HELP! Need advice on software/hardware for Mame Cab!

[dskinchen]

In 2007 I built a killer MAME cab with rotating 25" wells using a P4 with Ultimarc's ArcadeVGA and IPac. It worked great for a couple years, but then the VGA card died. The new ArcadeVGA card requires a PCIe slot and my pc only has AGP. Being cheap, I really don't want to buy a new pc AND new video card to drive the system (but I guess I will if I have to...) so I'm trying to figure out my options. 

I know I can use soft15khz to drive the monitor, but because it's a fully enclosed machine, I don't want to have to boot to a pc monitor and then switch over to the arcade monitor. What is everyone else doing to solve this problem? All suggestions are greatly appreciated!

[TopJimmyCooks]

there are still AGP arcadevga cards around - check on ebay and BST here.  I saw a couple pass through here around christmas. 

[05SRT4]

have you tired contacting ultimarc to see if they have any laying around.

Also does it have to be a arcade VGA specific?

Searching EBAY a ton came up. all around 10-30$

[TopJimmyCooks]

He's running an arcade monitor and doesn't want to go soft 15hz.  In that position my choice would also be to replace the arcadeVGA card.  I think Andy confirmed they don't have any more but they are available used.  I agree just to get a normal AGP video card you can get a used one for free or a nice new one for $30 or so. 

[dskinchen]

Thanks, I'll check  the for sale area. Unfortunately it needs to be an arcadevga as it is set to output 15khz on the board. I've talked to Andy at Ultimarc and they don't have them anymore. I'm still curious how other folks are doing this in their cabs? Anyone?

[TopJimmyCooks]

I'm getting beyond my already limited expertise as an LCD user, but a lot of guys around here use GroovyMame, a patched mame build that uses normal vid cards to output to arcade displays.  They have a section on the forum.  Could be good especially since you're getting a new card, you can get one that is known to work well with that software.  Good luck.

[dskinchen]

Thank you everyone. I'm on my way over to the Groovy forum and keeping an eye out for an agp ultimarc card on BST. You guys are the best!