The NEW Build Your Own Arcade Controls

Software Support => GroovyMAME => Topic started by: epicfatigue on February 12, 2013, 07:24:27 am

Title: Sneak Peak at Epicfatigues Epic Arcade
Post by: epicfatigue on February 12, 2013, 07:24:27 am
Hey All,

This has been many years in the making, i thought i would share a sneak peak with you all.

Today i am only showing off hardware as the cabinet is still being finished.

The machine runs a Intel Xenon 775 Dual core at 6ghz, alot of prepwork was required for this, the baords were completely cleaned srubed down.
All heatsincs removed cleaned TIM replaced and most heatsincs upgraded (NB and SB)

I Had to create a mount for the H100i as it does not support 775 sockets. I would have liked to go full water however i dont like mixing arcades and water, a closed system requires no maintenance.

The unit is powered by 2x G-cards a Arcade VGA3000 for Boot (bios etc etc) then an auto switching function to load the HD4890 XFX OC.
The unit has x2 Aimtracks mounted in fully operational Namco Recoil guns!

The Arcade is a Tallboy and has a 19inch WGk7000 Monitor.

Sadly below you can see the state i found my HD4890 in, it has no TIM applied to the RAM or MOSPHETS and very poorly applied thermal paste.
WHen i powered it on it hit 100deg under load in under 4 seconds and the ram and mosphets were exceeding 110, quick clean and replacement it now sits on 50 60 60, once i apply my custom designed cooling system to this i hope to be sitting on 30 30 30.

More soon if people are keen to see!
Title: Re: Sneak Peak at Epicfatigues Epic Arcade
Post by: Calamity on February 12, 2013, 06:07:03 pm
I wish you post some videos of the thing working when you feel it's ready, especially the auto switching video card looks like a very cool feature.
Title: Re: Sneak Peak at Epicfatigues Epic Arcade
Post by: epicfatigue on February 12, 2013, 08:08:27 pm
Hey thanks for expressing your interest Calamity!

I am currently redesigning the feature so once its completed i will upload some pictures and even a diagram for people if they wish to implement it.
Its alot of work to have native 15khz bootup.

I may even in the end try hacking the Bios in the HD4890 to display native 15khz!

If anyone has managed to do this, or hack the MBR to display 15khz let me know i would love to see and do it myself!
Title: Re: Sneak Peak at Epicfatigues Epic Arcade
Post by: krick on February 12, 2013, 08:46:40 pm
Having two video cards seems like a lot of work and more points for failure.

I haven't modified my BIOS to boot at 15KHz, but I have modified my BIOS to replace the ASUS boot picture with a plain black image.  Then I removed the "Intel" logo overlay image, as well as the "Press TAB..." text string that shows up at the bottom of the screen.  Some info here...
http://www.mameworld.info/ubbthreads/showthreaded.php?Number=251965 (http://www.mameworld.info/ubbthreads/showthreaded.php?Number=251965)

I'm using a J-PAC to protect against out-of-range frequencies, but with everything in the BIOS blacked out, and the default user background set to all black, the only thing you see while booting is a faint blip of a blinking cursor during the handoff from the BIOS to windows during the boot.

If I ever need to change BIOS settings, I'll connect a normal monitor temporarily.
Title: Re: Sneak Peak at Epicfatigues Epic Arcade
Post by: epicfatigue on February 13, 2013, 06:10:24 am
Hey Krick,


Thanks mate, yes i agree it is alot of work to display a native Bios and there are additional points of failure however graphics cards have a extremely low failure rate.

I am not a fan have dragging out a monitor to work on my arcade whenever it needs it particularly one that is clocked as high as mine,
I like what you have done with the splash screen i would really like to attempt to get native bios support without having two cards but at this stage i a a little out of luck
Title: Re: Sneak Peak at Epicfatigues Epic Arcade
Post by: epicfatigue on February 20, 2013, 06:46:43 am
Hey All,

sorry about the poor recording its just a sneak peak at what i have been upto.

The idea is one person controllers everything on the 360 - aim and the namco recoil gun is for shooting peeps and lookin around.

Worked perfectly but the mrs was out lol

[video=youtube_share;fHTtLsdJbgQ]http://youtu.be/fHTtLsdJbgQ[/video]
Title: Re: Sneak Peak at Epicfatigues Epic Arcade
Post by: epicfatigue on February 28, 2013, 05:42:52 am
Sorry guys have been so busy lately.

Here is the completed automatic KVM switch, this allows use of two graphics cards hooked to one machine.
It will allow display 1 to be connected to the arcade machine on bootup, once windows/linux loads the KVM will automatically switch to the second output.

a hacked HD4890 using calamity drivers.

The purpose is to allow native bios support for configuration maintenance, then to load a hacked 4890 to have a wide range of resolutions available



Here is a picture of the custom kvm
(https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-PAREKdInxm8/US8xzuitd7I/AAAAAAAAB0A/ICV9s6mICrc/s672/2013-02-28)

very poor video of it in action in the machine.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CaAXLuPRlnw (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CaAXLuPRlnw)

and it working on the bench,
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wpvoQF9slMQ (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wpvoQF9slMQ)

Currently working on a machine gun mode for the Namco recoil gun!
Title: Re: Sneak Peak at Epicfatigues Epic Arcade
Post by: epicfatigue on March 02, 2013, 03:19:29 am
Another update,

Automatic mode for the Namco Recoil gun,
for games that call for rapid fire and for when you just want to use it :)
controllable by a toggle switch for on or off
(https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-kxpb9wwNP0o/UTG1EPAtdtI/AAAAAAAAB1Y/BW0WS9zFvdg/s636/2013-03-02)
(https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-hXucYHi45gk/UTG07EEU8II/AAAAAAAAB1A/2gz5JFKKGQs/s636/2013-03-02)
(https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-lsPmGX2peuQ/UTG01WlPw6I/AAAAAAAAB0o/0maxuCDcZVY/s636/2013-03-02)
Title: Re: Sneak Peak at Epicfatigues Epic Arcade
Post by: epicfatigue on March 03, 2013, 04:41:13 am
Hey all, here is the guns in action

!http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ad2rFNhMCA0
Title: Re: Sneak Peak at Epicfatigues Epic Arcade
Post by: Calamity on March 04, 2013, 04:55:35 pm
Hi epicfatigue,

That's an amazing work what you've done with the auto-switching mechanism, I wish I had the knowledge to do stuff like that.

I'm just a bit confused because from your previous video I understand that there's a point where the switching is done and there's a sound from the relay, but in your last video it looks like you have edited it at 0:30" to cut the switching that (at least for me) is the most interesting part. No criticism, maybe you just wanted to focus on the second part.

From what I understand, the gun's modification is in order to enable continous fire, isn't it? 
Title: Re: Sneak Peak at Epicfatigues Epic Arcade
Post by: epicfatigue on March 04, 2013, 05:06:31 pm
Hey calamity, Yes sorry my daughter clocked me in the back of the nuts with a toy!!

Here is a test video i did sorry for the quality,

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CaAXLuPRlnw (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CaAXLuPRlnw)

Im happy to walk you through making one for all the help you have given me. Can you solder ? its really not that hard at all!

Title: Re: Sneak Peak at Epicfatigues Epic Arcade
Post by: Calamity on March 04, 2013, 05:29:57 pm
Thanks! Well, I can't solder at all, but I'd say for me it's more of a matter of knowing what to solder, I even have difficulties to identify electronic components. I just mean that being able to assemble electronic devices opens a new dimension which I'm a bit afraid to explore  ;D