Assignment 5

Question 1

BIOS

Answer 1

Contains basic input/output system for the computer. Identifies accessible devices, and contains low level routines to manage specific devices.

Question 2

CMOS

Answer 2

Stores system information, operates the real-time clock to keep track of date and time. This memory is accessed when computer boots.

Question 3

Firmware

Answer 3

Software that is permanently stored in ROM and specific to each motherboard. Necessary for the operation of the computer.

Question 4

Nanosecond

Answer 4

A unit one billionth of a second. Used to measure the speed of RAM chips.

Question 5

Millisecond

Answer 5

A unit one thousandth of a second. Used to measure the speed of RAM chips.

Question 6

System clock

Answer 6

Clock inside computer that measures time in electric pulses at a rate measured in gigahertz.

Question 7

Random Access

Answer 7

When cells of RAM chip are organized so all data can be accessed in equal time. RAM chips come in different speeds, which are measured in nanoseconds.

Question 8

Gigahertz

Answer 8

Measurement that equals one billion cycles per second. Used to measure computer speed.

Question 9

GT/s

Answer 9

Gigatransfers per second. Measurement for rate of transferring data.

Question 10

SRAM

Answer 10

Static Random Access Memory. Uses multiple transistors, used for cache.

Question 11

DRAM

Answer 11

Dynamic RAM. Has memory cells with paired transistor and capacitor. This requires constant refreshing.

Question 12

SDRAM

Answer 12

Synchronous DRAM.About 5% faster than EDO, at a speed of 528 Mb/s.

Question 13

RDRAM

Answer 13

Rambus DRAM. Used for high speed data bus. Speed of RDRAM is 800 Mb/s.

Question 14

EDO RAM

Answer 14

Extended Data-Out RAM. EDO RAM accepts on bit, and starts to process the next. The speed is 246 Mb/s.