Terms : Hide Images
| 4785365799 | Case Fan | A fan inside a computer case used to draw air out of or into the case. | 0 | |
| 4785365800 | Cooler | A combination cooling fan and heat sink mounted on the top or side of a processor to keep it cool. | 1 | |
| 4785368274 | Front Panel Connectors | Group of wires that run from the front of the computer to the motherboard. | 2 | |
| 4785372253 | Front Panel Header | A group of pins on a motherboard that connect to wires that are connected to the front panel of the computer case. | 3 | |
| 4785372254 | Heat Sink | A piece of metal, with cooling fans, that can be attached to or mounted on an integrated chip (such as the CPU) to dissipate heat. | 4 | |
| 4785373366 | Overclocking | Running a processor at a higher frequency than is recommended by the manufacturer, which can result in an unstable system, but is a popular thing to do when a computer is used for gaming. | 5 | |
| 4785373367 | Spacers | Round plastic or metal pegs that separate the motherboard from the case, so that components on the back of the motherboard do not touch the case also called standoffs. | 6 | |
| 4785374864 | Standoffs | Round plastic or metal pegs that separate the motherboard from the case, so that components on the back of the motherboard do not touch the case also called spacers. | 7 | |
| 4785374865 | Thermal Compund | A creamlike substance that is placed between the bottom of the cooler heatsink and the top of the processor to eliminate air pockets and to help to draw heat off the processor. | 8 | |
| 4785378696 | Accelerated Graphics Port (AGP) | A 32-bit wide bus standard developed specifically for video cards that includes AGP 1x, 2x, 3x, 4x, and 8x standards. AGP has been replaced by the PCI Express standards. | 9 | |
| 4785379582 | Ball Grid Array (BGA) | A connection via a processor that is soldered to the motherboard, and the two are always purchased as a unit. | 10 | |
| 4785381172 | Bus | The paths, or lines, on the motherboard on which data, instructions, and electrical power move from component to component. | 11 | |
| 4785381173 | Chipset | A group of chips on the motherboard that controls the timing and flow of data and instructions to and from the CPU. | 12 | |
| 4785384822 | CMOS (Complementary Metal-oxide Semiconductor) | The technology used to manufacture microchips. CMOS chips require less electricity, hold data longer after the electricity is turned off, and produce less heat than earlier technologies. The configuration or setup chip is a CMOS chip. | 13 | |
| 4785385965 | CMOS Battery | The battery on the motherboard used to power the CMOS chip when the computer is unplugged. | 14 | |
| 4785385966 | CMOS RAM | Memory contained on the CMOS configuration chip. | 15 | |
| 4785386558 | Data Bus | The lines on the system bus that the CPU uses to send and receive data. | 16 | |
| 4785386559 | Data Path Size | The number of lines on a bus that can hold data, for example, 8, 16, 32, and 64 lines, which can accommodate 8, 16, 32, and 64 bits at a time. | 17 | |
| 4785387732 | Device Driver | A program stored on the hard drive that tells the computer how to communicate with a hardware device such as a printer or modem. | 18 | |
| 4785387733 | Flashing BIOS | The process of upgrading or refreshing the programming stored on a firmware chip. | 19 | |
| 4785389419 | Front Side Bus (FSB) | See system bus. The bus between the CPU and memory on the motherboard. The bus frequency in documentation is called the system speed, such as 400 MHz. Also called the memory bus, front-side bus, local bus, or host bus. | 20 | |
| 4785390400 | Gigahertz (GHz) | One thousand MHz, or one billion cycles per second. | 21 | |
| 4785390401 | Hertz (Hz) | Unit of measurement for frequency, calculated in terms of vibrations, or cycles per second. For example, for 16-bit stereo sound, a frequency of 44,000Hz is used. See also megahertz. | 22 | |
| 4785391321 | I/O Shield | A plate installed on the rear of a computer case that provides holes for I/O ports coming off the motherboard. | 23 | |
| 4785391322 | ISO Image | A file format that has an .iso file extension and holds an image of all the data, including the file system that is stored on an optical disc. ISO stands for International Organization for Standardization. | 24 | |
