BIOS Video Modes

This table is courtesy of minuszerodegrees.net.

    = HSYNC: positive at 18.43 kHz, VSYNC: negative at 50 Hz
    = HSYNC: positive at 15.7 kHz, VSYNC: positive at 60 Hz       (a.k.a. EGA Mode 1)
    = HSYNC: positive at 21.85 kHz, VSYNC: negative at 60 Hz    (a.k.a. EGA Mode 2 or EGA High Resolution)
    = HSYNC: 31.5 kHz, VSYNC: 70 Hz
    = HSYNC: 31.5 kHz, VSYNC: 60 Hz

  Text /
Graphics		 Size Mono / Color /
Grayscale		 IBM MDA card IBM EGA
with
MDA monitor
(see note 1)		 IBM CGA card IBM PCjr /
Tandy 1000		 IBM EGA card
with
CGA monitor
(see note 1)		 IBM EGA card
with
EGA monitor		 MCGA Standard
VGA
00h Text 40x25 chars Grayscale - - Yes
shades:16
320x200
char:8x8		 Yes
shades:16
320x200
char:8x8		 Yes
shades:16
320x200
char:8x8		 Yes
shades:16
320x350
char:8x14		 Yes
shades:16
320x400
char:8x16		 Yes
shades:16
360x400
char:9x16
01h Text 40x25 chars Color - - Yes
Colors:16
320x200
char:8x8		 Yes
Colors:16
320x200
char:8x8		 Yes
Colors:16
320x200
char:8x8		 Yes
Colors:16
320x350
char:8x14		 Yes
Colors:16
320x400
char:8x16		 Yes
Colors:16
360x400
char:9x16
02h Text 80x25 chars Grayscale - - Yes
shades:16
640x200
char:8x8		 Yes
shades:16
640x200
char:8x8		 Yes
shades:16
640x200
char:8x8		 Yes
shades:16
640x350
char:8x14		 Yes
shades:16
640x400
char:8x16		 Yes
shades:16
720x400
char:9x16
03h Text 80x25 chars Color - - Yes
Colors:16
640x200
char:8x8		 Yes
Colors:16
640x200
char:8x8		 Yes
Colors:16
640x200
char:8x8		 Yes
Colors:16
640x350
char:8x14		 Yes
Colors:16
640x400
char:8x16		 Yes
Colors:16
720x400
char:9x16
04h Graphics 320x200 Color - - Yes
Colors:4		 Yes
Colors:4		 Yes
Colors:4		 Yes
Colors:4		 Yes
Colors:4		 Yes
Colors:4
05h Graphics 320x200 Grayscale - - Yes
shades:4		 Yes
shades:4		 Yes
shades:4		 Yes
shades:4		 Yes
shades:4		 Yes
shades:4
06h Graphics 640x200 Mono - - Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes
07h Text 80x25 chars Mono Yes
720x350
char:9x14		 Yes
720x350
char:9x14
(see note 2)		 - - - - - -
08h Graphics 160x200 Color - - - Yes
Colors:16		 - - - -
09h Graphics 320x200 Color - - - Yes
Colors:16		 - - - -
0Ah Graphics 640x200 Color - - - Yes
Colors:4		 - - - -
0Bh       - [EGA internal use] - - [EGA internal use] [EGA internal use] - -
0Ch       - [EGA internal use] - - [EGA internal use] [EGA internal use] - -
0Dh Graphics 320x200 Color - - - - Yes
Colors:16		 Yes
Colors:16		 - Yes
Colors:16
0Eh Graphics 640x200 Color - - - - Yes
Colors:16		 Yes
Colors:16		 - Yes
Colors:16
0Fh Graphics 640x350 Mono - Yes - - - - - Yes
10h Graphics 640x350 Color - - - - - Yes
Colors:
4 for 64KB
16 for 128KB
(see note 3)		 - Yes
Colors:16
11h Graphics 640x480 Mono - - - - - - Yes Yes
12h Graphics 640x480 Color - - - - - - - Yes
Colors:16
13h Graphics 320x200 Color - - - - - - Yes
Colors:256		 Yes
Colors:256



Note 1:

Changing the monitor type on an IBM EGA card requires that switches on the IBM EGA card be changed.

Note 2:

Register and attribute behaviour is not quite the same as an MDA card. For more info, read the first page of the document here.

Note 3:

4 Colors if 64KB of RAM fitted to EGA video card; 16 Colors if 128KB (or more) of RAM fitted.

Primary Emulation Resources