Main Computer - Motherboard - Systemboard
The following is a compiled list of computer terms that you will likely see somewhere on this website, especially in the General Computer section. Please go over them and familiarize yourself them - you don't need to memorize them, but just be familiar and remember this page! This is by no means an 'end all be all' list, but some of the pertinent concepts you will want to know depending on what your computer needs are. I've sorted the terms categorically as opposed to alphabetically.
ROM - Stands for Read Only Memory. Ultimately it a set of hard coded instructions that the computer references when it is booting up and you see the BIOS loading and running.
BIOS - The BIOS is part of the System ROM and is responsible for performing an overall hardware check of the system to ensure everything is fine to load the Windows Operating System. After Windows is loaded, the BIOS continues to act as an intermediary between the CPU and your I\O devices such as your mouse or keyboard.
CPU - Central Processing Unit and it is considered the 'brains' of the computer. It performs all system and application processing, as well as everything else. Anything involving interaction with your computer will require the CPU to process hundreds, thousands, or more sets of instructions in the matter of milliseconds.
RAM - Random Access Memory is the memory the computer uses as well as the CPU to process information. Everything the computer needs to 'do' is done in memory, so Windows has to load whatever instruction sets it needs to run a certain set of process and loads them into memory, or the RAM, so that the CPU and then have access and perform the functions.
Motherboard - This is the main System Board that is bolted to the inside of your computer or laptop. It is what the CPU and RAM slots are directly attached to, and by far the most important component of the computer.
Onboard NIC - This is nothing more than a network interface that is directly integrated with the Main System Board as opposed to a network card that uses a PCI connection to attach to the Main Board
PCI - Stands for Peripheral Component Interconnect (part of the PCI Local Bus standard and often shortened to PCI) is a computer bus for attaching hardware devices in a computer. These devices can take either the form of an integrated circuit fitted onto the motherboard itself, called a planar device in the PCI specification, or an expansion card that fits into a slot.
