What DOS video card do you use?

[Gideon]

I was going to make this a poll, until I realized that I wouldn't even be able to come up with enough options.  So, for all you DOS MAME users, what video card do you use and why?  If you could change your current video card for another one, what would you pick?  As always, thanks for your time.

[bloodyviking77]

I have used:

matrox mystique (not great)
ati rage IIc  (better, but still limited compatiblity)
Trident Blade T64 (best so far).

(all with arcmon.sys or monarc plus as required and advmame)

Of course if I had $$ to burn the arcadevga is a no-brainer . . . but the Trident card with advmame is a pretty darn good solution.

[menace]

used the trident--worked very well --spent a few hours getting it running though with advancemame.  tried a rage IIC--didn't work very well.

[Gideon]

What about cards to output S-video?  Does anyone have some input there?

[SirPeale]

There are quite a few of the Trident cards on eBay right now.  Most are from the same seller.  

http://search-desc.ebay.com/ws/search/SaleSearch?from=R8&ht=1&satitle=Trident+Blade+T64&sokeywordredirect=1&sosortproperty=1&sotextsearched=2

[Nailz]

Can I bid on the same one you are Peale, or is that just a coincidence?  

[SirPeale]

Hey man, there's enough to go around.  Pass the dutchie to the left hand side.

[Gideon]

What about cards to output S-video?  Does anyone have some input there?

Pretty please?

[Buddabing]

I was going to make this a poll, until I realized that I wouldn't even be able to come up with enough options.  So, for all you DOS MAME users, what video card do you use and why?  If you could change your current video card for another one, what would you pick?  As always, thanks for your time.

ArcadeVGA, for authenticity and ease of use when using an arcade monitor. At this point I wouldn't trade it for anything of equal value.

[Silver]

What about cards to output S-video?  Does anyone have some input there?

Pretty please?

If your looking for tv-out solutions, then the dos performance/compatability (with advancemame) is probbaly not that important, as the gfx card will do its own processing of the image to make it into a tv-compatible signal. Advancemame is all about generating tv-type signals out of the VGA port of the gfx card. I do not know what happens if you use advancemame but take the signal from the tv-out port of a card.

Also, most gfx drivers allow tweaking of the tv-out image to improve (often helped by Powerstrip) - but I imagine these tweaks are unavailable if you are running in pure dos. There maybe some dos-based tv-out utils around, but I don't know of them.

Howver, ATI is widely recognised as having pretty high quality of tv-out on its graphics cards, and I know they work fine in dos (i.e. stick a tv into the gfx card - and theres the picture, bios and all).

[NOP]

I'm using the onboard video on my VIA EPIA M-10000 motherboard and standard DOS MAME with mixed results.

I'm using VGA cable->WG arcade monitor, not using the TV output.

I've only tried a few dozen games so far, all of them classics.  Galaga, pacmans, frogger, all work perfectly.  Donkey Kong, DKjr, and several others show up 1/2 off the screen and are in a really small screen size.  Obviously, my video system can't handle the mode these games require.

I'm currently trying to tweak advancemame to support these modes, but it's complaining that it can't load a video driver for my video card.  I think it's just a matter of forcing it to accept the ID of my video card before I can at least attempt to set up good modes for it.  This requires recompiling advancemame though.  (I think.  I'm doing research on this right now.)

If it can work, these VIA boards are really quite perfect for an oldskool arcade cabinet.  Small size, low power, cheap, easily has the horsepower for classic games, and it's got everything you need onboard.  I hope it's just a matter of a few software upgrades to make it fly.

-jeff!

[garyh]

Matrox G100 AGP to rotated 17" IBM Monitor. I only play the classics and it works fine for me.

Gary

[Gideon]

Howver, ATI is widely recognised as having pretty high quality of tv-out on its graphics cards, and I know they work fine in dos (i.e. stick a tv into the gfx card - and theres the picture, bios and all).

