IT Lesson #4 - Building a computer (part 3) - Graphics, power.

1.- Graphics card

What is a graphics card and what do you use it for?
What are the fundamental differences between a GPU and a CPU ?
What is a CPU / GPU core?
How many cores do CPUs usually have?
How many cores do GPUs usually have?
For a given graphics card how much power is consumed? (what are WATTS )
Why does that make a difference?

PCIe speed --> how does the speed on the motherboard PCIe port influence the performance of the graphics card?
What is SLI ?

What are polygons?
What are textures?
What is screen resolution?
What do 720p and 1080p stand for?
Color bit depth, how does that make a difference?
How is the performance of a CPU measured? And a GPU? how is this measure different?

Concepts:

Core(s)
Flop / teraflop
PCIe (+speed)
Polygons
Textures
Resolution
Color bit depth

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Connectors:

Take a look at the different video connectors and standards and make a list.
Which are analog and which are digital? Why does that make a difference?

Build the computer (Task):

Pick a graphics card (or several) for your setup, make note of power consumption, extra electric connections to the PSU and anything else that you might need.

2.- Power

Check power supplies on a computer hardware website.

Make a list of different power supply standards (Types)
Make a list of important characteristics for a power supply
Make a list of the different connector types on power supplies

What voltages does a PC PSU work with?
What is the voltage on a USB port?

Pick a power supply that will work with the hardware you have selected so far and has enough power to work. Justify your choice in one paragraph.

3.- History

Read about:

DARPA //
DARPANET/ARPANET //
NORAD

4.- Extra!!

- What is pixel density? (PPI)
- What is the "Native resolution" of a screen?