| 4785391323 | Jumper | Two wires that stick up side by side on the motherboard or other device and are used to hold configuration information. The jumper is considered closed if a cover is over the wires, and open if the cover is missing. | 25 | |
| 4785392663 | Land Grid Array (LGA) | A feature of a CPU socket whereby pads, called lands, are used to make contact in uniform rows over the socket. Compare to pin grid array (PGA). | 26 | |
| 4785395145 | Flip-Chip Land Grid Array (FCLGA) | A type of socket used by processors that has blunt protruding pins on the socket that connect with land or pads on the bottom of the processor. The chips in the processor package are flipped over so that the top of the chip makes contact with the socket. | 27 | |
| 4785399054 | Flip-Chip Pin Grid Array (FCPGA) | A type of socket used by processors that has holes aligned in rows to receive pins on the bottom of the processor. The chips in the processor are flipped over so that the top of the chip makes contact with the socket. | 28 | |
| 4785399055 | LoJack | A technology by Absolute Software used to track the whereabouts of a laptop computer and, if the computer is stolen, lock down access to the computer or erase data on it. The technology is embedded in the BIOS of many laptops. | 29 | |
| 4785400225 | Megahertz (MHz) | One million Hz, or one million cycles per second. See hertz (Hz). | 30 | |
| 4785400226 | North Bridge | That portion of the chipset hub that connects faster I/O buses (for example, AGP buses) to the system bus. Compare to South Bridge. | 31 | |
| 4785401897 | On-Board Ports | Ports that are directly on the motherboard, such as a built-in keyboard port or on-board network port. | 32 | |
| 4785402862 | PCI Express (PCIe) | The latest evolution of PCI, which is not backward-compatible with earlier PCI slots and cards. PCIe slots come in several sizes including PCIe x1, PCIe x4, PCIe x8, and PCIe x16. | 33 | |
| 4785403515 | Pin Grid Array (PGA) | A feature of a CPU socket whereby the pins are aligned in uniform rows around the socket. | 34 | |
| 4785404463 | Protocol | A set of rules and standards that two entities use for communication. | 35 | |
| 4785406806 | QuickPath Interconnect | The technology used first by the Intel X58 chipset for communication between the chipset and the processor using 16 serial lanes similar to that used by PCI Express. Replaced the 64-bit wide Front Side Bus used by previous chipsets. | 36 | |
| 4785406807 | Riser Card | A card that plugs into a motherboard and allows for expansion cards to be mounted parallel to the motherboard. Expansion cards are plugged into slots on the riser card. | 37 | |
| 4785406808 | South Bridge | That portion of the chipset hub that connects slower I?O buses (for example, a PCI bus to the system bus. Compare to North Bridge. | 38 | |
| 4785408660 | Staggered Pin Grid Array (SPGA) | A feature of a CPU socket whereby the pins are staggered over the socket in order to squeeze more pins into a small space. | 39 | |
| 4785408661 | System Bus | The bus between the CPU and memory on the motherboard. The bus frequency in documentation is called the system speed, such as 400 MHz. Also called the memory bus, front-side bus, local bus, or host bus. | 40 | |
| 4785408662 | System Clock | A line on a bus that is dedicated to timing the activities of components connected to it. The system clock provides a continuous pulse that other devices use to time themselves. | 41 | |
| 4785410898 | TPM (Trusted Platform Module) Chip | A chip on a motherboard that holds an encryption key required at startup to access encrypted data on the hard drive. Windows 7/Vista BitLocker Encryption can us the TPM chip. | 42 | |
| 4785412715 | Traces | A wire on a circuit board that connects two components or devices. | 43 | |
| 4785413998 | Unified Extensible Firmware Interface (UEFI) | An interface between firmware on the motherboard and the operating system and improves on legacy BIOS processes for booting, handing over the boot to the OS, and loading device drivers and applications before the OS loads. | 44 | |
| 4785415616 | Virtual Machine (VM) | One or more logical machines created within one physical machine. | 45 | |
| 4785416622 | Virtualization | When on physical machine hosts multiple activities that are normally done on multiple machines. | 46 | |
| 4785416623 | Wait State | A clock tick in which nothing happens, used to ensure that the microprocessor isn't getting ahead of slower components. A 0-wait state is preferable to a 1-wait state. Too many wait states can slow down a system. | 47 | |
