Lesson 2: Installing System Devices Flashcards

1
Q

What is the volate for most homes and offices in america?

A

Low-line VAC 110-120

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2
Q

What kind of volate do facilities such as data centers typically use?

A

High-line VAC 220-240

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3
Q

How are watts calculated for electrical components?

A

As voltage multiplied by current (V*I)

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4
Q

V x I

A

Is how you calculate watts for electrical components

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5
Q

How is a PSU’s output capability measured?

A

As it’s wattge rating.

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6
Q

What does power distribution refer to?

A

How much power is supplied over each rail

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7
Q

What is the most common output raing (rail/rails) for modern computers?

A

+12 VDC rail

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8
Q

How is DC Direct Current voltage supllied to the motherboard devices at 3.3 VDC, 5 VDC, and 12 VDC?

A

From power connectors

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9
Q

Do all computer components use power at exactly 3.3, 5, and 12 VDC’s?

A

No

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10
Q

What are voltage regulators?

A

They correct the voltage supplied from the PSU to the voltage required by the component.

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11
Q

What was the original ATX connector form factor for the P1 Connector?

A

20 pin (2x10)

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12
Q

What was the 20 pin (2x10) connector used for?

A

The original ATX specification

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13
Q

Black wires are what?

A

Ground wires

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14
Q

What voltage are yellow wires? (20-pin connector)

A

+12 V

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15
Q

What voltage are red wires? (20-pin connector)

A

+5 V

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16
Q

What voltage are orange wires? (20-pin connector)

A

+3.3 V

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17
Q

What ATX Advanced Technology eXtended version do most systems now use?

A

ATX12V version 2 specification

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18
Q

What form factor does ATX12V Version 2 use?

A

24 pin (2x12) P1 form factor

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19
Q

What is a 20 + 4-pin P1 adapter cable?

A

It’s used for capatibility with older motherboards with a 20-pin port

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20
Q

What is unique about Modular PSU’s?

A

o Power cables are detachable from the unit. It reduces the number of cables to the minimum required and minimizes clutter within the chasis.
o It improves airflow and cooling.

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21
Q

What does a redundant PSU configuration require?

A

A compatible motherboard

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22
Q

Where are redundant PSU’s more commonly found?

A

On server systems

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23
Q

Name 3 components that require cooling solutions:

A

o CPU
o Memory Module
o Graphics Adapters

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24
Q

What is a heat sink made of?

A

A block of copper or aluminum with fins.

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25
Q

What do the fins do on a heat sink?

A

They expose a larger surface area to the air aroudn the component to achieve a cooling effect by convection.

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26
Q

How is a heat sink affixed to the surface of the chip?

A

Using thermal paste to ensure the best transfer of heat by eliminating small air gaps.

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27
Q

What performs a similar function to thermal paste?

A

A thermal pad.

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28
Q

Is thermal paste or thermal pads more reliable?

A

Thermal paste

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29
Q

What does a heat sink need to work well?

A

Good airflow around the PC

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30
Q

Why should you use a fan in a PC?

A

o Because many comonents generate more heat than can be removed by passive cooling (heat sinks).
o Fans improve airflow which helps to dissipate heat.

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31
Q

What are fans used for? (What parts?)

A

o Power supply
o Chassis exhaust points

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32
Q

Where will the fan’s power connector be plugged into?

A

The motherboards fan power port

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33
Q

What three components does an open-loop, liquid-based cooling system use?

A

o Water loop / tubing and pump push the coolant added via the reservoir around the system
o Water blocks and brackets are attached to each device to remove heat by convection. Attached similarly to heat sink/fan assemblies and then connected to the water loop
o Radiators and fans positioned at air vents to dispel excess heat

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34
Q

What do simpler closed-loop, liquid-based cooling systems install with?

A

A single component (CPU or GPU) only

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35
Q

What kind of liquid-based cooling system requires draining, cleaning, and refilling periodically?

A

Open-looped systems

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36
Q

What are the 3 standard form factors for storage devices? (Width)

A

o 2.5 inches
o 3.5 inches
o 5.25 inches

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37
Q

What size form factor for standard storage devices are provided with removable panels?

