Component Tip

CPU x GHz Component

RAM x 8 GB The system Unit
Case ATX / BTX Display devices
HDD x TB x RPM Input devices
PSU xW Output/External devices

Transistor are switches that can be Component

Closed conducts electricity = 1 Cases
Opened no electricity = 0 Motherboard / System Board
CPU (The Brain)
Memory
The System Bus
Storage Devices
Power Supplies (PSU)
Cooling Systems
Expansion Cards
CMOS
POST
BIOS
 Computer Components
Description
Tower, chassis, box, main unit, base unit
display, monitor, screen
To enter data / instructions
To display data

System Unit Components

Description
Enclosure that holds all internal components
Backbone for the entire computer system
Central Processing Unit
Provides a temporary workspace for CPU
Electrical pathways that connect CPU and RAM
Save data for later use
Converts AC/DC to power internal components
Dissipates the heat generated inside the case
Expand the functionality of the computer
ROM Chip that contains firmware (software)
Power On Self Test
Basic Input / Output System
 Computer Components
Examples / Subcomponents
motherboard, CPU, Memory modules, HDD, adapter cards, power supply, ports, fans-cooling systems
Cathode Ray Tube (CRT), Liquid Crystal Display (LCD), flat panel monitors, LED, Plasma
keyboard, mouse, scanner
microphone, camera, printer

System Unit Components

Examples / Sub-components
Full tower (Servers), Mid tower, Micro or Mini tower, and Slim line (Can be turned on its side)
Components can be soldered, or by using slots or sockets / Single-CPU, Multi-CPU
Single-Core, Dual-Core, Quad-Core, Hexa-Core, and Octa-Core / AMD, Intel
RAM (Random Access Memory) is volatile, ROM (Read Only Memory) no volatile.
Wires or traces. Other names: system bus, front side bus, or local bus.
Magnetic, Optical, Electronical
It has: Power Cord, Power Switch (On/Off), Fan. It can be auto-switching or have a Voltage Switch (110
Fans, heat sinks or liquid cooling system. CPU, HDD, PSU, and some Adapter Cards (Video) require coo
AKA: Adapter card, I/O card, add-in, add-on, daughter boards. e.g.: Video, Audio, NIC, Riser Cards (for
The software is stored as ROM. Updating firmware electronically is called flashing. Battery model: CR2
Diagnostic program that tests PSU, CPU, BIOS, BIOS memory, RAM, and I/O bus or I/O controller
Instructions to boot basic services.
 Type Device

FDD (Floppy Disk Drive)

Reads data
from and
Magnetic writes data to
tapes or disks
with a Tape Drives
magnetic
coating.
HDD (Hard Disk Drive)
Data is
written by
pressing or CD (Compact Disc)
burning with
a laser to
create pits
Optical

(recessed DVD (Digital Versatile Disc)

areas) and
lands (raised
areas) in
plastic disks BD (Blu-ray Disc)
with a
reflective *ROM: Pre-recorded / RAM: Read-Write multiple
coating.
USB flash drives

SSD (Solid State Disk)

CF cards (Compact Flash)

Use flash
Electronical (Solid State)

technology to
retain data in
special types SM cards (Smart Media)
of memory.
Use non-
volatile xD (xD-Picture Cards)
memory. No
moving parts MSes (Memory Sticks)
so it is faster
and more
reliable.
SD cards (Secure Digital)

MMCs (MultiMediaCards)
MMCs (MultiMediaCards)
 Storage Devices
Description Location
Floppy disks are removable disks made of flexible Mylar plastic
covered with magnetic coating and enclosed in stiff, protective Internal
plastic cases.

Tapes enclosed in a removable tape cartridge. It must be read

sequentially. LTFS (Linear Tape File System) is a format for data so Internal
it can be accessed and read in file format method.

