IT Vocab PC 4

Question 1

Special area of RAM that stores the data most frequently accessed from the hard drive

Answer 1

cache

Question 2

Third RAM cache accessed by the CPU. Much larger and slower than other cache

Answer 2

Level 3 (L3) Cache

Question 3

Storage area inside the CPU used by the onboard logic to perform calculations

Answer 3

Register

Question 4

Memory that can be accessed at random-that is, memory that you can write to or read from without touching the preceding address

Answer 4

random access memory (RAM)

Question 5

Speed at which a CPU executes instructions, measured in MHz or GHz

Answer 5

clock speed

Question 6

A special wire that, when charged, tells the CPU that another piece of information is waiting to be processed

Answer 6

Clock Wire

Question 7

Small, highly portable computing devices with tightly integrated components designed to be worn or carried

Answer 7

Mobile device

Question 8

Crystal that provides the speed signals for the CPU and the rest of the systems

Answer 8

System Crystal

Question 9

Binary Instruction code that is understood by the CPU

Answer 9

machine language

Question 10

The voltage differential between any two objects, one of which is frequently ground or earth, resulting in a degree of attraction for the electrons to move from one object to another

Answer 10

Electrical potential

Question 11

Before inserting the heat sink, you need to add a small amount of ______

Answer 11

Thermal paste

Question 12

Single charge to the clock wire of a CPU

Answer 12

clock cycle

Question 13

A method of cooling a PC that works by running some liquid-usually water- through a metal block that sits on top of the CPU, absorbing heat

Answer 13

liquid

Question 14

Flat piece of circuit board that resides inside your computer case and has a number of connectors to it. Every device in a PC connects directly or indirectly to the motherboard

Answer 14

motherboard

Question 15

Socket for CPUs that enables insertion of a chip without the need to apply pressure

Answer 15

zero insertion force (ZIF)

Question 16

Computer that shares its resources, such as printers and files, with other computers on a network

Answer 16

Server

Question 17

Number system with a base of 2, unlike the number system most of us that have bases of 10 (decimal numbers), 12 (measurement in feet and inches), and 60 (time)

Answer 17

binary numbers

Question 18

Chip that handles memory requests from the CPU. Although once a special chip, it has been integrated into the chipset or CPU

Answer 18

memory controller chip (MCC)

Question 19

Processing methodology where multiple calculations take place simultaneously by being broken into a series of steps

Answer 19

pipeline

Question 20

Number of colors a video card is capable of producing

Answer 20

bit depth

Question 21

CPU feature that enables a single pipeline to run more than one thread at once

Answer 21

Hyper-Threading

Question 22

Complex binary file used to store configuration data about a particular Windows systems

Answer 22

Registry

Question 23

Single binary digit. Any device that can be in an on or off state

Answer 23

bit

Question 24

To run a CPU or video processor faster than its rated speed

Answer 24

overclocking

Question 25

First RAM cache accessed by the CPU, which stores only the absolute most accessed programming and data used by currently running threads

Answer 25

Level 1 Cache

Question 26

Unit of 8 bits; fundamental data unit of personal computers. Storing the equivalent of one character

Answer 26

byte