PC and PC Component Terms Defined: Tom’s Hardware Glossary

Credit: DG-Studio/Shutterstock Keeping up with the latest PC technology is difficult, but it’s overwhelming if you don’t understand all the jargon you encounter when reading articles and spec sheets. From CPUs to GPUs and their inner workings, to motherboards and their varying parts, different display technologies and types and vendor-created phrases, you can wind up in tech terminology turmoil.

That's why we have developed this handy glossary. With the information below, you can learn the meaning of--or refresh your memory on--commonly used, but often confusing, tech terms.

We’ll be adding to the glossary over time. If you find a term that leaves you scratching your head, let us know in the comments below, and we’ll be sure to define it for you.

Index

• 2K
• 4K
• 5K
• 720p
• 1080p
• 10-bit color
• 12-bit color
• APU
• Binning
• BIOS
• Bus
• Cache
• Capacitor
• Chassis
• Chipset
• Clock speed
• Core
• CPU frequency
• DIMM slots
• Delidding
• Discrete GPU
• DLSS
• DRAM
• EOTF
• FOV (field of view)
• FHD
• Full HD
• Gamma
• GPU
• GPU Boost
• Graphics card
• Grayscale
• HBM and HBM2
• Heat sink
• HD
• HDR
• Hyper-threading
• IHS (integrated heat spreader)
• Integrated GPU
• IPC
• IPS
• LED
• LCD
• M.2
• Motherboard
• Motherboard firmware
• N-key rollover
• NVMe
• OLED
• PCIe
• PWM (pulse width modulation)
• QHD
• RAID Controller
• RAM
• Ray tracing
• SDRAM
• SoC (system on a chip)
• SRAM
• Socket
• SLI
• Simultaneous multithreading
• S/PDIF
• SSD
• TDP
• Thread
• TPM header
• TN
• UEFI
• UHD
• Ultra HD
• USB 3.1
• USB Type-C
• VA
• Video card
• VRM
• WUXGA
• WQHD