Module 2 Flashcards
1
Q
Ports
A
Connection points that we can connect devices to that extend the functionality of our computer
2
Q
What is a CPU
A
The brain of the computer, it does all the calculations and data processing.
3
Q
What is RAM?
A
Random Access Memory. The computer’s short term memory, where data is stored temporarily.
4
Q
What is the hard drive?
A
Long-term data storage device
5
Q
What is the motherboard?
A
Connects all the other parts together.
6
Q
What is the PSU
A
Power supply unit. Provides the power necessary to power computer.
7
Q
What are programs?
A
Instructions that tell the computer what to do
8
Q
External Data Bus
A
A row of wires that interconnect the parts of a computer
9
Q
What connects the CPU and the RAM?
A
A Data Bus
10
Q
MCC
A
Memory Controller Chip. Contains the logic for reading and writing to a computer’s main memory
11
Q
Where is the MCC located?
A
MCC’s can be located in the northbridge, in which case it will be connected to the CPU via the EDB and ADB, however modern CPUs have an integrated MCC
12
Q
What is the function of the MCC
A
The MCC retrieves data from the RAM and sends it to the CPU
12
Q
How is the MCC Connected to the Ram?
A
The MCC is connected to the RAM via a multiplexor
13
Q
ADB
A
Address Bus. Connects the CPU to the MCC. Sends data address from CPU to the mcc
14
Q
What are the 3 different cache levels in a CPU?
A
L1: L1 cache is the fastest and smallest of the three CPU cache levels. L1 holds the data currently in use by the CPU. Each CPU core usually has its own L1 cache smallest and fastest cache
L2: L2 cache holds less data than L3 cache, but it has faster access speeds. L2 holds a copy of the most recently accessed data that is not currently in use by the CPU. Each CPU core normally has its own L2 cache.
L3: cache is the largest and slowest of CPU cache. However, it is often twice as fast as RAM. L3 is the first CPU cache location to store data after it is transferred from RAM. L3 cache is often shared by all of the cores in a single CPU.
15
Q
Clock Speed
A
The maximum number of clock cycles that i t can handle in a certain time period
4.4 gigahertz in 3.4 billion cycles per second
16
Q
What is over-clocking?
A
Increasing the rate of clock cycles in order to perform more tasks
17
Q
What are the three variables involved in overclocking a CPU?
A
Overclocking a CPU’s frequency involves three variables:
- The base CPU clock frequency, often measured in GHz.
- The core frequency, which is calculated by multiplying the base frequency by the CPU core multipliers.
- The core voltage, which needs to be increased in small increments to meet the increasing power demand of the CPU during the overclocking process.
18
Q
How can overclocking a CPU damage a computer?
A
- Damage the CPU
- Overheat surrounding hardware causing the system to fail
- Shorten computer’s overall lifespan
- Void the warranty
19
Q
How to find system information on a windows pc?
A
in the RUN window type msinfo32
20
Q
How to safely overclock a cpu?
A
- check if CPU supports overclocking
- check if motherboard supports overclocking
- Ensure appropriate cooler is installed
- Clean inside of computer
- Follow manufacturers instructions for overclocking
21
Q
What does it mean if the computer freezes or crashes while overclocking the PC.
A
If the computer freezes or crashes, it has either become completely unstable or the CPU is not getting enough voltage to support the overclocked frequency. Use the BIOS to return to the last stable frequency or increase the voltage in 0.01V increments until stable.
22
Q
While overclocking a pc, what should and shouldn’t you do if the voltage seems to be insufficient?
A
If the voltage appears to become insufficient to support the new frequency, increase the voltage by 0.05V. Do not increase the voltage above 1.4V without specialized cooling hardware.
23
Q
What language does a CPU process?
A
binary
24
What is a cpu instruction set?
An instruction set, also known as an instruction set architecture (ISA), is a set of commands that a microprocessor can understand and execute.
These instructions tell the processor what operations to perform, such as arithmetic, data manipulation, and input/output operations.
Instruction sets are hardcoded into the cpu, different manufacturers may use different instruction sets.
