CGA Monitor - Soft15khz and CRT Emu Driver - newbie questions

[Rogles]

I've been getting equipment together for a bartop mame cabinet and I need some direction - mainly regarding the monitor setup. Here's what I have:

Dell Zino 400 mini computer with Windows 7 and ATI Radeon HD 3200
Wells Gardner 13" CGA Monitor WGE1372 - setting it up in vertical orientation

I'm wondering what my best options are to get video from the computer to the monitor. From what I understand, my two options are Soft15khz and CRT Emu Driver. I've been reading a bit about both, but I'm still not sure which one is better for me. Another thing I'm questioning is if I should get a copy of Windows XP 64 and use that instead of Windows 7 since the CGA resolution games will automatically be stretched (from what I gather). I still don't fully understand the start up process. Even with either of these 2 options, does the arcade monitor need to be off until windows loads (after the complete setup)? And how difficult is it to set the frequency back to 31khz after you're fully set up considering at that moment you're stuck in 320x240 windows?