Specifications

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Chapter 15 Video Hardware
As PC video technology developed, the screen resolutions video adapters support grew at a steady
pace. Table 15.2 shows standard resolutions used in PC graphics adapters and displays and the terms
commonly used to describe them.
Table 15.2 Graphics Display Resolution Standards
Display Standard Linear Pixels (H×V) Total Pixels Aspect Ratio
CGA 320×200 64,000 1.60
EGA 640×350 224,000 1.83
VGA 640×480 307,200 1.33
WVGA 854×480 409,920 1.78
SVGA 800×600 480,000 1.33
XGA 1024×768 786,432 1.33
XGA+ 1152×864 995,328 1.33
WXGA 1280×800 1,024,000 1.60
WXGA+ 1440×900 1,296,000 1.60
SXGA 1280×1024 1,310,720 1.25
SXGA+ 1400×1050 1,470,000 1.33
WSXGA 1600×1024 1,638,400 1.56
WSXGA+ 1680×1050 1,764,000 1.60
UXGA 1600×1200 1,920,000 1.33
HDTV 1920×1080 2,073,600 1.78
WUXGA 1920×1200 2,304,000 1.60
QXGA 2048×1536 3,145,728 1.33
QSXGA 2560×2048 5,242,880 1.25
QUXGA-W 3840×2400 9,216,000 1.60
Aspect ratios:
1.25 = 5:4
1.33 = 4:3
1.56 = 25:16
The Color Graphics Adapter (CGA) and Enhanced Graphics Adapter (EGA) cards and monitors were the
first PC graphics standards in the early to mid-1980s. The Video Graphics Array (VGA) standard was
released by IBM in April 1987, and all the subsequent resolutions and modes introduced since then have
been based on it in one way or another. VGA mode is still in common use as a reference to the standard
640×480 16-color display that most versions of the Windows operating systems use as their default;
Windows XP, however, defaults to SVGA mode, which is 800×600. The 15-pin connector through which
you connect the analog display to most video adapters is also often called a VGA port. A newer 20-pin
connector is used for DFP-compatible LCD panels. A larger 24-pin connector is used on DVI-D displays,
whereas DVI-I displays use a 29-pin version of the DVI-D connector (refer to Figure 15.4).
Nearly all video adapters sold today support SXGA (1280×1024) resolutions at several color depths,
and many support UXGA (1600×1200) and higher as well. Typically, in addition to the highest setting
your card and display will support, any lower settings are automatically supported as well.
Because all CRT and most new and upcoming LCDs can handle various resolutions, you have a
choice. As you’ll see later in this chapter, the combinations of resolution and color depth (number of
colors onscreen) you can choose might be limited by how much RAM your graphics adapter has
1.60 = 16:10
1.78 = 16:9
1.83 = 11:6
W = Wide-screen (aspect ratios wider than 1.33)
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