Vocabulary 1 3D sound card An expansion card that enables a computer to produce sounds that are omnidirectional or three dimensional 2 Access time The time it takes a storage device to locate its stored data 3 Bit depth The number of bits a video card uses to store data about each pixel on the monitor 4 Cache memory Small blocks of memory located directly on and next to the central processing unit CPU chip that act as holding places for recently or frequently used instructions or data that the CPU accesses the most When these instructions or data are stored in cache memory the CPU can more quickly retrieve them than if it had to access the instructions or data from random access memory RAM 5 Clock speed The steady and constant pace at which a computer goes through machine cycles measured in hertz Hz 6 Core A complete processing section from a CPU embedded into one physical chip 7 CPU benchmarks Measurements used to compare performance between processors 8 CPU usage graph Records your CPU usage for the past several seconds 9 eSATA A port that will connect to some external hard drive models 10 ExpressCard Notebooks are often equipped with an ExpressCard slot It can add a solid state drive SSD eSATA and FireWire posts and other capabilities to your system 11 Graphics double data rate 5 GDDR5 A standard of video memory 12 Graphics processing unit GPU A specialized logic chip that is dedicated to quickly displaying and calculating visual data such as shadows textures and luminosity 13 Hard drive A device that holds all permanently stored programs and data can be located inside the system unit or attached to the system unit via a USB port 14 Head crash Impact of read write head against magnetic platter of the hard drive often results in data loss 15 Hyperthreading A technology that permits quicker processing of information by enabling a new set of instructions to start executing before the previous set has finished 16 Kernel memory The memory that the computer s operating system uses 17 Latency The process that occurs after the read write head of the hard drive locates the correct track and then waits for the correct sector to spin to the read write head 18 Memory module memory card A small circuit board that holds a series of random access memory RAM chips 19 Moore s Law A prediction named after Gordon Moore the cofounder of Intel states that the number of transistors on a CPU chip will double every two years 20 Nonvolatile storage Permanent storage as in read only memory ROM 21 Optical drive A hardware device that uses lasers or light to read from and maybe even write to CDs DVDs or Blu ray discs 22 Physical memory The amount of random access memory RAM that is installed in a computer 23 Platter A thin round metallic storage plate stacked onto the hard drive spindle 24 Random Access Memory RAM The computer s temporary storage space or short term memory It is located in a set of chips on the system unit s motherboard and its capacity is measured in megabytes or gigabytes 25 Read write head The mechanism that retrieves reads and records writes the magnetic data to 26 Redundant array of independent disks RAID A set of strategies for using more than one drive and from a data disk in a system 27 Serial advanced technology attachment serial ATA A type of hard drive that uses much thinner cables and can transfer data more quickly than IDE drives 28 Sector A section of a hard drive platter wedge shaped from the center of the platter to the edge 29 Seek time The time it takes for the hard drive s read write heads to move over the surface of the disk to the correct track 30 Solid state drive SSD A storage device that uses the same kind of memory that flash drives use but can reach data in only a tenth of the time a flash drive requires 31 Sound card An expansion card that attaches to the motherboard inside the system unit and that enables the computer to produce sounds by providing a connection for the speakers and microphone 32 SuperFetch A memory management technique used by Windows 7 Monitors the applications you use the most and preloads them into your system memory so that they ll be ready to go 33 Surround sound A type of audio processing that makes the listener experience sound as if it were coming from all directions 34 System evaluation The process of looking at a computer s subsystems what they do and how they perform to determine whether the computer system has the right hardware components to do what the user ultimately wants it to do 35 Track A concentric circle that serves as a storage area on a hard drive platter 36 Video card video adapter An expansion card that is installed inside a system unit to translate binary data the 1s and 0s the computer uses into the images viewed on the monitor 37 Video memory RAM that is included as part of a video card 38 Volatile storage Temporary storage such as in random access memory RAM When the power is off the data in volatile storage is cleared out Chapter 6 What if I always struggle to get things done on my computer When is the best time to buy a new computer Never because computers become faster and cost less every year Moore s Law describes the pace at which CPUs improve It may not be you but the fact that you need a computer to fit you needs and necessary utilities o Says that the number of transistors of your CPU will increase so fast that CPU capacity will double every 18 months o Moore predicted that y 2020 CPU chips will be different and this will no longer apply o DRAM also improves 60 every year DRAM is most common form of memory found in personal computers o Hard drives improves capacity by 50 each year So should I be buying a new computer every year Nobody should have to spend the money and time for a new computer and file transfers every Extending the life of a computer reduces the environmental and security concerns involved in the year disposal of computer o First step is to figure out what you want your computer to be able to do But what if I m just buying my first computer Be able to understand and evaluate computer systems so when you are asked what you are looking for you are informed and know what you want OK how do I know what my ideal system is Consider what you want to be able to do with your computer o School or work w o Edit digital photos and video Determine which features are most important to you Determine whether your current system can perform these activities o If there are things it can t do you may need to
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