A

5.25 inches

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38
Q

When installing a SSD, what is the main drawback to connecting it with SATA or mSATA power connectors?

A

The 600 MBps SATA interface can be a bottleneck to the best performing SSD’s which can achieve transfer rates of 6.7 GB/s

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39
Q

What logical interface does SATA use to communicate with the bus?

A

ACHI Advanced host controller interface

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40
Q

What logical interface does PCIe use to communicate with the bus?

A

Use NVMHCI non-volatile memory host controller interface

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41
Q

Does PCIe/NVMe or SATA/ACHI offer higher transfer rates?

A

PCIe / NVMe

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42
Q

What slots can a NVMe SSD be packaged as? 2 answers

A

o PCIe slot as an expansion card
o M.2 Slot

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43
Q

Is M.2 adapter card form factor bigger or smaller than a PCIe adapter?

A

M.2 adapter is considerably smaller than a PCIe adapter.

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44
Q

How is a SATA interface SSD usually keyed?

A

B keyed

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45
Q

How are 2 lane PCIe SSD’s usually keyed?

A

B / M keyed

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46
Q

How are 4-lane SSd’s usually keyed?

A

M keyed

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47
Q

How is the performance of an HDD determined?

A

By the speed at which the disks spin

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48
Q

How is the speed at which HDD disks spin measured?

A

RPM Revolutions per minute

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49
Q

How many RPM Revolutions Per Minute is considered a high performance HDD?

A

15,000–10,000

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50
Q

What is average performance (In RPM Revolutions per minue) for HDD’s?

A

7,200–5,400

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51
Q

A high-performance drive will have an access time below what? HDD

A

3 ms

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52
Q

A typical drive might have an access time of around? HDD

A

6 ms

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53
Q

The internal transfer rate of a drive is a measure of what? HDD

A

How fast read/write operations are performed on the disk platters

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54
Q

What kind of connections do most HDD’s use?

A

SATA interface

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55
Q

What are the two main form factors of HDD’s? (Sizes)

A

o 2.5 inch
o 3.5 inch

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56
Q

What HDD form factor is used in desktops?

A

3.5 inch

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56
Q

The 2.5 inch HDD form factor is usually used in what?

A

Laptops and as portable external hard drives

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56
Q

RAID’s: redundancy sacrifices some ___ ________ but provides _____ _________.

A

o Disk capacity
o Fault tolerance

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56
Q

What does a RAID level represent?

A

A drive configuration with a given type of fault tolerance.

56
Q

Basic RAID levels are numbered from

A

0–6

56
Q

There are also nested RAID solutions, such as

A

RAID 10 (RAID 1 + RAID 0)

57
Q

Hardware RAID’s use a _________ __________ installed as a(n) _______ ____.

A

o Dedicated controller
o Adapter card

57
Q

How are RAID disks connected?

A

o To SATA ports on the RAID controller adapter card
o (Rather than the motherboard)

57
Q

What are the benefits to hardware RAID’s over software RAID’s?

A

o Hardware RAID’s support a greater range of RAID levels
o Hardware RAIDS are often able to hot swap adamaged disk

57
Q

What factors influence the decision for the appropriate RAID level?

A

o Fault tolerance
o Read / write performance characteristics
o Required capacity
o Cost

58
Q

When building a RAID array, all disks should be

A

Nearly identcal in terms of capacity in type and performance.

59
Q

How many disks does a RAID 0 require?

A

At least 2 disks

60
Q

How do you calculate the logical volume size of a RAID?

A

The sum of the drives multiplied by the smallest capacity physical disk in the array

61
Q

How much redundancy does RAID 0 provide?

A

None.

62
Q

What RAID level is also known as Striping without Parity?

A

RAID 0

63
Q

What RAID level is also known as Mirroring?

A

RAID 1

64
Q

What RAID level duplicates each write operation on the second disk in the set?

A

RAID 1

65
Q

What RAID level is the simplest way of protecting a disk against failure?

A

RAID 1

66
Q

In terms of cost per gigabyte, what kind of RAID is more expensive than other forms?

A

o Disk mirroring
o Because the disk space utilization is only 50%

67
Q

What RAID level is also known as Striping with Distributed Parity?

