Hi All,
Thought you might like to see the results of my VGA video amp upgrade on Revenge from Mars.
Andrew
Thought you might like to see the results of my VGA video amp upgrade on Revenge from Mars.
Pinball info
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Ultimarc VGA video amp upgrade on Revenge from Mars
- Thread starter Andrew Hannay
- Start date
Its make a big difference doesn't it. I have it fitted to mine which was at the NLP too. Well worth the £20 or whatever it costs.
OP
OP
Agree, I've also upgraded the RAM to 128Mb as apparently it gives smoother graphics. Can anybody confirm.
Hmm haven't tried that but well worth investigating. I may have an old stick laying around somewhere. I guess it probably takes old SDRAM.
OP
OP
Yes, it does. I remember when SDRAM was new and machines that used it were the ********. The only drawback is the machine takes longer at post boot.
Looks great! Little side-by-side screenshot:
Looks much better!
Looks much better!
Looks much better need to get one of those amps for myself
It gives you better black levels too as the contrast and brightness don't need to be cranked up as high.
I remember when SDRAM was the **** too, hard to believe that was nearly 20 years ago though!
I remember when SDRAM was the **** too, hard to believe that was nearly 20 years ago though!
I have done this to my RFM too. It does indeed make it look a lot better. Did you have to do the extra 5v mod? mine worked fine without having to do it.
I played both RFM at NLP, and the one that was in the lineup with the rest of the cabs ( not the one under Mypinballs hacking lab) seemed to have really spluttery audio during the explosions when you finish some of the modes. I dont know if it was just because the sound was cranked right up, and there was a lot of background noise from everything else around?
I played both RFM at NLP, and the one that was in the lineup with the rest of the cabs ( not the one under Mypinballs hacking lab) seemed to have really spluttery audio during the explosions when you finish some of the modes. I dont know if it was just because the sound was cranked right up, and there was a lot of background noise from everything else around?
That was my RFM in the main lineup at NLP. The audios always been fine so maybe I cranked it up too much as its always been fine at home. I didn't play it at all over the weekend other then to quickly test everything was working at setup ao didn't notice!
I had to do the 5v mod on mine to power the video amp. I think it just depends on what motherboard is installed in the PC. Easy enough to do though, I just knocked up a cable with a molex plug and some wire powered from the PSU in the PC.
I had to do the 5v mod on mine to power the video amp. I think it just depends on what motherboard is installed in the PC. Easy enough to do though, I just knocked up a cable with a molex plug and some wire powered from the PSU in the PC.
definitely one of the cheapest easiest mods to be done - and improved the quality no end 
OP
OP
I didn't need to do the 5v mod. I noticed the VGA riser card inside the PC had a track going to pin9 on the connector so I assumed it was ok. I should measure it though to make sure it's actually 5v. But the amp works. If I did need to add 5v then I would mod the VGA board inside the PC so the connector supplied 5v. Is that what others have done?
The normal way people do it is to take 5v from one of the computer PSU molex connectors and run a wire to the VGA amp and solder it to the specific pad on the pcb
OP
OP
I've seen those mods but I think they look a bit untidy with no option to do a quick unplug. I would just add it all inside the PC.
