Motherboards and Power

• Pick the form factor from case size and how many slots you need
• A PCIe slot's length is its lane count, and lanes are bandwidth
• Each PCIe generation doubles per-lane bandwidth, and mixing runs slower
• The chipset, not just the socket, decides which CPU a board supports
• A 4-pin fan header does PWM speed control; a 3-pin header does not
• Front-panel LEDs are polarized; the power and reset switches are not
• The board needs both the 24-pin ATX and the separate 4+4-pin EPS
• UEFI replaces BIOS and is what boots a drive larger than 2 TB
• Secure Boot blocks unsigned bootloaders and needs UEFI
• Enable CPU virtualization in UEFI before running VMs
• Boot order picks which device the firmware tries first
• A dead CR2032 CMOS battery loses the clock and BIOS settings at power-off
• Clear CMOS to wipe a bad setting or a forgotten BIOS password
• The TPM stores encryption keys and is required for Windows 11
• Size the PSU for the +12 V load with headroom, led by the GPU
• A higher 80 PLUS tier wastes less power, it does not add performance
• Modular only means detachable cables, not more wattage
• Each PSU connector feeds a specific part, and GPUs use 6+2-pin PCIe
• Set the 115/230 V switch to the local mains, or the PC fails or fries
• Balance intake and exhaust for a front-to-back airflow path
• A heat sink needs thermal-paste contact to move heat off the chip
• Use a liquid AIO for a hot CPU; it is sealed and needs no refilling
• Fewer cores or a low clock than the CPU's spec is usually a UEFI setting
• The UEFI hardware monitor shows temps and fan RPM and holds the fan curve

Unlock with Premium — includes all practice exams and the complete study guide.