| A | B |
|---|
| AT | Form factor that came after the XT but before the Baby AT and ATX form factors. |
| ATX | Form factor that came after the Baby AT form factor having one power connector going to the motherboard . |
| BIOS | The small program that resides on a ROM chip and is used to start the computer and acontrol the way devices in the computer talk to each other. |
| BTX | Motherboard form factor for low profile cases that allowed for better cooling. |
| Chipset | The specialized IC's on the motherboard that helps the CPU to work with memory or the expansion boards, also known as northbridge and southbridge. |
| CMOS | Program tha allows the configuration settings to be manipulated. |
| Data bus | The path way of wires connecting the CPU and memory. |
| Expansion bus | The parht way of wires that connect the CPU and the expansion boards. |
| Firmware | Program stored in ROM tha holds its contents with the pwoer removed. |
| Form factor | The specifications and size of a motherboard or power supply. |
| Integrated | A component that could operate separately but is built intoanother object to become one unit. |
| MicroATX | Small form factor motherboard used in PCs where reduced size is desired. |
| Motherboard | Contains all the pathways of wires to connect the CPU to memory and the expansion boards. |
| NLX | Low profile mother board form factor that utilizes riser cards for expansion cards. |
| Riser Card | Printed circuit boad connecting to the motherboard and accepting expansion boards that will be parallel to the motherboard. |
| Slot | Connector type used to hold processor modules . |
| Socket | The connector used to attch a CPU to the motherboard. |
| ZIF | Socket type where the processor just drops in with no effort and then a level is locked down to hold the processor in place. |
