New to me VP Cabs Vertigo

[Slope]

I recently purchased an older VP Cabs Vertigo machine.  The hard drive died just before the previous owner decided to sell it, but VP Cabs was nice enough to send him a new hard drive.  Many of the Mame games are not configure properly, it only has a handful of FX2 and FX3 tables (Aliens is by FAR my favorite).  Anyway, I want to add more and get Mame setup correctly.  I've built other Mame machines, so I'm not worried about that part.  There are some upgrades I'm planning on doing and need some advice/feedback.

 

The current PC is an i3-4160 @ 3.60 GHz with 2 x 4GB (DDR3-1600) sticks totally 8GB of RAM with a NVidia G-Force 750Ti and a 250GB SSD running Windows 7 and PinballX.

 

I plan on replacing all the buttons with LED buttons and replacing the joystick with an Ultimarc Ultrastick 360.  I'll be putting in an iPac2 and a LEDWiz32 so I can light up the buttons used for each game.  What I don't know about is the computer.  I'm gathering I should upgrade the graphics card?  The main screen is an Insignia NS-32D420na16 (it's a 1080p monitor)...I was not planning on upgrading the monitor, so what graphics card should I be sporting now days?  Also, do I need to be looking at a better processor?  From what I'm reading, I believe the graphics cards is the most important thing.  I think the motherboard/processor is okay, but as long as I'm upgrading everything and essentially starting from scratch (I don't have any tables I'm trying to save or anything), what would you recommend?

 

Thanks for the advice.

[topper2k]

If you're happy with 1080p then a GTX750Ti should be fine, especially if you overclock it a little. I'd be a little worried about the CPU keeping up on tables with PupPacks. But it might be OK too.

 

If you're running a system with lower resources, I strongly recommend you use PinballY for your front end. It's much less resource intense than Popper or PinballX. I'd also look at PinAffinity, it will help get the most out of your system resources. PinballY and PinAffinity are both made by the same person who brought us Pinscape. 

 

Which brings me to... Pinscape. Consider a KL25Z in place of the iPac2. To me, there are two things that make a pin cab worth the time, effort, and expense. They are analog nudge and SSF (Surround Sound Feedback). So you want a button encoder with an accelerometer to support analog nudge. Just my two cents though.

 

Cheers!

[markmon]

The vertigo is a nice machine. The CPU and motherboard are fine. Note that Pinball FX needs a cabinet code to unlock and Zen won't issue you one for a vertigo because it already had one paid for by vpcabs. That means if you have to do a full reinstall and need a new cabinet code, you're sort of stuck. So I'd suggest doing whatever you can to avoid replacing the motherboard and reinstalling windows. 

 

When I had a vertigo, I put an extra set of flipper buttons in the side. The location of the existing ones are super hard on your palms resting on the sides. Also, I put in an ultimarc 4-way 8-way electronic switching joystick and lit all the other buttons using LED buttons.  The trackball can be lit up also using a couple LEDs. For flippers you want leaf switches for best operation.

 

Your video card is weak. You'll want at least a 1660 IMO. However, as of the 10x0 series, Nvidia killed off VGA. So if your vertigo is stuck with VGA for the upper monitor, a GTX 980TI is the highest card you can get. I think they moved to all HDMI a while back but your machine is one of the older ones with a 750TI in it.

 

I also put in a pinscape KL25Z in my vertigo and even did a plunger. Even if you don't want to use a plunger, you can bolt it on a plastic L-bracket and get analog nudge working. I have a 3d printable bracket if you want it. You just screw it into the front of the cabinet on the inside so it's above the coin door and below the panel.

 

I also strongly recommend PinballY as a frontend.