Chapter 6 - Understanding Hardware

Question 1

3-D sound card

Answer 1

An expansion card that enables a computer to produce omnidirectional or 3-D sounds

Question 2

Access time

Answer 2

The time it takes a storage device to locate its stored data

Question 3

Audio MIDI interface

Answer 3

Interface technology that allows a user to connect guitars and microphones to their computer

Question 4

Cache memory

Answer 4

Small blocks of memory, located directly on and next to the central processing unit chip, that act as holding places for recently or frequently used instructions or data that the CPU accesses the most

Question 5

Clock speed

Answer 5

The steady and constant pace at which a computer goes through machine cycles, measured in hertz (Hz)

Question 6

Core

Answer 6

A complete processing section from a CPU embedded in one physical chip

Question 7

CPU benchmarks

Answer 7

Measurements used to compare performance between processors

Question 8

CPU usage

Answer 8

The percentage of time the CPU is working

Question 9

CPU usage graph

Answer 9

Records CPU usage for several seconds

Question 10

Graphics double data rate 5 (GDDR5)

Answer 10

A standard of video memory

Question 11

Graphics processing unit (GPU)

Answer 11

A specialized logic chip that is dedicated to quickly displaying and calculating visual data such as shadows, textures and luminosity

Question 12

Hard drive

Answer 12

The computer’s nonvolatile, primary storage device for permanent storage of software and documents

Question 13

Head crash

Answer 13

Impact of the read/write head against the magnetic platter of the hard drive; often results in data loss

Question 14

Hyper threading

Answer 14

A technology that permits quicker processing of information by enabling a new set of instructions to start executing before the previous set has finished

Question 15

Latency

Answer 15

The process that occurs after then read/write head of the hard drive locates the correct track and then waits for the correct sector to spin to the read/write head

Question 16

Machine cycle

Answer 16

The series of steps a CPU goes through when it performs a program instruction

Question 17

Memory module (memory card)

Answer 17

A small circuit board that holds a series of random access memory chips

Question 18

Moore’s Law

Answer 18

A prediction named after Gordon Moore (co-founder of Intel) that states the number of transistors on a CPU chip will double every two years

Question 19

Optical media

Answer 19

Portable storage devices (CDs, DVD,s and Blue-ray discs) that use a laser to read and write data

Question 20

Overclocking

Answer 20

Running the CPU at a speed faster than the manufacturer recommends

Question 21

Physical memory

Answer 21

The amount of RAM that is installed in a computer

Question 22

Platter

Answer 22

A thin, round, metallic storage plate stacked onto the hard drive spindle

Question 23

Read/write head

Answer 23

The mechanism that retrieves (reads) and records (writes) the magnetic data to and from a data disk

Question 24

Redundant array of independent disks (RAID)

Answer 24

A set of strategies for using more than one drive in a system

Question 25

RAID 0

Answer 25

The strategy of running two hard drives in one system, cutting in half the time it takes to write a file

Question 26

RAID 1

Answer 26

The strategy of mirroring all the data written on one hard drive to a second hard drive, providing an instant backup of all data

Question 27

Rotational delay

Answer 27

The process that occurs after the read/write head of the hard drive locates the correct track and then waits for the correct sector to spin to the read/write head

Question 28

Sector

Answer 28

A section of a hard drive platter, wedge shaped from the centre of the platter to the edge

Question 29

Seek time

Answer 29

The time it takes for the hard drive’s read/write heads to move over the surface of the disk to the correct track

Question 30

Solid state drive (SSD)

Answer 30

A storage device that uses the same kind of memory that flash drives use but that can reach data in only a tenth of the time a flash drive requires

Question 31

Solid state hybrid drive (SSHD)

Answer 31

A drive that is a combination of both a mechanical hard drive and an SSD into a single device

Question 32

Sound card

Answer 32

An expansion card that attaches to the motherboard inside the system unit and that enables the computer to produce sounds by providing a connection for the speakers and microphone

Question 33

SuperFetch

Answer 33

A memory management technique used by Windows 7 that monitors the applications you use the most and preloads them into your system memory so that they’ll be ready to go

Question 34

Surround sound

Answer 34

A type of audio processing that makes the listener experience sound as if it were coming from all directions

Question 35

System evaluation

Answer 35

The process of looking at a computer’s subsystems, what they do and how they perform to determine whether the computer system has the right hardware components to do what the user ultimately wants it to do

Question 36

Track

Answer 36

A concentric circle that serves as a storage area on a hard drive platter

Question 37

Video card

Answer 37

An expansion card that is installed inside a system unit to translate binary data into the images viewed on the monitor

Question 38

Video memory

Answer 38

RAM that is included as part of a video card