Computer Hardware Abbreviations
151 abbreviations · part of Technology & Computer Abbreviations
Abbreviations for the physical parts of computers: processors and graphics chips, memory, storage drives and memory cards, expansion buses, ports and display connectors, power supplies, cases, peripherals and server hardware. These terms fill spec sheets, product listings and PC-building guides, and many come in confusing generations (DDR4 versus DDR5, PCIe 4.0 versus 5.0, USB 3.2 Gen 2 versus USB4). Entries explain what each part does, typical numbers and how to tell similar terms apart.
| Abbreviation | Stands for | Description |
|---|---|---|
| ADF | Automatic document feeder | Tray on a scanner, copier or multifunction printer that pulls a stack of pages through one at a time, so multi-page documents can be scanned or copied without lifting… |
| AGP | Accelerated Graphics Port | Dedicated expansion slot for graphics cards introduced by Intel in 1997, giving the graphics chip a fast direct path to system memory. |
| AHCI | Advanced Host Controller Interface | Intel standard defining how SATA controllers talk to the operating system, enabling features such as hot-plugging and Native Command Queuing, which lets a drive reorder… |
| AIO | All-in-one computer | Desktop computer whose components are built into the same housing as the display, so only a power cable, keyboard and mouse are needed. |
| ALU | Arithmetic logic unit | Circuit inside a processor that performs integer arithmetic such as addition and subtraction and logical operations such as AND, OR and comparisons. |
| APU | Accelerated processing unit | AMD's name for a chip that combines CPU cores and a capable graphics processor on one die, avoiding the need for a separate graphics card. |
| ARM | Advanced RISC Machines | Family of energy-efficient processor architectures designed by the British company Arm Holdings and licensed to chipmakers rather than manufactured by Arm itself. |
| ATX | Advanced Technology eXtended | Most common desktop PC motherboard and case standard, defining a 305 by 244 mm (12 by 9.6 inch) board with up to seven expansion slots, a rear I/O panel and matching… |
| BMC | Baseboard management controller | Separate microcontroller on a server motherboard that lets administrators monitor sensors, view the console, mount installation media and power the machine on or off… |
| CD-R | Compact Disc Recordable | Blank compact disc that can be written once with a disc burner, storing up to about 700 MB of data or 80 minutes of audio. |
| CD-ROM | Compact Disc Read-Only Memory | Pre-recorded compact disc holding computer data, usually 650 to 700 MB, used to distribute software, games, encyclopedias and drivers from the late 1980s to the 2000s. |
| CD-RW | Compact Disc ReWritable | Compact disc that can be erased and rewritten roughly a thousand times, using a phase-change recording layer instead of the dye used in CD-R. |
| CF | CompactFlash | Memory-card format, 43 by 36 mm, introduced by SanDisk in 1994 and long favored in professional DSLR cameras for its capacity and reliability. |
| CISC | Complex instruction set computer | Processor design with many specialized, variable-length instructions, some of which perform multi-step operations such as loading from memory and calculating in one… |
| CL | CAS latency | Number of clock cycles between a memory controller requesting a column of data and the RAM delivering it, the first and most quoted memory timing. |
| CMOS | Complementary metal-oxide-semiconductor | Chip technology that pairs n-channel and p-channel MOSFETs so that, in a steady state, almost no current flows, giving very low power consumption. |
| CMR | Conventional magnetic recording | Hard drive recording method in which data tracks sit side by side without overlapping, allowing any track to be rewritten independently. |
| CPU | Central processing unit | Main processor of a computer, which fetches and executes program instructions, performs calculations and coordinates other components. |
| CUDA | Compute Unified Device Architecture | Nvidia's parallel-computing platform and programming model that lets developers run general-purpose code on Nvidia GPUs. |
| DAS | Direct-attached storage | Storage connected directly to a single computer or server, such as an internal drive, a USB or Thunderbolt external drive, or a multi-bay enclosure, rather than shared… |
| DDR | Double data rate | Type of SDRAM that transfers data on both the rising and falling edges of the clock signal, doubling bandwidth without raising the clock frequency. |
| DDR4 | Double Data Rate 4 | Fourth generation of DDR memory, standard in PCs and servers from 2014 until DDR5 took over in the early 2020s. |
| DDR5 | Double Data Rate 5 | Fifth generation of DDR memory, introduced in consumer PCs in late 2021, offering higher speeds (4,800 MT/s and up), larger module capacities and better power… |
