GroovyMame on 2nd GPU? - Please help me plan my new build!

[Xyga]

Which is it out of curiosity ? (model of Optiplex and cpu)

About frame_delay 9, well, it is not always desirable anyway, as not necessarily a guarantee of the most occurences of lagless inputs, from what I understood depending on when the game is programmed to register, a too high frame_delay can actually be bad and produce the opposite of the desired effect.

IMHO from what I've experienced and felt while playing, 7~8 work fantastic in most games, but 5~6 in heavier ones is nothing to be ashamed of, it works great too.
Gotta remember that's about 3 frames faster than baseline MAME for most inputs you'll generate.
(and that's new because just a build ago the difference was 4 frames!)

Finally for really too heavy games, setting frame_delay to just 1 leaves only one undesirable frame for a constant 2 frames faster than baseline, which isn't too bad considering it's manageable even by rather weak CPUs.

[SamIAm]

Hey Xyga. Bummer about your Optiplex, first of all. Hope everything works out.

You asked me about how my i5-4570 CPU did with frame_delay on CV1000 games. I haven't been able to do a thorough analysis, but I did take a look at a couple of things.

For ESP Galuda II's attract mode:
9 - Never hits 100% performance
8 - Dips below 100% so frequently you'd never want to use it
7 - Holds 100% the vast majority of the time, but probably not satisfactory for anyone so picky that they're using this in the first place.
6 - Only falls below 100% for a split-second during the single heaviest moment in the three attract-mode cycles. Would be hard to detect without the speed display enabled.
5 - Same as 6.
4 - Holds a true constant 100%

I also tried Mushihimesama briefly, and with frame_delay set at 7, I never saw it dip below 100%. I'll try goofing off in Ultra mode sometime later.

Which CV1000 game do you think has the most stressful attract mode?

[Xyga]

Oh well I got all my money back, just wasted time, say the Optiplex thing is postponed (but mainly because used pc/parts sellers on eBay really, reeeally suck)

Anyway using my current PC with an i5-4690k, which is a gen younger few MHz faster, I get only very slightly better results.

5 gives me 100% stability in all cv1k games. I wish I could do 7 of course but I don't know if it's really a matter of horsepower.
Previously I've tried overclocking my CPU, pushed it to 4.4GHz but it didn't make a difference for frame_delay.
Granted I don't know shit about overclocking properly so maybe it didn't benefit as expected, plus it was with an older Groovy build...

EDIT: the 'Yagawa' titles like Pink Sweets were considered the heavier ones, at least until the recompiler and a couple memory fixes were introduced.


EDIT2: about buying Optiplexes, I want to stress again that the used barebones/office computers business is COMPLETE CHAOS.
While looking for one online, beware that many, many, many, many product descriptions and pictures are incorrect, and not just on eBay.
People who sell those in majority are just bottom-end traders who don't give a single fuck, don't even know about the actual specs of the products they sell, mixing up form factors/size, CPU/memory, OS version and licence status.
The kind of customers they expect to have are other small businesses looking to equip their office or replace at lowest cost possible, NOT people actually looking for a computer.
So beware, especially in regards to returns policy, you know on eBay despite the advertised 'buyers protection' you are definitely not guaranteed to get the returns shipping fee back (depending on the seller's mood/honesty you'll either get it back immediately, or you will have to fight for getting it refunded)
If you think I'm exaggerating, well in about a month leaving aside those who remained silent I've talked/dealt with 6 different sellers, 5 who couldn't confirm the products specs, one I've ordered from and it was a complete trainwreck.
So again: be careful.
As I've mentioned before, there are stores entirely dedicated to used/refurbished computers, some are more serious than all that eBay filth, I've found one in my country but unfortunately easily 20~30% more expensive than eBay's average, which often defeats the 'cheap emu pc' purpose.

[SamIAm]

EDIT: the 'Yagawa' titles like Pink Sweets were considered the heavier ones, at least until the recompiler and a couple memory fixes were introduced.

Cool. Ibara's stage with the transparent cloud layer is extremely stressful, and it conveniently comes up in the attract mode. While frame_delay at 6 was enough to maintain a constant 100% through almost everything other game I tried, it was here that I actually had to dial it back to five or face extended performance dips.

ESP Galuda II has a special effect that applies to the entire screen, and it's during this that even 5 dips below 100% for a split second. Again, you can see it in the attract mode.

I think I'll set all my CV1000 games to 4 for peace of mind.

