Motherboard, CPU, & RAM (S7-8)

ATX

Standard motherboard form factor with 20/24-pin power connector.

microATX

Smaller motherboard form factor fitting tighter cases while retaining expansion slots.

ITX

Compact motherboard form factor used for low-power or small form-factor systems.

BIOS / UEFI

Firmware initializing hardware, running POST, and loading the operating system.

Secure Boot

UEFI feature preventing unauthorized operating systems or drivers from booting.

TPM

Hardware security chip storing encryption keys, certificates, and passwords.

x86 / x64

Standard 32-bit and 64-bit desktop and server CPU architecture.

ARM

Low-power, highly efficient RISC CPU architecture used in mobile and IoT devices.

12V Rail

Power supply output voltage rail powering CPU, PCIe cards, and cooling fans.

5V / 3.3V Rails

Power supply output voltage rails powering digital logic circuits and motherboard components.

Modular Power Supply

Power supply with detachable cables to reduce clutter and improve airflow.

POST

Power-On Self-Test checking core hardware components prior to OS boot.

DIMM

Dual In-line Memory Module used in desktop computer motherboards.

SO-DIMM

Small Outline Dual In-line Memory Module half the size of a DIMM, used in laptops.

DDR SDRAM

Double Data Rate memory transferring data on both rising and falling clock edges.

ECC RAM

Error-Correcting Code memory that detects and corrects single-bit memory errors.

Multi-Channel Memory

Architecture increasing memory throughput by utilizing multiple memory channels simultaneously.