Components Flashcards
What is a CPU socket?
central processing unit
- most expensive
What is RAM?
Random access memory
What is SDRAM?
Synchronous Dynamic RAM
- Double Data Rate
- DDR, DDR2, DDR3, DDR4
What is ROM?
Read-only memory
- instructions written by manufacturers to start the computer
True or False
Memory is also known as volatile
true
What is BIOS?
Basic Input Output System
What is PCI?
Peripheral Component Interconnect
- obsolete, replaced with PCI express PCIe
Is ROM volatile?
No, also not random
What is BUS?
wires connecting the CPU and other components
True or False
CPU have input and output devices as well as communication and storage devices
True
Who suggested that the CPUS use input and output systems?
Von Neumann Architecture
What are 6 examples of secondary storage devices that are non-volatile?
- Hard Drive
- USB Stick
- Blu-ray Device
- CD Drive
- DVD Drive
- SD Card
What are 8 examples of input devices?
- Keyboard
- Mouse
- Scanner
- OCR Reader
- Touch Screen
- Graphic Tablet
- Microphone
- Touch Screen
- Webcam
What are 8 examples of output devices?
- Printer
- Monitor
- Projector
- Braille Displays
- Speakers
- Headphones
- TV Screen
- Tactile Devices
What are 4 examples of communication devices?
- Modern
- Network Card
- WIFI card
- Bluetooth
The CPU decodes instructions and carries out which 3 operations?
- Arithmetic
- Logic
- Control
How is speed measured?
How many cycles can the CPU perform in one second in Hz
How is storage measured?
in bytes
What are the 2 kinds of “buses?”
- Control
- Data
What is a control bus?
manages the flow of data by sending command and status signals to coordinate activities between different devices
What is the Data bus?
Controls the movements of data between the components of the computer
What are the 2 components of the CPU?
- Control unit (CU)
- Arithmetic logic unit (ALU)
What does the Control Unit do?
Coordinates the flow of instruction and data between the other components of the CPU and activates appropriate components
What does the Arithmetic logic unit do?
performs arithmetic, logical and bit manipulation operations
Adders would fall under which, CU or ALU?
ALU
What does volatile mean?
Contents are erased once powered off
What does the contents refer to?
- an instruction
or - data
What are the 4 steps in the processing cycle?
- Fetch the next instruction
- Decode the instructions
- Get data if needed
- Execute the instruction
True or False
CPU + Memory use the Fetch-Decode-Execute Cycle
True
What is the point of having multiple cores?
to do parallel work and run separately from each other
How many cores do smartphones have?
2-8
How many cores do laptops have?
2-4
How many cores do desktops have?
2-8
How many cores do servers have?
4-64
Why would we want fewer cores?
- take space
- generates lots of heat
- takes lots of power
- generates lots of noise
What are 2 features of a CPU?
- Turbo boost
- Hyper-Threading
What does turbo boost do?
increases the speed of the cores
What is Hyper-Threading?
processing two unrelated instructions simultaneously in the same core
True or False
Hyper-Threading allows better performance than one ordinary core, but not as much as two real cores
True
What does GPU stand for?
Graphics Processing Unit
What does a GPU do?
It is a processor specialized in rendering 3d graphics
True or False
GPU is simpler, cheaper, and generates less heat than a CPU
True
Do GPUS require lots of computing cores?
no, only like 100s-1000s can exist
What is a GPU used for?
- 3d effects in operating systems
- Image and video editing and ending
- Computer-aided design (CAD) for architecture and engineering
- visualizing large data sets
- machine learning
- medical imaging
- modelling weather, protein folding, molecular dynamics, fluid dynamics, aerodynamics
What are the 2 main differences between the CPU and GPU?
- CPU is a must in computers
- CPU can only have a few cores
What does a CPU-RAM bus do?
Dedicated to communication
- wider than other buses
What is the Bus-Width length?
The number of bits that the bus can transfer simultaneously
True or False
The wider the bus, the more address or data bits can move at once
True
How many bits can the CPU-RAM bus move?
64 bits or more, + more bits for error detection
Just because the bus is wider, does it mean it’s faster?
naur
What does HDD stand for?
Hard Disk Drive
What is a Hard Disk Drive?
Mechanical in nature
- Contains one or more spinning magnetic disks
- The head can read magnetically encoded information and encode information on the disk
- Fixed storage
Main memory is used for what?
temporary storage
Is disk-based storage volatile or non-volatile?
non-volatile
What are the 2 types of disk-based storage?
- Hard Disk Drive
- Blu-Ray, DVD and CD
What is the downside to HDD?
very sensitive to physical shock, very easily damaged
What are Blu-Ray, DVD and CD?
Optical in nature
- Lasers are used to read the disk
- Disks include lands and pits
- Removable storage
What is a good thing about Blu-Ray, DVD and CD?
less sensitive to shock
What do lands and pits reflect?
lands: reflect light binary 1
pits: disperse lights binary 0
What does SSD stand for?
Solid State Disk
What is a Solid State Disk?
An electronic circuit that took over a hard disk drive
What are the advantages of SSDS?
- resistant to physical shock
- lower data access time
- higher data transfer rate
What are the disadvantages of SSDS?
- more expensive
What is flash-based storage?
uses solid-state memory chips
How is data stored in cells with flash-based storage?
1-5 bits per cell
Is flash-based storage volatile or non-volatile?
Non-volatile, so they retain state without a power source
What are the 3 types of Flash-based storage?
- USB
- Solid state storage drive SSD
- Solid state hybrid drive SSHD
What are size discrepancies?
Files can have two different sizes depending on how and where they are stored
True or False
Storage is organized into file allocation units
true
What is the file size?
can be any number of bytes
What is the size on disk?
can only be multiples of the allocation unit size
True or False
Larger unit sizes benefit large files
True, fewer units to manage
True or False
Smaller unit sizes benefit small files
True, less wasted storage
For primary memory, there is RAM and ROM, which are volatile.
RAM
For secondary memory storage, SSD flash and optical: CD, DCD and Blu-ray are all volatile or non-volatile?
non-volatile
How is the size of display monitors measured?
diagonally, reported in inches
How are resolution dimensions displayed in display monitors?
of pixel wide x # of pixel tall
What are LCD and LED?
Most modern displays use a Liquid Crystal Display panel and Light Emitting Diodes to produce images on screen
What does an LCD panel form?
an image
What do LEDS provide?
Backlight
True or False
LCD is a front kind and LED is a back kind
True
The hybrid device facilitates both what?
input and output
What is an example of a Hybrid?
Touchscreens
What are the 2 types of built-in touch screens?
- Resistive
- Capacity
What are resistive touch screens made of?
two transparent sheets, separated by a gap
- The sheets have an electric charger in orthogonal directions
What are the advantages of the resistive touch screen?
- cheaper, low cost
- Pressure from any object will activate a touch event
What are the disadvantages of the resistive touch screen?
- vulnerable to scratches
- damages easily
- less sensitive to light touch
What are capacitive touch screens made of?
An electrical field exists over the surface of the screen
- Touching the screen disrupts this field
- A grid of electrodes behind the screen detects the position of touch
What are the advantages of the capacitive touch screen?
- more durable than resistive touch screens
- able to detect multiple touch points
What are the disadvantages of the capacitive touch screen?
- Touch is only activated with a bare finger or conductive material
What are embedded systems?
computers that are in other machines that don’t typically look like a computer per se
What are examples of embedded systems?
- microwave
- cars
- digital watch
- ATM’s
- elevator
