The standards by which graphics cards are made are agreed upon by the VESA (Video Electronics Standards Association).

- The first graphics cards made in 1981 by IBM (International Business Machines), and were Monochrome Display Adapters (MDAs). they were text-only and displayed only 2 colors. they usually included a printer port, because the printer would print exactly what was one the screen.

- Next from IBM came the 4 color Hercules Graphics Card (HGC) followed by the 8 color Color Graphics Adapter (CGA) and then the 16 color Enhanced Graphics Adapter (EGA).

- Video Graphics Array (VGA) could support 256 colors @ a maximum resolution of 720x400.

- VGA gave way to Super Video Graphics Array (SVGA), which could support higher resolutions and more color depth. Today, most graphics cards can support Ultra Extended Graphics Array (UXGA), which can support a palette of up to 16.8 million colors and resolutions up to 1600x1200 pixels.