25
If a CPU's instruction set changes, would it be necessary to update the compiler?
Yes, if the instruction set changes, then the compiler would also need to be updated. The compiler translates high-level programming languages into machine code that uses the instruction set of the processor. If the instruction set changes, the compiler needs to translate the code differently.
26
Who are the main CPU manufacturers?
Intel
AMD
QUALCOMM
27
What are the two main types of CPU sockets?
Land Grid Array (LGA) - Pins come out of the motherboard
Pin Grid Array (PGA) - Pins come out of the CPU
28
What are some considerations when determining whether a CPU is compatible with the motherboard
1. LGA or PGA
2. 32 bit or 64 bit architecture
29
What is the purpose of RAM
Before a program is executed by the CPU, a copy of that program is first loaded into the RAM
The instructions are requested from the Ram by the CPU via the MCC
30
What is DRAM
Dynamic Random Access Memory
31
What is DIMM
Dual inline Memory Module, is a type of DRAM
32
What is SDRAM?
Synchronized Dynamic Random Access Memory
Ram is synchronized to CPU clock speed, allowing for quicker processing of data.
33
What is DDR SDRAM?
Double Data Rate Synchronized Dynamic Random Access Memory
34
What is the chipset on a motherboard?
A chipset is a collection of electronic components on a motherboard that manages the flow of data between the CPU, GPU, RAM, storage, and peripherals. It acts as the traffic controller of the motherboard, facilitating communication between all connected components
35
What is a Northbridge
One of the two chips in the motherboard chipset, located on the northside of the motherboard and connects with and regulated communication between the CPU, the RAM and the PGC-IE / AGP slot (Video card slot)
In modern cpu's the northbridge has been directly integrated into the cpu.
36
What is a Southbridge
One of the two chips in the motherboard chipset, located at the south side of the motherboard near the PCI slots. Connects to and regulates communication between the PCI slots, USB Connectors and the SATA ports, and maintains the Input/output controllers
37
What is a PCI?
Peripheral Component Interconnect is an expansion slot
38
Motherboard formfactors
ATX - Advance Technology eXtended:
ITX - Information Technology Extended Formfactor:
39
Front Side Bus
The bus that connects the CPU and the northbridge chipset. It also determines the speed of the motherboard
40
What are the two basic Hard Disk Drives?
HDD - Uses spinning platter and arm to read and write data. The speed the platter rotates is measure in RPM. A higher RPM is faster. Prone to damage, due to having lots of moving parts, but is cheap. Connects with mother board via SATA cable and connector
SSD - Solid State Drive: Stores data on microchips and is much faster than HDD, with less moving parts. SDDs reduces the risk of losing data, but they are more expensive. Connects to the motherboard via NVME
41
SATA
Serial ATA. An interface that uses one cable for data transfer. Allows for fast data transfer, usually used by HDD drives,
42
NVME
An interface used by SSD drives. It is essentially an expansion slot which allows for super fast data transfers
43
Decimal nomenclature:
kilobyte, megabyte, gigabyte, terabyte, petabyte, exabyte, zettabyte, yottabyte
44
Binary nomenclature
kibibyte, mebibyte, gibibyte, tebibyte, pebibyte, exbibyte, zebibyte, yobibyte
(more accurate)
45
PSU
Power Supply Unit, used to power the motherboard by converting the AC supply to DC
46
Wattage
The amount of volts and amps that a device needs
47
How much power do most basic desktops need?
500 W
48
What to consider when selecting a PSU?
