CompTIA Hardware Practice 3

Question 1

A technician notices a capacitor on a motherboard is bulging at the top. What should the technician do?

Accepted Answer

Replace the motherboard as the capacitor has failed

Answer

A bulging capacitor is a sign of failure and can cause system instability or complete failure; the motherboard should be replaced.

Question 2

Which storage interface provides the highest sequential read/write speeds for consumer SSDs?

Accepted Answer

NVMe over PCIe 4.0

Answer

NVMe SSDs on PCIe 4.0 can achieve sequential reads exceeding 7,000 MB/s, far surpassing SATA's ~600 MB/s limit.

Question 3

A user upgrades from a 65W CPU to a 125W CPU in the same socket. The system experiences thermal throttling. What is the most likely cause?

Accepted Answer

The existing CPU cooler is insufficient for the higher TDP

Answer

A higher TDP CPU generates more heat than the existing cooler was designed to dissipate, causing thermal throttling.

Question 4

What does the term 'form factor' refer to when discussing hard drives and SSDs?

Accepted Answer

The physical dimensions and mounting specification

Answer

Form factor describes the physical size and shape of a storage device, such as 3.5-inch, 2.5-inch, or M.2.

Question 5

A technician is asked to add a second monitor to a workstation. The GPU has one HDMI and one DisplayPort output. The second monitor only has VGA input. What is needed?

Accepted Answer

A DisplayPort to VGA active adapter

Answer

An active DisplayPort to VGA adapter converts the digital signal to analog VGA, enabling connection to the older monitor.

CompTIA Practice Test

CompTIA Practice Test

CompTIA Hardware Practice 3