All terms in this list:

system unit: The main case of a computer.

circuit board: A thin board containing computer chips and other electronic components.

computer chip: A very small piece of silicon or other semiconducting material that contains integrated circuits (ICs) and transistors

motherboard: The main circuit board inside the system unit.

port: A connector on the exterior of the system unit case that is used to connect an external hardware device.

central processing unit (CPU or processor): The chip located on the motherboard of a computer that performs the processing for a computer.

multi - core CPU: A CPU that contains the processing components or cores of multiple independent processors in a single CPU

clock speed: A measurement of the number of instructions that a CPU can process per second

word: The amount of data (measured in bits or bytes) that a CPU can manipulate at one time

cache memory: A group of very fast memory circuitry located on or close to the CPU to speed up processing.

memory: Chips located inside the system unit used to store data and instructions while it is working with them.

RAM (random access memory): Memory used to store data and instructions while the computer is running.

register: High - speed memory built into the CPU.

ROM (read-only memory): Nonvolatile chips on the motherboard that permanently store data or programs.

flash memory: Nonvolatile memory chips that can be used for storage by the computer or the user.

BIOS (basic/output system): The sequence of instructions the computer follows during the boot process.

expansion slot: A location on the motherboard into which an expansion card is inserted to connect it to the motherboard.

expansion card (interface card): A circuit board used to give desktop computers additional capabilities.

bus: An electronic path over which data travels.

throughput (bandwidth): The amount of data that can be transferred via the bus in a given time period.

expansion bus: A bus on the motherboard used to connect peripheral devices.

Universal Serial Bus: A versatile bus architecture widely used for connecting peripherals.

FireWire: A high-speed bus standard used to connect devices - particularly multimedia devices like digital video cameras- to a computer