| 4785420006 | Zero Insertion Force (ZIF) Socket | A socket that uses a small lever to apply even force when you install the microchip into the socket. | 48 | |
| 4785424989 | 25-pin SCSI Connector | a SCSI connector used by narrow SCSI that looks like a parallel port connector. | 49 | |
| 4785429376 | 50-pin SCSI Connector | a type of SCSI connector, also called an a connector, used by narrow SCSI. | 50 | |
| 4785431909 | 68-pin SCSI Connector | a type of SCSI connector, also called a P connector, used by wide SCSI. | 51 | |
| 4785433342 | 80-conductor IDE Cable | An IDE cable that has 40 pins but uses 80 wires, 40 of which are ground wires designed to reduce crosstalk on the cable. The cable is used by ATA/66 and higher IDE drives. | 52 | |
| 4785436490 | ANSI (American National Standards Institute) | A nonprofit organization dedicated to creating trade and communications standards. | 53 | |
| 4785440234 | ATAPI (Advanced Technology Attachment Packet Interface) | An interface standard, part of the IDE/ATA standards, that allows tape drives, optical drives, and other drives to be treated like an IDE hard drive by the system. | 54 | |
| 4785440235 | Autodetection | A feature of system BIOS and hard drives that automatically identifies and configures a new drive in BIOS setup. | 55 | |
| 4785442123 | Data Cartridge | a full-sized cartridge that holds data and is used in a tape drive. | 56 | |
| 4785444666 | DMA (Direct Memory Access) Transfer Mode | Method for bypassing the CPU when transferring data from the main memory directly to a device. | 57 | |
| 4785446789 | Enhanced IDE (EIDE) | PaTa standard that supports the configuration of four IDE devices in a system. | 58 | |
| 4785787161 | External SATA (eSATA) | a standard for external drives based on SaTa that uses a special external shielded SaTa cable up to 2 meters long. eSaTa is up to six times faster than USB or FireWire. | 59 | |
| 4785788832 | Fault Tolerance | The ability of a system to continue functioning even in the event of one or more component failures | 60 | |
| 4785793577 | Floppy Disk Drive (FDD) | A drive that can hold either a 5 inch or 3 inch floppy disk. Also called floppy drive. | 61 | |
| 4785794732 | Hard Disk Drive (HDD) | The main secondary storage device of a PC. Two technologies are currently used by hard drives: magnetic and solid state. | 62 | |
| 4785794733 | Hard Drive | computer hardware that holds and spins a magnetic or optical disk and reads and writes information on it | 63 | |
| 4785795550 | Host Adapter | The circuit board that controls a SCSI bus supporting as many as seven or fifteen separate devices. The host adapter controls communication between the SCSI bus and the PC. | 64 | |
| 4785797008 | Hot-Swapping | allows you to connect and disconnect a device while the system is running. | 65 | |
| 4785797009 | Hybrid Hard Drive | A hard drive that uses both magnetic and SSD technologies. The bulk of storage uses the magnetic component, and a storage buffer on the drive is made of an SSD component. Vista ReadyDrive supports hybrid hard drives. | 66 | |
| 4785799076 | IDE (Integrated Drive Electronics) | A hard drive whose disk controller is integrated into the drive, eliminating the need for a controller cable and thus increasing speed, as well as reducing price. | 67 | |
| 4785806725 | Logical Unit Number (LUN) | A number assigned to a logical device (such as a tray in a CD changer) that is part of a physical SCSI device, which is assigned a SCSI ID., A number assigned to a logical device (such as a tray in a CD changer) that is part of a physical SCSI device, which is assigned a SCSI ID. | 68 | |
| 4785807861 | Low-Level Formatting | A process (usually performed at the factory) that electronically creates the hard drive tracks and sectors and tests for bad spots on the disk surface. | 69 | |
| 4785807862 | Magnetic Hard Drive | One of two technologies used by hard drives where data is stored as magnetic spots on disks that rotate at a high speed. The other technology is solid state drive (SSD). | 70 | |
| 4785809234 | Minicartridge | A tape drive cartridge that is only 3 x2 x inches. It is small enough to allow two drives to fit into a standard 5 -inch drive bay of a PC case. | 71 | |
| 4785810393 | Mirrored Volume | The term used by Windows for the RAID 1 level that duplicates data on one drive to another drive and is used for fault tolerance. | 72 | |
