What is SVGA Techology? |
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| Super Video Graphics Array, almost always abbreviated
to Super VGA or just SVGA is a broad term that covers
a wide range of computer display standards. |
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| Originally, it was an extension to the VGA standard
first released by IBM in 1987. Unlike VGA—a purely
IBM-defined standard—Super VGA was defined by the
Video Electronics Standards Association (VESA), an open
consortium set up to promote interoperability and define
standards. When used as a resolution specification, in
contrast to VGA or XGA for example, the term SVGA normally
refers to a resolution of 800 × 600 pixels. |
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| Super VGA was first defined in 1989. In that first version,
it called for a resolution of 800 × 600 4-bit pixels.
Each pixel could therefore be any of 16 different colors.
It was quickly extended to 1024 × 768 8-bit pixels,
and well beyond that in the following years. |
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| Although the number of colors was defined in the original
specification, this soon became irrelevant as (in contrast
to the old CGA and EGA standards) the interface between
the video card and the VGA or Super VGA monitor uses simple
analog voltages to indicate the desired color depth. In
consequence, so far as the monitor is concerned, there
is no theoretical limit to the number of different colors
that can be displayed. Note that this applies to any VGA
or Super VGA monitor. |
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| While the output of a VGA or Super VGA video card is
analog, the internal calculations the card performs in
order to arrive at these output voltages are entirely
digital. To increase the number of colors a Super VGA
display system can reproduce, no change at all is needed
for the monitor, but the video card needs to handle much
larger numbers and may well need to be redesigned from
scratch. Even so, the leading graphics chip vendors were
producing parts for high-color video cards within just
a few months of Super VGA's introduction. |
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| On paper, the original Super VGA was to be succeeded
by Super XGA, but in practice the industry soon abandoned
the attempt to provide a unique name for each higher display
standard, and almost all display systems made between
the late 1990s and the early 2000s are classed as Super
VGA. |
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| Monitor manufacturers sometimes advertise their products
as XGA or Super XGA. In practice this means little, since
all Super VGA monitors manufactured since the later 1990s
have been capable of at least XGA and usually considerably
higher performance. |
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