So you think you can pass the CompTIA?

So do I! A studyblr for the CompTIA A+ certification

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KEY CONCEPT

the installation process will always be as follows:

KNOWLEDGE, PHYSICAL INSTALLATION, DEVICE DRIVERS, VERIFY

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Sockets and pins

AMD-based sockets and their pins

AM3 | pins: 941 | cpu: phenom II, athlon II, sempron, opteron

AM3+ | pins: 942 | cpu: FX

FM1 | pins: 905 | cpu: A-Series

FM2 | pins: 904 | cpu: A-Series

FM2+ | pins: 906 | cpu: A-Series

G34 | pins: 1974 | cpu: opteron

C32 | pins: 1207 | cpu: opteron

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Pipelining

Once upon a time, it took computers 4 clock cycles to complete a single command. The stages are as follows:

FETCH (get data from EDB) - DECODE (figure out what command needs executed) - EXECUTE (perform calculation) - WRITE (send data back onto EDB)

But now, we have multiple circuits organized like a conveyor belt. They make things faster, basically.

MORE KEY WORDS

ALU: arithmetic logic unit (or integer unit) does basic math

FPU: floating point unit, handles more complex numbers

Cache: holds info to make stuff faster. IMPORTANT!!! :

L1 Cache: smallest and fastest

L2: bigger and slower

L3: biggest and slowest

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Microprocessors

Key words

CPU: central processing unit, this is The Brain

EDB: external data bus, everything in your computer is tied to this data highway

Registers: storage area in the CPU ised by the onboard logic to do calculations. Machine language commands (lines of code) go on these, and all the commands the CPU understands are called the Instruction Set

CLK: Clock Wire. A single charge to the clock wire is called a Clock Cycle. It takes clock cycles (usually 2) for the CPU to process commands.

Clock Speed: # of clock cycles a CPU can handle in a given period of time. This sets its fastest speed. This is determined by thr System Crystal

MCC: memory controller chip. Brings the data from the RAM to rhe CPU.

Address Bus: set of wires that allows the CPU to tell the MCC what lines of code it needs from the RAM

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Components and connectors: INSIDE THE PC

Power supply: electricity provider

CPU: (central processing unit) hides under heat sink and utility fan, primary processing component. Microprocessor that handles primary calculations. This is THE BRAIN

Memory: RAM goes here, essential part of processing

Optical drive: important data storage component

Video card: processes visual output

Solid-state drive (SSD): data storage component

Motherboard: connectors are here, everything connects to this bitch (CPU, RAM, hard drive, optical drive, keyboard, mouse, video card, etc)

Magnetic hard drive disk (HDD): data-recording system, stores and retrieves programs and data

Secure digital (SD) card slot: removable data storage

Thunderbolt port: general purpose input/output port

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Components and connectors: PORTS

PS/2 or mini-DIN: connects a keyboard or mouse (older computers have them)

USB: for input and output devices

S/PDIF: for higher-end audio output

HDMI: for output to monitor (newest and tiniest)

DVI: for output to monitor (the big one)

FireWire (Ieee 1394): for input and output devices, sends wide-band signals over serialized, thin connector systems

eSATA: for external hard drives

NIC: for network connection (older systems have these, most now use ethernet)

Audio inout/output: speakers and microphone go here

VGA: output to monitor (the small one, but larger than the HDMI. It's old)

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We are skipping chapers 1 and 2 because the information there is something we already have experience with.