Video card choices for MAME!!!

[Tiger-Heli]

Don't know if this is the right forum, but I also wasn't sure whether software or video was the correct place to post this.

Kind of a general question as by the time I get ready to move on this prices will drop again. . .

I currently have a Pentium 200 MMX with a 4M Rendition Verite chipset PCI video card.  It plays MAME but barely . . .

(All these questions are for use on a PC Monitor only).

I have access to a Duron 850 processor and was planning to get a new motherboard to use with MAME, but I don't want to spend more money than required.

I think the current Rendition card would be too slow for use in MAME . . .

I am considering the Biostar M7VIG PRO motherboard which uses the KM266 chipset with on-board Savage 8 AGP video and a 3DMark score of 456 (low!!!).  I plan on getting 256M of at least PC2700 DDR and sharing 32M with the on-board video.  The board also has an AGP slot if I want to upgrade the video later.

If I don't go with on-board video, the Biostar KT400 board is only about $5 more.

I have a 16M TNT2 (Vanta?, M64?) card lying around with a dead fan and I was considering adding a heatsink to this and using it, but I don't know for sure if it works and so I also am leaning toward the KM266 board so I have the on-board video to fall back on.  The TNT should get a 3DMark of 1692.

Finally, I could purchase a 64M DDR Radeon 7000 card for $40, which should get a 3DMark of 3737.

My questions are - what are your opinions of these options? Also, since MAME is a 2D graphics program, 3D mark scores are not a good indication.  Is there any way to get a feel for the performance of a given card in 2D games or any site that rates them.

Finally, if I wanted to cut the video card cost some more, would a 64M SDR or a 32M DDR card do better for the majority of MAME games?  Or does it depend on the game???

Thanks

P.S. I was planning to use "Frag" tape (3M 9885 thermal transfer tape) to attach the heatsink to the TNT2.  Anyone know who might sell this locally (Atlanta, GA, US)?  A 6-inch strip is about $3 from www.2cooltek.com, etc, but after you add shipping, its too much $$ to put into a 2-year old vid card?

[paigeoliver]

Unless you are using hardware stretching then it really doesn't matter what video card you use. I am sure someone will argue otherwise, but I have never been able to see any real difference between video cards in Mame.

[Tiger-Heli]

Unless you are using hardware stretching then it really doesn't matter what video card you use. I am sure someone will argue otherwise, but I have never been able to see any real difference between video cards in Mame.

I do use hardware stretching . . .  Really like that feature.  Does that make it more of a 3D card problem then???

[Thenasty]

I think you should decide what type of games you really want to play. That 850 is good for alot of 80's and maybe 90's but if you ever come across playing let say "Mortal Kombat, Killer Instinct etc...) Then you will be back asking why it goes slow, or come back again and ask what hardware is needed to play this games. Right now some games require 4.0+ GHZ cpu to run at 60fps. Computer are cheap nowadays (unless your a kid that is).
I think you should be looking for a 2.0+ GHZ CPU and 512MB RAM. This spec will make you happy for a while untill you stumble on a game again that will run slow in that specs.

[Tiger-Heli]

I think you should be looking for a 2.0+ GHZ CPU and 512MB RAM. This spec will make you happy for a while untill you stumble on a game again that will run slow in that specs.

I know pretty much what the hardware limits are.  I have the 850, so it doesn't cost me anything to use it.  I never play Killer Instinct or Street Fighter, etc.  I would like to play Flying Shark or OutRun/OutRunners, which the 850 should work for (and the 200 won't).

I would like to play Cruisin' USA/World and Blitz '99 when it gets added, but the 2.0 Ghz CPU that you recommend is insufficient for that.

I can always get another 256M of RAM later.  I will also probably eventually upgrade either to something in the XP2500 range or Hammer 3000 range, but I wanted to wait until Hammer comes out and XP prices tumble before doing that.

[Lilwolf]

NVidia TnT or better and you will be happy.
ATI Radeon (any) will do.

Using any 3d games?  (Zinc, Viva, PC Games?  Golf Games?)

Use these as your guide.

If you are going to buy a card, consider if you ever plan on getting a TV or a true Arcade monitor.  Then go with an ATI card with TV out or a ArcadeVGA.

Good luck

[Wade]

It doesn't really matter.  I have used a couple of different PCI video cards in my mame system which has been a P133, K6-450, and is now an Athlon 1700+.  Processor seems to be the real factor, not video card.

I think Lilwolf's suggestion of getting a card with an output that works for what you are planning is probably a good idea.  Although plans often change (I bought an ATI TV out card and ended up getting a D9200 anyway).

Wade

[Impostor]

If you are going to buy a card, consider if you ever plan on getting a TV or a true Arcade monitor.  Then go with an ATI card with TV out or a ArcadeVGA.

Currently I have an ArcadeVGA, but before that I used an ATI Radeon 7000 AGP.  The S-video out on that card is worlds better than the S-video out on the previous card, which was a GeForce3 Ti4200.

You can't go wrong with a Radeon 7000.  I heard you can get them for around $50 nowadays on the net.

Impostor

[Vertekal]

If you plan to use an AMD processor, check out one of the newer motherboards with the nForce2 chipset that has onboard video.

The EPoX EP-8RGA+ should support your Duron, has onboard video along the lines of a GeForce4 MX card, and also has a AGP slot for future upgrades. It also gives you the option to upgrade your processor in the future.

http://www.epox.org/products/mainboards/8rgaplus/

[phizzle]

I have a geforce 4 ti 4200 with 128 megs of ram, and i can run mortal combat 3 at the full 52 all the time, neo geo games also work pretty well.