Need advice on hooking up 25" arcade monitor to mame machine

[Wyluli]

Did a search on this and read several threads but still not sure.
I have a cabinet with a 25" monitor in it and a Jamma harness.  I want to build a cheap pc to drop in it to run mame (and possible other emulators).  My question is, do I need to buy both the J-Pac and the Arcade VGA card to hook my pc up to the arcade monitor?
(I currently have my controller hooked up to an I-pac card, not using it in the cab yet)
Could I just buy the J-pac and some cheap VGA video card off of e-bay to save money?

[quarterback]

My understanding (and I could be wrong since neither own nor have ever used either of these things) is that you could indeed buy a Jpac and use a 'cheap VGA card'.

But if you go that route, you must also find some way to get that 'cheap VGA card' to output 15kHz.  There are numerous software means of forcing your 'cheap VGA card' to do this but I also believe that not all 'cheap VGA cards' are even capable.  So choose your 'cheap VGA card' wisely.

The way I understand it, the JPac provides you with 4 things: (1) a way to hook up your Jamma harnessed controls (2) a 'protection' against sending "bad" refresh rates to your arcade monitor (3) an interface between your arcade monitor and your PCs video card and (4) a power bump to bring the video signal up to what the arcade monitor wants.  The ArcadeVGA card provides you with an easy way to output your PC's video signal at the specs that your arcade monitor wants.

If I'm wrong or if I missed anything, I'm sure someone else will chime in .
HTH

[Wyluli]

If I plug the Ultimar ArcadeVGA card into a computer and hook up my computer to a regular monitor, will I be able to see anything?  (so I can configure my machine,etc before putting it in the cabinet with the arcade monitor?)

[Goz]

Yes.

There are two places to attach cables, one of them is intended for standard VGA / SVGA output and the other one connects to a JPAC or a hacked cable.

-Goz

[Will]

To answer your question about the arcade vga and a normal pc monitor,the answer is no.The arcade vga will only display on a arcade monitor.I have a old geforce card that I can swap in if I ever needed to use this pc with a normal pc monitor.You will be surprised windows displays good enough so you can do most of the "set up" you speak on the arcade monitor.The arcade vga makes set up easy but be warned it takes some set up as well and you still have to tweak the size,v-hold for different resolutions.I expected the arcade vga to plug in and display horizontal and vertical games perfectly without any tweaks,unfortunately if you display horizontal games filling the screen and than switch to vertical games a small portion of the game will be chopped off.To read more about this look through the monitor section for "arcade resolution tool"threads.Hope this helps-Will

[elpresidente]

To answer your question about the arcade vga and a normal pc monitor,the answer is no.The arcade vga will only display on a arcade monitor.I have a old geforce card that I can swap in if I ever needed to use this pc with a normal pc monitor.You will be surprised windows displays good enough so you can do most of the "set up" you speak on the arcade monitor.The arcade vga makes set up easy but be warned it takes some set up as well and you still have to tweak the size,v-hold for different resolutions.I expected the arcade vga to plug in and display horizontal and vertical games perfectly without any tweaks,unfortunately if you display horizontal games filling the screen and than switch to vertical games a small portion of the game will be chopped off.To read more about this look through the monitor section for "arcade resolution tool"threads.Hope this helps-Will

From the Ultimarc FAQ
"There is a special software utility for the ArcadeVGA card which unlocks the 31Khz resolutions so you can run Windows at it's normal non-interlaced resolution instead of 15Khz interlaced."

Wouldn't that allow you to use the arcadevga card on a regular monitor?

[Will]

To answer your question about the arcade vga and a normal pc monitor,the answer is no.The arcade vga will only display on a arcade monitor.I have a old geforce card that I can swap in if I ever needed to use this pc with a normal pc monitor.You will be surprised windows displays good enough so you can do most of the "set up" you speak on the arcade monitor.The arcade vga makes set up easy but be warned it takes some set up as well and you still have to tweak the size,v-hold for different resolutions.I expected the arcade vga to plug in and display horizontal and vertical games perfectly without any tweaks,unfortunately if you display horizontal games filling the screen and than switch to vertical games a small portion of the game will be chopped off.To read more about this look through the monitor section for "arcade resolution tool"threads.Hope this helps-Will

From the Ultimarc FAQ
"There is a special software utility for the ArcadeVGA card which unlocks the 31Khz resolutions so you can run Windows at it's normal non-interlaced resolution instead of 15Khz interlaced."

Wouldn't that allow you to use the arcadevga card on a regular monitor?

NOPE,I tried it and I even emailed Andy from ultimarc to ask about it.He didnt laugh at me but he did say arcade vga=arcade monitor only.

[Wyluli]

I guess I could also take out the Jamma harness and just buy the arcade VGA card to use in my pc with an Ipac to run this thing.  Only thing I am trying to figure out is how in the world the monitor would plug in to the Arcade VGA card (that pcb and all the wires coming out of the monitor are confusing!).

Sounds like the arcade VGA card kicks butt though.  I dont' see any point to buying the J-pac when I already have an Ipac, so I think my best route would be to take out the Jamma harness and just use the VGA card with my Ipac.  What do you think?

[Will]

I did just that since I had no plans to use old controls and wanted the best looking picture I could get I decided to get an i-pac and a arcade vga.You asked how do you connect it to arcade vga,thats easy just buy the pre made vga to cga cable they sell at ultimarc.Its really simple to connect it.I read a ton of monitor issues posts here about using the j-pac and although some people like it seemed like a hassle for most.Your on the right path to arcade gaming goodness,good luck.

[Wyluli]

I did just that since I had no plans to use old controls and wanted the best looking picture I could get I decided to get an i-pac and a arcade vga.You asked how do you connect it to arcade vga,thats easy just buy the pre made vga to cga cable they sell at ultimarc.Its really simple to connect it.I read a ton of monitor issues posts here about using the j-pac and although some people like it seemed like a hassle for most.Your on the right path to arcade gaming goodness,good luck.

Whew, thanks Will.  That is what I am going to do then. 
I'm getting there!

[quarterback]

I decided to get an i-pac and a arcade vga.You asked how do you connect it to arcade vga,thats easy just buy the pre made vga to cga cable they sell at ultimarc.Its really simple to connect it.

Don't you need a video amp if you're not using the JPac (which has the video amp built in)?

[Goz]

Yes.

There are two places to attach cables, one of them is intended for standard VGA / SVGA output and the other one connects to a JPAC or a hacked cable.

-Goz

Sorry, I was thinking of the JPAC which has the 15/31 kHZ and std VGA/SVGA connectors.

-Goz

[Will]

QB,no you got it backwards video amp needed with some monitors with J-pac,nothing needed with arcade vga.....