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IT Foundations - WGU > Motherboards & CPUs > Flashcards

Motherboards & CPUs Flashcards

1
Q

Motherboard components

A 
CPU
CMOS Battery
RAM slot
Chipset
SATA connectors
IDE connectors
ATX power connector
ATX 12-V power connector
Fan connector
Front panel connector and USB headers
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2
Q

Provides continuous power to the computers real-time clock and maintains the systems BIOS settings

A

CMOS battery

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3
Q

Memory that is installed in pairs.

A

Dual channel memory (slots are usually colored)

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4
Q

A set of integrated circuits that routes communication between computer components and the CPU

A

Chipset

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5
Q

What are the two main chips in the chipset?

A

Northbridge and Southbridge

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6
Q

Connects directly to the CPU via the Front Side Bus

A

Northbridge

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7
Q

Directly connects to the RAM and graphics components of the computer, so that they can communicate more directly with the CPU

A

Northbridge

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8
Q

Manages input/output (I/O) interfaces for the computer such as PCI, PCIe, USB, serial, and IDE.

A

Southbridge

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9
Q

Communicates with the CPU through the Northbridge chip, which makes it a slower interface.

A

Southbridge

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10
Q

In an effort to reduce cost and improve performance, newer motherboards incorporate ….. on the CPU itself.

A

Northbridge Chip

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11
Q

Connect modern hard disk drives, solid state drives, and optical drives to the circuitry of the motherboard

A

SATA (Serial AT Attachment) connectors

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12
Q

One benefit of the SATA standard is …..

A

Hotplugging

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13
Q

Connects small form-factor (about the size of a business card) hard drives and solid state drives to the motherboard in ultra-portable laptops, netbooks, and tablets.

A

mini-serial ATA (mSATA)drive connectors

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14
Q

Connects hard disk drives and optical drives to the circuitry of the motherboard

A

IDE Integrated Drive Electronicsdrive connectors

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15
Q

When do you assign one drive to Master and the other one to Slave?

A

When two IDE drives share one cable.

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16
Q

A 24-pin connector that connects to the power supply and provides power to the motherboard

A

ATX power connector

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17
Q

This connector supplies three separate voltage levels: 3.3V, 5V, and 12V DC

A

ATX power connector

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18
Q

Connects the 12 volt, 4-pin power cable of the power supply unit to provide the CPU with additional power

A

ATX 12 V power connector

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19
Q

What motherboard might require an 8-pinEPS 12 V power connector?

A

High-end and server motherboards

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20
Q

A three or four pin connector used for a CPU or case cooling fan.

A

Fan connector

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21
Q

What are the three common pins of a fan connector?

A

Electrical ground, power, and a “sense output” pin that signals fan speed

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22
Q

What is the optional fourth pin on a fan connector used for?

A

Used to adjust the rotation speed of the fan without adjusting the voltage (aka control pin)

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23
Q

Contains sockets to plug in five system cables for the power button, reset button, power LED, hard disk activity LED, and the internal speaker used for beeps and other simple system sounds.

A

Front panel connector(also referred to as the fpanel or system panel connector)

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24
Q

Allow you to connect USB ports on your case to the motherboard

A

Internal USB headers

25
Q

Name the Motherboard Ports

A
  1. USB
  2. PS/2
  3. HDMI
  4. VGA
  5. DVI
  6. LAN
  7. Sound Ports
  8. USB type C or eSATA ports (some motherboards)
26
Q

What are the different types of expansion slots?

A
  1. PCIe
  2. PCI
  3. Mini-PCI / Mini-PCIe
  4. Express Card
  5. M.2
27
Q

An independent processor embedded on to a CPU that can process a single instruction stream, orthreadat a time

28
Q

Allows the CPU to process multiple threads at once, independently

A

Multi-core processor

29
Q

A function that places additional registers on a physical core, allowing it to behave as two logical cores.

A

hyperthreadingorsimultaneous multi-threading (SMT)

30
Q

Fast memory used to process instructions or data.

31
Q

Speeds up executable instruction fetching

A

Instruction cache

32
Q

Speeds up data fetch and store

A

data cache

33
Q

Cache that can do both instruction cache and data cache.

A

Unified cache

34
Q

What are the differences in CPU L1, L2, L3 cache?

