The PGC was, at the time of its release, the most advanced graphics card for the IBM XT and aimed for tasks such as CAD.

It was intended for the computer-aided design market and included 320 KB of display RAM and an on-board Intel 8088 microprocessor.

[6] PGC supports: There are six possible color arrangements:[2] The display adapter was composed of three physical circuit boards (one with the on-board microprocessor, firmware ROMs and video output connector, one providing CGA emulation, and the third mostly carrying RAM) and occupied two adjacent expansion slots on the XT or AT motherboard or the Expansion Unit;[7] the third card was located in between the two slots.

The PGC's matching display was the IBM 5175, an analog RGB monitor that is unique to it and not compatible with any other video card without modification.

[8] Some surplus 5175s in VGA-converted form were still sold by catalog retailers such as COMB (Close Out Merchant Buyers) as late as the early 1990s.