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Definition: PC display modes


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