| dGPU | Discrete graphics processing unit | Separate graphics processor with its own dedicated video memory, either on a plug-in graphics card or as a separate chip on a laptop's motherboard. |
| DIMM | Dual inline memory module | Standard full-size memory stick for desktop PCs and servers, a circuit board carrying DRAM chips that plugs into a motherboard slot. |
| DLSS | Deep Learning Super Sampling | Nvidia technology for GeForce RTX graphics cards that renders games at a lower resolution and uses an AI model running on the card's Tensor cores to upscale the image… |
| DMA | Direct memory access | Feature that lets devices such as storage controllers, network cards and graphics cards transfer data to and from main memory without the processor handling every byte… |
| DP | DisplayPort | Royalty-free digital display interface from the Video Electronics Standards Association (VESA), standard on PC monitors and graphics cards. |
| dpi | Dots per inch | Resolution of printers and scanners: the number of ink or toner dots, or scanned samples, per linear inch. |
| DRAM | Dynamic random-access memory | Most common type of computer main memory, storing each bit as a charge in a tiny capacitor that must be refreshed many times per second. |
| DVD-R | Digital Versatile Disc Recordable | Write-once recordable DVD format holding 4.7 GB, developed by Pioneer and backed by the DVD Forum. |
| DVD-ROM | Digital Versatile Disc Read-Only Memory | Pre-recorded DVD holding computer data, 4.7 GB on a single layer and 8.5 GB on a dual layer, about seven to twelve times a CD's capacity. |
| DVI | Digital Visual Interface | Video connector introduced in 1999 to carry digital signals from computers to flat-panel monitors, with large white plugs and thumbscrews. |
| ECC | Error-correcting code memory | Memory that stores extra check bits so the system can detect and automatically correct single-bit errors caused by electrical noise or cosmic rays, preventing silent… |
| EEPROM | Electrically erasable programmable read-only memory | Non-volatile memory that can be erased and rewritten byte by byte with electrical signals, used for small amounts of settings and calibration data in microcontrollers… |
| eGPU | External graphics processing unit | Desktop graphics card housed in an external enclosure with its own power supply and connected to a laptop, usually over Thunderbolt or USB4, to add gaming or compute… |
| eMMC | Embedded MultiMediaCard | Flash storage chip combining NAND memory and a controller in one package soldered onto a device's board, used in budget laptops, Chromebooks, tablets, TV boxes and… |
| EPROM | Erasable programmable read-only memory | Memory chip that can be programmed electrically and erased by exposing a quartz window on top to strong ultraviolet light for several minutes. |
| EPS | Entry-Level Power Supply Specification (EPS12V connector) | Name for the 8-pin, often split 4+4-pin, 12-volt CPU power connector between a power supply and a desktop motherboard, usually located near the top-left of the board. |
| ESD | Electrostatic discharge | Sudden flow of static electricity between two objects at different voltages, such as the spark from a finger after walking across carpet. |
| EXPO | Extended Profiles for Overclocking | AMD's royalty-free standard for one-click memory overclocking profiles on DDR5, introduced with Ryzen 7000 processors and the AM5 platform in 2022. |
| FDD | Floppy disk drive | Drive that reads and writes floppy disks, the removable magnetic storage of personal computers from the 1970s to the early 2000s. |
| FLOPS | Floating-point operations per second | The standard measure of computing performance for scientific, graphics and AI workloads, counting arithmetic operations on real numbers each second. |
| FPU | Floating-point unit | Part of a processor that performs arithmetic on floating-point numbers, which represent fractions and very large or small values. |
| FSB | Front-side bus | Shared connection that linked the processor to the northbridge chipset and main memory in PCs of the 1990s and 2000s. |
| FSR | FidelityFX Super Resolution | AMD's upscaling technology for games, rendering at a lower resolution and reconstructing a sharper image to boost frame rates. |
| GDDR | Graphics double data rate | Family of high-bandwidth memory designed for graphics cards and game consoles, with generations including GDDR5, GDDR6, GDDR6X and GDDR7. |
| GPGPU | General-purpose computing on graphics processing units | Use of a graphics processor for non-graphics computation, such as scientific simulation, video encoding, password cracking, cryptocurrency mining and AI training… |