| 4785811315 | NAND Flash Memory | The type of memory used in SSD drives. NaND stands for "Not aND" and refers to the logic used when storing a one or zero in the grid of rows and columns on the memory chip. | 73 | |
| 4785811316 | Parallel ATA (PATA) | An older IDE cabling method that uses a 40-pin flat or round data cable or an 80-conductor cable and a 40-pin IDE connector. See also serial ATA. | 74 | |
| 4785814392 | PIO (Programmed Input/Output) Transfer Mode | PIO mode involves the CPU and is slower than DMA mode. | 75 | |
| 4785817938 | RAID (Redundant Array of Inexpensive Disks or Redundant Array of Independent Disks) | A Server redundancy measure that uses shared multiple physical or logiacal hard disks to ensure data integrity and availability. | 76 | |
| 4785817939 | RAID 0 | A RAID array in which every time data is written to disk, a portion (block) is written to each disk in turn, creating a "stripe" of data across the member disks. RAID 0 uses the total disk space in the array for storage, without protecting the data from drive failure. (2) | 77 | |
| 4785819558 | RAID 1 | Also called mirroring, this RAID array type provides fault tolerance because all the data is written identically to the two drives in the mirrored set. (2) | 78 | |
| 4785820729 | RAID 1+0 | a combination of RaID 1 and RaID 0 that requires at least four disks to work as an array of drives and provides the best redundancy and performance. | 79 | |
| 4785820730 | RAID 10 | a combination of RaID 1 and RaID 0 that requires at least four disks to work as an array of drives and provides the best redundancy and performance. | 80 | |
| 4785820731 | RAID 5 | a combination of RaID 1 and RaID 0 that requires at least four disks to work as an array of drives and provides the best redundancy and performance. | 81 | |
| 4785822599 | RAID 5 Volume | for Raid 5 arrays. A _________________ requires 3 or more DYNAMIC disks with equal-sized unallocated spaces | 82 | |
| 4785828482 | Read/Write Head | A sealed, magnetic coil device that moves across the surface of a disk either reading data from or writing data to the disk. | 83 | |
| 4785834833 | ReadyDrive | The Vista technology that supports a hybrid hard drive. | 84 | |
| 4785834834 | S.M.A.R.T (Self-Monitoring Analysis and Reporting Technology) | system BIOS feature that monitors hard drive performance, disk spin up time, temperature, distance between the head and the disk, and other mechanical activities of the drive in order to predict when the drive is likely to fail | 85 | |
| 4785835961 | SCSI (Small Computer System Interface) | A fast interface between a host adapter and the CPU that can daisy chain as many as 7 or 15 devices on a single bus. | 86 | |
| 4785837064 | SCSI Host Adapter Card | A card that manages the SCSI bus and serves as the gateway to the system bus. Also called the host adapter. | 87 | |
| 4785837065 | SCSI ID | A number from 0 to 15 assigned to each SCSI device attached to the daisy chain. | 88 | |
| 4785838470 | Sequential Access | A method of data access used by tape drives, whereby data is written or read sequentially from the beginning to the end of the tape or until the desired data is found. | 89 | |
| 4785838471 | Serial ATA (SATA) | A drive interface for EIDE drives that transfers data serially at speeds between 150 MBps and 300 MBps and 6 Gbps, depending on the version of the standard. (1) | 90 | |
| 4785840274 | Solid State Device (SSD) | An electronic device with no moving parts. A storage device that uses memory chips to store data instead of spinning disks (such as those used by magnetic hard drives and CD drives). Examples of solid state devices are jump drives (Also called key drives or thumb drives), flash memory cards, and solid state disks used as hard drives in notebook computers designed for the most rugged uses. Also called solid state disk (SSD) or solid state drive (SSD). | 91 | |
| 4785840275 | Spanning | Using a spanned volume to increase the size of a volume. | 92 | |
| 4785841384 | Striped Volume | A type of dynamic volume used for two or more hard drives that writes to the disks evenly rather than filling up allotted space on one and then moving on to the next. Compare to spanned volume. | 93 | |
| 4785841385 | Termination Resistor | The resistor added at the end of a SCSI chain to dampen the voltage at the end of the chain. | 94 |
