Hardware Flashcards
What is the motherboard
A large circuit board with many slots, connectors and different parts clearly visible all over it
What are the 3 roles of the motherboard
Provides connectors to allow other circuits to connect to it
Ensures that all components can communicate with one another
Provides power to the difference components
What does a modular design mean
The computer is made up of many separate parts
What does a modular design allow (2)
Easy to repair the computer
Easy to upgrade the computer
What does ZIF stand for and what is its purpose
Zero Insertion Force
It is where you connect the CPU to the motherboard
What does DIMM stand for what is its purpose
Dual Inline Memory Modules
The sticks of memory that you can add to your computer
What are SATA connectors
Where you plug in cables that connect storage devices to the motherboard
What are external connectors and what do they typically include
Built into the motherboard for connection at the back
Includes USB, VGA, Ethernet, Headphone jack etc.
What are expansion slots used for
To add extra circuits to your motherboard such as video cards
What is the CPU responsible for (4)
Fetching instructions and data from memory
Decoding instructions
Executing instructions
Transferring data back to memory
What do we call the tasks that the CPU is responsible for
The Machine Cycle
What do systems with powerful video cards also do with regard to their CPU
Use the processor on the video card to do some of the work
What does BIOS stand for
Basic input / output system
Where is the BIOS stored and what is its responsibility
It is stored on the ROM and it is responsible for making sure your computer starts up correctly
What is the GPU responsible for
Processing the instructions that create the pictures on your screen
What does RAM stand for and what does it do
Random Access Memory
It stores the instructions that the CPU is using
What does VRAM stand for and what is it used for
Video Random Access Memory
It stores the image data that the computer displays
It acts as a buffer between the CPU and the video card
What does ROM stand for and what does it do
Read-Only Memory and it stores the motherboard’s operating software
What does PCI stand for and what does it do
Peripheral Component Interconnect - allows you to plug additional hardware like a GPU, ethernet card or Wi-Fi card into the computer
What is the GPU/PCIe x16 used for
High-speed slot for the computer’s graphics card since it sends and receives the most data
What does SATA stand for
Serial AT Attachment
What is a bus
A communication system transferring data between components inside a computer or between computers
What are the two types of buses
Internal
External
What is an internal bus
The communication highway of the motherboard
What is an external bus
The interface for peripheral devices like hard disks and flash drives to connect to the CPU
What do all Buses have (3)
A control bus
A data bus
A power bus
What does the control bus do
Used by the CPU to send signals to the different parts of the computer in order to control them
What does a data bus do
Provides the path to transfer data and instructions among the different components of the computer. It is assisted by the address bus
What does the address bus do
Provides the physical address of data in the system memory to help data transfers
What does a power bus do
Energises the different components of the computer system
What is caching
A technique used by computers to store data that is likely to be used soon, in order to access it more easily
What is a CPU cache
The difference in speed between a CPU and RAM has become too large and now CPU’s have a small built-in cache to store a small amount of data that it needs
What is a Disk cache
A small amount of RAM built into a hard disk drive
What is a Web cache
A small area on a computer’s hard drive where images and pages from the internet are stored
What are 3 examples of Temporary storage
RAM
Cache Memory
Disk Cache Memory
What are 4 examples of Permanent Storage
Magnetic Storage (Hard Disk Drives)
SSD’s
Flash Drives
Optical Storage Media (CD, DVD)