Is that true?  I ask because at their driver download page, DOS isn't even listed as an available OS.

[Silver]

Howver, ATI is widely recognised as having pretty high quality of tv-out on its graphics cards, and I know they work fine in dos (i.e. stick a tv into the gfx card - and theres the picture, bios and all).

Is that true?  I ask because at their driver download page, DOS isn't even listed as an available OS.

Ok 2 part answer here...

1) Yes - No drivers are required at all to view the bios screens/dos on your tv (i.e. there is no setup whatsoever - no need to pre-configure using a monitor etc..etc..)

Hardly any current gfx cards will have readily available dos drivers - but then every gfx card ever will boot to dos with no drivers. It tends to be special/custom/accelerated resolutions that need dos drivers.

2) Different resolutions/video modes. If you changing resolutions in Dos or dos-based apps then drivers may be required (e.g. Programs like (old) 3d Studio rendering 3d in 1024x768 from dos needed approariate drivers). However most normal screen modes in dos are described by the VESA standard - I think most graphics cards have inbuilt support for popular resolutions, but you should look up a nifty program called Scitech Display Doctor which basically adds all VESA modes support just through a small program. However, having a massive range of resolutions available may not be that helpful seeing as you are planning on using the tv-out, so everything will resized internally in the gfx card anyway.

All that info may not be that helpful - if all you want is mame from dos via tv-out then I doubt you will have many problems. Do a forum search - I'm sure theres loads of info I've read before about tv-out cabs/tv-out quality with pictures.

[Gideon]

Wonderful.  I'm glad to have asked.  Thanks!

[MrAltoidMan]

ArcadeVGA, for authenticity and ease of use when using an arcade monitor. At this point I wouldn't trade it for anything of equal value.

Looking at the model # on the ArcadeVGA card (Pic on the Ultimarc site), I see that the ArcadeVGA is an ATI Radeon 7000 64MB.  Is there any reason to buy the AVGA if I can pick up the dual head Radeon for half the price?

[Buddabing]

ArcadeVGA, for authenticity and ease of use when using an arcade monitor. At this point I wouldn't trade it for anything of equal value.

Looking at the model # on the ArcadeVGA card (Pic on the Ultimarc site), I see that the ArcadeVGA is an ATI Radeon 7000 64MB.  Is there any reason to buy the AVGA if I can pick up the dual head Radeon for half the price?

It depends on what kind of monitor you're planning on using: an arcade monitor, a TV, or a computer monitor, and it also depends on what operating system you'll be using.

The ArcadeVGA differs from a stock Radeon 7000 in that it adds support for resolutions used by video games. If you get the dual head Radeon, maybe you can use AdvanceMAME to get those resolutions. I don't know for sure, since I don't have to use AdvanceMAME since I have an ArcadeVGA.

[MrAltoidMan]

Thank you, I appreciate your response.

I've ordered the ArcadeVGA for a friend (and the breakout cable to save myself some wiring), and I noticed the part # on the board, and you can buy that card from other places.  Since the ArcadeVGA is a dual-head, and the card that comes up under the ArcadeVGA part # is also, then I figured once could just purchase that card.

I didn't know if Ultimarc had made revisions to that card or something.

Anyway, thanks for the input.  I've decided to pass on the J-Pac, and just us an ArcadeVGA (or experiment with other cards), and interface an I-Pac to my existing Jamma wiring for the controls, and coin door and such.

Thank you!

[SirPeale]

I didn't know if Ultimarc had made revisions to that card or something.

IIRC it's a custom BIOS, don't know about other changes.

Anyway, thanks for the input.  I've decided to pass on the J-Pac, and just us an ArcadeVGA (or experiment with other cards), and interface an I-Pac to my existing Jamma wiring for the controls, and coin door and such.

It makes little sense to do it that way.  The J-PAC will plug right into your existing JAMMA socket (you did say you wanted LESS wiring, right?) and will help with the video as well.