New project BAS conversion

[UK_Gamer]

Hi folks,

Been looking through the forums for a while and have been inspired. I decided to buy a beaten up old 1990's BAS Arcade cab and turn it into a Mame cab.

The cab has seen better days and will require some repair. I have seen some great threads on here about restoration and repair so will be using a UK equivalent to the magic Bondo.

Halfords sell something called Isopon P38 and this should fill the gaps and rotten bits perfectly. I'm a bit concerned the bottom part (foot rest) may be too damaged and will more than likely need a new base making.

Woodworking is not a skill I have hence the cab being bought and the reason I'm not doing a scratch build project.

The cab has a working marquee light, an old Glass Marquee, a 25" Polo Hantarex arcade monitor, a glass bezel with artwork. Unfortunately no speakers, coin door or arcade controls but I guess not a problem as I get to choose my own style and can pick up most of these parts quite easily.

There's a lot to get to grips with and I'm sure I'll be seek advice along the way, iv tried to research as much as I can and have a few questions and would appreciate some points of views and advice  if you wouldn't mind helping.

The main consideration I have at this stage is the brains of the operation.

PC - what specification to buy and type of processor, graphics card needed.

Aims - To be capable of playing GroovyMame and other emulators like Nes, Snes, Mega drive , Zinc, Sega model 2/3, Dreamcast, Atomswave,  Wii, PS2,  Neo Geo, Capcom system I, II & III as well as some PC light gun games like Virtual Cop, House of the dead 2 (not well emulated from what I have read)

I am aware Mame doesn't require a powerhouse PC to run but some of the emulators and games I wish to play may require a certain set up to work flawlessly.
I want to be able to play games like Time Crisis, Carnevil, NFL Blitz, Mortal Kombat 4.


And this leads me into what graphics card to use?

Aims - I want to match exact arcade resolutions with GroovyMame emulator with no tearing or distortion on arcade monitor (Hantarex Polo 2) and to also run other more graphic intense emulators like Zinc, Sega model 2 and Super model 3 flawlessly at optimum resolution.

Iv seen Ultimarc sell an arcade VGA card for perfect resolutions on old school arcade games which is great but would this mean that the other emulators would not work or be able to output at there best? Not even sure that card could handle 3D stuff like Tekken, time crisis and PC stuff.

Also just thought I'm not even sure what resolutions my arcade monitor can go up to? Is there a way I can test this?

Appreciate any help folks, I'll put some pics up soon.

[UK_Gamer]

Hey guys been looking into this but have only found old threads from 3 years ago talking about i3 and i5 set ups, could you help with advice please about a good PC set up at this time? And also what to do about graphics cards as I'm a bit confused regarding using arcade monitor and newer emulators that would obviously be using PC monitors and higher resolutions and also getting groovymame it to work with exact refresh/ resolutions I really don't want to have to use an lcd TV as I don't think they look good.

Would I need a good current PC set up with 2 graphics cards one to handle older arcade games and a newer one for emulating things like Wii, super model 3, Dreamcast, PS2 etc?


Many thanks 

[stigzler]

Hello chap and great to see another UK builder on the scene...

Your desired rig setup sounds quite similar to mine - setup the PC about a year ago + it handles PS2, Dreamcast and Gamecube (Dolphin) games without a hitch. It IS at the edge of its performance however, as the CPU is overclocked to 4GHz. The steup is here:

http://valid.canardpc.com/si4pw7

The good news is I reacon you could pick up all these parts dead cheap now. There' a bit of a hiatus going on in the emu scene whilst awaiting PS3, X360 emus - and the hardware requirements will be significantly higher I'm thinking by the time these are released - so I'd forget 'future-proofing' via a wonder rig and go for as cheap as you can.

I, too was very keen to get Lightguns up and working. And they are up and working with HOD2, PS2 games etc. I'll warn you - it's a real ball ache and one of those I keep having to come back to, but very worth it when you finally get 2 player Time Crisis up and running! I'd reccommend AimTraks - you can either buy complete guns, or just buy the sensor components and install them in some existing light guns (ends up a lot cheaper).

As for the arcade monitor - I don't know anything about this - but yeah - I'd imagine another G-card or an intermediary switching 'box' converting dvi/hdmi into the right format for the monitor.

Good luck + pics will get more interest and ultimately support!

[UK_Gamer]

Thanks so much for your reply I appreciate your advice I'm glad to hear that the guns once set up correctly work well. Where in UK are you based mate? Definitely need to get round to putting some pics on here.