CGS2100 Chapter 6

What is a platter?

Coated round, thin plates of metal stacked on a spindle that compose a hard drive.

How much RAM do you need?

Enough to run the operating system plus the software applications you're using, plus a bit more to hold the data you will input.

How is CPU speed measured?

Gigahertz.

What are memory modules?

Small circuit boards that hold a series of RAM chips an fit into special slots on the motherboard.

Which nonvolatile storage option has the fastest access time?

Solid State drive (SSD).

Dolby is a current what?

Surround sound standard.

What is hyperthreading?

Technology that permits quicker processing of information by enabling a new set of instructions to start executing before the previous set has finished.

What is the front side bus?

The "highway" on which data travels between the CPU and RAM.

What are most video cards today?

24-bit known as true color mode.

What is a video card?

A expansion card to translate binary data into the images you view on your monitor.

What is cache memory?

A for of random access memory that is more accessible to the CPU than regular RAM, and is therefore much faster.

What do you need in order to set up surround sound on your computer?

A set of surround-sound speakers and a sound card that is Dolby Digital-compatible.

What is surround sound?

A type of audio processing that makes the listener experience sound as if it were coming from all directions.

What are the two main video card manufacturers?

ATI and Nvidia.

What is a sound card?

An expansion card that attaches to the motherboard inside your system unit enabling the computer to make sound.

What is a 3D sound card?

An expansion card that enables a computer to produce sounds that are omnidirectional.

What are some advantages Desktops have over Notebooks?

Better computing power gained for your dollar, easy to add new ports and devices, large monitor, and more reliable.

How can you tell whether CPU is limiting your system?

By watching how busy it is as you work on your computer.

In order to conduct a system evaluation what should you check?

CPU subsystem, Memory subsystem, Storage subsystem, Video subsystem, Audio subsystem, and ports.

How can you determine your CPU usage?

Check Task Manager.

What should you do to ensure your system performs reliably?

Clean out your Startup folder, clear out unnecessary files, run spyware and adware removal programs, and run the Disk Defragmenter utility on your hard drive.

What are optical drives?

Disc drives that use a laser to store and read data.

What are most memory modules in today's systems called?

Dual inline memory modules (DIMMs).

What differentiates GPU from CPU?

GPU is specialized in handling 3-D graphics and image and video processing with incredible efficiency and speed.

What provides the greatest nonvolatile storage capacity in a computer and why?

Hard drives because they are economical and have faster access time than other storage devices.

What type of memory does your operating system use?

Kernel memory.

What are benchmarks?

Measurements used to compare CPU performance between processors.

What factors determine a CPUs processing power?

Number of cores, how quickly the processor can work (clock speed), and the amount of immediate access memory (cache memory).

SuperFetch is a memory-management technique that does what?

Preloads the applications you use most into system memory.

What can you use to document a problem you may be having with your computer?

Problem Step Recorder.

What does CPU do?

Processes instructions, performs calculations, manages the flow of information through the computer system and is responsible for processing data into information.

What is the primary distinction between CPUs?

Processing power.

What is the difference between RAID 0 and RAID 1?

RAID 0 spreads data onto two physical drives and is much faster. RAID 1 uses trow drives as well but the second acts as an exact mirror of the first providing a perfect backup.

What is video memory?

RAM on video cards.

What does Moore's Law predict?

That the number of transistors inside a CPU will increase so fast the CPU capacity will double every 18 months.

What is your computers physical memory?

The amount of RAM sitting on memory modules in your computer.

What is bit depth?

The number of bits a video card uses to represent each pixel on the monitor.

What is the data transfer rate?

The rate at which a hard drive can transfer data to other computer components (measured in megabits or megabytes).

What is access time?

The time it takes a storage device to locates its stored data and make it available for processing (measured in milliseconds).

Is RAM considered volatile or nonvolatile storage?

Volatile storage.

What is RAM?

Your computers temporary memory. It remembers everything the computer needs to process data into information. It is lost when computer is powered down.