ITF+ FCO-U61: Study Guide

Heat sink and a fan

Air cooling for processors usually involves which two components?

ROM (Read-Only Memory) - Chips store data permanently; you can't make changes to their contentent at all. Can't make any changes. Main advantages are its reliability - never. Slow comare SS RAM (Random Access Memory )

All memory can be divided into which two categories? What do they do?

CMYK

Color inkjet printers use ink cartridges called _____.

They differ in size and configuration of the components on the motherboard. They also have different power requirements?

How do form factors differ?

1,000

How many bytes are in a kilobyte?

1,000

How many megabytes are in a gigabyte?

It will either have -R (recordable), -RW (rewritable), - RE (recordable)

If a drive is capable of writing to CD, DVD, and BD, what are these called?

CRTs

The oldest computer display devices are _____.

Takes in 1s and 0s and does math on those. The math it performs is known as an intruction set.

Walk through the functionality of CPUs?

An expansion slot designed to meet the need for increased graphics performance. Now outdated.

What are AGP Expansion Slots?

A memory module packaging style that features a circuit board with independent pins on both sides of the module's card edge. Memory for desktops comes on circuit boards. Same thing but for laptops. They are usually smaller.

What are DIMMs? What are SODIMMs?

A high-performance serial local-bus slot architecture that obviates the need for AGP and PCI slots. PCIe support combining the resources of multiple adapters for higher performance. It is the most common expansion slot architecture on the motherboard. PCIe has the advantage of being faster than AGP while maintaining the flexibility of PCI. Perfect for gamers.

What are PCI Express slots? What are the advantages of PCIe

A popular expansion slot architecture invented by Intel that succeeded the ISA slot and that is succeeded by PCIe. They are easily recognized because they are around 3 inches long and classically white. This means that mixing 33 MHz and 66 MHz adapters in a 66 MHz system will slow all adapters to 33 MHz.

What are PCI slots? What type of topology does it have?

One of the arbitrary insertion points in an expansion bus, based on a specific technology—PCIe, for example. Some expansion devices that might be installed in these slots include video, network, sound, and disk interface cards.

What are expansion slots?

The size and shape of a component. For example, AT and ATX are two form factors for motherboards.

What are form factors?

https://www.sporcle.com/games/KingPhoebus/motherboard-components-hand-me-that-hammer

What are front-panel and back-panel connectors?

In the computer world, "optical" refers to lasers, which can "see" and read data on optical discs. These discs include CDs and DVDs, which are made up of millions of small bumps and dips. Optical drives have lasers that read these bumps and dips as ones and zeros, which the computer can understand. Some common types of optical drives include CD-ROM, CD-RW, DVD-ROM, DVD-RW, and Blu-ray drives. CD and DVD writers, such as CD-R and DVD-R drives use a laser to both read and write data on the discs. The laser used for writing the data is much more powerful than the laser that reads the data, as it "burns" the bumps and dips into the disc. While optical drives can spin discs at very high speeds, they are still significantly slower than hard drives, which store data magnetically. However, because optical media is inexpensive and removable, it is the most common format used for distributing computer software.

What are optical drives? What common types of optical drives?

Mouse, touchpad, joystick, stylus pen, trackball

What are some types of pointing devices?

32-bit and 64-bit. Refers to the set of data lines between the CPU and the primary memory of the system. The wider the bus, the more data that can be processed per unit of time. In other words, more work can be preformed.

What are the bit labels of processors? Explain what this means and how they differ.

IDE, SATA, PATA

What are the different types of hard drive standard connectors?

PCs use memory chips arranged on a small circuit board. Example is DIMM.

What are the physical characteristics of RAM?

Architecture, Speed, and Cache

What are the top three CPU characteristics?

1. PATA - (Parallel PATA) is also known as Integrated Drive Electronics 2. SATA - (Serial ATA) is the newer and faster connector.

What are the types of hard drive standard connectors?

Faster startup, faster read times, less power consumption and heat, silent, more reliable, less susceptible to shock damage, higher data density

What are three advantages of SSD over HDD?

Air cooling and liquid cooling

What are two methods used to cool processors?

What are two types of communications expansion cards?

What are two types of communications expansion cards?

cache memory

What can motherboard designers add to speed up systems?

All other components. Some are attached directly to the board and aren't intended to be removed ex: CPU socket, RAM slots, expansion slots, and a variety of other chips. CPU and RAM get psychically attached to the motherboard Other devices, like hard drives and power supplies, are attached via their own connectors.

What components are attached to the PCB? How are they attached to the PCB and what are a few examples?

They need optical drive capable of reading them and those devices are designed with a -ROM ending.

What do CDs, DVDs, and BDs need?

Differ in their capacity, their speed (access time) and the type of materials they are made from.

What do hard drives differ?

