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Video Cards
Video Cards

Basics

Video add-on cards are available in 3 basic groups, the 8-bit the 16 bit and the 32 bit. These terms refer to the amount of data that can be transferred at one single pass to or from the CPU or DMA chip. A 16 bit card can send or receive data to or from the CPUor DMA chip in half the time required by an 8-bit card. It is important to have the exact form of video card required by your particular computer. The older PC's and the XT's usually have an 8bit card the newer AT system requires a 16 bit card. It is the most common form of card at present.

Memory Required By the Video Card

Most VGA boards nowadays can display 800 x 600 mode. The better and quality VGA boards will support 1024 x 768 either in interlaced or non interlaced mode. More resolution means more dots on the screen, which in turn means that the video board needs more memory.

A video boards memory requirements are determined by two things its resolution and the number of colours that it can display. For instance, the VGA can display a resolution of 320 x 200 with 256 colours but in the higher 640 x480 resolution it can display only 16 colours. A normal VGA comes with memory right on the board.

last edited (March 5, 2003) by blip, Number of views: 4142, Current Rev: 3 (Diff)

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