A

RAID 5

68
Q

What RAID level offers the best performance for read operations?

A

RAID 5

69
Q

What are the minimum number of drives required for a RAID 5

A

3 drives, can be configured with more

70
Q

With a RAID 5 how is the “hard” Maximum number of devices set?

A

By the controller or OS support

71
Q

What RAID level is also known as Stripe of Mirrors

A

RAID 10

72
Q

A RAID 10 is

A

A logical striped volume (RAID 0) configured with two mirrored arrays (RAID 1).

73
Q

How many disks (minimum) is required for a RAID 10?

A

A minimum of 4 disks and there must be an even number of disks

74
Q

How are memory card readers connected to the computer?

A

With a USB controller.

75
Q

What is the maximum capacity of a CD?

A

700 MB

76
Q

Single layer DVD’s have a capacity of what?

A

4.7 GB

77
Q

Dual layer double sided DVD’s have a capacity of what?

A

17 GB

78
Q

How are optical drives rated?

A

According to their data transfer speed

79
Q

Optical drives are always marketed with three speeds:

A

o Record
o Rewrite
o Read

80
Q

With virtual memory, the OS assigns memory locations to processes in what size chunks? What are they called?

A

4 kilobyte
Pages

81
Q

In a single channel memory controller configuration, the data bus is usually how wide?

A

64 bits wide

82
Q

What are the three types of RAM?

A

Dynamic (DRAM)
Synchronous (SDRAM)

83
Q

Double Data Rate (DDR SDRAM)

A

Makes two data transfers per clock cycle

84
Q

How is DDR memory bandwidth determined

A

Internal memory device clock speed and memory bus speed (say 100 MHz)

The data rate is double this as there are two operations per clock tick. This is expressed in units of megatransfers per second = (200MT/s)

This would give a DDR-200 designation

85
Q

How do subseuent generations of DDR technology increase their bandwidth? (DDR3, DDR4, DDR5)

A

By multiplying the bus speed as opposed to the speed at which the actual memory devices work.

86
Q

DDR3 Data Rate

A

800 to 2133 MT/S

87
Q

DDR3 Transfer Rate

A

6.4 to 17.066 GB/s

88
Q

DDR3 Maximum size

A

8GB

89
Q

DDR4 Data Rate

A

1600 to 3200 MT/s

90
Q

DDR4 Transfer Rate

A

12.8–25.6 GB/s

91
Q

DDR4 Maximum size

A

32 GB

92
Q

DDR5 Data Rate

A

4800–6400 MT/s

93
Q

DDR5 Transfer Rate

A

38.4 to 51.2 GB/2

94
Q

DDR5 Maximum Size

A

128 GB

95
Q

How would you identify what DDR generation?

A

The notches (keys) on the modules ege connector identify it.

96
Q

DDR DIMM’s usually feature what due to high clock speeds?

A

Heat Sinks

97
Q

The DIMM’s DDR type must match what

A

The motherboard

98
Q

For best performance, DDR modules should be what?

A

Rated at the same bus speed for the motherboard

99
Q

How is SODIMM Small Outilne DIMM Fitted?

A

Into slots that pop up at a 45 degree ngle to be inserted or removed

100
Q

Dual channel memory requires support from what features? 3 answers

A

• CPU
• Memory controller
• Motherboard

101
Q

Are there dual channel DDR memory modules?

A

No

102
Q

Triple channel memory

A

Has 3 65 bit pathways through the bus to the CPU

103
Q

Quad-channel memory?

A

Has 4 64-bit pathways

104
Q

What does DDR5 introduce?

A

A different type of memory bus

105
Q

How is a DDR5 configured?

A

• Each memory module has 2 chanels of 32 bits.
• When installed in a dual channel memory controller config, this becomes four 32-bit channels.
• This architecture distribues the load on each RAM device better.

106
Q

Where is ECC RAM Error correcting code RAM used?

A

Workstations and servers that require a high level of reliability.

107
Q

How does ECC RAM work? Error correcting code RAM

A

For each transfer, performs a hash calculation on the data value and stores it as an 8-bit checksum.

The memory controller performs the same calculation and should derive the same checksum.

