Glossary

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Here’s a list of the terms and acronyms relating to computers and technology that I commonly use on this blog, to help you understand all that technical jargon.
This is in alphabetical order.

Also included is a link of each term to Wikipedia, for a detailed definition.

AGP: Accelerated Graphic Port – An old graphic card expansion port, superseded by the PCI Express expansion port in 2004.
BIOS: Basic Input/Output System – What you see when you boot your PC, it identifies, test, and initializes system devices. Used to adjust various hardware settings.
CD: Compact Disk – First used to store audio, now commonly used for audio and data storage.
CPU: Central Processing Unit – Execute instructions through four steps: fetch, decode, execute, and writeback.
DDR: Double Data Rate – Mostly used for RAM
DisplayPort: It’s a video interface, license-free, royalty-free, digital audio/video interconnect, similar to HDMI.
DVD: Digital Video Disc or Digital Versatile Disc – Mainly used to store video and data.
DVI: Digital Visual Interface – is a video interface standard designed to maximize the visual quality of digital display devices.
FAQ: Frequently Asked Questions – listed questions and answers, all supposed to be frequently asked in some context, and pertaining to a particular topic.
FSB: Front Side Bus – The link used by Intel Cpus for communication between the cpu and the north bridge.
GHz: Gigahertz – 1 billion hertz – Used to represent switching speed, thus related performance of some PC components.
GPU: Graphic Processing Unit – To accelerate processing of 2 and 3D graphics.
HDMI: High-Definition Multimedia Interface – A compact audio/video interface for transferring uncompressed digital data.
Hyper-threading: A technology used to improve parallelization of computations (doing multiple tasks at once) performed on PC microprocessors. Not to be confused with dual-core, which features two physical cores, while Hyper-threading features two virtual cores.
HyperTransport: Mainly used by AMD, the primary use for HyperTransport is to replace the front-side bus, similar to Intel’s QPI
LAN: Local Area Network – A computer network covering a small physical area, usually using Ethernet cables.
LCD: Liquid Crystal Display – Super-thin displays that are used in laptop computer screens, flat panel monitors, cell phones and more.
MHz: Megahertz – 1 million hertz – Used to represent switching speed, thus related performance of some PC components.
Northbridge: Typically handles communications among the CPU, RAM, AGP or PCI Express, and the southbridge. Slowly getting phased out/simplified, as more and more features are integrated into the CPU.
OS: Operating System – This is the software that communicates with computer hardware on the most basic level. Popular OS are Windows, Mac OS and Linux.
PATA: Parallel Advanced Technology Attachment – For Hard drive or Optical drive connections.
PCI Express: It’s a computer expansion card standard designed to replace the older PCI, PCI-X, and AGP standards
Power Supply: A component that regulates and provides power to an electrical device. It receives power from a wall outlet and converts the current and voltage to the correct amount required by the connected device.
QPI: Quick Path Interconnect – The link used by Intel’s Core i7, replacing the FSB.
Qwerty or Azerty: Two type of keyboards, with the name specifying the first 6 letters at the top left of your keyboard.
RAID: Redundant Array of Independent Disks – Technology used with hard drives.
RAM: Random Access Memory – Memory that temporaly store data, which is to be accessed mainly by the cpu and the hard drive.
SATA: Serial Advanced Technology Attachment – For Hard drive or Optical drive connections.
SSD: Solid State Drive – A hard drive which uses memory chips instead of platters to store data.
VGA: Video Graphic Array – Video interface standard introduced in 1987, easily recognizable with its 15 pin design.

Got any term that can’t understand and need help with? Or got a term that you think should added to this list? Let me know by leaving a comment or by contacting me!