Which video card for Arcade Monitor?

[Meph]

I have an i5-2500k that I am going to be using in my Big Blue with an Jpac adapter to run some Fighting Games for a while.  Once I get around to it that PC will be going in a Konami cab and setup as a dedicated 4 Player cab, only hosting 3-4 Player games.  Both cabs have 25" Wells Gardner monitors in them, the Konami has a 25k7191, don't remember off hand the other.  Right now the PC has a EVGA 460 GTX in it.  Soft 15k isn't working and I am sick of playing with it.  Figured the easiest way is to throw in an ATI card, run CRT EMU, and GroovyMame.

So what am I looking for in a video card?  I was thinking either a HD 4350 or a HD 5450.  Both can be had for around $30-40 on newegg.  Is one easier to flash and use than the other or is there a better alternative?  I don't mind spending more if I am getting better performance.  Also is one brand better than another.  ASUS brand cards seem to be the cheapest price wise.  This will be my first time ever interfacing any of my mame builds to anything other than a LCD but as my real arcade collection has grown, so has my collection of arcade monitors that I have been repairing.  This is the first of a few CRT builds coming.  Next will be a Dragons Lair 2 cab that I am going to restore.  If I don't source the parts and go with a Dexter build then it will be a Daphne build and I will again need to interface the PC and CRT.

[krick]

I would go with a HD 5xxx / 6xxx / 7xxx series card with CRT EmuDriver 2.0
http://geedorah.com/eiusdemmodi/forum/viewtopic.php?id=295

One thing to consider is that the HD 7750 is available in a low-power model that doesn't need the extra 6-pin power cable (though I'm not sure if ALL 7750 cards are low power).  Low power means less heat, which might be a concern with the PC inside an arcade cabinet with poor airflow.

It also comes in two memory variants, one with GDDR3 the other with GDDR5.  I believe the GDDR5 models are usually clocked a little higher.

I don't really know much about flashing them with ATOM-15.  I have a JPAC, which protects my monitor from out of range signals and as I understand it, most new motherboards have a UEFI BIOS that requires at least 1024x768, which my standard res monitor can't handle anyway.


Unrelated to your questions... Is your i5-2500K a good overclocker?  I can run the one in my primary PC at 4.8GHz with an aftermarket air cooler.

[Meph]

Just realized I mistyped in the original post.  I am going to use it in the Big Blue cabinet via a Jpac.  The problem I am having though is Soft 15KHz wont install with my Nvidia card so my Jpac wont switch to OK Signal.  It's protecting the monitor just fine because it won't run at 15KHz.

As for overclocking it, I haven't tried it yet.  It was my wife's old PC and she didn't overclock it.  I will check it out and see what I can get out of it.

[haynor666]

If fighting games will be only from mame stick with low power card.