Cool It! Your PC Isn’t a Space Heater
This metal block with fins is used to pull heat away from a CPU or GPU.
What is a heat sink?
The total electrical power a PSU can provide is measured in this unit.
What is a watt?
This RAID level splits data across multiple drives for speed but provides no redundancy.
What is RAID 0?
A computer running multiple applications at once benefits from having a higher capacity of this component.
What is RAM?
A CPU’s speed is measured in this unit, representing the number of cycles per second.
What is hertz (Hz)?
This is put between a CPU and its heat sink to fill air gaps.
What is Thermal Paste?
A high-performance gaming PC requires more power than an office PC due to this component.
What is the GPU (Graphics Processing Unit)?
This RAID level mirrors data on two disks, ensuring redundancy in case one fails.
What is RAID 1?
When RAM runs out, the operating system starts using this slower, disk-based memory alternative.
What is virtual memory?
This CPU architecture has instructions that are 32 bit wide.
What is x86?
This type of cooling system is commonly used in high-performance PCs and relies on a pump and a radiator instead of just fans.
What is liquid cooling?
This is the main power connector for the Motherboard.
What is the P1 connector?
Unlike RAID 0, this RAID type uses parity to provide redundancy while still using striping.
What is RAID 5?
A laptop technician upgrading memory would look for this smaller version of a DIMM.
What is SODIMM?
The locking mechanism that ensures CPUs fit securely into their motherboard sockets without applying pressure.
What is Zero Insertion Force (ZIF)?
These allow a cooling system to adjust fan speeds and detect failures.
What are Fan Sensors?
This type of PSU has detachable cables that reduce clutter, improve airflow, and enhance cooling.
What is a modular PSU?
This RAID configuration combines mirroring and striping?
What is RAID 10?
This memory feature allows a CPU to communicate with two RAM modules simultaneously, doubling bandwidth.
What is dual-channel memory?
Intel CPUs use this type of socket, where the pins are on the motherboard instead of the processor.
What is Land Grid Array (LGA)?
This cooling method involves tubes, coolant, and a pump, but unlike prebuilt solutions, it requires maintenance and refilling.
What is an open-loop liquid cooling system?
This allows for a Faulty PSU to be replaced without power loss.
What is hot-swappable?
Some RAID setups allow for replacing a failed drive without shutting down the system.
What is hot-swapping?
This special type of RAM, often found in servers, can detect and fix single-bit memory errors.
What is ECC RAM?
The first step in the CPU instruction cycle, where the processor retrieves an instruction from memory.
What is fetch?