Help/Advice Required

[gnomenthusiast]

Hello All,

Thanks in advance,

I'm looking for advice on the graphics side of things. I'm making a cabinet similar to the WeeCade, but bigger to allow the use of a Samsung Syncmaster 214T LCD Monitor.

I'm looking to use MAME and SNES/Genesis Emulators, maybe a few others.

The Monitor has DVI, VGA, Video (Yellow Connector) and S-Video Connectors, which video transmission method is best for running MAME and Emulators?

In addition, do I need a graphics card for the PC I plan to use? (I probably will if the answer is either of the last two connection options. I understand that the CPU is probably more important, going for a Core i5.

[DudeRegular]

DVI or VGA will be fine. Go with whatever your pc has. You will be fine with the onboard video (if you have that) or any low end GPU if you don't have onboard. Typically higher clockspeed is a good thing for the cpu side of things.

[gnomenthusiast]

Thanks, that's great.

The other thing I am confused about is resolution.

640 x 480 seems to be what most games were designed for, is it better to run at that resolution and use an SLG if you want it too look good?

Or is it better to run at the native resolution of the monitor and do something else graphically to enhance the picture?

Thanks again!

[DudeRegular]

You have options. The SLG works via VGA and is hardware driven so won't add any additional toll on your PC. I would like to try one out on a build someday, but haven't yet. You can run MAME stretched, aspect ration correct, actual size. There is the HLSL option to tweak shaders and software driven scanlines and masking type effects. There are also some cool bezel and art packs around the web that will add that to your screen if you wish. Don't be afraid to grab a build of mame and try some things out.

For the console stuff, I am not as up to date. I know Retroarch has some shaders that can try to recreate the CRT style look. I am not sure how much they impact performance though.