Exam 2: The System Unit: Processing and Memory

The system unit is the main case of a computer.

The backside bus (BSB) has been one of the most common types of expansion buses in past years.

Case-Based Critical Thinking Questions Case 2-1 Jess is a musician who has just bought a new computer. Now she has to determine how to connect this computer to the devices that were connected to her old computer. Jess has pictures from her old computer saved on a flash drive. To transfer these to her new computer, she would use a(n) ____ port.

The bus width and bus speed together determine the bus's ____ or bandwidth; that is, the amount of data that can be transferred via the bus in a given period of time.

The ____ enables up to 127 devices to be connected to a computer through a single port on the computer's system unit.

The power supply inside a desktop computer connects to the ____________________ to deliver electricity to the computer.

Of what does ROM (read-only memory) consist? What is one important difference between ROM and RAM (random access memory)?

Case-Based Critical Thinking Questions Case 2-2 Jack has a computer at home that he uses to access the Internet, store and edit personal photos, and create and edit documents. Recently, he has come to realize that in order to keep the computer performing at its best, he needs to carry out regular system maintenance on the computer. Jack can speed up his computer by scanning it for viruses and ____.

One of the most common methods for storing graphics data is in the form of a bitmap-a grid of hundreds of thousands of dots, called ____________________.

Terascale computing is the ability of computers to process one ____ floating-point operations per second (teraflops).

Some ____ must be added in pairs for optimal performance.

____________________ are locations on the motherboard into which expansion cards can be inserted to connect those cards to the motherboard.

____ have begun to replace ROM for storing system information, such as a PC's BIOS.

Early computers required programs to be written in machine language.

The ____________________ coordinates and controls the operations and activities taking place within the CPU, such as retrieving data and instructions and passing them on to the ALU or FPU for execution.

Explain what a register is and how it is used.

A ____ is the smallest unit of data that a binary computer can recognize.

Today's CPUs are formed using a process called ____ that imprints patterns on semiconductor materials.

One nanometer (nm) is ____ of a meter.

ASCII is the coding system traditionally used with personal computers.