Hardware and Components Flashcards
What does RAM stand for? And what does DIMM stand for? And what does SO-DIMM stand for?
Random Access Memory
Dual Inline Memory Module
Small Outline - Dual Inline Memory Module (smaller form factor than regular DIMM)
What is the typical OUTPUT from a PSU? (AC input to a PSU is 240v)
12 volts DIRECT CURRENT is the most commonly outputted PSU output into a PC system. Internally components run on 12 volts or less and are very sensitive to minor voltage changes.
The PSU also supplies the PC with 3.3v Direct Current and 5v Direct Current.
What type of cables use twisted pairs of copper cabling with opposite signals?
Ethernet cables used twisted pairs to prevent interference and allow the opposing signals to be compared at the other end of the cable.
What max. data transfer speed can a 1000BASE-T Cat 5e cable support?
1000Mbit/s. AKA 1Gbit/s.
Why must plenum-rated cables be used in a plenum (shared airspace used for heating/ventilation/AC)?
To reduce FIRE RISK - of toxic burning plastic smoke being pumped through the ventilation etc systems into the building in the event of a fire.
Are unshielded twisted pair (UTP) cables more or less commonly used than shielded twisted pair (STP) cables?
UTP are much more commonly found especially in SOHO environments.
Shielding provides additional/better interference protection and requires each cable to be grounded.
What is the benefit of using cable shielding (STP) over unshielded twister pair (UTP) cable?
Shielding provides additional resistence to interference (EMI).
Shielding needs grounding though. +more expensive.
Which mode of fibre connection is better for longer distances, single or Multi?
Single mode fibre is better for transmitting over long distances (greater than 2km distances). Single mode fiber communication can reach up to 100km without needing to refresh/regenerate the signal using a laser as the light source!
T568A and T568B cable standards differ how?
By the COLOUR arrangement of the WIRES in the 8 pin to 8 conductor layout/arrangement.
How the colours of the cables vs pin arrangements differ across the standards. NEITHER IS WRONG OR BETTER OR WORSE THAN THE OTHER ARRANGEMENT.
A standard has white + green cables in pin 1.
Which cable standard T568A or B uses white and green cables in pin 1?
T568A.
What is the difference between DRAM and SRAM?
Pros/Cons
Dynamic (DRAM) RAM needs constant refreshing/recharging to retain any information/data whereas SRAM (Static RAM) doesn’t. As a result SRAM is MUCH faster but also more expensive.
SRAM generally has a smaller form factor.
What is a clock cycle?
The length of time it takes for a CPU to complete one operation such as store some data.
What is clock speed a measure of?
How many clock cycles/operations your CPU executes per second (GHz).
What is the RAM capacity of a DDR4 stick/DIMM? Is this the same as a DDR5 stick?
Both DDR4 and DDR5 DIMMs have a maximum capacity of 64GB.
However, DDR5 has faster data transfer speeds than DDR4 RAM.
What is multi-channel memory?
Using multiple different memory channels to spread the load/throughput over to increase the data transfer rate.
What is Virtual Memory?
Using/partitioning a secondary type of memory such as an SSD/HDD to use as if it were RAM (primary memory).
Obviously this is still slower than real RAM.
What is the purpose of a parity bit?
A simple form of error detecting code. A parity bit is appended to a binary (10101010) string to make the string an even number. E.g. 11011 sums to 5 so to make it even the parity bit is a 1.
11 sums to 2 which is already even so the parity bit (check bit) remains 0.
Which technology, AHCI (Advanced Host Controller Interface) or NVMe (Non-Volatile Memory Express), allows for faster maximum data transfer rates?
NVMe was designed for SSD’s faster speeds/higher throughputs (than HDD). It is used with M.2 interfaces whereas AHCI is used by SATA interfaces.
Both technologies are ways of moving data from storage drives (secondary memory) to RAM (primary PC memory).
What type of drive uses a laser to read small bumps on a disc?
Optical Drive/CD Drive.
What is the difference between a RAID 0 setup and a RAID 1 setup?
RAID 0 provides 0 redundancy as it stripes data across two drives which means that if either drive fails ALL data is effectively lost. However, it does provide very high read and write speeds as the data load/throughput is spread across two drives.
RAID 1 duplicates data across two drives which provides good redundancy as if either of the drives fail the other drive has it all saved. However, the duplicating of data means that the total available storage/drive space is filled twice as fast!
