Build Your Own Arcade Controls Forum
Software Support => GroovyMAME => Topic started by: Martijn on June 30, 2016, 08:24:31 am
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I am busy preparing a new cabinet. Things have changed a lot since 2008.
This Groovymame and crt emu drivers looks promising and i am eager to see how it runs.
What os is recommended to use to get the best result for a mame cabinet with a nice frontend.
System i collected is a :
Mainboard : intel DP55WB, Intel P55 Express Chipset. I think it supports ahci and some form of trim in XP
CPU : i5-661 3.33 GHz, got it running on aircooling without problems on 3.64Ghz
Ram : 4Gb ram ddr3 dual channel
HDD : 500Gb Western Digital Green
SSD : 120GB OCZ Agility 3 SATA III
GPU : Ati Radeon HD6450 Passive 1GB
Using a Sony CRT 25" Triniton 100hz PAL/NTSC With RGB Scart
I read that the Radeon 4 series is beter to output low resolutions (sharper) then the series 6.
But this card came with the system, i could get a 4350 if its a big difference..
So what OS to use?
Windows XP 32bit
Windows XP 64bit
Windows 7 32bit
Windows 7 64bit
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Im gonna stick my neck out here Martijn and say that with those specs I would be going down the road of Win7 64bit, especially considering your GPU and as a nice bonus your kinda bringing GM right bang upto date with OS compatibilty.
I could be wrong though! :lol
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Win764bit is the way to go. I have an i7 with an amd 7950 that works great
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Above Radeon 4xxx serie You will get blurry picture in interlaced modes. On the other hand series above 4xxx does not suffer from halved refresh speeds using interlaced modes (unless You can use positive sync). Please note that You can use XP only with Radeons up to 4xxx. Anything above will only work under windows 7x64.
I don't recommned XP (especially x64 version) for Your configuration. First - too new graphic card for Calamity ATI driver (You can use XP only with Radeons up to 4xxx. Anything above will only work under windows 7x64), second - SSD usage will be not too efficient under XP.
Since You have SSD disk and 4 Gb memory (which is more than enough for groovymame and windows 7) stick with windows 7 x64. Notice that there isn't Calamity driver for 7 x32.
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Thank you all for your information. Haynor666, can you give me a example for interlaced modes in games? Where will i notice this?
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If You are using typical TV than anything above 296 lines You will have display with interlaced resolution for example 640x480i or 640x512i.
All mcr68, mcr3 (24 kHz modes) games are forced to work with interlaced modes, laserdisc games work at 704x480i. Also model, model2, model3 games, many games that are based on PSX hardware (though some are using interlaced modes only for title screens). Besides mame all Taito Type X/X2 games also will work at 640x480i.
This blur does look quite good for 3D games but in 2D games not.
I forgot to mention that DEmul emulation will be only available on DX11 cards and windows 7. Older versions works also with DX9 but emulation is much better with latest version of DEmul.
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What difference in setup will I experience with the Windows 7 drivers in regards to positive/negative sync? I'm currently using an HD4870 under Windows XP with largely default settings, which I believe are negative sync.
Under Windows 7 will I need to change to a positive sync if I stay with this HD4870 card? How would I do that in the driver? I believe my monitor may have switches for this.
What about if I upgrade to a HD5830 card, would I have to change the sync there? Not sure I understand that aspect fully.
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Up to Radeon 4xxx there was problem with halved refresh rates under Windows 7x64 (Windows XP/XP x64 are fine). To fix this You had to set positive sync instead of default negative sync. This works with many TVs but it might not work with some arcade monitors. Above 4xxx serie does not matter.
So if You have HD4870 to get proper speed with interlaced modes You have to set positive sync (though in mame there was workaround by using ddraw, sadly this will not help Taito Type X games and other emulators)
If You have HD5830 than everything will be fine by default. The only side effect will be blurry picture with interlaced modes.
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So best route is to go radeon 4 serie, with windows xp? Is the radeon 4 serie strong enough for those next gen emu's anyway?
Also, if i remember my old cabinet. any game from 640x480 started to flicker.
Maybe i should just stick to the basics anyway, just mame old games. This because i want to try a authentik CRT route.
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So best route is to go radeon 4 serie, with windows xp? Is the radeon 4 serie strong enough for those next gen emu's anyway?
For mame it does not matter but with other emus like DEmul, Dolphin or PCSX2 graphic card is important. Sometimes not just speed is important but also DX10 or even DX11 capabilities. So the best way would be windows 7x64 here since HD4xxx has DX10. Sadly I don't know what graphic cards will be fine for PCSX2 or Dolphin. On my GRX770 and 4670k DEmul in some places is still too slow :/
Another problem with 7 x64 are some problems with DirectDraw and some emulators. Most of these problems are already fixed but Kega Fusion and OoTake still have problems with switching resolutions. Some time ago Calamity fixed resolution switching in OoTake but this fix was internal (only on this forum) and wasn't probably put in official OoTake and/or future versions.
Personally due some problems with Taito Type X/X2 games and emus mentioned above I stick last time with XP x32 and groovymame 171 but next time it will be windows 7 x64.
Also, if i remember my old cabinet. any game from 640x480 started to flicker.
Under Hd5xxx and newer flickering is still visible but less.
Maybe i should just stick to the basics anyway, just mame old games. This because i want to try a authentik CRT route.
It really does not matter. Any Radeon HD serie card will work fine with low progressive modes like 256x240p just some pre HD4xxx does not support low dot clock modes and for this there is also workaround.
For some time mame officially does not support Windows XP and in future might even drop support for x32 systems so even in this matter Windows 7 x64 is still the best choice.
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Thanks so much for clearing things up for me.
I found this guide for a system called wavebeam, the guide is from february 2016. Looks like a good starting point to set things up?
(V. Setup Guide)
http://wavebeam.blogspot.nl/2016/02/the-groovycube-diy-console-that-plays.html (http://wavebeam.blogspot.nl/2016/02/the-groovycube-diy-console-that-plays.html)
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I've take a brief look and it seems to be ok. For groovymame part please take a look at http://geedorah.com/eiusdemmodi/forum/viewforum.php?id=2 (http://geedorah.com/eiusdemmodi/forum/viewforum.php?id=2)
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Thanks for the clarification haynor666. :)
Do you find the blurryness in interlaced cards past the 5000 series to be all that bad? I do use interlaced 640x480 for PC ports and a few emulators I can't get to run at native (or the native is 480i/p anyway like the Wii.) I suppose the only way to know is to try it...I have a pretty discerning eye but I definitely want the advantages of moving to a DX11 card so it looks like I might try the upgrade eventually.
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Is there any fix for this blurriness issue?
I'm on win7 and it's true I really don't like this blurry effect :(
But as you said, there are some advantages moving to win7.
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We don't have fix for this :(
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Such a shame 🙁
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