Part 2icf chapter 3

• POST


  Power-on self-test - Hardware check on main computer components when booting
• BIOS


  Basic input/output system - ROM chip on motherboard that controls communication between OS and hardware
• CMOS


  Complementary Metal Oxide Semiconductor - Chip that stores BIOS settings
• UEFI


  Unified Extensible Firmware Interface - Provides additional features and security over legacy BIOS

  
• Boot the computer


  1. POST

  2. BIOS and CMOS

  3. UEFI
• Voltage


  Measure of work required to move a charge from one location to another
• Current


  Measure of the amount of electrons moving through a circuit per second
• Resistance


  Opposition to the flow of current in a circuit
• Power


  Measure of the work required to move electrons through a circuit multiplied by the number of electrons going through the circuit per second
• Voltage


  Equal to current multiplied by resistance (V = IR)
• Power


  Equal to voltage multiplied by current (P = VI)
• Dual voltage power supply


  • Has a switch to set input voltage to 110V/115V or 220V/230V
• Power supply without voltage selector switch automatically detects and sets the correct voltage
• Power fluctuation types


  • Blackout
  • Brownout
  • Noise
  • Spike
  • Power surge
• Surge protector


  Helps protect against damage from surges and spikes by diverting extra voltage to ground
• Uninterruptible power supply (UPS)


  Helps protect against electrical power problems and provides consistent power during brownouts and blackouts
• Standby power supply (SPS)


  Provides backup battery power but is less reliable than a UPS due to switching time
• Reduced Instruction Set Computer (RISC)


  CPU architecture with a relatively small set of instructions that can be executed very rapidly
• Complex Instruction Set Computer (CISC)


  CPU architecture with a broad set of instructions, resulting in fewer steps per operation
• RISC CPUs tend to be faster and more power-efficient than CISC CPUs
• CISC CPUs can perform more complex tasks with fewer instructions, which can be advantageous for certain applications
• Complex Instruction Set Computer (CISC)


  Architecture that uses a broad set of instructions, resulting in fewer steps per operation
• Cache


  Special, high-speed memory where instructions and data are stored while the CPU is executing one step of the program
• RISC CPUs


  • Tend to be faster and more power-efficient than CISC CPUs, as they are able to execute simple instructions more quickly and with less overhead
• CISC CPUs


  • Often able to perform more complex tasks with fewer instructions, which can be advantageous for certain applications
• The choice of CPU architecture will depend on the specific requirements of the application being developed
• Hyper-Threading


  Intel technology that enables a single CPU to perform as though there are two CPUs by executing multiple pieces of code (threads) simultaneously
• HyperTransport


  AMD technology that is a high-speed connection between the CPU and the Northbridge chip to enhance CPU performance
• CPU speed


  Measured in cycles per second, such as millions of cycles per second (megahertz) or billions of cycles per second (gigahertz)
• Front side bus (FSB)


  Also called the CPU bus or the processor data bus, determines the amount of data a CPU can process at one time

  
• Overclocking


  Technique used to make a processor work at a faster speed than its original specification, not recommended as it can damage the CPU
• CPU throttling


  Technique used to run the processor at less than the rated speed to conserve power or produce less heat
• CPU virtualization


  Hardware feature that enables a single processor to act as multiple processors, allowing multiple operating systems to run in parallel on their own virtual machines
• Multicore processors


  • Have two or more processors on the same integrated circuit, creating a very fast connection between them, execute instructions more quickly than single-core processors, share RAM, and conserve power and produce less heat
• Integrated GPU


  GPU chip directly embedded on the CPU, dependent on system RAM, good for less complex tasks like watching videos and processing graphical documents but not best suited for intense gaming applications

  
• Dedicated GPU


  Separate chip with its own video memory dedicated exclusively for graphical processing
• Case fan


  Used to increase the air flow in the computer case and allows more heat to be removed
• CPU heat sink


  Has a large surface area with metal fins to draw heat away from the CPU and dissipate it into the surrounding air, thermal compound is used to increase heat transfer efficiency

  
• CPU fan


  Installed on top or within a heat sink to move heat away from the metal fins, known as "active cooling"

  
• Water cooling system


  Metal plate placed over the processor with water pumped over the top to collect the heat, water is then pumped to a radiator to disperse the heat into the air and recirculated