Flat and have several columns and rows of holes or pins arranged in a square. Two types: 1. Pin Grid Array (PGA) - have holes and the processors have pints that fit into the holes. Uses a simple lever to mount. 2. Land Grid Array (LGA) - have contacts (often pings) built in to them, which connect with contacts on the CPU. Has more complex harnessing.

What does CPU sockets look like? What are the two types of CPU sockets?

Heat sink/fan

What does a CPU need to prevent it from destroying itself?

Means the CPU is actually made up several processors working in unison within the same package.

What does multi-core processors mean?

Converts AC power to DC power for system components

What does the power supply do?

The basic input/output system for an IBM-based PC. It is the firmware that allows the computer to boot. It is the second most important chip on the motherboard.

What is BIOS?

Throttling down the CPUs speed to reduce the amount of energy used and is common in processors for mobile devices. Save power, when CPU isn't busy

What is CPU throttling and why is it used?

Stands for "Double Data Rate." It is an advanced version of SDRAM, a type of computer memory. DDR-SDRAM, sometimes called "SDRAM II," can transfer data twice as fast as regular SDRAM chips. This is because DDR memory can send and receive signals twice per clock cycle. The efficient operation of DDR-SDRAM makes the memory great for notebook computers since it uses up less power.

What is DDR?

The name given to any software that is encoded in hardware, usually a read-only memory (ROM) chip, and can be run without extra instructions from the operating system. BIOS.

What is Firmware? What is an example?

The primary memory used to store currently used data and instructions for the CPU.

What is RAM?

A newer-style drive that has no moving parts but uses flash memory to emulate a conventional hard disk drive. When used as a replacement for HDD, SSDs are expected to behave the same, mainly by retaining contents when the system is powered off. Also have the same PATA/SATA and power connectors. The advantages: - Faster start-up and read times - less power consumption - silent operations - more reliable and less susceptible to damage The disadvantages: - more expensive per byte - limited to a finite # of write operations. Lack of longevity. Overall: -faster and produce less heat - more expensive

What is SSD? How are they similar to HDD? How are they different and what are its advantages? What are the disadvantages? What are the overall advantages/disadvantages?

Memory that does not change, nor is it lost when the computer loses power (as opposed to dynamic memory, which is lost when the computer loses power) A type of memory that loses its data rapidly if it isn't constantly electrically refreshed.

What is Static Memory and What is Dynamic Memory?

A Blu-ray disc; it's a newer optical disc format that holds more information than a standard DVD.

What is a BD-ROM

A non-writeable and inerasable compact disc permanently pressed with digital data. A digital optical disc medium commonly capable of holding from 650 MB to 700 MB of data, corresponding to 74 to 80 minutes of CD-quality audio, which is of higher quality than MP3 files.

What is a CD-ROM

A chip used to retain system settings when the PC is turned off or unplugged. Contains the system BIOS. This includes date and time, hard drive, configuration, memory, and CPU settings, boot sequence, and power management features.

What is a CMOS?

A memory module (RAM)

What is a DDR3 DIMM?

A memory module packaging style that features a circuit board with independent pins on both sides of the module's card edge.

What is a DIMM?

A non-writeable and inerasable digital video disc permanently pressed with digital data. A digital optical disc medium commonly capable of holding from 4.7 GB to 8.5 GB of data per side, corresponding to two to four hours of uncompressed DVD-quality video.

What is a DVD-ROM

Graphics Processing Unit (GPU).

What is a GPU?

Also known as a hard drive. A disk drive that contains magnetically coated platters in a sealed case and is often used as the main secondary-storage medium. It is used for permanent storage and quick access. They hold our data as well as files the systems needs to operate smoothly

What is a HDD? What is it used for?

Power supply unit

What is a PSU?

The new name for the IDE hard drive standard, since the invention of Serial ATA (SATA).

What is a Parallel ATA?

uses only a single serial pathway for communication instead of multiple parallel pathways as PATA uses.

What is a Serial ATA?

A set of signal pathways that allows information and signals to travel between components inside or outside a computer. A computer contains three types of buses: the external bus, the address bus, and the data bus.

What is a bus?

common collection of signal pathways over which related devices communicate within the computer system. It refers specifically to a data path or the way that the computer communicates over that path.

What is a bus?

A collection of chips or circuits that perform interface and peripheral functions for the processor. The collection of chips provides interfaces for memory, expansion cards, and onboard peripherals, and it generally dictates how a motherboard will communicate with the installed peripherals.

What is a chipset?

The set of controller chips that monitors and directs the traffic on the motherboard between the buses and components.

What is a chipset?

The pathway that delivers data to and from the memory. Memory has a bus width that determines how many columns are in each row of storage. It also has a speed which determines how quickly data will travel on its pathway.

What is a memory bus?

Part of the boot process controlled by the BIOS that verifies the working condition of the hardware the BIOS knows about.

What is a power-on self-test (POST)?

A conductive series of pathways laminated to a nonconductive substrate that line the bottom of the computer. The motherboard.