1. Wall socket input voltage standard for the country where the computer will be used;
2. The number and power consumption needs of the computer’s internal components;
3. The motherboard model and form factor engineering specifications and requirements.
49
Voltage requirements of the different pin Connectors
3.3V DIMMs, chipsets, and some PCI/AGP cards
5V SIMMS, disk drive logic, ISA, and some voltage regulators
12V Motors and voltage regulators with high outputs
50
How to troubleshoot PSU issues
1. Check Wall Socket first, by plugging into a know working socket
2. Confirm that PC is turned on
3. Confirm that the cable itself is not the issue, by swapping out to a known working cable
4. Perform a jumper test: Disconnect from power, unplug and switch off, Bend a paper clip and insert one end into the green pin and the other into any of the black pins. Then Plug in the power cable and turn on the power switch. If the PSU fan is spinning, it means it is still functional, if it does not spin at all, then it is time to replace the power supply
5. Use a Universal 24 pin power tester
51
10 signs of a PSU Failure
1. Power On Fails
2. Spontaneous Reboot
3. Intermittent Lockups: Freeze when running programs
4. Fan not turning on
5. Overheating (due to fans not running)
6. Brownouts (Flickering or dimming of screen)
7. Electrical shocks when touching powercase
8. Motherboard dead with no LED lit
9. SMOKE
10. Circuit breakers popping when turning on PC
52
System on a Chip (SoC)
Packs the CPU, RAM, and Storage onto a single chip. Usually used for mobile devices
53
Charge Cycle
One full charge and discharge of a battery. A battery's lifespan is measured in charge cycles
54
Inductive Charging
Inductive charging (also known as wireless charging or cordless charging) is a type of wireless power transfer. It uses electromagnetic induction to provide electricity to portable devices.
55
How to find battery information on a MAC
1. Hold the option key and click the apple menu
2. Choose system information
3. Under Hardware section, select Power
4. The current cycle count is listed under the battery information section
56
How to find battery information on a Windows PC?
1. Go to CMD
2.powercfg /batteryreport
3.Open HTML File
57
What is the average lifespan of a laptop battery?
The maximum charge cycle count for most modern laptop batteries, including those in high-performance gaming laptops like the ASUS ROG Strix G513RM, is typically around 300 to 500 cycles before significant degradation occurs. However, some higher-quality batteries, like those used in premium gaming laptops, can maintain acceptable performance for 500 to 1000 cycles.
58
Peripherals
Anything that you connect to your computer externally that adds functionality
59
USB
Universal Serial Buss Connector
60
What is the Transfer speeds of USB 2, 3, 3.1
USB 2.0 = 480 Mb/s
USB 3.0 = 5Gb/s
USB 3.1 = 10 Gb/s
USB-C = 20 Gb/s
USB-4 - 40 Gb/s
61
Difference between MB and Mb
MB is Megabyte and is a unit of data storage
Mb is Megabit and is a unit of data transfer speed such as Mb/s
1 byte is 8 Bits, so to transfer a 1 MB file in a second, you need an 8 Mb/s connection
62
Color codes for USB ports
USB 2.0 = Black
USB 3.0 = Blue
USB 3.1 = Teal
63
DVI Connectors
Used for video, usually for connecting projectors, or some screens. DVI supports video signals only; it does not support audio.
64
HDMI
Used for Video and Audio
65
POTS Connector
Plain Old Telephone Service (POTS) refers to cables transmitting voice through twisted copper pair wires. Landline telephones, dial-up internet, and alarm systems use POTS. The RJ-11 (Register Jack 11) connector is used for POTS.
66
DSL Connector
Digital Subscriber Line (DSL) provides access to high-speed networks or the internet through telephone lines and a modem. The RJ-45 connects a computer to network elements and is mostly used with ethernet cables.
67
F-type Connector
Cable Internet uses a cable TV infrastructure and a modem to provide high-speed internet access to users. An F type connector is commonly used with cable modems.
68
Fiber Optic Cables
Fiber-optic cables contain strands of glass fibers inside an insulated casing that send data long-distance and allow for higher-bandwidth communication. The major internet providers use fiber-optic cables for high-speed internet service.
69
DB89 connectors
DB89 connectors are used for older peripherals like keyboards, mice, and joysticks. An IT professional may still encounter a DB89 connector for external tools a computer uses and should recognize the cable to connect to the appropriate port.
70
Molex connectors
Molex connectors provide power to drives or devices inside the computer. Molex connectors are used for connecting a hard drive, disc drive (CD-ROM, DVD, Blu-ray), or a video card.
71
What are the main types of connectors for a projector?
