Motherboards

Question 1

What is a motherboard?

Answer 1

a fundamental component of a computer. it is a large printed circuit board (PCB) that serves as a central hub and connects various hardware components of a computer system.

Question 2

How many types of motherboards are there?

Answer 2

Over 40 but only 2 or 3 that are very popular.

Question 3

What is an ATX motherboard?

Answer 3

Advanced Technology Extended motherboard is a type of computer motherboard form factor. Its a standardized design specification that defines the physical dimensions, layout and features of the motherboard.

Question 4

What is an ITX motherboard?

Answer 4

Information Technology Extended. an ITX is a compact form factor of computer motherboard that is smaller than traditional ATX motherboards. ITX are designed for SFF PCs, home theater PCs and portable systems.

Question 5

what is a computer bus?

Answer 5

a comunication pathway that allows different components within a computer system to communicate with each other. It serves as a data highway through which information, such as data. memory addresses, control signals and power can be transmitted between various hardware components.

Question 6

what is a PCI?

Answer 6

PCI stands for Peripheral Component Interconnect and it refers to a type of computer bus used for connecting various internal hardware components to the motherboard of a computer. PCI is used to attach expansion cards, which can include graphics cards, sound cards, network cards, storage controllers and more.

Question 7

what is PCI express?

Answer 7

a high speed computer bus standard used for connecting internal components within a computer. Its a succesor to the original PCI.

Question 8

What is a PCI express lane?

Answer 8

PCIe lanes are organized into slots on a motherboard, and the number of lanes determines the data transfer speed and bandwidth available between the connected components.

Question 9

what different configurations do PCIe lanes come in?

Answer 9

x1, x2, x4, x8, x16

Question 10

what is an M.2 connector?

Answer 10

also known as NGFF (Next Generation Form Factor) is a versatile interface used primarily for connecting solid state drives and other components to a computers motherboard. it is a compact standardisd slot that supports multiple types of connections including SATA, PCIe and even USB.

Question 11

what are the two most popular CPUs?

Answer 11

Intel and AMD

Question 12

What are the main differences between the two CPUs?

Answer 12

AMD tends to be slightly less expensive. historically AMD is for price and Intel is performance.

Question 13

what is a server motherboard?

Answer 13

a specialized type of motherboard designed specifically for use in servers. server motherboards are distinct from consumer grade motherboards due to their focus on reliabilty, performance and features tailered for server enviroments.

Question 14

What is the BIOS?

Answer 14

Basic Input Output System. frimaware that resides on a motherboard. responsible for initializing hardware components during the startup process.

Question 15

what does the BIOS do?

Answer 15

Its the software responible for starting your computer. When you power on the systems it initializes the CPU and memory.

Question 16

what is the POST?

Answer 16

Power on Self Test. an automated diagnostic testing process that a computers hardware components undergo when the system is powered on or restarted.

Question 17

what is flash memory?

Answer 17

a type of non volatile computer storage medium that retains data even when the power is turned off.

Question 18

what are some examples of devices that use flash memory?

Answer 18

USB, SSD, Memory cards, embedded systems, smartphones and tablets etc

Question 19

What is UEFI?

Answer 19

Unified Extensible Firmware Interface. A modern replacement for the older BIOS.

Question 20

What does UEFI do?

Answer 20

it serves as a bridge between a computers hardware and its operating system. It provides a more flexible and feature rich alternative to BIOS.

Question 21

what is fast startup?

Answer 21

a feature in modern versions of windows operating system that aims to reduce the time for a computer to start up from a powered off or hibernated state.

Question 22

How can you bypass fast start up?

Answer 22

1. press down the shift key while pressing restart
2. or you can enable or disable this in settings, update and security, recovery, advanced startup, restart now
3. theres also a system configuration for restarting your system and that can be found under msconfig

Question 23

What is another way to interrupt the normal boot?

Answer 23

interrupt the normal boot three times.

Question 24

What is a chassis fan?

Answer 24

also known as a case fan or system fan. a component in a computer thats responsible for cooling the internal components within the computer case (or chassis).