HP 525 5/XX, 520 5/XX manual MGA Connectors, MGA Video Memory, 128

5 Video Controllers

Matrox MGA Millennium Video Controller Card

MGA Connectors

The Video Electronics Standards Association (VESA) defines a standard video connector, variously known as the VESA feature connector, auxiliary connector, or pass-throughconnector. The video controller supports an output-only VESA feature connector in VGA mode. This connector is integrated on the PCI card, and is connected directly to the pixel data bus and the synchronization signals.

There are two connectors on the back panel: the normal DB15 VGA connector for connecting to HP displays, and a Matrox VESA connector.

Matrox VESA connector

Display connector

VESA pass-through connector Top half of upgrade socket

2 MB memory chips

Graphics processor chips

Bottom half of upgrade socket

Configuration switches

Top and bottom halves of the upgrade socket. (For the installation of a video memory upgrade module or the Matrox MPEG module).

Configuration switches. (Set to their bottom position for normal operation).

If you install a VESA-standard video expansion card that uses the MGA video adapter, connect the expansion card’s cable to the VESA pass-through connector on the card.

MGA Video Memory

The video memory (also known as window RAM, or WRAM) is a local block of RAM for holding two major data structures: the double buffer (to hold one frame steady on the screen whilst the next one is being processed), and the Z-buffer (for storing depth information for each pixel). It is dual-ported, so that it can be input and output simultaneously.

The Matrox MGA Millennium video card is supplied with 2 MB of video memory. This can be upgraded to 4 MB with a D3557A upgrade module, or to 8 MB with an MGA-MIL/MOD6 upgrade module (ordered from Matrox). The upgrade socket can alternatively be used for the installation of the Matrox MGA Media XL upgrade module (also ordered from Matrox) to support MPEG. The switch settings do not have to be changed.

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