VGA, DVI, HDMI, DisplayPort
72
Markings on USB ports
SS
If your USB ports have the "SS" marking, it stands for SuperSpeed, which indicates that the port is either:
USB 3.0 : Capable of transfer speeds up to 5 Gbps.
USB 3.1: Capable of transfer speeds up to 10 Gbps.
"10" or "20" to indicate 10 Gbps or 20 Gbps speeds.
73
BIOS
Basic Input Output Services. Software that helps initialize the hardware and gets our operating system up an running.
73
What are drivers?
Programs that tell the cpu how to run a peripheral device
74
Where is the BIOS stored?
The Bios is stored on the ROMC (Read only memory chip) found on the motherboard. This chip is non-volatile, meaning the data does not get erased when we switch the computer off and on
75
UEFI
Unified extensible firmware interface. Performs the same function of starting you computer as the traditional BIOS, but it's more modern and has better compatibility and support for newer hardware
76
POST
Power On Self Test. A test run by the BIOS when you start up your computer to figure out what hardware is on or connected to the computer.
This happens before the BIOS loads up hardware or initializes any drivers
If there is any issue at this point, the computer is unable to display a message on the screen because the drivers aren't loaded yet. So instead it uses beep codes to inform the user of the problem
77
POST Beep Codes
1. Single Beep - Successful Bootup
2. Two Short Beeps - POST Error
78
CMOS
Complementary Metal-Oxide-Semiconductor. The CMOS Chip contains the date, time, and boot instructions
79
Reimaging
Reinstalling an OS. Often requires accessing the BIOS and setting the USB as the primary boot device.
80
Thermal Paste
Used to better connect the CPU with the heatsink to improve heat dispersion.
81
Building a PC
1. Get the Case
2. Add Motherboard
3. Add CPU
4. Apply Thermal Paste
5. Add heatsink
6. Add RAM Sticks
7. Add Drive
8. Install Case Fan
9. Add PSU
10. Connect Motherboard and CPU power
11. Connect Case Cables
12. Fasten cables
13. Add Graphics card to pci-e slot and secure
14. Connect Peripherals (Screen, keyboard, mouse)
15. Power ON
82
3 Common Mobile LCD Screens
1. IPS - In Plane Switching
2. TN - Twisted Nematic
3. VA -Vertical Alignment
83
4 common Mobile LED Screens
1. OLED - Organic Light Emitting Diodes
2. AMOLED - Active Matrix Organic Light Emitting Diode
3. mLEDs - inorganic mini-LEDs
4 Inorganic micro-LEDs
84
What are LCD Screens?
LCDs use liquid crystal technology. Liquid crystals have the properties of both a liquid and a solid. The crystals can be aligned in a variety of patterns and manipulated with electricity. How the liquid crystals are arranged and manipulated inside display panels affects refresh rates, image quality, and display performance. LCDs require backlighting, often provided by LEDs. Displays that need backlighting are also called non-emissive or passive displays. The backlighting unit (BLU) requires extra space, which makes LCD panels thicker and less flexible than other displays. Polarizers on either side of the liquid crystal layer control the path of the backlight to ensure the light is aimed toward the user.
85
LCD - In Plane Switching
How it works: In IPS displays, the liquid crystals are aligned horizontally to the screen. Electricity is passed between the ends of the crystals to control their behavior.
Uses: IPS technology is used in touch screen displays and high-end monitors. They are often used for design, photography, video/film editing, animation, movies, and other media. They can also be used for games that rely on color accuracy and wide viewing angles, as opposed to speed.
Positives: IPS displays provide vibrant colors, high quality graphics, and wide viewing areas. Additionally, they offer excellent color reproduction, accuracy, and contrast.
Negatives: IPS displays are expensive. They have low refresh rates and slow response times. However, response times have been improving as the IPS technology evolves. IPS displays can be affected by “IPS Glow”, where the backlight is visible from side viewing angles.
86
LCD - Twisted Nematic
How it works: In IPS displays, the liquid crystals are aligned horizontally to the screen. Electricity is passed between the ends of the crystals to control their behavior.
