PC Hardware A Beginner’s Guide

eye sees in the pixel. The blending of these three colors is the basis of what is called RGB
(red/green/blue) color, which is the color display standard used in all monitors.
As the monitor receives an analog wave from the video card’s DAC with instructions
for the image to be displayed, it is translated into the color and intensity of each dot in
every pixel and illuminates (or as the videoheads say, “excites”) them accordingly. As
illustrated in Figure 16-6, the electron beams sweep across and down the CRT’s display
area,illuminating the pixels to produce or refresh the displayed image. The electron beams

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Figure 16-4. The elements of a CRT

Figure 16-5. A pixel consists of three phosphor dots: one red, one green, and one blue