[ChuChu Flamingo]

Any recommendations for a pre-made VGA to Scart cable+leads for groovymame? Correct me if im wrong but the analog video output from a GPU is RGBHV, but it can output CSYNC on a HD5000+ series with a hack if my research is correct. I plan on picking up a HD 6450. Whole plan is picking up a optiplex and have a dedicated groovymame.

With this in mind isn't this TTL voltage? I want to connect it to my Gscart and SB-2840 RGB to component and those will fry if the sync isn't attenuated correctly. Not sure if the ultimate scart adapter does that or have to attenuate within the output cable. Same with the arcade express scart cable.

[Xyga]

Yes, in VMmaker there's an option to force composite sync, but it can be tricky to get that to work, in particular for setups that include a transcoder in the chain (good luck)

Instead hard solutions include:

- arcade-express (store or ebay) sell several variants, simple, with audio out, with 5v + 12v for autopowering the display or switch AV channel whatever

- arcadeforge (store) sell the UMSA (and they really try to sell you everything with it lol)

- Guess you can also try some of the Extron RGB interfaces.


HOWEVER that doesn't solve Windows booting in31Khz.

- For that there's the ATOM-15 bios patching solution but it can brick a GPU, never tried myself, it isn't compatible with all anyway.

- Or the still ridiculously expensive J-PAC from Ultimarc.

- other hardware alternative ? DIY ? dunno, but it's probably doable and might exist somewhere.


Personally I just wait until I know Window is ready and therefore in 15KHz...

[kuze]

Just a heads up, if you don't want to gamble getting an Optiplex on eBay you can buy them directly from Dell refurbished:

https://www.dellrefurbished.com/

Processor: Intel Core i5 Quad (i5-4590) 3.30 GHz
Memory: 8 GB
Hard Drive: 500 GB
OS: Windows 8.1 Professional
Chassis: Small Form Factor
Video Card: AMD Radeon R7 250 2GB

Subtotal: $269.00
Shipping Standard: $0.00
Discount (coupon code LASTCHANCE48 for 48% off): -$129.12
Taxes: $11.54
Total shipped: $151.47 USD (within the USA)

Comes with a three month warranty and Windows 8.1 should be able to be upgraded to Windows 10 for free I believe.

Just snagged one myself for cab use.

[Xyga]

That's cool indeed no lottery, unfortunately only US, CA, UK.

The UK stock isn't nearly as interesting, and no international shipping anyway afaik.

For US customers though with that coupon code no hesitation.

If it's for a dedicated use (non-networked/no internet) I'd recommend one with W7 instead of 8 or 10.

[ChuChu Flamingo]

yeah I mentioned those VGA to SCART solutions but can anyone confirm if those output attenuated CSYNC?Im pretty sure it is TTL 5 vpp.

Almost all consumer level stuff expects attenuated sync at 75 Ω. I ask because I don't want to fry my $200 GSCART, and probably SB-2840 RGB to component adapter. RGBHV which is what these cards output until you enable CSYNC from reading up. And both those are TTL usually 5 vpp. Sending that to something expecting .3 vpp-1.0 vpp is going to fry stuff easily.

Probably why people have trouble with transcoders.

https://www.retrorgb.com/csync.html


But yeah none of those VGA to Scart adapters say if the sync is safe. For hooking up to arcade monitors you want TTL. For pro monitors it depends, some need TTL voltage, some CSYNC,, and others don't care. Consumer equipment however like Shinybow SB-2840 and GSCART, even the OSSC certainly expect 75 Ω. From googling I might have to get a Extron sync combiner.

tl;dr has anyone setup groovymame and connected its output to a GSCART or a SB-2840.

[BuckoA51]

Which is it out of curiosity ? (model of Optiplex and cpu)

Core i7-9700 CPU
Optiplex 7070

About frame_delay 9, well, it is not always desirable anyway, as not necessarily a guarantee of the most occurences of lagless inputs, from what I understood depending on when the game is programmed to register, a too high frame_delay can actually be bad and produce the opposite of the desired effect.

Ah ok I did wonder. I'm not going to lose sleep if everything I want to play can't run at 9 anyway, but good to know.

What I was wondering, and a casual Google search around hasn't yielded anything definitive, is the best way to use DosBox on a setup like this? We never really had a good PC in the house growing up, I preferred my Amiga up until around 2000 ish, so I'm not exactly sure how it should look. My monitor is tri-sync so should be able to handle all the DOS modes, if Dosbox can generate them?