Uses: IPS technology is used in touch screen displays and high-end monitors. They are often used for design, photography, video/film editing, animation, movies, and other media. They can also be used for games that rely on color accuracy and wide viewing angles, as opposed to speed.
Positives: IPS displays provide vibrant colors, high quality graphics, and wide viewing areas. Additionally, they offer excellent color reproduction, accuracy, and contrast.
Negatives: IPS displays are expensive. They have low refresh rates and slow response times. However, response times have been improving as the IPS technology evolves. IPS displays can be affected by “IPS Glow”, where the backlight is visible from side viewing angles.
87
LCD Vertical Alignment
How it works: In VA displays, the liquid crystal molecules are vertically aligned. They tilt when electricity passes through them.
Uses: VA displays are intended for general purpose. Provides mid-range performance for graphic work, movies, and TV.
Positives: VA displays offer great contrast, deep black shades, and fast response times. They are mid-range quality for refresh rates, image quality, viewing angle, and color reproduction.
Negatives: On VA displays, motion blur and ghosting occurs with fast-motion visuals.
88
LED - OLED
How it works: The basic structure of an OLED display consists of an emissive layer placed between a cathode (which injects electrons) and an anode (which removes electrons). Electricity enters through the cathode layer, passes into the emissive layer and conductive layer to create light, then out through the anode layer.
Uses: OLED display technology can be used in foldable smartphones, rollable TVs, as backlighting in LCD TVs, for gaming, and inside VR headsets.
Positives: OLED displays deliver excellent picture quality, wide viewing angles, infinite contrast, fast response rate, and brilliant colors with true blacks. They are energy efficient, simpler to make, and much thinner than LCDs. OLED panels can be built to be flexible and even rollable.
Negatives: OLED displays are sensitive to light and moisture. Blue LEDs degrade faster than other LED colors causing color distortion over time. They are also prone to image retention and burn-in.
89
LED - AMOLED
How it works: AMOLED displays are a type of OLED panel that uses active matrix technology. Active-matrix displays have active capacitors arranged in a matrix with thin film transistors (TFTs). This technology enables the control of each individual pixel for rapid state changes, including changing brightness and color. AMOLEDs have touchscreen functions integrated into the screen.
Uses: AMOLED and Super AMOLED panels are used in high-end mobile devices, flat screen monitors, curved screens, and touchscreens.
Positives: AMOLED displays offer a high picture quality and fast response time. Color and brightness are consistent across the screen. Fast-moving images and motion are displayed clearly without blurring or ghosting. Super AMOLED panels can display a wider range of colors with enhanced contrast, which makes them easy to view in a wider variety of lighting conditions.
Negatives: AMOLED displays have the same problems as OLED displays (listed above) plus AMOLED panels can be difficult and expensive to manufacture.
90
LED - mLEDs
How it works: Mini-LED displays work the same way that OLED displays work, but the individual LED size is much smaller at approximately 50-60 micrometers.
Uses: Mini-LED displays are used for LCD backlighting in smartphones, public information displays, signage, electronics, vehicle displays, and more. Mini-LEDs are also the tech behind “Liquid Retina XDR” screens.
Positives: Mini-LED displays offer ultra high luminance, superior HDR fineness, long lifetimes, thin panels, and are readable in sunlight. They are also less expensive than micro-LED displays.
Negatives: Mini-LED displays, when used as LCD backlighting, are limited by the properties of LCD technology. Mini-LED displays for mobile devices are more expensive than OLED displays.
91
LED - micro-LEDs
How it works: Micro-LED displays work the same way that OLED displays work, but the individual LED size is extremely small at 15 micrometers.
Uses: Micro-LED displays can be used in smartphones, AR/VR headsets, wearables, public information displays, wall-sized TVs, vehicle displays, and more.
Positives: Micro-LED displaysoffer superior performances across virtually all common display features, such as brightness, reaction speeds, power consumption, durability, color gamut, stability, viewing angles, HDR, contrast, refresh rates, transparency, seamless connectivity, and more. Micro-LED displays are readable in sunlight and have sensor integration capability.
Negatives: Micro-LED displays are expensive to manufacture and are not yet ready for mass production.
