Good or Not?

[djsting]

Is an ATI XPert 128 video card good for MAME or not?  I have seen where some ATI cards are prefered and would like to know how this one compares.

[ashardin]

First off not know ing much about that card but...

from my understanding of the software, MAME does not rely much on the video card (unlike a 3D game).

The emulator draws the graphics directly to the screen, the card simply displays it.  You can find more info about this at the FAQ at www.mame.net but in the 5 machines I have used for different cabinets I've always used the onboard graphics and its worked great.  

Now, if you are planning to put some newer PC games in there that require a 3D card, that would change things.

[seaner]

Is an ATI XPert 128 video card good for MAME or not?  I have seen where some ATI cards are prefered and would like to know how this one compares.

I believe this is the one I am using.. (not totally sure though, as it was just purchased and installed and forgotten about, but I do know that the rage128 chipset is the one detected by svgalib).

No complaints, and does 15khz modes, etc. without any problems.

[Tiger-Heli]

First off not know ing much about that card but...

from my understanding of the software, MAME does not rely much on the video card (unlike a 3D game).

The emulator draws the graphics directly to the screen, the card simply displays it.  You can find more info about this at the FAQ at www.mame.net but in the 5 machines I have used for different cabinets I've always used the onboard graphics and its worked great.  

Now, if you are planning to put some newer PC games in there that require a 3D card, that would change things.

I think that card is fine.

Regarding Ashardin's comments - funny, I just finished reading a review on the KM266 integrated graphics for a possible upgrade.

My thoughts - MAME uses 2D graphics, so the type of video card is less demanding than newer 3D games.  However, newer MAME games (Cruisin' USA, Stun Runner, etc.) are very processor and memory intensive, so while on-board graphics would be fine for the video portion of these games, I would think the bandwidth might slow down the CPU and memory requirements that the games need.

[shmokes]

This may be neither here nor there depending on your financial position, but I think the PC running your arcade cab should be as smoking as possible.  My cab, for instance, will have a steering wheel on it.  Not to say that Outrun and Spy Hunter aren't fun games, but I want to be able to fire up Colin McRae 3 and Driver now and then.  For those (and any game made in the last couple years) you're going to want a decent 3D chipset.  Luckily I'll be using a TV for my monitor which restricts me to 640x480 resolution so the 3D chipset  doesn't have to be THAT decent.  I just hope developers of 3D games don't start dropping support for 640x480 any time soon.  

The same advice goes for all modern games (that are playable with arcade controls), of course, not just racing games.

[seaner]

I'm going to backpedal on my previous post.
I would avoid the rage 128 chipset if you intend to run advancemame.  I'm 95% sure I've narrowed down my seg fault problem to svgalib's (and the svgaline derivative) r128 driver.  (advv/advcfg/advmame/advmenu crash often with SIGSEGV.. I recompiled with an older gcc, and the problem persists... but only in my cabinet PC.. my desktop works fine.. someone on the advancemame-users list pointed out that svgalib is flakey with this chipset).
I'm probably going to be looking for a new video card.. this geforce2 seems fine.  So if you don't plan on running advancemame (sticking to some windows variant, or dos mame, or don't have an arcade monitor to worry about), maybe you'd be interested in buying a barely-out-of-the-box one

Cheers,
Sean

[djsting]

I will be running Windows, MAME32, other emulators, and some computer games so it looks like this is not the best choice in video cards.  I was just wondering since I already had the card just sitting around collecting dust.  It is always nice to make use of extra parts before buying new ones.

Thanx for all the input everyone!

Oh, what video card do you recommend then?

[seaner]

mame32 and windows will probably run fine on this card.. my problems seem to stem from svgaline which is a video subsystem used by advancemame (not mame32 or any windows mame as far as I know).  svgaline is a partial port of svgalib from linux, which has issues with the r128 chipset.  
You may as well give it a go in your system before running off to the store... might save you $50-$100, which could perhaps be better spend on other areas of your system.. faster cpu? more ram?

[Smack]

I'm going to backpedal on my previous post.
I would avoid the rage 128 chipset if you intend to run advancemame.  Cheers,
Sean

I just figured I'd drop my 2 cents.

My cocktail cab has a rage 128 pro in it. I had used Advance Mame under pure dos for a couple of years with that card along with an Eygo 19in vga monitor and never had any problems on my end.

(I'm using the windows port now and ditched all my old cfg files.)

Smack

[seaner]

[I just figured I'd drop my 2 cents.

My cocktail cab has a rage 128 pro in it. I had used Advance Mame under pure dos for a couple of years with that card along with an Eygo 19in vga monitor and never had any problems on my end.

(I'm using the windows port now and ditched all my old cfg files.)

Were you running the rage128 into an arcade monitor, or running standard vga stuff?  I have found that the problem is most prominent when tweaking video modes.

I guess YMMV (or MMMV in this case?)

(doh.. just reread your post.. vga monitor)

[SirPoonga]

Yeha, mame really doesn;t need a super duper video card, just something that does 2D very well, and ATI does that.  I ahve the ATI Rage 128 GL, basically an Xpert128 with a different name.

[Smack]

I was using a VGA arcade monitor. I never really had any problems with setting all the modes, and sizing the screens.

If I recall correctly, I had to specify the video driver, vbeline I think.

[AlanS17]

That's actually the car I use because it was cheap (and it was the only thing on the shelf and i wanted my cabinet NOW). Plus I'm a big ATI fan.

The thing works just fine. No complaints. My games aren't the fastest, but's a fault of my slow processor and not enough RAM. It does everything I need it to do.