VGA

Video Graphics Array

Release date	1987; 30 years ago (1987)
Cards
Entry-level	Chips and Technologies 82c441 ATI Graphics Solution Plus S3 (911 911A 924 801 805 805i 928 805p 928p) Matrox MAGIC RGB Plantronics Colorplus Paradise Systems PEGA 1 Tseng Labs ET3000 Cirrus Logic CL-GD400s
Mid-range	ATI Wonder series Paradise Systems PEGA 1a S3 Vision Tseng Labs ET4000 Cirrus Logic CL-GD500s
High-end	ATI Mach series Paradise Systems PEGA 2a S3 Trio Tseng Labs ET6000 Cirrus Logic CL-GD5000s
History
Predecessor	Enhanced Graphics Adapter
Successor	Extended Graphics Array (XGA) Super Video Graphics Array (SVGA)

Video Graphics Array (VGA) is the display hardware first introduced with the IBM PS/2 line of computers in 1987. Through widespread adoption, the term has also come to mean either an analog computer display standard, the 15-pin D-subminiature VGA connector, or the 640×480 resolution characteristic of the VGA hardware.

VGA was the last IBM graphics standard to which the majority of PC clone manufacturers conformed, making it the lowest common denominator that virtually all post-1990 PC graphics hardware can be expected to implement. It was officially followed by IBM's Extended Graphics Array (XGA) standard, but was effectively superseded by numerous slightly different extensions to VGA made by clone manufacturers, collectively known as Super VGA.

Today, the VGA analog interface is used for high definition video, including resolutions of 1080p and higher. While the transmission bandwidth of VGA is high enough to support even higher resolution playback, there can be picture quality degradation depending on cable quality and length. How discernible this degradation is depends on the individual's eyesight and the display, though it is more noticeable when switching to and from digital inputs like HDMI or DVI.

The VGA supports both All Points Addressable graphics modes, and alphanumeric text modes.

Standard graphics modes are:

The 640×480 16-color and 320×200 256-color modes had fully redefinable palettes, with each entry selectable from within an 18-bit (262,144-color) RGB table, although the high resolution mode is most commonly familiar from its use with a fixed palette under Microsoft Windows. The other color modes defaulted to standard EGA or CGA compatible palettes (including the ability for programs to redefine the 16-color EGA palette from a master 64-color table), but could still be redefined if desired using VGA-specific programming.

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Wikipedia