NAQT You Gotta Know Computer Components

Cores

Processing units capable of running independently, can be multithreaded to run more than one set of calculations simultaneously

Apple Silicon

Processors designed by Apple starting in the early 2020s based on the ARM instruction set which is more common in smartphones and tablets

ARM Instruction Set

Primarily used in smartphones and tablets, served as the basis for Apple Silicon in the early 2020s

CPU

(Central Processing Unit)

Performs all binary operations responsible for a computer’s general functions, issues commands to the rest of the hardware

Modern manufacturers include Intel and AMD (Advanced Micro Devices) whose chips are based on the 64-bit version of the x86 instruction set

Chipset

Manages communication between a computer’s components, occurs via the motherboard’s integrated circuits

Sound Card

Commonly found in desktops from the 1990s to the early 2000s. most modern motherboards have integrated sound reducing demand except in specialized applications

Motherboard

Large printed circuit board connecting all main computer components

Contains a CPU socket, RAM slots, a slot for a graphics card or other expansion cards, storage connectors, and an I/O panel on the back of the case which contains plugs for USB devices, networking ports, and more

Volatile Memory

RAM is an example of this kind of memory

Any information stored in it is lost when a computer is shut down

SDRAM

(Synchronous Dynamic RAM)

An external clock cycle controls the speed at which information is written to and read from the RAM which must be refreshed at certain intervals

DDR

(Double Data Rate)

Modern desktop RAM uses this standard, meaning data can be read or written twice within a single clock cycle

RAM

(Random Access Memory)

Form of memory used to store data a computer expects to need within a short amount of time, generally stores information based on whether capacitors are charged or uncharged, its speed is partially measured by its CAS (column address strobe) latency which is the number of clock cycles between when data is requested and received

SATA Cable

Cables used to connect HDDs to the motherboard

Hard Drives

HDDs

Non-volatile storage devices, largely operate on the same principles as when they were first developed in the 1950s: data is magnetically written onto a number of fast spinning metal plates/disks, hard drives remain the cheapest storage method per unit of data (among solutions used commonly for general purposes), modern desktop computers include at least one HDD for bulk data storage, though it likely won’t be the system’s primary drive, most modern HDDs are a 3.5” size and spin at 5400 or 7200 RPM

Solid State Drives

SSDs

Non-volatile storage devices that store data on flash memory, much faster than HDDs because they use electricity rather than physically spinning disks to store information, more expensive than HDDS, widely adapted into the consumer market in the early 2010s,