Module 1: Introduction to Personal Computer Hardware

Electrostatic Discharge (ESD)

A buildup of an electric charge that can damage PC components, felt at 3000 volts but can damage components with 30 volts or less.

ESD Prevention

Recommendations include using antistatic bags, grounded mats, and wrist straps.

Power Supply Unit (PSU)

Converts AC power to DC power required by internal computer components.

Motherboard

The backbone of the computer, containing buses to interconnect components.

Central Processing Unit (CPU)

Responsible for interpreting and executing commands in a computer.

Read-Only Memory (ROM)

Non-volatile memory on the motherboard that contains instructions, not erased when powered off.

Random-Access Memory (RAM)

Volatile temporary storage for data being accessed by the CPU, erased when power is off.

SATA (Serial AT Attachment)

Modern connection for internal storage devices with different data transfer speeds.

Solid State Drive (SSD)

Storage device that uses semiconductor flash memory, faster than HDDs and more energy-efficient.

Universal Serial Bus (USB)

A standard interface that connects peripheral devices and allows hot-swapping.

Active cooling solutions

Cooling systems that require power, such as case fans.

Passive cooling solutions

Cooling systems that do not require power, such as heat sinks.

Parity Memory

Memory that contains bits for data and bits for error checking, used for simple error detection.

Error Correction Code (ECC)

Memory technology that detects multiple-bit errors and corrects single-bit errors.

NVMe (Non-Volatile Memory Express)

An interface standard that allows SSDs to take full advantage of PCIe features.