VGA

Stands for "Video Graphics Array." It is the standard monitor or display interface used in most PCs. Therefore, if a montior is VGA-compatible, it should work with most new computers. The VGA standard was originally developed by IBM in 1987 and allowed for a display resolution of 640x480 pixels. Since then, many revisions of the standard have been introduced. The most common is Super VGA (SVGA), which allows for resolutions greater than 640x480, such as 800x600 or 1024x768. A standard VGA connection has 15 pins and is shaped like a trapezoid.

VGA
Short for Video Graphics Array, VGA is a popular display standard developed by IBM and introduced in 1987, VGA provides 640 x 480 resolution color display screens with a refresh rate of 60Hz and 16 colors displayed at a time. If the resolution is lowered to 320 x 200, 256 colors can be displayed. VGA capability is built into plug-in video cards, VGA chips, and monitors that can work with the VGA cards. Today, VGA has been replaced by SVGA. Below is an illustration of the 15-Pin VGA connector, its pin assignments, and size dimensions with a chart describing what each of the pins are for.

PINFUNCTION 1Red Video 2Green Video 3Blue Video 4Monitor ID 2 5TTL Ground (monitor self-test) 6Red Analog Ground 7Green Analog Ground 8Blue Analog Ground 9Key (Plugged Hole) 10Sync Ground 11Monitor ID 0 12Monitor ID 1 13Horizontal Sync 14Vertical Sync 15Monitor ID 3

SVGA

Short for Super Video Graphics Array, SVGA is a set of video standards that is one step above VGA. SVGA monitors are capable of displaying up to 16 million colors with a resolution of 800 x 600 on 14" monitors or up to a 1200 x 1600 resolution on a 20" monitor. In the picture to the right, is what the typical VGA/SVGA connection looks like. Today, this connection and cable is being replaced by the DVI connection.

XGA
Short for eXtended Graphics Array, XGA was introduced in 1990 and is IBM's upgrade to the VGA video standard. With a resolution of 1,024 horizontal pixels by 768 vertical pixels and 256 colors, it is proprietary standard.

XGA and XGA-2 (Extended Graphics Array).

XGA (Extended Graphics Array) is a high-resolution video display mode that provides screen pixel resolution of 1,024 by 768 in 256 colors or 640 by 480 in high (16-bit) color. XGA monitor s can be interlaced display s. XGA-2 is a display mode that provides 1,024 by 768 resolution in high color and higher-refresh rates than XGA. XGA was introduced by IBM in 1990 as an improvement on an earlier IBM display standard, the 8514/A. The XGA standard is used in desktop and laptop computers as well as in projection systems.

Display Mode Resolution (pixels) VGA 640 x 480 SVGA 800 x 600 XGA 1024 x 768 SXGA 1280 x 1024 UXGA 1600 x 1200