Core hardware components
How many megabytes are in a gigabyte?
1000
BD-ROM
A Blu ray disc; it's a newer optical disc format that hold more information than a standard DVD.
BD-ROM
A Blu ray disc; it's a newer optical disc format that holds more information than a standard DVD.
CMOS battery
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.
heat sink
A block of aluminum or other metal, with veins throughout or fins that sits on top of a heat producing component, drawing its heat away.
Complementary metal oxide semiconductor (CMOS)
A chip used to retain system settings when the PC is turned off or unplugged. Contains the system BIOS.
motherboard
A circut board to which all computer components are directly or indirectly attached.
Serial port
A computer interface that transmits one bit at a time, also known as an RS-232 connector.
field replaceable unit (FRU)
A computer part that is replaceable by a field technician or end user.
RJ-45
A connector type for twisted pair cabling. Network cabling uses an RJ-45 connector.
RJ-11
A connector type for twisted pair cabling. Telephone cabling uses an RJ-11 connector.
liquid cooling
A cooling method used to keep CPUs and other hot running components from overheating by pumping a liquid from outside the system through tubing that leads to blocks that mount to the components like heat sinks.
cable modem
A device that while not technically a modem creates an Internet connection to the cable network.
cable modem
A device that while not technically a modem creates an internet connection to the cable network.
modem
A device used to provide internet access through the analog phone line. At the source it takes a digital signal and converts (modulates) it to analog and then from analog back to digital (demodulates) at the destication device.
hard drive
A disk drive that contains magnetically coated platters in a sealed case and is ofter used as the main secondary storage medium.
RAID 5
A fault tolerant type of RAID that combines striped sets with distributed parity across all drives in the set. A minimum of three drives is required, and the loss of any one drive does not compromise data.
RAID 1
A fault tolerant type of RAID that provides mirroring and duplexing. Two and only two drives exist in a mirrored set. The loss of either drive does not compromise data.
external hard drive
A hard drive (either HDD or SSD) that is located outside the computer case.
PCI Express (PCIe)
A high preformance serial local bus slot architecture that obviates the need for AGP and PCI slots. PCIe support combining the resources of multiple adapter for higher perfomance.
Universal Serial Bus (USB)
A high speed, hot pluggable serial interface used for connecting external peripherals to a PC.
DDR3 DIMM
A memory module (RAM)
dual inline memory module (DIMM)
A memory module packaging style that features a circuit board with independent pins on both sides of the module's card edge.
Solid state drive (SSD)
A newer style drive that has no moving parts but uses flash memory to emulate a conventional hard disk drive.
Integrated Drive Electronics (IDE)
A nickname for the original ATA standard, now known as parallel ATA (PATA) since the advent of serial ATA (SATA).
CD-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.
CD-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 MPS files.
DVD ROM
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 of data per side, corresponding to 2 to 4 hours of uncompressed DVD quality video.
Peripheral Component Inter connect (PCI)
A popular expansion slot architecture invented by intel that succeeded the ISA slot and that is succeeded by PCIe.
graphics processing unit (GPU)
A processor, much like a certal processing unit (CPU) for the computer, specifically designed for video.
bus
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.
bus
A set of signal pathways that allows information and signals to travel between components inside or outside of a computer. A computer contains three types of buses: the external bus the address bus and the data bus.
small outline DIMM (SODIMM)
A small form factor memory module based on DIMM principles and designed for the mobile computing sector.
Memory card
A small portable storage device made of nonvolatile solid state memory; commonly used in digital cameras and mobile gaming devices.
cache memory
A storage area for frequently used data and instructions.
random access memory (RAM)
A temporary storage area used by the computer to quickly access data. Data in RAM is lost when the computer loses power.
dynamic memory
A type of memory that loses its data rapidly if it isn't constantly electrically refreshed.
S-video
A video interface technology that uses a mini DIN connector to provide composite or component video.
Sound card
An adapter or component that provides audio output from a device.
eSATA
An external interface for the attachment of SATA devices that requires a shielded cable and different connector from the one used with internal SATA attachment.
Burner
An optical drive so named because it employs a laser capable of intensitites stronger than what are used to read discs. It uses the laser to write, or "burn", content to the disc.
burner
An optical drive so named because it employs a laser capable of intesities stronger than what are used to read discs. It uses the laser to write, or "burn", content to the disc.
FireWire
Apples original implementation of IEEE 1394, a high-speed serial I/O interface ideal for video applications between a computer and an external video source or destination. FireWire and USB are competing standards.
Which expansion card would you plug speakers into?
Audio card (sound card)
L2 cache
Cache memory that is larger and slower than L1 cache, and not as close to the processor. It's usually, but not always, dedicated to one processor core.
L2 cache
Cache memory that is smallest and the fastest, and is on the processor die itself
motherboard
Connect all components together.