What is a printed circuit board? What is an example of one?

A type of processor that uses an architecture known as reduced instruction set computing (RISC). That's in contrast to Intel x86 architecture, which employs complex instruction set computing. They differ in how they do math. RISC processors may take more steps to do the same math problem as CISC. RISC are smaller and produce less heat

What is an ARM (Advanced RISC Machines)? What does this contrast with? What are the differences between the two?

A nickname for the original ATA standard, now known as parallel ATA (PATA) since the advent of serial ATA (SATA).

What is an Integrated Drive Electronics?

A storage area for frequently used data and instructions. It is a fast form of memory, and it improves system performance by predicting what the CPPU will ask for next and prefetching this information before being asked.

What is cache memory?

A quick form of memory that greatly speeds up the performance of your computer. L1, L2, L3. Based on size (capacity), distance from the processor die and speed. d

What is cache? What are the types of cache? What are the differences?

It is important to know the types of motherboards your case supports before replacing one since it mounts to the system case.

What is important to know prior prior to replacing your motherboard and why is it important?

The system bus which is controlled by the system timer on the motherboard. The system timer determines the speed at which data enters the processor.

What is memory on moden PCs synchronized with? What does the system timer determine?

A small, temporary storage space used by the computer to hold data that needs to be accessed quickly. Static and Dynamic?

What is memory? What are the two types of memory?

Used for laptop memory. A small form factor memory module based on DIMM principles and designed for the mobile computing sector.

What is small outline DIMM?

A battery that provides power to the CMOS (or BIOS) chip that stores CMOS settings. A PC must retain certain settings when it's turned off and its power cord is unplugged.

What is the CMOS battery?

Fits into the socket on the motherboard.

What is the CPU mounted to the motherboard?

Performs one important function: management of high-speed peripheral communications. Primarily responsible for communications with integrated video and processor-to-memory communications.

What is the Northbridge Chipset?

Responsible for the providing support to the onboard slower peripherals and managing their communications with the rest of the computer and the resources given to them. If you're thinking about any component other than the CPU, memory and cache, or integrated video, the Southbridge is in charge.

What is the Southbridge Chipset?

The main integrated circuit of a computer system, consisting of an array of millions of integrated circuits, which interfaces with almost all other components and runs application and system processes. Its purpose is to accept, perform calculations on, and eject numeric data. It's considered the "brain" of the computer because it's the part that performs the mathematical operations required for all other activity.

What is the central processing unit?

Compatibility, does it fit with your motherboard.

What is the most important characteristic of your processor?

Long-term data storage

What is the purpose of HDDs and SSDs?

Temporary data storage; it makes the computer faster

What is the purpose of RAM?

Data storage (that's removable)

What is the purpose of optical discs?

Process data. It is the "brain" of any computer.

What is the purpose of the CPU? What part of the human body is it comparable to?

Connects all components together. It is consider one of the most important components of the computer. Also known as system board or mainboard

What is the purpose of the motherboard? What is it also known as?

Director and control all activities of the computer

What is the role of the CPU?

It act much like the nervous system of the computer.

What part of the human body does the motherboard act like?

motherboards, processors, and memory

What three components are considered the "holy trinity" of computers?

1. Static RAM (SRAM). USB flash drive is essetial? 2. Dynamic RAM (DRAM)

What two buckets can RAM fall under?

Power and data cable.

What two connections do hard drives need to function?

Size and speed. Size - self-evident. how much storage. Speed - Hard drive access is much slower than RAM access, so hard drives can often become the botteneck in system performance. To speed up data access, manufacturers increase the spead at which the platters spin. This is measured in RPMs.

What two factors determine the performance of hard drives? Explain both factors.

Northbridge and Southbridge

What two major groups can the functions of chipsets be divided into?

SODIMM (or MicroDIMM)

What type of RAM chips do laptops use?

ARM

What type of processor is most likely to be found in small devices?

RAM

What type of storage is volatile?

Can accept only one type of RAM: SDR, DDR, DDR2, DDR3, or DDR4

What types of RAM can most motherboards accept? How many at once?

Virtual memory

When a system runs out of RAM, what does it use next?

power-on self-test (POST)

When you power on your computer, what routine does the BIOS initialize and runs?

They reside inside the computer, where they are semi-permantely mounted with no external access and con hold more info than others forms of storage.

Where do hard disks (hard drives) reside?

At the bottom of the motherboard.

Where on the motherboard can you see all the conductive pathways?

Modem

Which expansion card communicates with other computers over telephone lines?

Video card

Which expansion card might have its own GPU?

Audio card (sound card)

Which expansion card would you plug speakers into?

The DVD DS SL does, slightly.

Which has more capacity, a DVD SS DL or a DVD DS SL?

BD-ROM

Which optical disc stores the most data?

Laser

_____ printers use a powdery plastic substance to create images.

Flatscreens

___________ replaced CRTs as the most common type of display device.