Common Motherboard Items

CPU (central processing unit) or microprocessor is the brain of the computer.It reads and interprets software instructions and coordinates the processing activities that must take place. All computer components channel data and instructions to and from the CPU.

RAM (random-access memory) is slots or sockets and integrated circuits or chips surface-mounted on small circuit boards. The more RAM you can install in a computer (up to the maximum supported by the system), the better. RAM enables a computer to store actively running applications and their data without swapping out to the hard disk drive. It’s a volatile type of memory.

Cache socket. This socket is reserved for a Level 2 cache (L2, cache memory that can be accessed more quickly than the primary cache) or secondary cache memory module. L2 cache consists of fast memory called SRAM (static RAM). Computers with L2 cache perform better than those that lack L2 cache. This cache stores operations or data recently accessed by the CPU, allowing the processor to retrieve this information much more quickly than if the data resided in conventional RAM.

System chipset isalso called the " support chipset." This collection of logic circuits is responsible for transferring information to and from all other motherboard circuits, adapter card connectors, and disk drives. Chipset specifications allow for compatibility with PCI (Peripheral Component Interconnect) and ISA (Industry Standard Architecture) buses and the IDE (Integrated Drive Electronics) disk storage interface.

Expansion bus slots typically include PCI, ISA, and AGP (Accelerated Graphics Port) connectors for adapter cards designed to handle audio, video, and other subsystems. Once added, adapter cards fasten to the back of the case with a screw. Without slots, a computer would be limited to the circuitry permanently wired to the motherboard.

Disk interface presents connectors for floppy diskette and IDE hard disk drives. You attach a ribbon cable from a disk interface connector on the motherboard to the hard drive or floppy drive.

Miscellaneous I/O (input/output) ports and connectors. These devices get their name because information is sent in and out of them. Previously there were a lot of different cables to be connected to the board. Newer computers eliminate the need for cables because the connectors are integrated on the board. Modern motherboards also have hardwired USB (Universal Serial Bus) connectors letting you attach USB devices to the computer's back panel. A mouse connector on the motherboard cables to a PS/2-style port at the back of the computer for input devices such as a mouse or trackball. A keyboard connector (typically hardwired to the motherboard) cables to a keyboard port at the panel at the back of the computer so you can attach a keyboard.

The BIOS (Basic Input/Output System) chip holds the code that starts up your computer. Newer systems have a flash BIOS, storing the code on EPROM (erasable programmable read-only memory; memory that can be erased when exposed to ultraviolet light), so users can update a system's existing BIOS with new code.

Miscellaneous parts. This category includes the CMOS (complementary metal-oxide semiconductor, an electronic component used for RAM and fast data switching), real-time clock (the battery-powered device that keeps track of system time and date), plus several configuration jumpers and switches, power connectors, light-emitting diodes, and front-panel electrical connectors.

As the motherboard works, data and timing signals transfer from one connected component to the other by way of interconnected leads etched into the board. These leads are known as the system bus. The power supply, which also connects to the motherboard, distributes power to all system components via the bus. The processor also communicates with motherboard components by sending and receiving instructions and data over the bus.

VII. Answer and discuss the following questions:

1. What is motherboard?

2. How do you understand “layered fabrication techniques” of motherboard?

3. What does form factor influence?

4. What are the main parts of motherboard?

5. With what part the principle “The more, the better” is true and why?

6. What new developments in motherboard fabrication do you know?

VIII. Match the words with their definitions:

UNIT 6 “Removable storage”

I. Read and guess the meaning of the following international words:

Magnetic, audio, cassette, commercial, option, optical, mechanical, oxide, concentric, mechanism, diameter, controller, digital, design, microscopic, temperature, crystallize, industry, electron, industrial.

II. Translate the following word combinations:

Removable storage, paper punch cards, commercial software, back-up copy, storage capacity, iron oxide, direct-access storage, magnetic medium, flexible plastic film, software application, sealed aluminum box, controller electronics, magnetic domains, highly-filtered vent hole, extremely simple, pie-shaped wedges, magnetic flux patterns.

III. Phrases with prepositions for you to remember:

1. to be coated with – быть покрытым

2. to distinguish from – отличать, различать

3. to turn into – превращать(ся)

4. to detach from – отделять, отсоединять, разъединять

IV. Memorize the following “false friends”:

1. extremely – чрезвычайно, в высшей степени, очень

2. originally – первоначально, изначально, поначалу

V. Translate the following sentences into Russian paying attention to the Absolute Participial Construction:

1. The experiments being demonstrated, all the students watched them with great attention. 2. There are two diagrams in this figure, one of them showing the relation between volume and temperature. 3. A new radio set having been shown to them, they began to examine its details. 4. Electrons leaving the surface, the metal becomes posi­tively charged. 5. We defined the volume, all the measurements having been done with respect to the instruction. 6. The computer performing addition, two numbers to be added come from the memory. 7. Atoms consist of three kinds of particles — electrons, protons and neutrons, the number of particles determining the kind of element. 8. The workers increased the output of measuring instruments, new devices having been applied in all the shops of the plant. 9. The experiment having been carried out, the students left the lab. 10. I was writing the translation, my friend helping me. 11. Part of the energy being changed into heat, not all the chemical energy of the battery is transformed into electric energy.

VI. Choose the sentences with the Absolute Participial Construc­tion from the ones given below. Translate them into Russian:

1. Speaking about the new method of work the engineer told us many interesting details. 2. The temperature of a conductor being raised, the motion of the electrons in the conductor increases. 3. Special instruments measuring cosmic radio signals are being installed in the observatory. 4. Transistors are very sensitive to light, some of them reacting even to star-light. 5. The first man-made satellite having been sent up, it became possible to investigate various types of radiation. 6. Obtaining new data engineers can improve their knowledge. 7. The re­sistance being very large, the current in the circuit was small. 8. When improving the design the constructor made many calculations. 9. A great variety of substances are semi-conductors, germanium and silicon being the most important of them. 10. A series of attempts having been made, Lodygin came to a successful solution of the problem.

VII. Read the words and word combinations and memorize their meaning:

back-up copy – запасная (резервная) копия

to secure – защищать, обеспечивать безопасность

incredible – невероятный, удивительный

enduring – выдержавший испытание временем

drive – привод, дисковод

direct-access storage – ЗУ с прямым доступом

platter – большой диск

GIF (Graphic Interchange Format) – формат графического обмена

sealed – герметичный, запечатанный

controller electronics – электронное управление

to spin – вращать

to assemble – компоновать, собирать, монтировать

underneath – внизу, ниже (относительно какого-либо объекта)

vent – воздушный клапан

to equalize – уравновешивать, выравнивать

precise – точный, точно установленный

tolerance – устойчивость

hub – центр

edge – край

wedge – что-либо, имеющее форму клина

cluster – кластер, группа, блок

instantly – мгновенно, сразу же

flux - поток

VIII. Read and translate the text: