1B Flashcards
The motherboard is also called?
The main board
What is the motherboard?
The main board or motherboard is the main circuit board in a desktop computer and provides the interconnections for all necessary parts and associated peripherals and communication lines between all computer components.
The motherboard contains multiple paths of electrical circuits running through it called…?
buses
The circuit buses form ____________________ between motherboard components.
routes of communication
The motherboard contains what components?
- connectors for power
- memory
- hard drives
- CD and DVD-ROM
- drives
- expansion cards
- various other components.
The two most prominent features of a motherboard are ______ and ______.
form factor and chipset
Form factor refers to…?
The physical dimensions of the motherboard
Chipset defines what?
The type of CPU and RAM the motherboard requires and determines the built-in devices it supports, including expansion slots.
Built-in components, in turn, determine the ____________ of the system.
core functionality
Form factor basically describes the ________________characteristics of the motherboard.
shape, size and mounting
The computer case, power connections, and power supply must then match the ___________________ of motherboard.
form factor
Motherboards used in desktop computers have been ___________ to fit various case sizes
standardized
Most desktop computer motherboards use one of the following standard form factors:
Advanced Technology Extended (ATX), MicroATX (μATX) and Information Technology eXtended (ITX)
What are the dimensions for the ATX form factor?
12 x 9.6 inches
the ATX form factor incorporates the first major change in the
layout of computer motherboards by rotating the orientation _______________.
90 degrees
What are the dimensions for the micro ATX form factor?
9.6 x 9.6 inches
What are the dimensions for the mini ITX form factor?
6.7 x 6.7 inches
What are the dimensions for the nano ITX form factor?
4.7 x 4.7 inches
What are the dimensions for the pico ITX form factor?
3.8 x 2.8 inches
____________, is by far the most popular for SFF (small form factor) desktop computers.
mini-ITX
What are the three form factors for ITX?
Mini, nano and pico
What does SFF stand for?
Small Form Factor
In addition to compact size, ITX motherboards offer…?
lower power consumption and silent, fan-less operation
The ________ which enables the CPU to communicate with RAM as well as the various input/output devices such as the keyboard, hard disk drive, and video graphics adapter.
chipset
Chipset are divided into two main functions called…?
Northbridge and southbridge
The primary purpose of the Northbridge is to provide…?
High-speed interface between the CPU and other high speed motherboard devices including RAM and the video graphics adapter.
In older computers, the Northbridge is a discrete chip separate from the CPU. In modern computers the Northbridge function is…?
integrated into the CPU itself.
The Southbridge serves as what?
The interface between the CPU and low speed devices including the USB controller and the hard disk drive controller.
The Southbridge chip may have different designations depending on the generation of the personal
computer (PC) and the manufacturer. What are some examples of this?
For example, it is called the Input/Output Controller Hub in Intel systems
The Fusion Controller Hub in AMD systems
Some newer systems refer to the Southbridge as the Platform Controller Hub
What does ROM stand for?
Read Only Memory
The ROM chip stores small programs called _____________.
services
These services are lines of code necessary for the operation of common motherboard hardware, such as the ____________.
keyboard controller
Is ROM volatile or nonvolatile?
nonvolatile
What does nonvolatile mean?
meaning that the code stored on ROM isn’t erased when the computer
is turned off
ROM is considered ____________ memory.
permanent
ROM chips are _____-only
read
What does “read only” mean?
meaning that once you store a program on one, you can’t easily change it
Most modern ROM chips are made of flash memory–the same kind of memory that is used for…?
thumb drives, secure digital (SD) cards, and Solid-State Hard Drives
ROM is intended to be read from _____ and written to _______.
often
rarely
ROM can be updated by a specific operation called…?
flashing the ROM or flashing the BIOS
The term “CMOS” is an acronym for…?
Complimentary Metal-Oxide Semiconductor
The CMOS chip on a desktop system is an…?
Erasable programable read only memory (EPROM) chip which stores user hardware settings.
Is CMOS volatile or nonvolatile?
Volatile
In many modern computers the user hardware settings are stored on nonvolatile flash memory and the only purpose of the CMOS battery is to…?
maintain the motherboard clock & calendar settings while the
computer is turned off.
The CMOS menu gives the user control over the PC hardware settings such as…?
- Password
- Security Settings
- Boot device order
- Internal Device Options
- System clock & calendar
What is the BIOS?
BIOS is lines of code permanently stored on a ROM chip on the motherboard.
What is CMOS?
CMOS refers to the menu of hardware settings and options available to the user
BIOS is the built-in ___________ that determines what a computer can do without accessing programs from a disk.
firmware
For computers, the BIOS contains all the code required to control…?
- Keyboard
- Display screen
- Disk drives
- Serial communications
- Miscellaneous functions
The BIOS is typically placed in an _________ or __________ and comes installed on the motherboard as firmware.
EEPROM or flash memory
What are some common tasks BIOS perform?
- A Power-on Self-test (POST) for all the different hardware components in the system to make sure they are working correctly.
- Activating other BIOS chips on different cards installed in the computer.
- Providing a set of low-level routines that the OS uses to interface with different hardware devices.
- Managing settings for the hard disks, clock, etc
The CMOS data instructions are very small, typically ____ bytes.
64 bytes
CMOS sometimes called…?
Non-Volatile Random-Access Memory (NVRAM)
The CMOS is one type of technology used to make…?
Semiconductors (integrated circuits) such as processors, chipset chips, DRAM, etc.
The BIOS interface and CMOS settings may be protected with a ________.
password
The CMOS or BIOS password can be reset by doing what?
Altering jumpers or removing the CMOS battery.
Removing the battery will also set the BIOS to the…?
factory defaults
What does TPM stand for?
Trusted Platform Module
What is TPM?
(TPM) is often incorporated into the BIOS to allow
special encryption capabilities such as DriveLock
Computer hardware consists of three main parts…?
the central processing unit (CPU) that processes data, memory that holds the programs and data to be processed, and I/O (input/output)
devices that communicate with the outside world.
Data and instructions are transferred between
these parts on data pathways called _________.
buses
A motherboard bus refers to a communication pathway which connects the CPU to other parts of the computer including the…?
RAM, video graphics adapter, storage devices, expansions slots, and Input/Output devices
Communication between the CPU, RAM, and the video
graphics adapter requires a very fast connection through the _____________.
Northbridge
Communication between the CPU and slower devices such as storage media and Input/Output devices is established by bus connections through the ____________.
Southbridge
Of primary importance is the connection between the CPU and main memory (RAM), which may be referred to as the _________ or __________.
system bus or front-side bus
Buses are further classified as either ________ or _________.
internal or external
The Internal bus connects all ____________ of a computer, such as CPU and memory, to the main board.
internal components
The internal bus is sometimes referred to as the _________ because it connects local devices.
local bus
The external bus is the electronic pathways that connect the motherboard to various external devices, such as __________.
printers
The expansion bus connects the motherboard to _______________, such as PCIe.
expansion slots
Address bus is a bus architecture which allows the CPU to…?
access addressable locations in RAM
The width of the address bus determines the maximum number of…?
maximum number of addressable memory locations
The control bus carries signals that report the status of…?
various devices
The control bus is the physical connection between ____ and other devices within the computer.
CPU
The data bus is a bi-directional communication route through which data can travel between the…?
computer’s CPU, memory and peripherals
The CPU is the _________ component of a computer system.
principal
The CPU is the _______ of the computer which tells all the other components what to do and when to do it.
“brain”
Two large corporations manufacture most of the world’s personal
computer CPUs…?
American Micro Devices (AMD) and the Intel Corporation
The main job of the CPU is to carry out the instructions of a computer program by performing the basic _______________________ specified by the instructions.
basic arithmetic, logic, controlling and input/output (I/O) operations
Though internal design varies by manufacturer and generation, there are generally three main structures inside a CPU:
The control unit, the arithmetic logic unit (ALU), and registers
The control unit is a component of a computer’s CPU that directs the operation of the ___________.
processor
It tells the computer’s __________________________ how to
respond to the instructions that have been sent to the processor
memory, arithmetic and logic unit and I/O devices
Most computer resources are managed by the ________ unit.
control unit
In modern designs the control unit is an ___________ part of the CPU with its overall role and operation __________ since its introduction
internal
unchanged
What does ALU stand for?
Arithmetic Logic Unit
The ALU is a _________ component of a computer CPU.
major
What does AMD stand for?
American Micro Devices
Which digital electronic circuit is located inside the CPU and is designed to perform math operations on binary integers?
ALU
A ___________ is one of a small set of data holding places located inside the computer central processing unit.
register
Registers are made of what two things which the CPU uses to
rapidly perform internal operations?
high-speed
volatile memory
A register may hold an _______, or any kind of data
instruction, storage device or any kind of data
Modern CPUs have additional hardware memory called ________ located in or near the CPU.
cache
The CPU uses cache to store frequently accessed data to reduce the amount of _____ and _____ required to fetch the data from RAM.
time and energy
Cache is typically implemented as a 3-level hierarchy of
static RAM (SRAM) named ________.
L1, L2, and L3
Cache is located inside the CPU itself or on a hardware chip
directly adjacent to the CPU, greatly reducing _________.
latency
The overall purpose of CPU cache is to improve the performance of the computer by allowing the CPU to _____________.
process tasks more quickly
What does PGA stand for?
Pin Grid Array
What does LGA stand for?
Land Grid Array
What does ZIF stand for?
Zero Insertion Force
What is the physical difference between PGA and LGA?
PGA CPUs had rows of tiny pins built onto the chip which fit into the motherboard in a Zero Insertion Force (ZIF) socket. The CPU was placed on the socket, and a lever on the socket pressed and locked the CPU into place.
LGAs have flat contact points instead of pins. The contact pins are now built into the socket on the motherboard.
What is the primary issue with PGA?
PGAs require extreme care when handling and installing the chip
into the socket. Any mishandling or misalignment during installation results in bent pins rendering the CPU unusable.
What makes the LGA system better than PGA?
The LGA contact system makes CPU installation much easier and reduces the chance of damage due to mishandling or misalignment
Storage media is also referred to by what two names?
secondary memory or secondary storage
What is storage media?
It is a recording device, such as a hard disk drive (HDD), for storing large amounts of information.
RAM is also referred to by what two names?
main memory or primary memory
What does non-volatile mean?
The data will remain stored when power is removed from the device.
Storage devices fall into what three categories?
Magnetic storage, optical storage, and solid-state storage.
Magnetic storage includes what kind of drives?
Magnetic storage includes hard disk drives, floppy disk drives, and tape drives
Optical storage includes what?
CD-ROM, DVD, and Blu-ray discs
Solid-state storage devices include what?
Flash drives, solid-state drives (SSD), thumb drives, jump drives, and SD (secure digital) memory cards
Many desktop computers and servers contain ________ hard disk drives
one or more
Hard disk drives do one thing well, which is?
they permanently store lots of information in a digital form.
The hard disk drive evolved to answer the demands for what?
permanent high-volume file and data storage
The hard disk drive stores what?
OS, which boots the system, stores the applications, and files that we rely on, and may provide virtual memory for systems low on RAM.
There are two major types of storage drives:
platter-based and solid state.
Platter-based hard disk drives (HDDs) use _________ to store information
magnetic platters
Solid-state hard drives use what to store information?
integrated circuits
What does ATA stand for?
Advanced Technology Attachment
What is the most common hard drive connection standard?
ATA
The ATA standard comes in two major categories:
Parallel ATA (PATA) and Serial ATA (SATA).
What does PATA stand for?
Parallel ATA
What does SATA stand for?
Serial ATA
PATA is the ______ standard and uses 40 or 80 pin ribbon cables plus hardware jumpers for configuration.
older
SATA uses a ______________ and transfers data much faster
thin, flexible cable
Most SATA based drives do not require any hardware jumper configuration which means what?
you can just plug them in
