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Flashcards by Jessica Rizo, updated more than 1 year ago
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Created by Jessica Rizo
almost 4 years ago
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Copied by Jessica Rizo
almost 4 years ago
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| Question | Answer |
| What is an ATX form factor? | Advanced Technology Extended Has a 20 /24pin molex power connector More modern MOBOs have a 4/8 pin connector Usually has four RAM slots |
| What is a microATX form factor? | Micro-Advanced Technology Extended (Often abbrev. as uATX) Smaller version with less expansion slots Backwards compatible Usually has four RAM slots |
| What is an ITX form factor? | Information Technology eXtended Smaller form factor Usually used for single purpose computing or streaming |
| What is a mini-ITX form factor | Mini-Information Technology eXtended Smaller form factor Backwards compatible with ATX and microATX form factor. Has only 2 RAM slots |
| What does it mean to have backwards compatible form factors in regards to motherboards? | Each motherboard has screw -on holes on the outer edges of the motherboard that you attach it to the case (chassis). Whatever size the motherboard comes in these screw-on holes are standard on some MOBOs. This means if you had one form factor but wanted to change it to a different form factor, you can. |
| What is a Bus? | Buses are ways for som parts of the motherboard to communicate to each other. |
| What is an expansion bus? | Allows for communication of an expansion card to the expansion slot |
| What is most important about expansion buses today in terms of throughput? | Just look for the size and type of bus to know how much bandwidth it can support. |
| What are PCI slots? | Peripheral Component Interconnect Supports 32bit/64bit parallel communication Slots usually indicate what cards they support (either 3.3v or 5v) Larger slots usually support 64bit Smaller slots usually support 32bit |
| What are the throughputs of the buses of the PCI slots? | 32bit at 33MHz—133MB/s 32bit at 66MHz & 64bit at 33MHz—266MB/s 64bit at 66MHz—533MB/s |
| What does parallel communication mean? | Legacy way of communication where 8 bits of data are sent at once through careful synchronization via many lines. |
| What are PCIe slots? | Peripheral Component Interconnect extended Communicates serially |
| What does serial communication mean? (Synchronous) | Data is sent over data lines with a clock signal which makes for faster communication |
| How do PCIe slots work? | PCIe slots communicate serially using instead of lines, “lanes” which are full duplex (sends & receives at the same time) A pair of lanes (one sending,one receiving) is considered only one lane This full duplex capability is also called bidirectional communication |
| List up to how many lanes a PCIe can have | PCIe x 1 PCIe x 2 PCIe x 4 PCIe x 8 PCIe x 16 PCIe x 32 |
| What are the versions of PCIe and their throughputs? | v1.x—250MB/s v2.x—500MB/s v3.0—approx. 1GB/s v4.0—approx. 2GB/s v5.0—approx. 4GB/s *note: the throughput is for each direction in a single lane. |
| What would be the throughput of a v1.x PCIe x 1 slot? | v1.x—250MB/s for each direction PCIe x 1 has 1 lane communicating bidirectional Therefore total communication is 2 2 x 250MB/s=500MB/s throughput |
| What is a riser card? | An expansion card that changes the orientation of additional expansion cards you want to install in case they won’t fit the way the MOBO has it. |
| What is a ZIF socket? | Zero Insertion Force socket Where you insert the CPU onto the MOBO |
| What is PGA? | Pin Grid Array When you have a ZIF socket on the MOBO, the CPU will have this to insert into the MOBO with |
| What is a LGA? | Land Grid Array The exact opposite of a ZIF socket Slightly better since less likely to damage CPU |
| What is SATA? | Serial Advanced Technology Attachment Interface that connects to storage devices on the MOBO |
| What is PATA? | Parallel Advanced Technology Attatchment Legacy interface to connect storage devices to the MOBO |
| What is IDE? | Integrated Device Electronics What existed prior to PATA interfaces |
| What is the BIOS? | Basic Input/Output System |
| what is POST? | Power On Self Test Looks for a boost loader Checks to see if CPU, RAM, and even BIOS itself are functioning If there is something wrong with the computer, it will sound a beep code that indicates the section of the computer that’s experiencing issues |
| What is ROM BIOS? | Read Only Memory—BIOS Call back to a time where the BIOS booted from read only memory. Nowadays boots from integrated chip or flash memory |
| What is UEFI BIOS? | Unified Extensible Firmware Interface Basically a more user friendly navigation interface to navigate the BIOS Before it was text based |
