CompTIA Part 1 : Computer Hardware Flashcards
(MotherBoard-Heart of Computer)
Form Factors
Size and shape of the motherboard, but also you need to take into account the power supply. Different power supplies use different connectors. 5 current and most popular form factors are:
**Standard-ATX, **
Micro-ATX,
Mini-ITX,
Nano-ITX,
Pico-ITX
(MotherBoard-Heart of Computer)
Standard-ATX motherboard
12” x 9.6” largest of the current motherboards
it is very common we still use very large towers
(MotherBoard-Heart of Computer)
Micro-ATX
9.6” x 9.6” has a similar design and layout as the standard-ATX usually has less expansion slots, but that can be curcumvented by other technology like a graphics card that will have a chip in it for expansion.
(MotherBoard-Heart of Computer)
Mini-ITX
Largest of the ITX series 6.7 x 6.7
(MotherBoard-Heart of Computer)
Nano-ITX
4.7” x 4.7
(MotherBoard-Heart of Computer)
Pico-ITX
3.8” x 3.8” usually found in specialized devices like a router a benefit of smaller devices is low power consumption
(MotherBoard-Heart of Computer)
BUS it’s not really a public bus it’s more like the highway systems a bus would drive on. Its all the circuitry the data travels on and how data flows around form one component to the next on the motherboard.
Not to be confussed with a BUS slot which actually are Expansion Slots and are the following: ISA Slots, PCI Slots and AGP Slots.
North Bridge: is what’s most specifically responsible for allowing data to communicate back and forth between memory (RAM) and the processor. This usually will include the memory card because it usually has it’s own memory because of resource intensive for graphics
South Bridge: has to do with the connection of all your other devices, drives, external porst expansion slots and things like that.
Help you remember the north bridge is specifically between processor and memory.
south bridge kind of everything else if a question on the test talks about a problem with communication between the motherboard or something its the south bridge
(MotherBoard-Heart of Computer)
Expansion Slots
Come in several variations
PCI-Express
32-bit PCI
PCI-X (X stands for extended)
PCI-e (Newest and fastest)
Laptop:
MiniPCI
MiniPCI Express
Riser Slots:
AMR (always towards center of motherboard)
CNR (always towards the end of a motherboard)
ACR (not very common-only on Asus motherboards)
(MotherBoard-Heart of Computer)
Front Panel Connectors
usually referred to as jumpers
pins that are sticking up
that can open or close a circuit to link things to the front of the case
Processor Operation
Processors work in cycles.
The speed of a processor is how many cycles it has the ability to process each second.
fetch
decode
execute
store
Processor Speeds
Hertz = the number of cycles
There is also a BUS speed
Processor Speeds
Overclocking
Overclocking = Running the CPU higher than a recommended speed
you risk potential overheating
Processor Speeds
Dynamic frequency scaling (CPU Throtteling)
You can automatically change the speed or frequency to help keep form overheating
Processor Speeds
actual speed itself
is measured by applying the clock multiplier to the frontside bus speed
e.g. a process running at 3200 mghz or 3.2 ghz might be using a 400 mghz front side bus and a 8 times clock multiplier and that’s how they get to the 3200 mghz or the 3.2 ghz
The theoretical speed is not the same speeds that are listed
Processor Width
This is the actual size of the highway
two common width 32 bit and 64 bit processors
