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Question from Matt: Hello,
I am writing you since I found your articles to be very useful. I received a game system awhile back from an arcade dealer in trade for some work. I now longer have contact with them so I am doing some mods on my own. I do not know all the working of these systems but am handy as well as doing research online. From what I can tell I have a Jamma 48 in 1 motherboard, a Mortal Kombat 2 cabinet, and an old CRT monitor. I would like to upgrade my monitor to an LED/LCD. My question is what monitor would be a good fit for me? I read on a couple sites that it needs to be a 31.5khz monitor, no idea how to find that For testing I disabled the CRT monitor and hooked up a standard computer flat screen monitor I had laying around. I kept getting “out of range” on the display so I messed with the dip switches but no luck. I then check the monitor and it looks like its 55.9khz x 59.9hz. I just want to know that when I order a monitor it will work with my system. I also may use this set up and run it as a television someday. Thank you for your time I appreciate your knowledge.
Matt
1 answer
Response from Jonathan: Matthew,
You have a couple of options. As you mentioned, you can find a monitor that supports the resolution you need. Most arcade boards output 15 kHz which is considered standard resolution. Some arcade boards use 25 kHz (known as medium resolution) or 31 kHz (known has high resolution). If your 48-in-1 board has a 15 pin D-sub connector (also known as a VGA connector) then it probably supports at least 31 kHz from that port. There is also a video signal coming from the video wires on the JAMMA harness that are probably outputting a 15 kHz signal. In other words, you need a monitor that supports either a 15 kHz signal (if you’re hooking it up to the JAMMA harness) or a 31 kHz signal (if you’re hooking it up to the VGA connector).
Getting back to the options, you either need an arcade monitor that you can hook up to the 15 kHz JAMMA video wires or a 31 kHz monitor that you can hook up to the VGA connector. It sounds like you already have an arcade monitor so you might want to try that route first. If your arcade monitor is currently not working properly, we have lots of articles, videos and podcasts that can help you restore it. If you just want to replace the monitor, the best thing to do is buy an LCD that’s made for arcade use. Our Resources page has some arcade parts retailers listed that should carry LCD monitors. You might also check out eBay for these monitors as well.
Thank you for your question and good luck with your repair.
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