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Author Topic: AdvCfg PCLOCK value for my WG9100?  (Read 1698 times)

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JoyMonkey

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AdvCfg PCLOCK value for my WG9100?
« on: April 30, 2003, 12:22:32 pm »
I've set up this monitor a couple of weeks ago using generic PC SVGA settings in AdvCFG. It worked fine, but I'd like to set it up with custom settings, so as AdvanceMame runs perfectly. To do this I need the PCLOCK, HCLOCK and VCLOCK values.

From the specs below, I assume hclock is 30-70, vclock is 40-160. But what is this pclock value all about? What does the P even stand for?
Anyone know?

Here's the monitor's specs:
WellsGardner D9100 - WGE1891
Video input impedance: 75 Ohm; other levels optional
Video level: 0.7 volts peak-to-peak; other levels optional
Sync type: Standard VGA/SVGA TTL sync (positive or negative)
Sync input impedance: >1k Ohm (H sync and V sync)
* Horizontal sync frequency: 30 to 70 KHz
* Vertical sync frequency: 40 to 160 Hz
Graphics mode:
VGA: 640x200, 640x350, 640x480,
SVGA: 800x600, 1024x768.
XGA: 1280x1024
Video bandwidth: 50 MHz typical

MrArcade

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Re:AdvCfg PCLOCK value for my WG9100?
« Reply #1 on: May 01, 2003, 12:37:47 am »
straight from the docs...

pclock = "Pixel clock range in MHz The lower value is the lower clock generable by your video board. The higher value is the video bandwidth of your monitor. If don't know these values you can start with `pclock 5 - 90' which essentially enable any video mode. "

end quote

from my experience just start with  5 - 90 and if you have any problems start raising the lower number by 1.  You should not have to go any higher than 10 on the lower number.  If you are still having issues you can start lowering the upper number by 5 until it all works....then you can try lowering the low number by 1 and see if that was the problem.

Usually raising the lower number will solve any issues.  I have had to set it to 6 with one machine and 8 with another.
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desmatic

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Re:AdvCfg PCLOCK value for my WG9100?
« Reply #2 on: May 01, 2003, 01:21:13 am »
Monitors are analog (seconds), video cards are digital (pixels).  The pclock (pixel clock) is the coversion tool that translates seconds into pixels -- it defines the number of pixels per second that a video card sends to a monitor.

Pixel clock = Number of Horizontal Pixels x Number of Pixels Rows (lines) x Refresh Rate

Be aware that the Number of Horizontal Pixels = active pixels (ones that display data) and blank pixels (blank pixels that give a CRT the time it needs to position the electron beam in the correct spot), this also applies for pixel rows.

So, you could really state it this way (if it makes it any clearer)

Pixel clock = (Active Pixels + Blank Pixels) x (Active Pixel Rows + Blank Pixel Rows) x Refresh Rate

High pixel clocks are needed for high resolutions (or fast ones), low pixel clocks are needed for low resolutions (or slow ones)

Arcade monitors usually run at around 7mHz (though some go a little lower,  all the way down to 5mHz for very low resolutions).  This is why you want a video card that can handle very low pclocks for an arcade monitor as they run very low resolution displays.  ATI cards and Trident's Blade T64 can handle pclocks as low as 5 (possibly lower, though it doesn't matter), Matrox's G400 can go down to 6, Nvidia cards can go down to 8, and Ultimarcs ArcadeVGA doesn't really have a lower pclock limit, meaning it can display ridiculously low resolutions.  This is why if your running AdvanceMAME on a 15kHz monitor you really should get a card that supports a pclock of at least 6, as anything over 7 could be restricting.

