CYBR 2200 Midterm Slides

Early Computing Scale

Massive, room-sized systems that relied fundamentally on vacuum tubes and/or relays for processing.

Transistor

The solid-state semiconductor component invented to replace vacuum tubes, leading to vastly improved efficiency and reduced heat.

Integrated Circuits (ICs)

The logical step after the transistor; combining multiple transistors onto a single silicon wafer, which eventually evolved into modern CPUs.

Moore’s Law

The observation that the number of transistors on a microchip doubles roughly every two years, which remains largely true today.

Central Processing Unit (CPU)

The brain of the computer containing billions of transistors on a silicon chip; absolutely required for a modern PC to function.

Dominant CPU Manufacturers

AMD and Intel.

LGA (Land Grid Array)

The CPU package type used primarily by Intel processors where the connection pins are located directly on the motherboard socket rather than the chip.

PGA (Pin Grid Array)

The CPU package type used primarily by AMD processors where the connection pins are located on the underside of the chip itself.

BGA (Ball Grid Array)

The CPU package type permanently soldered to the motherboard using small balls of solder; common in thin mobile devices.

CPU Clock Speed Measurement

Currently quantified and measured in Gigahertz (GHz).

Busses

The internal communication pathways used by the CPU to transfer binary information and commands between various hardware devices.

Hyperthreading / SMT

Advanced architectural feature enabling a single physical CPU core to execute multiple threads concurrently.

CPU Cache

Ultra-fast, volatile internal memory built out of SRAM (Static RAM) inside the processor to store frequently accessed data across several tiers (L1, L2, L3).

Random Access Memory (RAM)

Short-term, volatile storage that serves as high-speed access workspace for the CPU and completely loses its contents when power is removed.

DRAM

Dynamic RAM; the slower, high-capacity memory type used for main system memory that requires constant electrical refreshing.

SRAM

Static RAM; the high-speed, volatile memory type used for CPU cache that does not require constant refreshing.

RAM Random Access

The architectural capability to jump directly to any memory address randomly instead of sequentially, dramatically speeding up data access times.

Memory Swapping

A performance-saving mechanism where data is moved from RAM to secondary storage (hard drive space) when the system experiences low memory situations.

DDR (Double Data Rate)

Technology that increases memory bandwidth by enhancing the number of data transfers per clock cycle.

SIMM

Single Inline Memory Module; an obsolete legacy memory module form factor.

DIMM

Dual Inline Memory Module; the standard form factor used for desktop computer RAM slots.

SO-DIMM

Small Outline Dual Inline Memory Module; a compact RAM form factor optimized for laptops and thin mobile hardware.

RAM Speed Measurement

Quantified and measured in Megahertz (MHz).

Motherboard

The central connection point for all computing devices; dictates exactly what type of CPU and RAM can be installed.

POST (Power On Self Test)

The initial diagnostic testing routine executed by the system firmware immediately when a computer is powered on to verify hardware integrity.

BIOS

Basic Input Output System; the legacy instruction set used to initialize hardware during the boot sequence.

UEFI

Unified Extensible Firmware Interface; the modern replacement for BIOS offering graphical interface upgrades and performance enhancements.

Motherboard Form Factors

Standard industry sizes ordered from largest to smallest are ATX, Micro ATX, and Mini ITX.

PCI Express (PCIe)

The high-speed expansion slot on a motherboard where graphics cards are typically connected.

Motherboard Power Delivery Ports

Internal structural power connections consisting of a primary 24-pin main power port and a secondary 4/8-pin CPU power port.

Drive Fragmentation

A file storage issue that significantly degrades performance on platter-based mechanical drives (HDDs) but does not impact Solid State Drives (SSDs).

Partitions

Logical boundaries created to split a physical storage drive into multiple distinct sections.

Virtualization

The process of installing multiple operating systems simultaneously on a single set of physical hardware using a hypervisor.

Oversubscription Rules

Physical CPU cores can be oversubscribed to multiple virtual machines; physical RAM cannot be oversubscribed and must be dedicated.

Virtualization Bottleneck

Physical RAM allocation acts as the primary limiting factor for the total number of virtual machines that can run simultaneously.

ISO File

A single file package that contains the complete structural contents of an optical disc (CD/DVD).

Virtual Hard Disk Extensions

Core file extensions used to represent virtual storage drives, specifically .VHD, .VHDX, .VMDK, and .VDI.

Type 1 Hypervisor

Bare-Metal hypervisor; software that runs directly on the host machine's physical hardware without an underlying OS.

Type 2 Hypervisor

Hosted hypervisor; software that runs as an application on top of an existing host operating system.

Hand-off Phase

The exact operational point where hardware firmware initialization finishes and control is safely passed to the operating system bootloader.

Windows Registry

The centralized hierarchical database where Windows writes and stores all system-specific configuration information during deployment and operation.