Chapter 1 - Motherboards, Processors and Memory Flashcards
Which computer component contains all the circuitry necessary for other components or devices to communicate with one another? A. Motherboard B. Adapter card C. Hard drive D. Expansion bus
A. The spine of the computer is the system board, otherwise known as the motherboard. On the motherboard you will find the CPU, underlying circuitry, expansion slots, video components, RAM slots, and various other chips.
Which packaging is used for DDR SDRAM memory? A. 168-pin DIMM B. 72-pin SIMM C. 184-pin DIMM D. RIMM
C. DDR SDRAM is manufactured on a 184-pin DIMM. DIMMs with 168 pins were used for SDR SDRAM. The SIMM is the predecessor to the DIMM, on which SDRAM was never deployed. RIMM is the Rambus proprietary competitor for the DIMM that carries DRDRAM instead of SDRAM.
What memory chips would you find on a stick of PC3-16000? A. DDR-2000 B. DDR3-2000 C. DDR3-16000 D. PC3-2000
B. Remember the 8:1 rule. Modules greater than but not including SDR SDRAM are named with a number eight times larger than the number used to name the chips on the module. The initials PC are used to describe the module, the initials DDR are used for the chips, and a single-digit number after PC and DDR is used to represent the level of DDR. The lack of a single-digit number represents DDR as long as the number that is present is greater than 133 (such as PC1600). Otherwise, you’re dealing with SDR (such as PC133). This means that PC3-16000 modules are DDR3 modules and are populated with chips named DDR3 and a number that is one-eighth of the module’s numeric code: 2000.
Which motherboard design style features smaller size and lower power consumption? A. ATX B. AT C. Micro ATX D. ITX
D. The ITX motherboard family consists of smaller boards that fit in standard or miniature cases and use less power than their larger counterparts.
Which of the following socket types is required for the Intel Core i7-9xx desktop series? A. LGA 1366 B. LGA 1156 C. LGA 1155 D. LGA 775
A. The lower-end Core i7 desktop (nonmobile) processors call for the LGA 1156 socket, but the 9xx series requires the LGA 1366 socket.
Which of the following is a socket technology that is designed to ease insertion of modern CPUs? A. Socket 479 B. ZIF C. LPGA D. SPGA
B. ZIF sockets are designed with a locking mechanism that, when released, alleviates the resistance of the socket to receiving the pins of the chip being inserted. Make sure you know your socket types so that the appearance of a specific model, such as Socket 479, in a question like this does not distract you from the correct answer. Only LGA would be another acceptable answer to this question because with a lack of pin receptacles, there is no insertion resistance. However, no other pin-layout format, such as SPGA, addresses issues with inserting chips. LPGA might have evoked an image of LGA, leading you to that answer, but that term means nothing outside of the golfing community.
Which of the following is not controlled by the Northbridge? A. PCIe B. SATA C. AGP D. Cache memory
B. The Northbridge is in control of the local-bus components that share the clock of the frontside bus. SATA and all other drive interfaces do not share this clock and are controlled by the Southbridge.
Which of the following is used to store data and programs for repeated use? Information can be added and deleted at will, and it does not lose its data when power is removed. A. Hard drive B. RAM C. Internal cache memory D. ROM
A. A hard drive stores data on a magnetic medium, which does not lose its information after the power is removed and can be repeatedly written to and erased.
Which socket type is required for an AMD Phenom II that uses DDR3 RAM? A. AM2 B. AM2+ C. AM3 D. Socket 940
C. This processor requires an AM3 socket. The only other version of Phenom II was for the AM2+ and is not compatible with DDR3 RAM.
You press the front power button on a computer and the system boots. Later, you press it briefly and the system hibernates. When you press it again, the system resumes. You press and hold the button and the system shuts down. What is this feature called? A. Programmable power B. Soft power C. Relay power D. Hot power
B. Soft power is the feature whereby the front power button acts as a relay to initiate various system power changes, depending on the duration that the button is held.
Which of the following are the numbers of pins that can be found on DIMM modules used in desktop motherboards? (Choose three.) A. 168 B. 180 C. 184 D. 200 E. 204 F. 232 G. 240
A, C, G. DIMMs used in desktop-motherboard applications have one of three possible pin counts. SDR SDRAM is implemented on 168-pin modules. DDR SDRAM and 16-bit RIMMs are implemented on 184-pin modules. DDR2 and DDR3 are implemented on 240-pin modules with different keying. Dual-channel RIMM modules have 232 pins. Modules with 200 and 204 pins are used in the SODIMM line, and there are no modules with 180 pins.
To avoid software-based virtualization, which two components need to support hardwarebased virtualization? A. Memory B. Hard drive C. CPU D. BIOS
C, D. Both the CPU and BIOS have to be designed to support virtualization in hardware.
You find out that a disgruntled ex-employee’s computer has a boot password that must be entered before the operating system is ever loaded. There is also a password preventing your access to the BIOS utility. Which of the following motherboard components can most likely be used to return the computer to a state that will allow you to boot the system without knowing the password? A. Cable header B. Power supply connector C. Expansion slot D. Jumper
D. Most motherboards have a jumper or similar momentary closure mechanism that will allow you to clear the CMOS memory of any user settings and cause the BIOS to use factory defaults, including no user or supervisor passwords.
Your Core i5 fan has a four-pin connector, but your motherboard only has a single 3-pin header with the CPU_FAN label. Which of the following will be the easiest solution to get the necessary cooling for your CPU?
A. Plug the four-pin connector into the three-pin header.
B. Buy an adapter.
C. Leave the plug disconnected and just use the heat sink.
D. Add an extra chassis fan.
A. The easiest solution that works to cool your CPU is to connect the four-pin connector into the three-pin header. The missing pin allows you to control the speed of the fan. Without it, the fan will run at top speed, which is fine, albeit a little noisier. The heat sink alone should not be relied upon for proper cooling of modern CPUs.
What is the combined total speed of a PCIe 2.0 x16 slot? A. 500MBps B. 16Gbps C. 8GBps D. 16GBps
D. The PCIe 1.1 specification provided 250MBps of throughput per lane per direction. With the 2.x versions of PCIe, this rate was doubled to 500MBps. As a result, each v2.0 lane is capable of a combined 1GBps. A x16 slot consists of 16 lanes, for a total bidirectional throughput of 16GBps.
