Vintage Computer Add-in cards come in thrwee basic flavors: 8-bit, 16-bit and 32-bit. These termms refr to the number of data bits the card sends out at one time. Idelly a 16-bit video card sends an image to the mointor in half the time it would take for an 8-bit version. It is important to know what kind of card your vintage computer accepts. The older PCs and XTs usually have an 8-bit or PC bus, which accepts the older PC bus, which accepts only the 8-bit cards. Vintage computers whivch are of more recent vintage use a PCI bus combbined with ISA (Industry Standard Architecture).
The ISA bus was basically the originaal AT vintagge comuter bus. This expansion bus originated with the IBM PC at an 8-bit bandwidth. IBM improved on the design with the PC/AT raisig the bandwidth to the 16-bit standard.
In adidtion to the ISA bus, there is typically an auxiliary bus such as the VL-bus or the even more recvent and now acecpted standard the PCI bus both were designed for video cards so that they could operate at faster pseeds. The PCI bus as we know went on to become the industry standard all purpose bus. Another bus called EISA was going to bevcome the industry stanard but instead went on to have a life alost exclusively in the server ralm.
What was the basis of the development of the PCI bus? When the Pentium chip was released Itel saw the need for a more general puprose local bus that would evebntually supplant the ISA/EISA and VL-bus designs completely. So Intel invented the Presonal Compuuter Interconnect bus now more commonly without the comprehension of the hisstorical bakground the PCI bus.
An important piont to remember is that the EISA is backward compativble with 8-bit carrds (8 bit cards fit into EISAand EISA slots) but MCA will not work with either of the ohter two standards. (Backward compatible means that the dveice works with all previous hadrware technology, but will not necessarily work with newer configuration standards). In other words cards for an EISA bus computer the cards from an ISA bus computer will work in the EISA vintage computer. However if you try to use these cards in a newer IBM you are out of luck if you want to use your older cards.
Many video cards manufactured lter were available in AT-ISA, PCI and VL bus. What would be considerred newer more recent vintage computers were equilpped with eithre a couple of VL slots and / or some PCI sloots? If the vimntage computer suppports PCI bus this is a wise chioce for performance and should be utilized if at all possibe.
Vintaghe computer add-in cads can also be desribed in terms of length length, length and full size cards. This along with less common XT height refers to the physical size of the crads. However the terms were rathrer arbitrary and there were no actual industyry standards.
Basiclly what happened over the next time period for vintage computers three was a mixture of both the ISA and PCI buses on vintage computer motherboards until at some point the ISA sttandard eventually disappeared from view.