Author Topic: Help a noob with a video card (Read 2656 times)

RetroGreg · « **on:** February 05, 2008, 12:41:34 am »

I’m really lost regarding how to use a video card with a tv in Mame. The computer I can use is an AMD Sempron 2800+ 1.61 Ghz with 512mb of ram running XP Pro SP2. It already has a Radeon X300/X550 series 64 mb, but it did not come with a CD to configure and there is not an “ATI” icon in the system tray to confugure the card with.

It appears to be a PCI card (white slot?). It only goes down to 800 x 600 and looks terrible on my tv with S Video in Mame (kind of blurry, definitely could be better) and really bad on the desktop (can’t read any words). I “forced Mame32 to run in 640 x 480 by right clicking the desktop icon and going into “compatibility” and making it 640 x 480 – but this did not help at all.

I think I may need a different video card. It appears that I have a brown AGP slot available. Can I get a different video card for the AGP slot that would be better and able to run lower resolutions for the tv? I’m such a noob with this type stuff and have never installed a video card. Does anyone know of a compatible card that would work with my system and how do I install them? Do I remove the old card first, or can you have both in at the same time?

I’ve searched for my answers and have just become more confused. Please help!

SailorSat · « **Reply #1 on:** February 05, 2008, 12:56:34 am »

Hey Greg.
Try www.ati.com for recent drivers for your radeon card. That should also provide the "ATI icon" you are lookin for

As for PCI/AGP, well it doesn't really matter for MAME, as the AGP is basically just a "faster" PCI slot, mostly used for modern 3d games, but not MAME.

ahofle · « **Reply #2 on:** February 05, 2008, 01:01:57 am »

Before you go buy a new card, go to ATI's website for drivers for your card (EDIT SailorSat beat me). Install them and you will get the ATI control panel stuff. There is a TV tab that has a few settings to improve the picture of TV out. Make sure to set flicker reduction to a minimum (all that does is make things blurry so you don't notice the flicker LOL). The flicker will only be an issue in windows and not in games.
For S-Video, you'll want to run MAME (and pretty much everything else) at 640x480. Going lower won't help anything in my experience because S-Video is a 480i signal. You can go higher (or lower), but it will just blur things and scale it to 480i anyway. You can set the desktop to 640x480 by going to the display control panel, settings tab, click advanced button, go to adapter tab, click 'list all modes', and select 640x480. It's hidden by default in the resolution tab so you have to do it the hard way.

RetroGreg · « **Reply #3 on:** February 05, 2008, 01:03:09 am »

Thanks for the reply. So you think the card I have can be adequate if I download the new driver? I can configure it to be better with that?

How can I tell if it is an x300 or x550? It's listed as "x300/x550" and there are drivers for them separately at ATI.

Thanks for your help!

SailorSat · « **Reply #4 on:** February 05, 2008, 01:15:32 am »

Doesn't matter what you select, you'll end up on the Catalyst 8.1 drivers anyway

RetroGreg · « **Reply #5 on:** February 05, 2008, 10:09:08 am »

Cool. I downloaded the driver and will install it tonight. Hopefully it will work! I really want to use a tv in the cab

IG-88 · « **Reply #6 on:** February 05, 2008, 09:14:42 pm »

Keep us posted on this. I've also just started to use a TV with an AIW 7500 card using s-vid and would like to see how yours comes out. I know I had to go to 640 x 480 before I could even begin to read any windows stuff. Hopefully when I get this all set up I will never have to see windows again. The games themselves look pretty good tho. Only thing I'm running into is with the size of the tv/monitor (27") I'm afraid that once it's in a cab I'll be too close to it....

TOK · « **Reply #7 on:** February 05, 2008, 10:15:54 pm »

I think 800x600 is the lowest mode XP shows as a choice by default. There is a way to lower it though.
Right click on your desktop, hit Properties, then the Settings tab. This should be your resolution screen. Hit the Advanced button in the lower right, then Adapter tab and finally at the very bottom there should be a button that says list all modes.

RetroGreg · « **Reply #8 on:** February 06, 2008, 01:10:11 am »

Okay. I was finally able to install the drivers. Well, first I had to install .Net Framework 2.0, then the ATI drivers.

I had a bit of trouble with them at first. The Catalyst Center did not want to install properly and kept saying I was missing a file. I tried 3 times removing and reinstalling. Then on the 4th try I used an "optional" different link (Individual driver download packages, ATI Multimedia Center, and Avivo™) for the catalyst center that let me install it successfully at last.

