Motherboards and CPUS
This motherboard form factor measures 9.6 by 9.6 inches and is a popular choice for building smaller desktop configurations.
What is Micro-ATX (mATX)?
Typically used in servers and workstations, this type of memory includes an extra chip to detect and correct single-bit memory errors.
What is ECC (Error-Correcting Code) RAM?
This royalty-free display interface features a physical locking mechanism on its connector and commonly supports daisy-chaining multiple monitors.
What is DisplayPort?
This popular 3D printing technology builds an object by continuously extruding melted thermoplastic filament layer by layer.
What is FDM (Fused Deposition Modeling)?
Operating at Layer 2 of the OSI model, this device maintains a MAC address table to forward frames exclusively to the correct physical port.
What is a switch?
This feature allows a single CPU core to interact with the OS as if it were multiple processors. Intel calls it Hyper-Threading, while AMD refers to it by this three-letter acronym.
What is SMT (Simultaneous Multithreading)?
This RAID level provides excellent performance by "striping" data across multiple drives, but offers zero redundancy if a single drive fails.
What is RAID 0?
To achieve its maximum throughput of 20 Gbps, the USB 3.2 Gen 2x2 standard mandates the use of this specific physical connector shape.
What is USB-C?
During the laser printing process, this specific step occurs immediately after the drum is conditioned with a uniform negative charge, utilizing the laser to write the image.
What is Exposing (or Writing)?
This specialized appliance distributes incoming web traffic across multiple backend servers to prevent any single server from crashing under high demand.
What is a Load Balancer?
Replacing the legacy BIOS, this firmware interface supports Secure Boot, a GUI interface, and booting from drives larger than 2.2 Terabytes.
What is UEFI (Unified Extensible Firmware Interface)?
This logical interface protocol was designed from the ground up to exploit the low latency and internal parallelism of flash-based SSDs over the PCIe bus.
What is NVMe (Non-Volatile Memory Express)?
A twisted-pair Ethernet cable wired to the T568A standard on one end and the T568B standard on the other creates this specific type of cable, used to connect two similar devices directly.
What is a crossover cable?
If an inkjet printer is producing pages with horizontal streaks or missing colors, a technician should run this specific maintenance software utility.
What is a printhead cleaning?
This logical networking technology allows a single physical switch to be partitioned into multiple separate, isolated broadcast domains.
What is a VLAN (Virtual Local Area Network)?
Windows 11 strictly requires this specific cryptographic chip, soldered to the motherboard, to store encryption keys and enable features like BitLocker.
What is a TPM (Trusted Platform Module)?
Often listed on an SSD's specification sheet, this three-letter acronym indicates the drive's guaranteed lifespan in terms of how much data can be written to it before it degrades.
What is TBW (Terabytes Written)?
This type of fiber optic connector utilizes a push-pull latching mechanism and is colloquially known as a "Subscriber Connector" or "Standard Connector."
What is an SC connector?
In a laser printer, this internal assembly contains a Teflon-coated hot roller and a rubber pressure roller used to permanently melt the toner into the paper.
What is the fuser assembly?
Found in a server rack, this passive device does not actively route data, but provides a centralized physical connection point for punching down bulk twisted-pair cables.
What is a patch panel?
This iteration of the Peripheral Component Interconnect Express standard doubles the bandwidth of its predecessor to roughly 2 GB/s per lane, highly utilized by modern Gen 4 NVMe SSDs.
What is PCIe 4.0?
To physically distinguish them from older memory generations and prevent incorrect installation, DDR4 desktop memory modules are designed with this exact number of pins.
What is 288 pins?
The SATA III standard, commonly used for traditional 2.5-inch SSDs and mechanical hard drives, supports a maximum theoretical bandwidth of this many gigabits per second.
What is 6 Gbps?
A thermal receipt printer operates properly, but the receipts come out completely blank. Aside from a failed heating element, this is the most common user error causing the issue.
What is loading the thermal paper backwards/upside down?
When a router translates private, non-routable interior IP addresses to a single public IP address for internet access, it is using this specific technology.
What is NAT (Network Address Translation)?