Which form factor of motherboard is bigger? ATX or ITX?
Standard ATX (Advanced Technology Extended) is the bigger form of motherboard, and you would commonly find it in a desktop PC.
Mini ITX is a lot smaller but due to same screw hole placement as ATX can also be used in a full size PC Tower.
What is a computer bus?
Bus - is a data transfer/exchange/communication system between internal computer components/devices.
Bus = Data Highway
What is a PCI/PCIe slot?
An expansion port/bus connector for additional hardware or devices. Upgraded to PCIe (e=express). Used to connect graphics card for example.
Which version PCI or PCIe uses parallel transfer and which uses a serial data transfer?
PCIe uses SERIAL data transfer which is faster than using parallel (which PCI uses) as you can use more one-way/unidirectional “lanes” for data transfer.
What does the “x” represent in a PCIe x32?
The x references how many “lanes” for data transfer/traffic the PCIe slot supports.
How many pins does the main motherboard power connector use?
24 pin power. 3.3v +/- 5v +/- 12v are all provided.
How many pins do DDR4 and DDR5 ram have? 288, 240, 290, 300, 160, 225
288 for BOTH.
240 for DDR3
What’s a chipset?
A group of electronic components that manage data flow between CPU, RAM, storage and peripherals on the MOBO.
What is a SCSI cable?
A wide ribbon cable that is now legacy, used to connect storage drives and optical drives, etc to mobo.
Small Computer System Interface cable (Parallel connection - LEGACY)
What is iSCSI?
A cable that connects SCSI devices via Ethernet cable.
(iSCSI)
i=internet
SCSI
What is a SAS cable?
Serial Attached SCSI - replacement for the legacy SCSI cable - (SERIAL connection instead of parallel).
(SAS) - Serial Attached SCSI
Looks like a wide SATA connector.
What USB standard has a white connector and 1.5Mbps max transfer speed?
USB1.0 and 1.1 use a white connector but 1.1 has 12Mbps and 1.0 uses 1.5Mbps.
What USB has a black connector?
USB 2.0 - top speed 480Mbps.
What is the fastest USB standard and what’s the max. throughput?
USB 3.1v2 runs at up to 10Gbps.
What USB connector standard has a 5Gbps maximum throughput speed?
USB 3.0 and 3.1v1 both have up to 5Gbps speeds.
What is an APU chip?
A CPU with in built GPU on a single chip. Combo of CPU and GPU = APU - Accelerated Processing Unit.
What is an AGP port?
Accelerated Graphics Port - legacy/old video card (GPU) slot.
Do macOS devices or iOS devices more commonly use a Thunderbolt cable?
macOS uses Thunderbolt cables to transfer data/charge (up to 40Gbps v3) and use a miniDisplayPort or USB-C connector.
iOS generally uses Lightning cables which are proprietary.
What is an Optical Network Terminal (ONT)?
An ONT is a device that connects/converts signal from the ISP FIBRE network (optical network) to your home/private network (router/default gateway/ethernet).
What is the pinout of the T568A Ethernet cable standard?
- W/G, G, W/O, Blue, W/B, O, W/Br, Brown.
8P8C - 8 pin 8 connector cable.
What is the max throughput of a DVI-D, DVI-I, DVI-A SINGLE LINK connector?
3.7Gbps - single link DVI (half the pins of dual link)
SATA 2.0 cables have a max transfer rate of 3.0 Gbps over 1 meter. What are the max speeds of SATA 1.0 and SATA 3.0?
SATA 1.0 = 1.5 Gbps
SATA 2.0 = 3 Gbps
SATA 3.0 = 6 Gbps
All max length 1 meter. 7 pins for SATA data. 15 pins for SATA power.
How many pins does a SATA data connector have?
7 pins for SATA 7 DATA
Does a SATA power connector have more or less pins than a SATA data connector and how many does it have?
More, 15 pin SATA power connector.
Does a HDMI connector have 19 pins?
YES. HDMI is 19 pinned connector.
What is the max throughput of USB2.0?
480mbps - black type A connector
What is the max throughput of USB3.0?
5Gbps - blue connector
What is the max throughput of USB3.2gen1?
Synonymous with 3.0 - 5gbps - blue A connector
What is the max throughput of USB3.2gen2?
10Gbps - teal/turquoise
What is the max throughput of USB3.2gen2x2?
20Gbps - USB-C only.
