www.arcadecontrols.org/yabbse/index.php?board=4;action=display;threadid=22935
http://www.arcadecontrols.org/yabbse/index.php?board=4;action=display;threadid=22912
http://www.arcadecontrols.org/yabbse/index.php?board=4;action=display;threadid=22860
Thanks for posting Andy, I need to remember to tell people the very same when things don't get resolved right away.

[gregor7777]

Here, Here to the AVGA now being a useful 3D Chipset as well.

At lower resoloutions with most goodies turned off (AA, Ansio) the 9200 is a decent little chipset.

I have one sitting in my arcade machine and am satisfied with its performance.

[whammoed]

Here, Here to the AVGA now being a useful 3D Chipset as well.

At lower resoloutions with most goodies turned off (AA, Ansio) the 9200 is a decent little chipset.

I have one sitting in my arcade machine and am satisfied with its performance.

Indeed, i do like progress.  Better avga chipset, jumperless ipacs, whats next!

[JoeB]

does the 9200 chip suffer from the same problems as the 7000 with Daphne and DVD playback? (i.e. disable hardware acceleration due to faulty ATI drivers) ??

[sirwoogie]

does the 9200 chip suffer from the same problems as the 7000 with Daphne and DVD playback? (i.e. disable hardware acceleration due to faulty ATI drivers) ??

I know other people have posted on this issue over the past few years; I was a bit concerned myself regarding performance prior to getting the card. However, I've been running all the Daphne games for quite a while with full HW accel and have not had a single problem. Video is smooth and game plays full speed and CPU hangs around 10-20% on them. Perhaps the drivers have been fixed to get around the problems people have been having?

[enchntr]

I have not received one single email about any problem with the new card. Looking through the postings, none seem to stand out as being related specifically to the new card.
If anyone is having problems with the new card (or the older one!) please do email me about it. Thanks
Andy

Yes, please listen to Andy here.  Posting here is a great way to solve problems when it is something you are doing wrong and one of the other members can correct you but if the problem doesn't get resolved soon don't be afraid to go to the source (Andy).  He has always answered my questions within a day.  Here is a list of some of the recent avga posts I've seen.  I just found it unusual to see so many at once.  Just found it odd since besides maybe having to install the drivers in vga mode it normally seems like smooth sailing to use this card.
http://www.arcadecontrols.org/yabbse/index.php?board=4;action=display;threadid=22913
http://www.arcadecontrols.org/yabbse/index.php?board=4;action=display;threadid=22935
http://www.arcadecontrols.org/yabbse/index.php?board=4;action=display;threadid=22912
http://www.arcadecontrols.org/yabbse/index.php?board=4;action=display;threadid=22860
Thanks for posting Andy, I need to remember to tell people the very same when things don't get resolved right away.

Well, I can say this.  I recently installed one of the newer cards in my cabinet PC and I did run into problems...but not with the card itself.  It was my understanding of arcade monitors and auto-res in MAME that screwed me up (rolling monitors, off center, etc etc).

Now after a few days of tweaking and using the ArcadeVGA resolution tool from the Mamewah website, 99% of my games look awesome...even with a monitor that sorely needs a capkit (on the way).  So, the card may be plug and play, but there is some configuration that is needed for it to work effectively.

Ed

[AndyWarne]

Yes there is indeed an issue with Triple Buffering on the new card. I have this working now though on my testbench. It was a driver issue. I'll post new drivers as soon as I have them finalized which will be early next week.
BTW the Daphne/Overlay issue is cured with the new chip. Also the XP blue screens on installation.

Andy

[chrisinauz]

My ArcadeVGA Was shipped out on August 4th, any idea if it will be the new Radeon9200?? Or the old 7000, I sure as heck hope its the new 128MB version! PLEASE ANDY haha!

[JoeB]

Thanks for the reply Andy..

any hope of new drivers for us 7000 users? Or as we stuck using software acceleration?

Thanks.

[kujina]

Hi Andy

Is there anything else new about this card?
Does the card support more arcade resolutions/refresh rates i.e. 25 KHz?

[Troz]

I finally got my 9200 ArcadeVGA installed last night and had the same problem with triple buffering.  Aside from that issue I'm in awe of the image.  Still have to play with Daphne but everything so far looks great.  Just waiting now for the new drivers...

[tcleary]

new drivers are up:

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

[koolmoecraig]

So am I to understand that my 7000 based ArcadeVGA will not run Daphne??

I thought that it would run it with no problem.

If this is true, i'm pissed. I have been compiling all of my parts for the past 2 months and I am just now starting the build. This REALLY sucks if it is the case. Considering I spent close to $600 with Ultimarc, I would expect a discount on exchange or something.

[JoeB]

I think you read these posts wrong.

Daphne works GREAT with either ArcadeVGA card.  The only thing you have to make sure is:

1) You got a decent CPU (stick in 2Ghz+ and you're set)
2) Disable hardware acceleration in Daphne

There seems to be a bug in the ATI drivers that messes up hardware acceleration.  Andy posted that the new 9200 based cards have this bug fixed, but I'm hopping to see the same thing fixed in the old 7000's.

Andy?

[krick]

I'll post new drivers as soon as I have them finalized which will be early next week.

Andy, do you know if it's possible to have the virtual (panning) desktop option in any of the Win9x operating systems with the ATI drivers?  Currently, only 2000/XP have this option.