| GPU | Graphics processing unit | Processor with thousands of small cores built to perform many calculations in parallel, originally for rendering 3D graphics and video. |
| HAMR | Heat-assisted magnetic recording | Hard drive technology that uses a tiny laser on the write head to heat a spot of the platter for a fraction of a nanosecond, allowing data to be written on extremely… |
| HBA | Host bus adapter | Expansion card that connects a server or workstation to storage devices or storage networks, such as SAS and SATA disks or a Fibre Channel SAN, passing disks through… |
| HBM | High Bandwidth Memory | Memory built from stacked DRAM dies connected by thousands of vertical through-silicon vias and placed beside the processor on the same package, giving enormous… |
| HD | Hard disk | Older shorthand for a hard disk or hard drive, still seen in the default name of a Mac's startup volume, "Macintosh HD", and in some device menus and manuals. |
| HDD | Hard disk drive | Storage device that records data magnetically on spinning metal or glass platters read by heads on a moving arm. |
| HDMI | High-Definition Multimedia Interface | Digital audio-video standard that carries uncompressed video and multichannel audio over one cable, connecting TVs, monitors, game consoles, streaming sticks, soundbars… |
| HID | Human interface device | Device class for keyboards, mice, game controllers, touchpads and other input hardware, defined in the USB and Bluetooth standards so that devices work with generic… |
| HT | Hyper-Threading | Intel's trademarked implementation of simultaneous multithreading, which lets each processor core handle two threads at once. |
| HTPC | Home theater PC | Computer set up in a living room to play movies, music and TV through a television or AV receiver, often running media software such as Kodi or Plex. |
| HW | Hardware | Shorthand for hardware, the physical components of a computer or electronic device, used in engineering documents, spec sheets, version labels and job titles, often… |
| IDE | Integrated Drive Electronics | Drive interface introduced in 1986 that moved the controller circuitry onto the hard drive itself, connected to the PC by a 40-pin ribbon cable. |
| iGPU | Integrated graphics processing unit | Graphics processor built into the same chip or package as the CPU, sharing system memory instead of having its own video RAM. |
| IOPS | Input/output operations per second | Storage performance metric counting how many separate read or write operations a drive or array completes each second, usually measured with small 4 KB random accesses. |
| IPC | Instructions per clock | Average number of instructions a processor core completes in each clock cycle, a measure of architectural efficiency. |
| IPMI | Intelligent Platform Management Interface | Standardized interface for out-of-band server management, letting administrators check temperatures and fans, read event logs, access the console and control power… |
| IRQ | Interrupt request | Hardware signal that a device such as a keyboard, disk controller or network card sends to the processor to demand immediate attention, pausing the current task. |
| ISA | Instruction set architecture | Specification of the instructions, registers, data types and memory model that a processor family understands, forming the contract between hardware and software. |
| JBOD | Just a bunch of disks | Storage setup in which drives are presented individually or simply joined end to end, without striping or redundancy. |
| KVM | Keyboard, video and mouse switch | Device that lets one keyboard, monitor and mouse control two or more computers, switching between them with a button or hotkey. |
| LBA | Logical block addressing | Scheme that identifies each storage block on a drive by a simple sequential number, starting at 0, instead of its physical cylinder, head and sector position. |
| LGA | Land grid array | Processor socket design in which flat contact pads on the bottom of the CPU press against spring pins in the motherboard socket. |
| LPDDR | Low-Power Double Data Rate | Mobile variant of DDR memory designed for smartphones, tablets and thin laptops, running at lower voltages with power-saving features. |
| LTO | Linear Tape-Open | Open magnetic tape standard for backups and archives, used by enterprises, broadcasters and cloud providers because tape is cheap per terabyte, durable and can be kept… |
| M.2 | M.2 (Next Generation Form Factor) | Compact connector and card format for internal expansion, used mainly for SSDs and Wi-Fi cards in laptops and desktops. |
| mATX | Micro-ATX | Motherboard form factor measuring 244 by 244 mm (9.6 by 9.6 inches), shorter than full ATX and offering up to four expansion slots. |
| MFP | Multifunction printer | Office or home device that combines printing, scanning, copying and often faxing in one unit, typically networked so a whole office can share it. |
