AdvanceMame or ArcadeVGA (or both) ?

[GameBase]

Hi all, I'm just picking up on my cab project after a long break (I'm now living in a house big enough to showcase my cab ) and I'm after some advice.

I have: -

- Rotatable Hantarex Polo Star 21" Arcade Monitor (15-25-31khz h-freq / 43-86hz v-freq) mounted in a cab
- Good spec PC with 2GB memory and loads of hd-space, ready to install an OS and software

I'd like to be able to: -

- Run Mame with as many games as possible running at their perfect video resolutions (at their proper orientation)
- Run other emulators under windows (c64/amiga/snes/n64 etc)

So my questions are: -

- If I go down the AdvanceMame route, is the Windows version good and stable? What's the best GFX card to get for this (bearing in mind I'd like to run other emulators that may require more HW-dependent graphics capabilities).

- I've looked also at the ArcadeVGA card, and learned that I could use this from Windows and run normal Mame instead of AdvanceMame. Is this preferable to the AdvanceMame route? How does the ArcadeVGA output quality compare to that of AdvanceMame?

- In either case, what OS is preferable? Win98? WinXP? The PC will solely be used in the cab for games playing (with internet connection).


I'm concerned that if using AdvanceMame I'll only get perfect results if running the DOS version - in that case I suppose I'll have to bite the bullet and use that, then boot up windows for all the other emulators?

Many thanks for any advice.

[DaveJ-UK]

I think ATI rage is supposed to be good for Advance MAME. I don't think it can run under Windows.

I played with it for a while in Win 98SE DOS but it was a right pain in the ass and I ended up getting an Arcade VGA + JPAC, Windows XP, and MAMEWAH. I'm very pleased with the results.

And 2GB is certainly overkill for a MAME box. I have 2GB in my desktop and only time I even come close to using it is when I have a TON of images open in Photoshop.

[GameBase]

Hi,

Thanks for your reply.

I've found pretty much all the info I need in this excellent guide: -
http://www.retroblast.com/articles/monitor.html

Cheers