Words to Know

Motherboard-The main board of a computer, usually containing the circuitry for the central processing unit, keyboard, and monitor and often having slots for accepting additional circuitry

Hard drive-A disk drive that reads data stored on hard disks. Also called hard disk drive

RAM- A memory device in which information can be accessed in any order. Random Access Memory

ROM-Memory hardware that allows fast access to permanently stored data but prevents addition to or modification of the data. Read Only Memory

Memory-A unit of a computer that preserves data for retrieval. Memory can be hardware (RAM and POM), permanent disks (hard drive) or removeable (floppies, CD-ROM disks and flash cards are examples).

Busses-The route taken by packet instructions between the components of the motherboard, especially the CPU, chipsets, and cards.

Binary-the machine language of computers. "Off-on" electrical circuits are presented by "0-1" in this mathematical code. Common languages include ASCII and EBCDIC. Click here for more.

Chipset- A pair of integrated circuits that are designed to be used together in helping control the data traffic between the CPU and the motherboard. Click here for more.

CPU- Central Processing Unit. The part of a computer that interprets and executes instructions.

Port- connector that allows perpheral to communicate with the computer some prts are connected to card while other connect directly to the motherboard.

Power supply- a source of electricity for a device, which converts, regulates, and transmits the external power for the device

ISA- Industry Standard Architecture.

Slot- An expansion slot. It allows the user to add cards, such as sound card or accelerated graphics.