| microSD | Micro Secure Digital | Tiny memory card, 15 by 11 mm, used in smartphones, the Nintendo Switch, drones, dash cams and action cameras. |
| Mini-ITX | Mini-ITX motherboard form factor | Compact motherboard standard measuring 170 by 170 mm (6.7 by 6.7 inches) with a single expansion slot, used for small gaming PCs, home servers, media centers and… |
| MIPS | Microprocessor without Interlocked Pipeline Stages | RISC processor architecture created at Stanford and commercialized by MIPS Computer Systems in 1984, used in SGI workstations, the Nintendo 64, the original… |
| MLC | Multi-level cell | NAND flash memory that stores two bits per cell, balancing endurance and cost. |
| MoBo | Motherboard | Informal term for the main circuit board of a computer, which holds the processor socket, memory slots, chipset, expansion slots, storage connectors and rear ports, and… |
| MTBF | Mean time between failures | Average operating time between failures of a repairable system, a key reliability measure for equipment such as hard drives, pumps, aircraft components and power… |
| NAND | NOT-AND (NAND flash memory) | Type of non-volatile flash memory used in SSDs, USB drives, memory cards and phone storage, named after the NAND logic gate that its series-connected memory cells… |
| NAS | Network-attached storage | Dedicated file-storage device connected to a network so that multiple computers, phones and TVs can share files, back up data and stream media. |
| NGFF | Next Generation Form Factor | Original name of the M.2 expansion-card standard, developed by Intel and others as a smaller successor to mSATA and mini PCIe cards in thin laptops. |
| NIC | Network interface card | Hardware that connects a computer to a network, either as a plug-in card or, more commonly, a controller built into the motherboard. |
| NPU | Neural processing unit | Processor block specialized for the matrix math used in artificial intelligence, running tasks such as background blur, voice transcription, photo enhancement and… |
| NUC | Next Unit of Computing | Line of very small desktop computers, roughly 4 by 4 inches, introduced by Intel in 2013 and sold as complete systems or barebones kits. |
| NVMe | Non-Volatile Memory Express | Storage protocol designed for flash memory that connects SSDs directly to the PCI Express bus, cutting latency and allowing far more parallel commands than the older… |
| NVRAM | Non-volatile random-access memory | Memory that keeps its contents without power, used in computers and network devices to store firmware settings such as boot order, startup disk, time zone and display… |
| OC | Overclocking | Running a processor, graphics card or memory faster than its rated speed to gain performance, usually by raising multipliers or voltages in the firmware or through… |
| ODD | Optical disc drive | Drive that reads, and often writes, optical discs such as CDs, DVDs and Blu-ray discs using a laser. |
| ODM | Original design manufacturer | Company that designs and builds products that other firms sell under their own brands, often customizing an existing design. |
| OTG | USB On-The-Go | USB feature that lets a phone or tablet act as a host, so it can connect directly to flash drives, keyboards, mice, game controllers and cameras without a computer. |
| PATA | Parallel ATA | Older drive interface that connected hard drives and optical drives with wide 40-pin ribbon cables carrying two devices each, set as master and slave with jumpers. |
| PCI | Peripheral Component Interconnect | Parallel expansion bus introduced by Intel in 1992 for adding sound, network, modem and graphics cards to PCs, usually in white slots. |
| PCIe | Peripheral Component Interconnect Express | High-speed serial expansion bus that connects graphics cards, NVMe SSDs, network cards and other add-in cards to the motherboard through lanes, labeled x1, x4, x8 or x16. |
| PD | USB Power Delivery | Fast-charging standard that lets USB-C chargers and devices negotiate higher voltages and currents, delivering up to 100 W in PD 3.0 and up to 240 W with Extended Power… |
| PDU | Power distribution unit | Rack-mounted power strip that distributes electricity to servers, switches and storage in a data-center rack. |
| PGA | Pin grid array | Processor packaging in which pins on the underside of the CPU fit into holes in a motherboard socket. |
| PPM | Pages per minute | Printer speed rating stating how many single-sided pages a printer can output each minute, often listed separately for black-and-white and color. |
| PS/2 | Personal System/2 port | Round 6-pin mini-DIN connector for keyboards and mice, color-coded purple for the keyboard and green for the mouse. |
| PSU | Power supply unit | Component that converts mains AC electricity into the low-voltage DC power, mainly 12, 5 and 3.3 volts, that a computer's parts need. |
