Multi-Color Graphics Array

This article has multiple issues. Please help improve it or discuss these issues on the talk page. (Learn how and when to remove these template messages) This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. Find sources: "Multi-Color Graphics Array" – news · newspapers · books · scholar · JSTOR (May 2023) (Learn how and when to remove this message) This article includes a list of general references, but it lacks sufficient corresponding inline citations. Please help to improve this article by introducing more precise citations. (May 2023) (Learn how and when to remove this message) (Learn how and when to remove this message)

The Multi-Color Graphics Array or MCGA is a video subsystem built into the motherboard of the IBM PS/2 Model 30, introduced in April 1987, and Model 25, introduced later in August 1987; no standalone MCGA cards were ever made.^{[2][3][4][5][6][7][8]}

The MCGA supports all CGA display modes plus 640 × 480 monochrome at a refresh rate of 60 Hz, and 320 × 200 with 256 colors (out of an 18-bit RGB palette of 262,144) at 70 Hz. The display adapter uses a DE-15 connector, sometimes referred to as HD-15.

MCGA is similar to VGA in that it had a 256-color mode (the 256-color mode in VGA was sometimes referred to as MCGA) and uses 15-pin analog connectors. The PS/2 chipset's limited abilities prevent EGA compatibility and high-resolution multi-color VGA display modes.

The tenure of MCGA was brief; the PS/2 Model 25 and Model 30 were discontinued by 1992, and the only manufacturer to produce a clone of this display adapter was Epson, in the Equity Ie and PSE-30, since the VGA standard introduced at the same time was considered superior.^[9][10]