108
Q

What does a checksum require? (ECC RAM)

A

An extra processor chip on the module and a 72-bit daa bus rather than the regular 64-bits.

109
Q

How much data error can an ECC RAM detect and still function normally? (Error correcting code RAM)

A

1 bit

110
Q

What happens if ECC RAM detects errors of 2, 3, or 4 bits? Error Correction Code RAM

A

It will detect them but it cannot correct them. It will generate an error message and halt the system.

111
Q

How are most types of ECC Supplied?

A

RDIMMS Registered DIMM’s Dual Inline Memory Modules

112
Q

Most types of non-ECC memory modules are what?

A

UDIMMs unbuffered dual inline memory modules

113
Q

What must support ECC operation for it to be enabled?

A

Motherboard and CPU memory

114
Q

Can UDIMM and RDIMM be mixed on the same motherboard? Unbuffered Dual inline memory module and registered dual inline memory module?

A

No. Most motherboards support one or the other but not both. If both are supported, only one can be used.

115
Q

What does the x86 instruction set (CPU architecture) define a CPU as?

A

IBM PC compatible.

116
Q

Who are x86 instruction sets manufactured by?

A

Intel and AMD Advanced Micro Devices

117
Q

How many bits is an x86 instruction set?

A

32-bits wide
Has been extended for 64-bit operation as. The x64 set.

118
Q

What is an alternative to the standard x86 / x 64 CPU architecture?

A

ARM Advanced RISC Machines

119
Q

What does ARM produce?

A

Designs that hardware vendors customize and manufacture. (As opposed to CPU’s like AMD and Intel)

120
Q

Name 4 places ARMs are used (Advanced RISC Machines)

A

Apple hardware
Most android smartphones and tablets
Many chromebooks
Some windows tablets and laptops

121
Q

How do ARM designs compare to x86?

A

ARM Advanced RISC Machines use fewer, far less complex instructions than is typical in x86

122
Q

What benefits do ARM designs offer compared to x86 (Advanced RISC Machines)

A

Allow much better power and thermal efficiency, meaning longer battery life and use of passive (fanless) cooling.

123
Q

What kind of instruction set does x86 / x64 use?

A

CISC—more complex instruction set computing.

124
Q

Does RISC or CISC make better use of CPU registers and Cache?

A

RISC

125
Q

Name one way to make execution more efficient by improving the operation of the instruction pipeline?

A

Do the most amount of work possible in a single clock cycle. (Achieved by SMT)

126
Q

How do most applications run processes?

A

They run a single process in a single thread.

127
Q

What benefit does SMT Simultaneous MultiThreading offer by allowing threads to run through the CPU at the same time?

A

It reduces the amount of “idle time” the CPU spends waiting for new instructions to process.

128
Q

What is achieved through virtualization software?

A

Computer can be made more efficient by configuring multiuple operating systems at the same time.

129
Q

A CPU with virtualization support is required to run what?

A

A virtual machine

130
Q

SLAT Second Level Address Translation is what?

A

A feature of virtualization software designed to improve the management of virtual memory.

131
Q

SLAT extensions are known as what by Intel?

A

EPT Extended Page Table

132
Q

SLAT extensions are known as what by AMD?

A

RVI Rapid Virtualization Indexing

133
Q

Using PGA Pin Grid Array name 2 ways a CPU is placed into a socket / 2 things to look out for.

A

Placed into the socket and secured with a locking lever

Care must be taken to align Pin 1 on the CPU with Pin 1 on the socket correctly to avoid bending or breaking pins.

134
Q

How should you remove a heat sink and fan assembly?

A

Use a gentle twist to remove it to avoid it sticking to the CPU

If reinstalling the same heat sink, clean old thermal grease from surface and apply a small amount of new grease in an X pattern.

135
Q

What happens if you apply too much thermal grease to a heat sink?

A

The excess could damage the socket if it overruns.

136
Q

Motherboard compatibility is generally limited to the same generation of what?

A

CPU’s which must be supportde by both the physical form factor of the motherboards CPU socket and the the motherboards chipset.

137
Q

What kinds of computers are often multi-socket?

A

Servers