A

L1 - fastest and smallest
L2 - slower and larger
L3 - slowest and largest

35
Q

What is the max RAM a 32 bit processor can handle?

36
Q

A 64 bit application is not compatible with a 32 bit processor. (True or False)

37
Q

GPU that is on the same chip as the CPU

A

Integrated GPU

38
Q

How to disable the integrated GPU when using a stand alone GPU.

A

Disable integrated GPU in Bios or by using a jumper on the motherboard.

39
Q

A security feature that allows the operating system to classify areas of memory as non-executable, preventing the CPU from running any code residing there.

A

no-execute bit (NX Bit)

40
Q

Enabling this can provide extra security against malicious software

A

no-execute bit (NX Bit)

41
Q

How do you enable no-execute bit (NX Bit)?

A

Your CPU must have executed disable bit capability and the operating system you are running must also support it.

42
Q

What is the average clock speed range of modern CPUs used in PCs and mobile devices?

A

1 GHz - 5 GHz clock speed range

43
Q

Provides the physical and electrical connections between the CPU chip and the motherboard.

A

CPU Socket

44
Q

Layout of pins on the underside of the CPU that are inserted into the processor sockets are called?

A

Pin grid array (PGA) layout

45
Q

Layout that replaces the pins on the bottom of the CPU with gold pads, called lands & the pins are located in the socket instead.

A

Land grid array (LGA)

46
Q

B (LGA 1366), H (1156 LGA), H2 (1155 LGA), R (LGA 2011), H3 (LGA 1150), H4 (LGA 1151) are examples of what?

A

Intel Sockets

47
Q

AM3, FM1, AM3+, FM2, FM2+, AM4 are examples of what?

A

AMD Sockets

48
Q

What is the max temperature the CPU can operate at before damage occurs?

A

185 degrees Fahrenheit (85 degrees Celsius)

49
Q

An aluminum or copper cooling device that sits over the top of a processor or other heat-generating component.

50
Q

These types of heat sinks are more efficient, but also more expensive.

A

Copper Heat Sinks

51
Q

Improves heat transfer by eliminating any air gaps caused by simply clamping the heat sink into place.

A

Thermal Paste

52
Q

Quieter and more efficient than heat sinks and fans

A

Liquid Cooler

53
Q

Steps in diagnosing CPU overheating

A
  1. Turn PC off for several hours
  2. Turn PC on for 10 min
  3. Shut down then enter BIOS
  4. Check temp settings in “PC Health” or “Monitoring”
  5. Reboot and let it run until it shuts down
  6. Power up again & enter BIOS
  7. Check temp settings recorded
    Note: If there is a dramatic increase in temperature readings from the first, then there is an overheating problem
54
Q

Possible overheating issues

A
  1. Insufficient Thermal Paste
  2. Dust insulating the fan blades, heat sink fins, & chassis vents
  3. Fan has stopped working or decreased function (check power source w/ multimeter)
  4. Obstructions to airflow (Cabinets, walls, desk, cables)
55
Q

Steps in selecting a CPU

A
  1. Determine motherboard’s compatible processors (AMD vs Intel) & Socket type
  2. Note how the computer will be used & select one that will meet the needs and budget
  3. Determine cooling methods
  4. Determine if thermal compound is needed or comes with CPU
56
Q

Steps for CPU installation

A
  1. Update BIOS/UEFI
  2. Shut down PC and Unplug it
  3. Open chassis
  4. Unplug ATX 12 v power connector
  5. Lift socket handle
  6. Align CPU with that of the socket
  7. Close socket handle
  8. Reattach ATX 12 v power connector
57
Q

Steps for attaching CPU cooling

A
  1. Apply thermal paste to CPUs top surface (pea size)
  2. Place cooling system on top matching clips to motherboard
  3. Gently push in place until clips snap in place or screw down
  4. Connect fan or pump to motherboard connector
  5. Close chassis
  6. Plug in power
  7. Boot PC
58
Q

What is Peltier cooling?

A

Device gets colder when voltage is applied. Should be implemented when convective methods will not work

59
Q

What is Convective cooling?

A

Works by moving heat from the CPU to the cooler surroundings

IT Foundations - WGU (20 decks)

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