Chapter 2: Hardware Flashcards
What is a System Unit?
The case that houses the computer’s critical parts, such as its processing and storage devices.
What are Drive Bays?
Included in tower-based system units, and hold the internal storage devices of your computer, such as the hard drive and DVD drive.
What is a Power Supply?
The component responsible for providing power to all parts inside the system unit.
What is a Motherboard?
The largest circuit board in a personal computer. It contains a variety of slots, connectors, and plugs for hooking up all the other parts of a computer.
What are Chipsets?
A part of a motherboard that acts as a traffic director for data.
What are Expansion Cards?
Add-on circuit boards that improve the performance of a system’s video or sound.
What is the Central Processing Unit (CPU)?
The main processor of a computer. It is responsible for organizing and carrying out instructions to produce a desired output.
What is the Clock Rate?
The frequency or speed at which CPUs process instructions.
What is Memory?
The general term for electronic chips that store data and program instructions that can be accessed quickly by the CPU.
What is Random Access Memory (RAM)?
A type of memory that temporarily stores the data and programs that a computer is currently using.
What is Read-Only Memory (ROM?)
A small chip that contains device-specific information and handles a computer’s basic functions when it is powered on.
What is Firmware?
Instructions placed on a chip that contain device-specificinformation.
What is a Cache?
Also kown as temporary Internet files, the browser cache stores every single page, image, and video for all the web pages you have recently retrieved.
What is Virtual Memory?
A portion of your hard drive that is being used as RAM.
What are Drives?
A computer’s storage devices.