Several metal or hard plastic platters with a magnetic surface Internal

coating. Data can be accessed directly. External
Store data on one side of the disc. Used for Audio.
Internal
2 file systems: CDFS (Compact Disc File System) or
External
UDF (Universal Disc Format)
Can storage data on both sides of the disc.
There are even dual-layer disks. Internal
Used for Movies/Multimedia. External
File system: UDF
Uses a blue laser to read/write data.
Internal
Used for HD Video.
External
File System: UDF v2.5
*ROM: Pre-recorded / RAM: Read-Write multiple times / R: Recordable (Once) / RW: Rewritable (Read-Write multip

Several form factors such as thumb and pen drives. External

Dont need batteries. Internal

Extremely fast. External
Form factor of 43 mm long x 36 mm wide.
Used for portable devices such as digital cameras, digital camera External
recorders, music players, personal computing devices, and photo
printers.
45 mm long x 37 mm wide x 0.76 mm thick.

Used for portable devices such as digital cameras, digital camera External
recorders, and older models of PDAs (Personal Digital Assistants)

20 mm long x 25 mm wide x 1.7 mm thick

External
Used in digital cameras
50 mm long x 21.5 mm wide x 2.8 mm thick
External
Used in Sony products such as VAIO laptops
Original 32 mm x 24 mm x 2.1 mm, miniSD 21.5 mm x 20 mm x
1.4 mm, microSD/TransFlash Card 15 mm x 11 mm x 1 mm
External
Used in laptops, digital cameras, smartphones, handheld gaming
devices, and audio players
MMCs 32 mm x 24 mm x 1.5 mm. RS-MMCs (Reduced Size MMCs)
and MMCmobile cards 16 mm x 24 mm x 1.5 mm.
MMCmini 21.5 mm x 20 mm x 1.4 mm. External
MMCmicro 12 mm x 14 mm x 1.1 mm.
MMCs 32 mm x 24 mm x 1.5 mm. RS-MMCs (Reduced Size MMCs)
and MMCmobile cards 16 mm x 24 mm x 1.5 mm.
MMCmini 21.5 mm x 20 mm x 1.4 mm. External
MMCmicro 12 mm x 14 mm x 1.1 mm.
Compatible with SD card readers.
Devices
Connected through Powered by Examples Capacity
3.5 inches
Floppy disk controller PSU 5.25 inches 1.44 MB
8 inches

5.25 inches

Cables for data & power

PSU
Expansion card or port
CD-ROM
IDE, SCSI CD-R 700-860 MB
CD-RW
DVD-ROM
DVD-RAM One side: 4.7 GB
IDE, SCSI Both sides: 9.4 GB
DVD + / - R Dual-Layer: 17 GB
DVD + / - RW
BD-ROM
Single-Layer: 25 GB
IDE, SCSI BD-R
Dual-Layer: 50 GB
BD-RE
RW: Rewritable (Read-Write multiple times) / RE: Recordable Erasable (Read-Write multiple times)

Port 128 MB - 128 GB

Cables 2.5-inch
Expansion card or port 3.5-inch
Type I (3.3 mm
thick)
50-pin contact 100 GB - 1 TB
Type II (5 mm
thick)

128 MB

2 GB - 8 GB

16 GB

Up to 2 TB

Up to 8 GB
Up to 8 GB
 Transfer Rate Speed Type

PATA

5,400 rpm - 15,000 rpm

Minimum: 150 KBps

Up to: (8x), (16x), (52x)
SCSI

600 KBps - 1.3 MBps

SATA

multiple times)
Read: 700 KBps-28 MBps
Write: 350 KBps-15 MBps

66 MBps - 1 Gbps

8 MBps

Read: 4 - 15 MBps
Write: 1.3 - 9 MBps
Read: 2.5 MBps
Write: 1.8 MBps

10 - 20 MBps

Up to 52 MBps
Up to 52 MBps
 Typ
Name
PATA (Parallel Advanced Technology Attachment)

ATA (Advanced Technology Attachment)

IDE (Integrated Drive Electronics)

EIDE (Enhanced Integrated Drive Electronics)
PIO (Programmed Input/Output)
DMA (Direct Memory Access)
UDMA (Ultra Direct Memory Access)

