Okay, I'm looking for a good videocard for my MAME cabinet that has decent-to-good 3D acceleration, and good MAME output as well.
I've been using the Ultimarc ArcadeVGA card up until now, which makes getting great MAME output a cinch, but the 3D acceleration is awful (sub-TNT2 level), and now I'm having problems using the ACT-Labs light gun with the card. (That, plus the fact that I have to install another video card just so I can see all of my BIOS setup screen, and I've decided it's time to switch.)
I've read about adding custom resolutions to Nvidia drivers before, and I might go that route (or AdvanceMAME, but I'm not sure I want the hassle).
Anyway, since my new cab will be used for PC gaming as well as MAME gaming, good 3D is a must. I'm not looking to spend a fortune, of course, but are there any advantages of ATI over Nvidia cards, or is there something else?
Kevin
ATI vs. Nvidia
Very few people will give you a two sided answer on such a poisoned question, but as I'm an economist at heart, you'll get one from me. I've been building computers for what seems a great many years now, and I was there in the beginning when ATI was a giant and Nvidia was itty bitty. So through thick and thin, I've tinkered with cards from both manufacturers and this is my general opinion on the matter.
ATI cards are a pain in the ass. Their driver support has historically sucked and still does IMHO. ATI releases a lot of different models, many of which they drop support for almost after they finished designing them. I have a collection of ATI card's that simply don't have a workable modern driver. Additionally, ATI cards have problems runnning on anything other than an intel chipset motherboard running windows. If you mean to run an AMD system or Linux, then beware of which ATI card you purchase. Additionally, be careful not to purchase an off/unpopular model. There are a lot of them out there, cards that came and went in the sight of a year. When purchasing an ATI card be very careful also to deturmine the exact make and model. You always want a card that's built by ATI. And watch out, ATI's new card naming scheme is certainly an improvement over its former schemes which was, to say the least, shady and missleading, but it still leaves a lot to be desired.
That said, most of the cards I use are ATI cards. Ya, that's right, ATI. The one's built by ATI provide excellent video out, the AIWs also have some handy highy quality TV in/out features. Not to mention, MAME runs flawlessly on ATI cards. It always has.
Not that my using ATI cards hasn't been fought with pain, but the features their cards offer, combined with their price to performance, pretty much nails me every time.
As far as Nvidia cards go, though, you really have to be careful which manufacturer you get your card from. I highly recommend PNY. They are known for producing high quality cards that follow Nvidia's reference design to the tee, which is one of the reasons they are Nvidia's manufacturer of cad cards. A good alternative, however, to PNY is MSI. Their stuff has an excellent reputation, though I personally haven't worked with many cards from them.
As far as which card to get, either from ATI or Nvidia, you should really consult the vga charts at tomshardware.com. They will give you a great indication of what to expect from your purchase.
If you do decide to go with an ATI card, you can use a little trick that I've learned over the years. Don't buy a card with a chipset that doesn't have an AIW variant.
As far as the radeon 7000 goes, the story naturally start's at ATI's missleading advertising. The 7000 chipset is really the modern name for a very old chipset, one readily beat by the original Radeon 32DDR, called the Radeon VE. The VE chipset was one of the first affordable dual display chipsets that ATI released. It was sought to appeal to budget markets, however, and is known for being a rather mediocre 3D card (given it's market age, obviously).
As far as which card to get for AdvanceMAME, I recommend ATI's 7500, an update of the old Radeon 64MB DDR TIVO model. Granted it doens't have any real support for the more groovy 3D stuff, for that you will probably need to go with a 8500 (or a 9700 if your feeling a bit spend thrifty). Beaware though, that AdvanceMAME isn't likely to work on these models.
Right now, however, the best bang for the buck is deffinetely a geforce fx 5200 (not the ultra) or an Geforce4 MX 440 8xAGP make. Both cards go for under a $100 and are guaranteed to assist you in blowing away any ferocious 3d monsters you may cross.
Usually, the best bang for the buck cards are ATI's, but things have been a little topsey turvey over the past year, so there you have it.
http://www.tomshardware.com/graphic/20030714/index.html
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Topic: Recommended Video Card for MAME and 3D games? (Read 4653 times)
