prior notice and at CompTIA’s sole discretion. Please visit the certification page of CompTIA’s website at www.comptia.org for the most current listing of exam objectives.
Chapter 1
Hardware
THE COMPTIA A+ Exam 220–901 TOPICS COVERED IN THIS CHAPTER INCLUDE THE FOLLOWING:
✔ 1.1 Given a scenario, configure settings and use BIOS/UEFI tools on a PC.
■ Firmware upgrades – flash BIOS
■ BIOS component information
■ RAM
■ Hard drive
■ Optical drive
■ CPU
■ BIOS configurations
■ Boot sequence
■ Enabling and disabling devices
■ Date/time
■ Clock speeds
■ Virtualization support
■ BIOS security (passwords, drive encryption: TPM, LoJack, secure boot)
■ Built-in diagnostics
■ Monitoring
■ Temperature monitoring
■ Fan speeds
■ Intrusion detection/notification
■ Voltage
■ Clock
■ Bus speed
✔ 1.2 Explain the importance of motherboard components, their purpose, and properties.
■ Sizes
■ ATX
■ Micro-ATX
■ Mini-ITX
■ ITX
■ Expansion slots
■ PCI
■ PCI-X
■ PCIe
■ miniPCI
■ RAM slots
■ CPU sockets
■ Chipsets
■ Northbridge
■ Southbridge
■ CMOS battery
■ Power connections and types
■ Fan connectors
■ Front/top panel connectors
■ USB
■ Audio
■ Power button
■ Power light
■ Drive activity lights
■ Bus speeds
■ Reset button
✔ 1.3 Compare and contrast various RAM types and their features.
■ Types
■ DDR
■ DDR2
■ DDR3
■ SODIMM
■ DIMM
■ Parity vs. non-parity
■ ECC vs. non-ECC
■ RAM configurations
■ Single channel vs. dual channel vs. triple channel
■ Single sided vs. double sided
■ Buffered vs. unbuffered
■ RAM compatibility
✔ 1.4 Install and configure PC expansion cards.
■ Sound cards
■ Video cards
■ Network cards
■ USB cards
■ Firewire cards
■ Thunderbolt cards
■ Storage cards
■ Modem cards
■ Wireless/cellular cards
■ TV tuner cards
■ Video capture cards
■ Riser cards
✔ 1.5 Install and configure storage devices and use appropriate media.
■ Optical drives
■ CD-ROM/CD-RW
■ DVD-ROM/DVD-RW/DVD-RW DL
■ Blu-ray
■ BD-R
■ BD-RE
■ Magnetic hard disk drives
■ 5400 rpm
■ 7200 rpm
■ 10,000 rpm
■ Hot swappable drives
■ Solid state/flash drives
■ Compact flash
■ SD
■ MicroSD
■ MiniSD
■ xD
■ SSD
■ Hybrid
■ eMMC
■ RAID types
■ 0
■ 1
■ 5
■ 10
■ Tape drive
■ Media capacity
■
