CompTIA Practice Test Hardware 2

Question 1

A technician is building a workstation that requires ECC RAM. Which use case BEST justifies ECC memory?

Accepted Answer

Server handling financial transaction processing

Answer

ECC (Error-Correcting Code) memory detects and corrects single-bit errors, making it essential for servers and workstations where data integrity is critical.

Question 2

Which connector type is used to attach a SATA SSD to a motherboard for both power and data?

Accepted Answer

Separate 7-pin data and 15-pin power connectors

Answer

SATA SSDs use a 7-pin data connector and a separate 15-pin power connector, both of which must be connected.

Question 3

A user reports their PC randomly shuts down during gaming but works fine during light tasks. What is the MOST likely cause?

Accepted Answer

Inadequate power supply wattage

Answer

A PSU that cannot deliver sufficient wattage under full GPU and CPU load will trigger a protective shutdown during intensive tasks like gaming.

Question 4

What is the purpose of thermal paste applied between a CPU and its heatsink?

Accepted Answer

It fills microscopic air gaps to improve thermal conductivity

Answer

Thermal paste fills microscopic surface imperfections between the CPU lid and heatsink, eliminating insulating air gaps and improving heat transfer.

Question 5

Which RAID level provides disk striping with parity, requiring a minimum of 3 drives and tolerating one drive failure?

Accepted Answer

RAID 5

Answer

RAID 5 uses block-level striping with distributed parity across a minimum of 3 disks, allowing recovery from a single disk failure.