WG D9200 Video Card Recommendations

[DaveG]

Greetings all!  I'm in the middle of building a MAME cabinet, and I've found this forum very useful so far.  Thanks a bunch!

Anyway, I have a question.  I have a Wells Gardener D9200 monitor (which I bought for $466.50 brand new (from the WG factory) after shipping from these guys (who are owned by WG): American Gaming & Electronics).  I want to know what people recommend for a video card to drive the thing.  I would like to get as many of the KHz settings correct as possible, seeing that many video cards can't go down to 15KHz correctly.  I will be running MAME in DOS 7.1, Windows 98SE, and possibly in Windows XP Pro as well (multi-OS setup).

I am going to buy a dedicated computer to run MAME to put inside of the cabinet.  If there's a mobo out there that anyone can recommend with built in video that can do the same, point me in that direction.  I believe that it'll be rather doubtful that a built in video card would work since most on-board-video cards are rather crap.  Thanks in advance!

[Silverwind]

Well.. i'm sure any standard AGP video card will work just fine..  

Since it has VGA inputs.. it will act like a PC monitor for standard windows apps...  but as far as running an arcade game say at it's native resolution and refresh.. i'm not sure..

Have you tried utilities such as powerstrip?  I would try hooking it up with an existing graphics card and use powerstrip.. see how it turns out..

Now if your not using hardware stretch or playing PC games.. you probably won't need that beefy of a video card.. but either way i'm not a big fan of integrated.. you can get decent graphics cards for cheap these days..

[marcopolo]

Dave,
I am a WG D9200 owner and am still in the process of perfecting my setup.  I can give you a ton of advice if you want to email me directly (goetze@yahoo.com).  As far as video cards, I've been using a GeForce2 which works awesome for more modern games like NeoGeo, etc.  For the older games I am still working on getting my setup perfect (see my other message in this group with the subjet "Mame Verterans...).  I've been thinking about getting a Trident Blade T64 which is supposed to deliver a true 15khz signal, but I might wait until Andy (Ultimarc) comes out with his new card.  

Be advised there are other issues beyond the video card.  The verison of Mame is also critical, i.e. I believe only Mame Dos and even better AdvanceMame will work to emulate the true resolution and monitor frequency of the original.  

I will be testing a bunch of different setups this weekend so I may be able to offer more assistance.

Mark

Well.. i'm sure any standard AGP video card will work just fine..  

Since it has VGA inputs.. it will act like a PC monitor for standard windows apps...  but as far as running an arcade game say at it's native resolution and refresh.. i'm not sure..

Have you tried utilities such as powerstrip?  I would try hooking it up with an existing graphics card and use powerstrip.. see how it turns out..

Now if your not using hardware stretch or playing PC games.. you probably won't need that beefy of a video card.. but either way i'm not a big fan of integrated.. you can get decent graphics cards for cheap these days..

[DaveG]

Hi Mark & Silverwind,

   Thanks a lot for the advice!  I was considering purchasing a Trident Blade T64, but just today I did stumble apon Andy's video card project.  I have a few spare video cards lying around, so I think that I'll wait and see what his final product will be like.

   Mark, I'd be very interested in your test results.  I'll shoot you off an email later today.  Thanks everyone!

[jmcguire]

Please refer to the following link: http://www.msu.edu/user/jonesdes/html/d920027.htm

This is an incredible write-up on using the D9200 with the Trident Blade T64 and Advancemame. I have read many threads in this forum regarding the D9200, but it was this web page that ultimately led to the purchase (American Gaming) of my D9200. There are also links to RC files available from the link above. If you're out there "Jonesdes" -- Thank you!!!

[jmcguire]

I just noticed that the content at http://www.msu.edu/user/jonesdes/html/d920027.htm has been relocated to http://easymamecab.mameworld.net. I haven't tried it yet, but there is technique described for configuring Advancemame for a D9200 at the following link -- http://easymamecab.mameworld.net/html/advcfgd9.htm .

On video cards: I am using a Trident Blade 3D (8MB) card and am very pleased with the results I have acheived with the Advancemame/D9200 combo. I plan on upgrading to a Blade T64 or possibly the Blade XP card (not sure if the Blade XP is supported yet).

Thanks,
Jeff