Then I was able to output at 640x480 on the tv. I only have a few test games running to see what it looked like. Donkey Kong, Mr. Do, DK Jr., and Pac Man. At first the colors were bleeding and seemed too colorful. I couldn't really see detail lines on Donkey Kong at all. So I opened the Catalyst Center and began adjusting the settings per your advice. Screen flicker down, then I reduced the amount of color and the contrast. I saved the profile as "S Video TV" to make sure I wouldn't lose it.

Now the games look really good. I would say they could definately look better, but they are really great compared to yesterday. The tv I am using is a Toshiba 24" flat screen SDTV and is of really good quality. It does have component available so now I don't know if it is worth the upgrade to get a different video card for it? I'm satisfied as is, but have been playing desktop on an lcd the past two years and have grown use to the clarity. What do you all think?

I do want to use a TV though so I can hook up consoles easily. I only have the ok from the wife for 1 cab, and I want it to be as functional as possible. It's going to be a monster too because the tv is 24", but actual width is 26 1/4" - add the 1 1/2 for the mdf and it will be about 28" wide when I am done. I don't want to decase the tv either. There have been documented threads on the same set that show the casing is not fully removable anyway.

Sorry for the rant/ Please let me know if you have any input wether it is worth upgrading for component and thanks for your help so far!

TOK · « **Reply #9 on:** February 06, 2008, 06:06:13 am »

Its SO worth it to go to component. I'm running a 27" Toshiba flat screen CRT and the difference between S-Video and component was pretty dramatic. Much more solid blacks and more vivid colors.

RetroGreg · « **Reply #10 on:** February 06, 2008, 09:50:53 am »

I read through the thread where you tried to help another guy with the same set I have getting the component to work and it looks like he wasn't able to. Was it really difficult for you to do? I noticed you did mention keeping the s video hooked up to switch between the two during the process. The video card is okay with the 2 outputs at once?

TOK · « **Reply #11 on:** February 06, 2008, 02:34:35 pm »

It wasn't that difficult, just some trial an error.

I have to pull one cable have the video card display the other. What I did for troubleshooting was just leave them plugged into the TV, then swapped them at the card. Component on my set is finicky about resolution. It still doesn't show the initial DOS style POST text or theWindows boot screens, they're scrambled. Once it gets to the desktop (640x480) its fine.

From the point, I have MaLa set to display at 640x420, which eliminates any overscan on my TV.

S-Video shows everything without scrambling, but the final image looks worse.

ever1458 · « **Reply #12 on:** February 06, 2008, 03:00:45 pm »

Can't you use a simple DVI to component converter?

RetroGreg · « **Reply #13 on:** February 06, 2008, 03:06:06 pm »

The current card only has S Video and D Sub output. I have to check what motherboard I have to see if this will even be a possibility on this machine. I know it's an AMD Sempron 1.61 Ghz processor, but I don't know about the motherboard.

I opened the case the other night but didn't write any info down. The current card appears to use PCI and there is an available AGP slot. I just don't know if it is 4x or 8x or another type? Does anyone have any experience with this?

RetroGreg · « **Reply #14 on:** February 07, 2008, 12:17:31 am »

OK, here is a link to the motherboard I have:

http://www.msicomputer.com/product/p_spec.asp?model=K8N_Neo3-F&class=mb

The video card is currently in the white slot all the way to the right (middle of board). As said before CPU is AMD Sempron 2800+ with 512 mb ram.

I think it may be worthwhile to try to get a component connection after tweaking some more tonight. Can anyone help me pick a video card that is compatible with my setup. I'm not too confident in picking one myself.

northerngames · « **Reply #15 on:** February 07, 2008, 12:22:29 am »

quik res tool ?

http://www.softpedia.com/get/Tweak/Video-Tweak/Quick-Res.shtml

RetroGreg · « **Reply #16 on:** February 07, 2008, 12:33:33 am »

Quote from: northerngames on February 07, 2008, 12:22:29 am

quik res tool ?

http://www.softpedia.com/get/Tweak/Video-Tweak/Quick-Res.shtml

Have you used this before?

northerngames · « **Reply #17 on:** February 07, 2008, 12:45:03 am »

ultimarc also has one that may have even more resolutions to pick from to use.

RetroGreg · « **Reply #18 on:** February 07, 2008, 12:56:24 am »

Does the ultimarc one work with tv's? I found this one for pretty cheap:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814161073

Does anyone know offhand if that would be compatible?

ahofle · « **Reply #19 on:** February 07, 2008, 11:17:56 am »

The quickres tools are not applicable when using a TV with S-video or component (since you are very limited in what resolutions work well).


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