Need Info on good 2D PCI graphics card

[jakl14]

Im still working on my arcade cabinet and the only problem is that I have to turn frameskipping on to run some games at 100%(oddly enough, a vector game, Asteroids, only runs at 50% without frameskipping).  I know my processor isnt that fast, but at least it should be able to handle asteroids!  I am using the integrated Intel Graphics controller and I think by upgrading it, I may not have to skip as many frames.

So I need a good 2D card rather than 3D, and I dont have any AGP slots on my motherboard(considering I am using an old, spare computer for this project).  Any recommendations or pointers will be greatly apprectiated.

Arcade System Specs:
Intel Celeron 600MHz
11GB HD
Integrated Intel Graphics Controller with lateset drivers
319MB RAM

[meta87]

I'd buy a ATI Radeon 7500. They sell a PCI version. Not to expensive, but a great card!

[Tailgunner]

I think part of the problem with Asteroids is the sound, Asteroids uses discrete circuitry instead of Pokeys. The end result is more work for the emulator, and more a higher hardware requirement to emulate it properly than you'd think. Try running it without sound to see what difference it makes in the framerate.

The Trident Blade T64 card is also available in a PCI version.

[jakl14]

Well, I just tried disabling the sound in Asteroids (rev 2) and my computer crashes, it freezes on a black screen before the game even loads.  Does that happen to you?

[Tailgunner]

Asteroids seems to be running reasonably well under MAME32, but then I'm running it on a 2.2 gHz system.

I tried setting up the command line version to try the -nosound option, but so far I haven't has any success getting it configured where anything will run.

What MAME version are you running?

[jakl14]

Mame32 version .71

[rampy]

The other thing to consider is if you are enabling artwork/underlays/etc.  That can slow down the vector games a lot.

*shrug*

Rampy