As far as AdvanceMAME is concerned, video cards support very high pclocks, so they have no effect on the upper limit of your setup.  This means that the limiting factor for a high pclock rate is your monitor.  But it is only fair to say that you can pretty much ignore the high plclock number as most monitors can't display resolutions large enough to max it out.  For example, I have a pclock of 5-90 in my config file but I know my monitor doesn't support a pclock over 25.  So I suggest you just leave the upper pclock at 90 unless you have probs.  The lower pclock limit is mostly an issue because video card manufactures don't realize that there are people like us that run their video cards at very low resolutions.  Their focus is on very high resolutions, which is what most people look for in a modern card.

From your specs, we can see that your monitor supports a 50mHz bandwidth.  This is how many pixels per second your monitor can legitimately handle (its pclock).  So technically speaking you could use a pclock from somewhere between 5-50 to 8-50, depending upon what video card you were using.  It's only fair to say that since your monitor doesn't support a resolution lower than standard VGA, then you really don't need a pclock lower than 25.  So for you the lower limit of a video card's pclock is irrelavant, as they all can go down to 25mHz, which is right around were vga signals start.  So technically speaking you should use a pclock setting of 25-50.  For your setup, however, I'd stick to the default 5-90.  This just enables all pclocks.  In your case AdvanceMAME will never call a pclock your setup can't support, assuming you are using the correct hclock and vclock settings.  Lucky for you, for others it's not so simple.
« Last Edit: May 01, 2003, 04:15:28 am by desmatic »

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Re:AdvCfg PCLOCK value for my WG9100?
« Reply #3 on: May 01, 2003, 12:30:52 pm »
Wow, thanks for such an in-depth reply Desmatic. I've set it at 5-90, I'm using an onboard Ati Rage Pro. So for all is going well.

I've got it displaying 240x192 up to 1024x768 perfectly. There are a few troublesome resolutions in-between, but they're being ironed out.

I might use 1024x768 for vector games, if I can figure out how to get them stretched to the whole screen at higher resolutions.

desmatic

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Re:AdvCfg PCLOCK value for my WG9100?
« Reply #4 on: May 01, 2003, 02:15:42 pm »
If your using an ATI card, make sure to change

display_color auto      to     display_color bgr16

in your advmame.rc file, otherwise you will never be able to properly center your games.  

As far as the vector thing goes, I've never tried to run Vector games at anything other than 640x480 in AdvanceMAME.  In Windows MAME they may look better at higher resolutions (basically, because the pixels are smaller), but in AdvanceMAME you may run into probs using high resolutions.  I don't really know, as I've never tried it.  Guess I'll have to give it a look into.  But right now I don't have AdvanceMAME running on a Multisync PC monitor, so I would actually have to put down my coffee and do something inoder to find out, ghrr.
« Last Edit: May 01, 2003, 02:16:53 pm by desmatic »

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Re:AdvCfg PCLOCK value for my WG9100?
« Reply #5 on: May 02, 2003, 03:46:36 pm »
As far as the vector thing goes, I've never tried to run Vector games at anything other than 640x480 in AdvanceMAME.  In Windows MAME they may look better at higher resolutions (basically, because the pixels are smaller), but in AdvanceMAME you may run into probs using high resolutions.  I don't really know, as I've never tried it.  Guess I'll have to give it a look into.  But right now I don't have AdvanceMAME running on a Multisync PC monitor, so I would actually have to put down my coffee and do something inoder to find out, ghrr.

I've got vector games running before at 800x600 with anti-aliasing using Advance Mame. Now I can't remember how I managed to do it!

When I try and run a vector game at 800x600, the game stays 640x480, in the center of the screen. Any ideas on how I'd stretch it to fit the whole screen? And how did I get it anti-aliased before? I can't even see it mentioned in advancemame.rc???

I really should take notes when I get games going the way I like them.

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Re:AdvCfg PCLOCK value for my WG9100?
« Reply #6 on: May 05, 2003, 06:25:01 am »
Try using a multiple of 640x480.  Given your CRTs hclock range, the highest working mode would be 1280x960.  Be sure to keep the refresh rate at 60, or the game will run funny.