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Hardware terms
Term | Definition |
---|---|
Central processing unit | The chip located inside the system unit of a computer that performs the processing for a computer |
GHz – (gigahertz) | speed of a processor counted by billions of ticks per second |
MHz | (megahertz) – speed of a processor counted by millions of ticks per second |
System Unit | The container that holds the motherboard and keeps components safe. |
Motherboard | The main circuit board of a computer to which all computer system components connect. |
BIOS: | Basic Input/Output System Lowest level software in the computer that acts as an interface between the hardware of the operating system. |
ROM | Read Only Memory Contain permanently written data called firmware that loads the operating system when first powered on |
Cache | small, high speed memory between the processor and system memory. Faster than RAM |
Hard disk drive | A storage system consisting of one or more metal magnetic disks permanently sealed with an access mechanism inside its drive |
MB, Megabyte | Storage measurement in millions of bytes |
GB, Gigabyte | Storage measurement in billions of bytes |
TB, Terabyte | Storage measurement in trillions of bytes |
Random access memory | provides a high speed, temporary location for the computer to hold data and program instructions |
Bit | The smallest unit of computing, consists of either a 0 or 1 (on or off) |
Byte | 8 bits makes 1 byte |
Video Graphic Adapter | Enables the connection of a monitor and may provide additional graphics capabilities |
Network Interface Card | Enables a PC to connect to a network |
Optical Drive | Adds read and write capabilities to your computer for portability |
Monitor | A display device that projects images onto a display screen |
accelerator | a microprocessor, ASIC or expansion card designed to offload a specific task from the CPU, often containing fixed function hardware; a common example is a Graphics processing unit. |
accumulator | a register in a CPU in which intermediate arithmetic and logic results are stored. |
address | the unique integer number that specifies a memory location in an address space |
address space | a mapping of logical addresses into physical memory or other memory mapped devices. |
AI accelerator | an accelerator aimed running artificial neural networks or other machine learning and machine vision algorithms (either training or deployment), e.g. Movidius Myriad 2, TrueNorth, Tensor processing unit etc. |