Installing and Configuring PC Components

Flashcards covering PC components, safety procedures, motherboard architecture, and common connection interfaces based on lecture notes.

OSHA

Occupational Safety and Health Administration; a U.S. federal government agency that issues safety regulations regarding employee safety.

MSDSs

Material Safety Data Sheets; documents used to communicate information about hazardous materials.

PAT

Portable appliance testing; a check carried out by a qualified electrician or technician in some countries to ensure an electrical device is safe to use.

Electrocution

A fatal electric shock.

Hand in pocket rule

A safety practice where a technician does not touch a circuit with both hands, reducing the risk of current passing through the chest and causing a heart attack.

CRT

Cathode ray tube; an older type of computer monitor containing hazardous materials like lead and high-voltage capacitors.

ESD

Electrostatic discharge; the release of static electricity when a path is created between two bodies with unequal charges.

Self-grounding

Manual dissipation of static buildup by touching a grounded object, such as an unpainted metal part of a computer chassis, prior to touching electronic equipment.

FRUs

Field replaceable units; PC components that are easily user-replaceable or upgradeable rather than being repaired.

Anti-ESD Shielding

Packaging coated with a conductive material, such as nickel compound, used to prevent static electricity from discharging through the inside; typically shiny grey metallic color.

Dissipative Packaging

Light pink or blue packaging that reduces static build-up by being slightly more conductive than normal plastic.

System Case

Also known as the chassis; a plastic and metal box that houses components like the motherboard, CPU, memory, and power supply.

Blanking plate

A metal strip used to cover uncovered adapter card slots on the rear panel to prevent dust and maintain proper air flow.

Motherboard

The printed circuit board (also called mobo, system board, or main board) that houses the processor, chipset, memory, and expansion slots.

Standoffs

Brass or plastic components used to attach the motherboard to the case while ensuring no other part of it touches the chassis.

Form factor

Describes the shape, layout, and type of case and power supply that can be used with a motherboard.

RAM

Random Access Memory; volatile system memory used to store program code and data being modified while power is applied.

DIMMs

Dual Inline Memory Modules; the standard packaging for system RAM which fits into color-coded motherboard slots.

Chipset

A collection of controllers soldered onto the motherboard that handle data transfer between the CPU and various devices.

Northbridge

An older chipset component that serves as the system memory controller, connecting the processor to RAM.

Southbridge

An older chipset component designed to control I/O functions not handled by the northbridge, such as USB.

RTC

Real Time Clock; a component powered by the CMOS battery that keeps track of the actual date and time.

Bus

An electrical pathway on the motherboard or through cabling that carries data, addresses, power, and timing signals.

Traces

Tiny wires on the motherboard that physically implement a bus.

PCI

Peripheral Component Interconnect; a 32-bit-wide parallel bus introduced in 1994.

PCIe

PCI Express; an architecture using point-to-point serial communications and dedicated links called lanes.

Lanes

Wire pairs in a PCIe link; a given component can support a specific number documented as x1, x4, x8, or x16.

SATA

Serial Advanced Technology Attachment; the standard means of attaching internal storage drives like HDDs and SSDs to a PC.

Jumper

A small plastic clip containing a metal conductor that fits over two contacts on the motherboard to complete a circuit for configuration.

Interface

The point at which two devices connect and communicate with each other.

Port

A hardware interface or endpoint used to connect devices to a computer.

USB OTG

USB On the Go; allows a port to function either as a host or as a device depending on the connection.

Thunderbolt

An Intel-developed interface used for displays and general peripherals; version 3 uses the same physical interface as USB-C.

Lightning

Apple's proprietary 8-pin reversible port and connector used on iPhone and iPad devices.

RS-232

A recommended standard for serial ports, traditionally using 9-pin DB-9 male connectors for modems or network management.

Molex

A white 4-pin peripheral power connector used for older internal hard drives.

RJ-45

A registered jack connector used with twisted pair cable for Ethernet networking, also known as 8P8C.

RJ-11

A smaller registered jack connector used for telephone systems and modems.

KVM switch

Keyboard, Video, Mouse switch; allows multiple computers to be controlled via a single set of peripherals.

Biometrics

An automated method of recognizing a person based on unique physiological or behavioral characteristics like fingerprints or retina patterns.

NFC

Near Field Communications; a very short range radio link based on RFID used for contactless smart cards and tap pay devices.

Plug-and-Play

A technology where the operating system automatically detects a new device and prompts configuration.

Hot swappable

Describes a device that can be added to or removed from the computer while it is switched on.

Driver

Software that creates an interface between a specific hardware device and the operating system.