SCSI (Small Computer System Interface)

SATA (Serial Advanced Technology Attachment)

 Types of Hard Drives
Examples
PATA
ATA, ATA-1, ATA-2, ATA-3, ATA-4, ATA-5, ATA-6,
Fast ATA, Fast ATA-2, ATA/ATAPI-4, ATA/ATAPI-5, ATA/ATAPI-6,
Ultra ATA/33, Ultra ATA/66, Ultra ATA/100
IDE
EIDE
PIO
DMA
UDMA, Ultra DMA, UDMA/33, UDMA/66, UDMA/100
SCSI-1, SCSI-2, SCSI-3, Fast-20 SCSI, Fast-320 SCSI, LVD SCSI,
Ultra SCSI, Ultra-2 SCSI, Ultra-3 SCSI, Ultra-160 SCSI, Ultra-320 SCSI, Ultra-640 SCSI
Serial SCSI, SSA (Serial Storage Architecture), FC-AL (Fiber Channel-Alternating Loop),
IEEE 1394 (Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers), SAS (Serial Attached SCSI)
iSCSI (Internet SCSI)

SATA, SATA II, SATA 2, SATA 3 Gbps, SATA 6 Gbps

 Characteristics
The controller is built into the drive.
Limited to 2 channels, each with up to 2 devices.
Older ones came in "types" due to a particular internal geometry.
The drive type is set in BIOS.
Modern drives are automatically detected.
Different data transfer rates.
Jumpers are used to set configuration.
Master/Slave configuration supports 2 devices in the same channel.
The Cable Select (CS) feature allows to set master/slave drives.
The controller is not within the device. A bus connects CPU and SCSI.
Supports up to 15 devices, but the host bus adapter (HBA) counts as 1.
Each device must have a separate SCSI ID configured.
Set BIOS to no drive and configure SCSI firmware the bootable drive.
Different data transfer rates.
Supports 1 device per channel
It supports hot swapping of drives.
Modern computers offer external SATA jacks (eSATA)
Data Transfer Rates of 150 MBps (SATA I) and 300 MBps (SATA II)
 Ports
Name Location Signal Shape
PS/2 Port
round 6-pin port External Data Round
mini-Din connector
Serial Data
DB-9 / DB-25 External (1 bit at the time over Oblong
COM1... COM4 1 single cable)
Data
Parallel External (8/+ bits at the time Oblong
over 8/+ wires)
FDD (Floppy Disk Drive) Internal Power / Data Rectangular
Ports
Color Size Pins Device

Purple Purple: Keyboard

13.2 mm 6
Green Green: Mouse

Fax cards, external modems,

Computer: 9
Teal color printers, routers, switches,
Device: 25
telescopes, industrial products

Burgundy or Computer: 25
Printers
dark pink Device: 36

White 34 Floppy Disks

 IP Address Classes
Class Subnet Mask Network ID Node ID
A 255.0.0.0 First octet Last three octets
B 255.255.0.0 First two octets Last two octets
C 255.255.255.0 First three octets Last octet

802.11 Wireless Standards

Standard Speeds up to Frequency Limit Range
802.11a 54 Mbps 5 GHz 60 feet
200-400 feet for
enclosed area &
802.11b 11 Mbps 2.4 GHz
1000 feet in open
area

802.11e

802.11g 54 Mbps 2.4 GHz

802.11n 600 Mbps 2.4 / 5 GHz
 IP Address Classes
Nodes per network From To Private From
16,777,214 0.0.0.0 126,255,255,255 10.0.0.0
65.534 128.0.0.0 191,255,255,255 172.16.0.0
254 192.0.0.0 223,255,255,255 192.168.0.0

ds
Comments
Secure & Expensive
Cheap & Common.
Called Wi-Fi ("Wireless
fidelity")
Up to 14 channels
Home & Business.
Adds QoS and Multimedia
Support
 Private To
10,255,255,255
172.31.255.255
192,168,255,255