Is an Arcade VGA card essential?

[eggedd2k]

i'm getting a jamma cabinet on monday and my plan is to keep it as it is but just have a computer next to it for MAME.

I was wondering whether or not an ultimarc arcade vga card was essential in order to get the correct display on the arcade monitor.  can you get away with just the jpac?

[Prizmdrop]

Im not 100% sure, but I think you still need the arcadeVGA because normal video cards wont run at a low enough refresh rate.

[JoyMonkey]

A lot of old ATI video cards and most Trident Blade cards will output most native arcade resolutions at 15khz, but those resolutions are nearly impossible to set up in Windows. So if you're setting up a DOS machine, the JPac is all you need. But if you're going down the Windows road, an ArcadeVGA is pretty much essential.

[AlanS17]

With a program called PowerStrip you can make alot of video cards bend over backwards and scream uncle. You can make 'em do alot of undocumented stuff (likek pump out proper resolutions and frequencies for arcade monitors). I've had good experience making Matrox and ATI cards work well with it.

[ZeroPoint]

The ArcadeVGA card is the most beautiful hardware in the world.

I use this card with a scart-tv and I will never go back to the PowerStrip version for use with Mame and C64 emulators. The progressive scan makes the graphics glow and those beautiful scanlines...say no more !

I have two PCs in my cabinet: One with the ArcadeVGA card and one with a powerstripped high-end graphics card for running new power-demanding games.

The ArcadeVGA card is essential ! Do not wait...buy one today !!!

[AlanS17]

The ArcadeVGA card is essential ! Do not wait...buy one today !!!

... and now for a word from our sponsor - ArcadeVGA!  j/k

I've never owned one, personally, but from everything I know about them, they take most of the hard stuff out. The only downside is that they're not cheap. For what they can do, though, they just might be worth it, anyways.

[markrvp]

The ArcadeVGA card is essential ! Do not wait...buy one today !!!

... and now for a word from our sponsor - ArcadeVGA!

[elvis]

i'm getting a jamma cabinet on monday and my plan is to keep it as it is but just have a computer next to it for MAME.

I was wondering whether or not an ultimarc arcade vga card was essential in order to get the correct display on the arcade monitor.  can you get away with just the jpac?

You can use a JPac and a normal card if you like.  The JPac has a signal "halver" which will protect your 15KHz monitor from 31KHz modes, which is good for the bootup/loading phase of your PC before your frontend or game kicks in at 15KHz.

The downside is you need a little bit of knowhow to get it up and running smoothly.  You'll basically need to much about with AdvanceMAME and various support utilities to get 15KHz modes working properly.

The ArcadeVGA is simple "plug in, turn on and play" style setup.  You certainly can do the same thing with non-AVGA hardware, but it means plenty of reading and mucking about.

If you're the kind of person who finds reading README files, documentation and trawling the web for information distasteful, stick with the AVGA.  If you don't mind tinkering and have plenty of experience hacking about config files in DOS or Linux, then you can get away without needing one.

[wpcmame]

The only downside is that they're not cheap. For what they can do, though, they just might be worth it, anyways.

One other possible downside is that the built in resolutions might not match your requirements.

I have my cabinet adjusted to show 288/576 lines to play vertical arcade games without stretch, PC games (768x576 looks better than 640x480), and PAL DVDs (at 720x576).
I also play most games in interlace because the bezel and backdrop artwork looks so much better without any visible difference in the game display.

This is not possible using the built in resolutions in the AVGA.

[eggedd2k]

so will a DOS machine that loads the game work ok without an arcadevga card?

[Lilwolf]

For DOS, yes you can get away without it.

AdvancedMAME + AdvancedMenu and your set.  But expect a lot of time configuring everything.  And you not get it in windows.

But this is what everyone (who used arcade monitors) did before arcadeVGA.

BUT... ArcadeVGA is a GREAT piece of hardware and I've never heard anyone wish they hadn't spent the money on it.  Many people upgraded their tridents to arcadeVGA (working -> working) and STILL think it was worth it.

But if you never plan on using anything other then mame.  Start off cheap.  You can always go back and get one later. 

[eggedd2k]

thanks mate. do you need advance mame or can you get away with just dos (and a keyboard of course)?

[thetered]

Can anyone tell me why when installing drivers for an arcadevga one might be getting an error saying no suitable devices found?

[eggedd2k]

sounds like you're installing the drivers before installing the card

[thetered]

It does sound that way, but i'm not, the motherboard doesnt have onboard video and I am only using the arcadevga card, so its the only video card installed.

[krick]

It does sound that way, but i'm not, the motherboard doesnt have onboard video and I am only using the arcadevga card, so its the only video card installed.

Possibly wrong driver version?  There are two different versions of the ArcadeVGA.  Each requires different drivers.

[Paul Olson]

Can anyone tell me why when installing drivers for an arcadevga one might be getting an error saying no suitable devices found?

I don't know if this is what is causing your problem, but it may be worth trying.  Others have said that they had to install the normal ATI Radeon drivers first (I think they had Nvidia cards prior to installing the AVGA).  It may solve the problem for you.

Paul

[RayB]

Make sure to uninstall every single "old" video driver...

[ChadTower]

The ArcadeVGA is simple "plug in, turn on and play" style setup.