The screen resolution on a PC is determined by a plug-in graphics card or the equivalent circuitry built into the chipset on the motherboards. The very early cards supported only the 640x480 VGA resolution, but resolutions increased dramatically over the years, and current cards and monitors support wide screen formats (see
resolution for details). The number of colors that can be displayed jumps in large increments from 256, to 65 thousand to 16 million.
Text and Graphics Mode
A PC graphics card supports both text and graphics modes. Windows PCs boot up in text mode and switch to graphics mode. Many DOS applications supported both modes and switched between them based on the function selected by the user. Following is a summary of early PC display modes and resolutions. See
display adapter,
how to select a PC monitor and
virtual screen.
VESA STANDARDS - SUPER VGA
(colors in parentheses)
640x480 text+graphics (256-16M)
800x600 text+graphics (16-16M)
1024x768 text+graphics (16-16M)
1280x1024 text+graphics (16-16M)
IBM STANDARDS
(colors in parentheses)
MDA 720x350 text only, monoc
CGA 320x200 text+graphics (4)
EGA 640x350 text+graphics (16)
MCGA 640x400 text; 320x200 graphics (256)
VGA 720x400 text; 640x480 graphics (16)
8514 1024x768 text & graphics (256)
XGA 1024x768 text & graphics (256)
HERCULES STANDARD
720x348 text & graphics (mono)
VESA MODES
VESA BIOS Extension (VBE)
Super VGA modes defined by VESA
Mode no. Video
Dec. Hex Res. Colors RAM used
256 100 640x400 256 250K
257 101 640x480 256 300K
258 102 800x600 16 234K
259 103 800x600 256 469K
260 104 1024x768 16 384K
261 105 1024x768 256 768K
262 106 1280x1024 16 640K
263 107 1280x1024 256 1280K
264 108 80x60 text 9.3K
265 109 132x25 text 6.4K
266 10A 132x43 text 11.1K
267 10B 132x50 text 12.9K
268 10C 132x60 text 15.5K
269 10D 320x200 32K 125K
270 10E 320x200 64K 125K
271 10F 320x200 16M 188K
272 110 640x480 32K 600K
273 111 640x480 64K 600K
274 112 640x480 16M 900K
275 113 800x600 32K 938K
276 114 800x600 64K 938K
277 115 800x600 16M 1406K
278 116 1024x768 32K 1536K
279 117 1024x768 64K 1536K
280 118 1024x768 16M 2304K
281 119 1280x1024 32K 2560K
282 11A 1280x1024 64K 2560K
283 11B 1280x1024 16M 3840K
81FF Special mode to save
and restore video RAM
Note: As of VBE 2.0, VESA no longer defines new modes by number. It provides a mechanism for defining the mode by resolution.
Number Pixel bits
colors R G B
32K 5 5 5
64K 5 6 5
16M 8 8 8
EARLIER IBM MODES
Mode
No. CGA
0 320x200 40x25 txt 16 gray
1 320x200 40x25 txt 16 colors
2 640x200 80x25 txt 16 gray
3 640x200 80x24 txt 16 colors
4 320x200 graphics 4 colors
5 320x200 graphics 4 gray
6 640x200 graphics monochrome
EGA
0 320x350 40x25 txt 16 gray
1 320x350 40x25 txt 16 colors
2 640x350 80x25 txt 16 gray
3 640x350 80x25 txt 16 colors
7 720x350 80x25 txt monochrome
13 320x200 graphics 16 colors
14 640x200 graphics 16 colors
15 640x350 graphics monochrome
16 640x350 graphics 16 colors
MCGA
0 320x400 40x25 txt 16 gray
1 320x400 40x25 txt 16 colors
2 640x400 80x25 txt 16 gray
3 640x400 80x25 txt 16 colors
17 640x480 graphics monochrome
19 320x200 graphics 256 colors
VGA
0 360x400 40x25 txt 16 gray
1 360x400 40x25 txt 16 colors
2 720x400 80x25 txt 16 gray
3 720x400 80x25 txt 16 colors
7 720x400 80x25 txt monochrome
18 640x480 graphics 16 colors
XGA
640x480 graphics 256 colors
640x480 graphics 64K colors
1024x768 graphics 256 colors