Exam 2: The System Unit: Processing and Memory

As a hard drive begins to get full,it takes less time to locate and manipulate the data stored on the drive.

Most computers today can process more than one piece of microcode at one time-a characteristic known as ____________________,or being able to process multiple instructions per cycle (IPC).

Expansion buses connect directly to ____________________ on the system unit case or to expansion slots on the motherboard.

Each pixel in a monochrome graphic can be only one of two possible colors (such as black or white).

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

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

With bitmapped images,the color of each ____ is represented by bits;the more bits used,the better the image quality.

Benchmark tests typically run the same series of programs on several computer systems that are identical except for one component (such as the CPU)and measure how long each task takes in order to determine the overall relative performance of the component being tested.

-The accompanying figure shows the mouse connected to the computer via a(n)____________________.

Typically,3D chips are created by layering individual silicon wafers on top of one another.

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

The number of bits being transmitted at one time is dependent on the bus width.

A(n)____ instruction might look like a meaningless string of 0s and 1s,but it actually represents specific operations and storage locations.

The ____________________ chip is estimated to be 100 times faster than silicon.

Like graphics data,____-such as a song or the sound of someone speaking-must be in digital form in order to be stored on a storage medium or processed by a PC.

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

The main circuit board inside the system unit is called the megaboard.

One measurement of the speed of a CPU is the ____,which is rated in megahertz (MHz)or gigahertz (GHz).

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. -Since Jack has a Windows system,he can right-click a hard drive icon in Windows Explorer,select Properties,and then select the ____ option on the Tools tab to check that hard drive for errors.

Each machine language instruction in a CPU's instruction set is broken down into several smaller,machine-level instructions called supercode.