PC Basics
Terms
undefined, object
copy deck
- Transistor
- Device that amplifies a signal or opens and closes a circuit
- Integrated circuit
- Device made of semiconductor material that contains many transistors and performs a specific task
- Resistor
- An electrical component that limits or regulates the flow of electrical current in an electronic circuit
- Capacitor
- Electronic component that stores energy in the form of an electrostatic field that consists of two conducting metal plates separated by an insulating material
- Printed circuit board (PCB)
- A circuit board which has conducting tracks superimposed, or printed, on one or both sides. It may also contain internal signal layers and power and ground planes. Microprocessors, chips and integrated circuits and other electronic components are mounted on the PCB
- Central processing unit (CPU)
- The part of a computer that controls the operation of all the other parts. It gets instructions from memory and decodes them. It performs math and logic operations, and translates and executes instructions.
- Microprocessor
- A microprocessor is a processor which consists of a purpose-designed silicon chip and is physically very small. The microprocessor utilizes Very Large-Scale Integration (VLSI) circuit technology to integrate computer memory, logic, and control on a single chip. A microprocessor contains a CPU
- Bus
- A collection of wires on the motherboard through which data and timing signals are transmitted from one part of a computer to another
- System unit
- The main part of a PC, which includes the chassis, microprocessor, main memory, bus, and ports. The system unit does not include the keyboard, monitor, or any external devices connected to the computer
- Expansion slot
- A socket on the motherboard where a circuit board can be inserted to add new capabilities to the computer. Figure shows Peripheral Component Interconnect (PCI) and Accelerated Graphics Port (AGP) expansion slots. PCI is a fast connection for boards such as NICs, internal modems, and video cards. The AGP port provides a high bandwidth connection between the graphics device and the system memory. AGP provides a fast connection for 3-D graphics on computer systems
- Backplane
- A backplane is an electronic circuit board containing circuitry and sockets into which additional electronic devices on other circuit boards or cards can be plugged; in a computer, generally synonymous with or part of the motherboard
- Parallel port
- An interface capable of transferring more than one bit simultaneously that is used to connect external devices such as printers
- Serial port
- An interface that can be used for serial communication in which only one bit is transmitted at a time
- Firewire
- A serial bus interface standard offering high-speed communications and isochronous real-time data services
- Random-access memory (RAM)
- Also known as read-write memory because new data can be written to it and stored data can be read from it. RAM requires electrical power to maintain data storage. If a computer is turned off or loses power all data stored in RAM is lost