CIS 111 Final Review Chapter 4
SCSI port
attaches the system unit toSCSI port attaches the system unit to SCSI peripherals, such as disk drives and printers.
FireWire Port
can connect multiple types of devices that require faster data transmission speeds
MIDI port
connects the system unit to a musical instrument.
Byte
A byte is another word for character; generally represented by 8 bits , provides enough different combinations of 0's and 1's to represent 256 individual characters
System Unit
A case that contains electronic components of the computer used to process data
Multi-core processor
A chip with 2 or more processor cores ie. dual- core and quad-core
Gigabyte
GB 1 billion
USB Port
Short for Universal Serial Bus, an external bus standard that supports data transfer rates of 12 Mbps. A single USB port can be used to connect up to 127 peripheral devices, such as mice, modems, and keyboards
Expansion slot
Socket on a motherboard that can hold an adapter card.
Adapter card
Sometimes called an Expansion card is a circuit board that enhances functions of a component of the system unit and provides connection to a peripheral
Port
The point at which a peripheral attaches to or communicates with a system unit so that the peripheral can send data to or receive info from the computer
Docking station
an external device that attaches to a mobile computer or device, contains a power connection and provides connections to peripherals and usually also includes slots for memory cards, etc
Port replicator
an external device that provides connections to peripheral through ports built into the device
Arithmetic logic unit (ALU)
performs arithmetic, comparison, and other operations.
AC adapter
External power supply
Complementary metal-oxide semiconductor
Also known as CMOS Technology that uses battery power to retain information even when the power to the computer is turned off
Processor
Also called Central Processing Unit (CPU), interprets and carries out the basic instructions that operate a computer
Video card
Also called Graphics Card; A computer expansion card that takes graphical data from the computer and converts it to a signal that can be transmitted to a monitor over a wire or cable.
System bus
Also called the Front Side Bus (FSB) Bus that is part of the motherboard and connects the processor to main memory
Flash memory
A type of nonvolatile computer memory that can be electrically erased and rewritten repeatedly.
Bluetooth
A wireless technology that uses short-range radio frequency transmissions.
Expansion Bus
Allows the processor to communicate with peripherals
Dual-core processor
Chip that contains 2 separate processor cores
Quad-core processor
Chip that contains 4 separate processor cores
Control Unit
Component of a processor that directs and coordinates most of the operations in the computer.
Control unit
Component of the processor that directs and coordinates most of the operations in the computer
Power supply
Component of the system unit that converts the wall outlet AC power into DC power
Backside Bus (BSB)
Connects the processor to cache
Nonvolatile memory
Does not lose its contents when the computer's power is turned off
List the 3 basic types of RAM chips R
Dynamic RAM (DRAM), Static RAM (SRAM), and magnetoresistive RAM (MRAM)
Bus
Electrical channel along which bits transfer within the circuitry of a computer, allowing devices both inside and attached to the system unit to communicate
Kilobyte
KB or K 1 thousand
Volatile memory
Loses its contents when the computer's power is turned off
Megabyte
MB 1 million
The display often is built into the what system unit
Mobile computers and devices
Which runs at a faster speed, multi-core or single-core processor?
Multi-core runs at a slower speed than Single-core processor
Bay
Opening inside the system unit
Clock speed
Pace of the system clock is measured by the number of ticks per second
Firmware
ROM chips that contain permanently written data, instructions, or information, recorded on the chips when they were manufactured.
List examples of Nonvolatile memory
ROM, flash memory, & CMOS
Digital
Recognize only two discrete states: off and on
Microprocess
Refer to a personal computer processor chip
Another name for Motherboard
System board, main circuit board of the system unit
Terabyte
TB 1 trillion
Decoding
Translating an instruction into signals a computer can execute
Memory module
a small circuit board, where the RAM chips reside ( SIMMS, DIMMS, RIMMS)
Random Access Memory (RAM)
a type of memory that can be read from and written to by the processor and other devices. * Ram memory is volatile.
Irda port
allows wireless devices to transmit signals to a computer via infrared light waves.
Memory
consists of electronic components that store instructions waiting to be executed by the processor, data needed by those instructions, and the results of processing the data
Peripheral
device that can be attached to or used with a computer, such as a keyboard, monitor, printer, or scanner
Sound card
enhances the sound-generating capabilities of a personal computer
eSATA port
external SATA; port that allows you to connect a high-speed external SATA (serial advanced technology attachment) hard disk to a computer
Connector
joins a cable to a port
Read only memory (ROM)
refers to memory chips storing permanent data and instructions
Bit
smallest piece of information used by the computer. Derived from "binary digit". In computer language, it is either a one (1) or a zero (0).
Binary system
which is a number system that has just two unique digits — 0 (for off) and 1 (for on) — called bits