PSU
Connected to the motherboard with a 24-pin block connector
What does the power supply do?
Converts AC power to DC power for system components.
PCIe x16
Expansion slot that provides the fastest data transfrer speeds
What are three advantages of SSD over HDD
Faster startup, faster read times, less power comsumption and heat, silent, more reliable, less susceptible to shock damage, higher data density.
GPU
Graphics processing unit
Sound card
Has a joystick port
Air cooling for processors usually involves which two components?
Heat sink and a fan
network interface card
In networking, the PC expansion board that plugs into a personal computer or server and works with the network operating system to control the flow of information over the network. The network interface card is connected to the network cabling (twisted pair, coaxial, or fiber optic cable), which in turn connects to another network card or central connectivivty device.
HDDs and SSDs
Long-term data storage
PSU
Main integrated circuit of a computer system
read only memory (ROM)
Memory in the computer that can only be read but not written to.
Static memory
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)
What are two types of communications expansion cards?
NIC (network cards) and modems
Post
Offers user a key sequence to enter the configuration screen
expansion slot
One of the arbitrary insertion points in an expansion bus, based on a specific technology PCI, for example.
Power on self test (post)
Part of the boot process controlled by the BIOS that verifies the working condition of the hardware the BIOS knows about.
PSU
Power Supply Unit
RAID
Redundant Array of Independent (or Inexpensive) Disks. A form of fault tolerance in all but one version that allows the loss of at least one drive without compromising data.
Which has more capacity, a DVD SS DL or a DVD DS SL
The DVD SL does, slightly.
System Software
The Macintosh operating system used before OX X
fault tolerance
The ability to suffer the loss of a component and yet still have an operational computer.
Flashing the BIOS
The act of changing the system firmware in a computer, often for the purpose of upgrading to a higher version to support new hardware that the older version does not support.
Basic Input/output System (BIOS)
The basic input/output system for an IBM based PC. It is the firmware that allows the computer to boot.
frontside bus
The high speed bus controlled by the Northbridge on which RAM, cache (in the absence of the backside bus [BSB]), PCIe slots, AGP slots, and other local bus components are interconnected with the CPU, and in some cases, each other.
L3 cache
The largest and slowest cache memory bank, which is often shared between multiple cores within a processor.
Serial ATA (SATA)
The latest version of the standard that specifies IDE (PATA) but that uses only a single serial pathway for communication instead of multiple parallel pathways as PATA uses.
Central Processing unit (CPU)
The main integrated circuit of a computer system, consisting of an array of millions of intergrated circuits, that interfaces with almost all other components and runs application and system processes. Its purpose is to accept, preform calculations on, and eject numeric data. It's considered the "brain" of the compouter becuse it's the part that preforms the mathmatical operations required for all other activity.
Parallel ATA (PATA)
The new name for the IDE hard drive standard, since the invention of Serial ATA (SATA).
RAID 0
The only type of RAID that is not fault tolerant, RAID 0 provides striped volume sets on two or more drives that allow for larger volumes than one drive alone can provide. When one or more drives are lost, all data is compromised.
backside bus
The optional communications pathway between the Northbridge and the cache controller. When the backside bus is absent, the cache controller communicates with the Northbridge over the front of the bus
backside bus
The optional communtions pathway between the Northbride and the cache controller. When the backside bus is absent, the cache controller communticates with the Northbride over the front side bus.
backside bus
The optional communtions pathway between the Northbridge and the cache controller. When the backside bus is absent, the cache controller communticates with the Northbridge over the front side bus.
Chipset
The set of controller chips that monitors and directes the traffic on the motherboard between the buses and components.
What is the purpose of the CPU?
To Process data.
DIMM
Uses a 240-pin connector
Which expansion card might have its own GPU?
Video card
When a system runs out of RAM, what does it use next?
Virtual memory
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?
SODIMM (or MicroDIMM)
What type of RAM chips do laptops use?
CMOS battery
When you turn off your computer, it tells you that it does not have the time and date set and asks you to enter setup. What likely needs to be replaced to setup time and date?
Modem
Which expansion card communicates with other computers over telephone lines?
Video card
Which expansion card produces images?
DVD DSL SL
Which has more capacity, a DVD SS DL or a DVD DS SL
RAID 1
You are helping a neigbor buy a computer, and based on a recent experience he insists that his system needs to remain working even if a hard drive fails. What should you sugest he buy?
PSU
Your friend joe wants to add another hard drive to his computer. What should he check to make sure his system will support it?
memory
a small, temporary storage space used by the computer to hold data that needs to be quickly accessed.
Modem and NIC
communications devices
RAID 1
disk mirroring
What is RAID 0?
disk striping
NIC
expansion card that allows your computer to talk to other computers without wires