Assignment 1

Hard Drive: A hard disk drive (HDD), commonly referred to as a hard drive, hard disk, or fixed disk drive, is a non-volatile storage device which stores digitally encoded data on rapidly rotating platters with magnetic
surfaces.

CPU (Central Processing Unit) : the CPU is the brains of a computer, in video game consoles it serves the same function. Sometimes referred to simply as the processor or central processor, the CPU is where most of the calculations take place. The CPU itself is an internal component of the computer. The CPU is inserted directly into a CPU socket, pin side down, on the motherboard. Modern CPUs also have an attached heat sink and small fan that go directly on top of the CPU to help dissipate heat.

Motherboard: A motherboard is the underlying circuit board of a computer. The central processing unit (CPU), Random Access Memory (RAM), hard drive(s), disk drives and optical drives are all plugged into interfaces on the motherboard. A video interface and sound card can be optionally built-in or added.

Power Supply: A power supply unit (PSU) is the component that supplies power to a computer. More specifically, a power supply is typically designed to convert 100-120 V (North America and Japan) or 220-240 V (Europe, Africa, Asia and Australia) AC power from the mains to usable low-voltage DC power for the internal components of the computer. Some power supplies have a switch to change between 230 V and 115 V. Other models have automatic sensors that switch input voltage automatically, or are able to accept any voltage between those limits.

PCI (Periperhal Component Interconnect): s a computer bus used for attaching peripheral devices to a computer motherboard. It is the most popular local I/O bus used in today. PCI provides a shared data path between the CPU and peripheral controllers in every computer models, from laptops to mainframes. Developed by the Intel Corporation,

PCI Express:CI Express is a new interconnect technology designed to provide universal connectivity for use as a chip-to-chip and chip to adapter card interconnect. PCI Express will be the I/O architecture for everything from graphics adapters to Ethernet cards to TV tuners. This massive bandwidth will alleviate many current and future performance bottlenecks on the adapter bus. PCI Express is based on a type of serial communications technology somewhat like that in USB or SATA hard drives. The mechanical (physical)

board connectors come in one of four types: x1, x2, x4, and x16 (see illustration below) in order to meet different peak bandwidth requirements.

USB (Universal Serial bus): an external bus standard that supports data transfer rates of 12 Mbps. A single USB port can be used to connect up to 127 peripheral devices, such as mice, modems, and keyboards. USB also supports Plug-and-Play installation and hot plugging

Firewire: FireWire is a method of transferring information between digital devices, especially audio and video equipment. Also known as IEEE 1394, FireWire is fast — the latest version achieves speeds up to 800 Mbps. At some time in the future, that number is expected to jump to an unbelievable 3.2 Gbps when manufacturers overhaul the current FireWire cables.

IEEE-1394:A very fast external bus standard that supports data transfer rates of up to 400Mbps (in 1394a) and 800Mbps (in 1394b). A single 1394 port can be used to connect up 63 external devices. In addition to its high speed, 1394 also supports isochronous data — delivering data at a guaranteed rate. This makes it ideal for devices that need to transfer high levels of data in real-time, such as video devices

LCD (Liquid Crystal Display): a type of display used in digital watches and many portable computers. LCD displays utilize two sheets of polarizing material with a liquid crystal solution between them. An electric current passed through the liquid causes the crystals to align so that light cannot pass through them. Each crystal, therefore, is like a shutter, either allowing light to pass through or blocking the light.

Plasma (in relation to screens):A plasma color screen fitted with a carrier plate, a transparent front plate, a ribbed structure dividing the space between the carrier plate and the front plate into discharge cells filled with a gas, with one or more electrode arrays on the front plate and on the carrier plate to generate corona discharges in the discharge cells and with a segmented phosphor layer, which plasma color screen comprises a pixel matrix array in which are grouped discharge cells for red, green and blue to form a pixel, where each pixel comprises a discharge cell for blue which is common to two adjacent pixels.

HDMI (High-Definition Multimedia Interface): an interface standard used for audiovisual equipment such as high-definition television and home theater systems. With 19 wires wrapped in a single cable that resembles a USB wire, HDMI is able to carry a bandwidth of 5 Gbps (gigabits per second). This is more than twice the bandwidth needed to transmit multi-channel audio and video, future-proofing HDMI for some time to come. This and several other factors make HDMI much more desirable than its predecessors, component video, S-Video and composite video.

RAM (Random Access Memory): a type of computer memory that can be accessed randomly; that is, any byte of memory can be accessed without touching the preceding bytes. RAM is the most common type of memory found in computers and other devices, such as printers.

Flash Memory: is non-volatile computer memory that can be electrically erased and reprogrammed. It is a technology that is primarily used in memory cards and USB flash drives for general storage and transfer of data between computers and other digital products. It is a specific type of EEPROM (Electrically Erasable Programmable Read-Only Memory) that is erased and programmed in large blocks; in early flash the entire chip had to be erased at once.

AGP (Accelerated Graphics Port):AGP ports are dedicated to graphics. AGP ports are unique, in that they are the only expansion slot found inside a computer that works for only one purpose. The AGP channel is 32 bits wide and runs at 66Mhz for a total available bandwidth of 133 MBps (Megabytes per second). AGP ports give the graphics card direct access to system memory to speed performance and allows the video card to store data directly in system memory.

DVD (Digital Versatile/Video Disc): a type of optical disk technology similar to the CD-ROM. A DVD holds a minimum of 4.7GB of data, enough for a full-length movie. DVDs are commonly used as a medium for digital representation of movies and other multimedia presentations that combine sound with graphics.