Chapter 4 - The Components of the System Unit Vocabulary

liquid cooling technology

A continuous flow of fluid(s), such as water and glycol, that transfers the heated fluid away form the processor, cools the liquid, then returns the cooled fluid to the processor.

hot plugging

Feature that allows you to insert or remove a removable flash memory device and other devices while the computer is running.

heat sink

Small ceramic or metal component with fins on its surface that absorbs and ventilates heat produced by electrical components.

heat pipe

Small cooling device used to cool processors in notebook computers.

chip

Small piece of semiconducting material, usually silicon, on which integrated circuits are etched.

registers

Small, high-speed storage locations in a process that temporarily hold data and instructions.

RAM (random access memory)

memory chips that can be read from and written to by the processor and other devices; is also called main memory

nanosecond

one billionth of a second

arithmetic logic unit (ALU)

performs arithmetic, comparison, and other operations

control unit

the component of the processor that directs and coordinates most of the operations in the computer

power supply

the component of the system unit that converts the wall outlet AC power into DC power

motherboard

the main circuit board of the system unit

clock speed

the pace of the system clock that is measured by the number of ticks per second

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 information from the computer

machine cycle

the processes of fetching, decoding, executing, and storing

bit (binary digit)

the smallest unit of data the computer can process

integrated circuit

Electronic component that contains many microscopic pathways capable of carrying electrical current.

AC Adapter

External power supply, used by some external peripherals, that converts AC power into DC power that the peripheral requires.

cache

Area of memory that stores the contents of frequently used data or instructions.

soundcard

Adapter card that enhances the sound generating capabilities of a personal computer by allowing sound to be input through a microphone and output through external speakers or headset.

system bus

Bus that is part of the motherboard and connects the processor to main memory.

chassis

Case of the system unit made of metal or plastic that protects the internal electronic components from damage.

pipelining

Concept in which the processor begins fetching a second instruction before it completes the machine cycle for the first instruction.

analog

Continuous (wave form) signals.

internal bay

Drive bay that is concealed entirely within the system unit.

central processing unit (CPU)

Electronic component on a computer's motherboard that interprets and carries out the basic instructions that operate the computer.

digital

Representation of data using only two dissscrete states: on (1) and off (0).

binary system

Number system used by computers that has just two unique digits, 0 and 1, called bits.

gigahertz (GHz)

One billion ticks of the system clock per second.

parallel processing

Processing method that uses multiple processors simultaneously to execute a single program or task in order to speed processing times.

executing

Processor operation that carries out commands; part of the machine cycle.

fetching

Processor operation that obtains a program instruction or data item from memory.

decoding

Processor operation that translates a program instruction into signals the computer can execute.

storing

Processor operation that writes a result to memory.

firmware

ROM chips that contain permanently written data, instructions, or information, recorded on the chips when they were manufactured.

form factor

Term used to refer to size and shape of a desktop personal computer system unit.

nonvolatile memory

Type of memory that does not lose its contents when a computer's power is turned off.

volatile memory

Type of memory that loses its contents when a computer's power is turned off.

address

Unique number that identifies the location of a byte in memory.

system unit

a case that contains electronic components of the computer used to process data

adapter card

a circuit board that enhances functions of a component of the system unit and/or provides connections to peripherals

peripheral

a device that connects to the system unit and is controlled by the processor in the computer

USB hub

a device that plugs in a USB port on the system unit and contains multiple USB ports in which you plug cables from USB devices

drive bay

a rectangular opening that typically holds disk drives

memory card

a removable flash memory device that you insert and remove from a slot in a personal computer, game console, mobile device, or card reader/writer

multi-core processor

a single chip with two or more separate processor cores

memory module

a small circuit board that RAM chips usually reside on

expansion slot

a socket on the motherboard that can hold an adapter card

flash memory

a type of nonvolatile memory that can be erased electronically and rewritten

bus

allows the various devices both inside and attached to the system unit to communicate with each other

video card

converts computer output into a video signal that travels through a cable to the monitor, which displays an image on the screen

memory

electronic components in a computer that store instructions waiting to be executed by the processor, the data needed by those instructions, and the results of processing the data

memory cache

helps speed the processes of the computer because it stores frequently used instructions and data

memory slots

holds memory modules

processor

interprets and carries out the basic instructions that operate a computer

gigabyte (GB)

is equal to approximately one billion bytes

megabyte (MB)

is equal to approximately one million bytes

kilobyte (KB)

is equal to approximately one thousand bytes

connector

joins a cable to a port

Read-only memory (ROM)

memory chips storing permanent data and instructions firmware, contain permanently written data, instructions, or information

FireWire port

port that can connect multiple types of devices that require faster data transmission speeds

USB port

port that can connect up to 127 different peripherals with a single connector type

system clock

small quartz crystal circuit that controls the timing of all computer operations

Plug and Play

technology that gives a computer the capability to configure adapter cards and other peripherals automatically as a user installs them

complementary metal-oxide semiconductor (CMOS)

technology used by some RAM chips, flash memory chips, and other types of memory chips that provides high speeds and consumes little power by using battery power to retain information even when the power to a computer is off

bluetooth

technology uses radio waves to transmit data between two devices

access time

the amount of time it takes the processor to read data, instructions, and information from memory

jack

used to identify audio and video ports

byte

when 8 bits are grouped together as a unit