| What are the advantages to using UEFI BIOS? | Can boot from large storage sizes (>2.2TB) Supports FAT( Fie Allocation Table) formatted drives & removable data Offers “pre-boot environment” where you can use apps, browse internet, and use storage drives |
| What is Non-Volatile BIOS memory? | Where you store any changes to BIOS Usually flash memory on the MOBO |
| What is CMOS? | Complementary Metal-Oxide Semiconductor What was used before flash memory to store the BIOS config settings Battery supported & refreshed this memory |
| What is the “CMOS” now used for? | CMOS is now just used to keep the date and time instead of the setting |
| What is “flashing the BIOS”? | When you upgrade the BIOS *Upgrading the BIOS is something that shouldn’t be done unless absolutely necessary |
| What is the BIOS password? | The password is necessary to load the OS |
| What is the Supervisor Password? | If the BIOS needs to be configured then you must enter this password Nobody can enable or disable this settings without this password |
| What is the FDE? | Full-Disk Encryption Everything on the BIOS is encrypted Different OS have their own types Most of these are integrated on the MOBO |
| What is LoJack (laptops)? | A functionality that laptop BIOS has Software that tracks the location of the laptop Loads onto the OS & if a new OS install, LoJack will be installed onto it Theft Prevention: can delete files and OS remotely if stolen through this LoJack |
| What is Secure Boot? | Part of the UEFI specifications already Checks to see if the core signatures matches before booting If they were altered it will fail to boot This in case malware was installed on the OS |
| How many cores can a CPU have? | Can be Dual-core, quad-core, octa-core, or just multi-core * Each core have it’s own CPU *Seperate transactions are happening simultaneously |
| What is CPU cache? | Cache memory is very fast but holds information temporarily *things like saved passwords, preferences, etc. There are several levels of cache memory |
| How many levels of cache is there? | There is L1, L2, L3 caches. L1 is usually the first check/storage of data L2 secondary holding spot L3 can be shared with all the cores and can be with L1&L2 or “on the chip” |
| What is the overall flow of storing data? | Goes first to L1 cache—>L2 cache—>L3 cache then it goes to RAM—>HDD/SSD permanent storage *This is also the hierarchy of speed |
| What is Virtualization? | Allows for multiple OSs to run on one physical device? *Each of the OSS need to have seperate memory |
| What is HTT? | Hyper-Threading Technology Allows for the CPU to make transactions in and out at the same time “Acts” as if 2 CPUs but isn’t Can Improve performance |
| What is Processor speed? | In the past CPUs had a rating in Megahertz(MHz)—> 1million transactions/s Newer systems are rated in Gigahertz (GHz)—>billions transactions/s *Actual performance/speed determine the of what you want or require out of your computer |
| What is overclocking? | Increasing the clock speed of the CPU Can improve performance *Overclocking can void the warranty |
| What is a GPU? | Graphics Processing Unit Integrated with the CPU Helps the CPU to process graphics since graphics are work intensive |
| What do the fans on top of the CPU do? | They are meant to cool the CPU since the CPU is constantly working therefore outputting a lot of heat |
| What is a heat sink? | Heat Sinks sit in between the fan and the CPU and help to draw out the heat away from the CPU typically made of copper or aluminum alloy |
| What is thermal paste? | thermal paste glues the heat sink to the CPU and further helps to draw out that heat to cool the CPU |
| What is fan-less/passive cooling? | Usually devices that have this type of cooling for their CPUs typically specialized devices or devices that have limited functions (not desktop/laptop computers) Have lower powered components to where they do not need fans |
| What is liquid cooling? | Used for high end computers specialized in high end graphics Uses actual liquid to cool the CPU and pulls the heat away and as it moves through the interior it cools again |
| What are expansion cards? | Extends a certain functionality of the computer (I.e. graphics, network, sound) Usually installs on PCIe bus *Always check to see physical compatibility |
| What do Video expansion cards typically have? | fans on the actual card to cool it Video ports like DVI,DisplayPort, HDMI |
| What do Audio expansion cards typically have? | Analog/digital ports Jack type interfaces |
| What do Ethernet expansion cards typically have? | Ethernet cards are usually used for servers Multi-USB ports, multi-Ethernet ports |
| What do storage expansion cards typically have? | depending on how you want to store data, you can have eSATA type port or ports for external storage |
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