| PWM | Pulse-width modulation | Technique that controls the average power delivered to a load by switching it fully on and off rapidly and varying the fraction of time it is on, the duty cycle. |
| QLC | Quad-level cell | NAND flash memory that stores four bits per cell, maximizing capacity and lowering cost per terabyte at the expense of endurance and sustained write speed. |
| RAID | Redundant array of independent disks | Technique that combines several drives into one logical unit for speed, redundancy or both. |
| RAM | Random-access memory | Fast, temporary working memory where a computer holds the programs and data it is actively using. |
| RISC | Reduced instruction set computer | Processor design philosophy based on a small set of simple instructions, each executing quickly, often in one clock cycle, with the compiler doing more of the work. |
| RISC-V | RISC-V (open instruction set architecture) | Free, open-standard instruction set architecture that anyone can implement without paying royalties, used in microcontrollers, storage controllers, AI accelerators and… |
| ROM | Read-only memory | Non-volatile memory whose contents are written at manufacture or rarely changed, used to hold firmware such as a computer's BIOS, a game cartridge's code or a device's… |
| RU | Rack unit | Standard unit of height for equipment in 19-inch racks, equal to 1.75 inches (44.45 mm). |
| SAS | Serial Attached SCSI | Enterprise storage interface that carries SCSI commands over serial point-to-point links, used for server and storage-array drives. |
| SATA | Serial ATA | Interface for connecting hard drives, SSDs and optical drives to a motherboard with thin 7-pin data cables and a separate 15-pin power connector. |
| SBC | Single-board computer | Complete computer built on one circuit board, with processor, memory, storage interface and input/output, used for hobby projects, education, robotics, media centers… |
| SCSI | Small Computer System Interface | Set of standards for connecting and transferring data between computers and peripheral devices such as hard drives, tape drives, scanners and CD burners. |
| SD | Secure Digital | Memory-card standard used in cameras, drones, laptops, game consoles and audio recorders, with full-size cards measuring 32 by 24 mm. |
| SDHC | Secure Digital High Capacity | SD card class for capacities from more than 2 GB up to 32 GB, introduced in 2006 and formatted with FAT32. |
| SDRAM | Synchronous dynamic random-access memory | DRAM that synchronizes its operations with the system clock, letting the memory controller pipeline requests efficiently. |
| SDXC | Secure Digital eXtended Capacity | SD card class for capacities above 32 GB up to 2 TB, introduced in 2009 and formatted with exFAT by default. |
| SFF | Small form factor | Category of compact computers and cases, from office desktops much smaller than a standard tower to enthusiast gaming PCs under about 20 liters. |
| SFX | Small Form Factor eXtended | Compact power-supply form factor measuring 125 by 63.5 by 100 mm, designed for small cases where a standard ATX PSU will not fit. |
| SLC | Single-level cell | NAND flash memory that stores one bit per cell, offering the highest speed and endurance, often rated around 100,000 program/erase cycles, at the highest cost per… |
| SLI | Scalable Link Interface | Nvidia technology that linked two to four graphics cards with a bridge connector so they could render a game together. |
| SMART | Self-Monitoring, Analysis and Reporting Technology | Monitoring system built into hard drives and SSDs that tracks health indicators such as reallocated sectors, error rates, temperature, power-on hours and flash wear, so… |
| SMR | Shingled magnetic recording | Hard drive technology that overlaps data tracks like roof shingles to fit more data on each platter. |
| SMT | Simultaneous multithreading | Technique that lets one physical processor core run two (or more) instruction streams, called threads, at once by sharing its execution resources. |
| SO-DIMM | Small outline dual inline memory module | Compact memory module used in laptops, mini PCs and some all-in-one computers, about half the length of a desktop DIMM. |
| SoC | System on a chip | Integrated circuit that combines most of a computer's components, typically CPU cores, a GPU, an NPU, memory controllers, modems and media engines, on a single piece of… |
| SPD | Serial presence detect | Small memory chip on a RAM module that stores its size, speed, timings, voltage and manufacturer data, plus XMP or EXPO overclocking profiles, which the motherboard… |
| SRAM | Static random-access memory | Fast memory that holds each bit in a circuit of several transistors, typically six, and needs no refreshing while powered. |
| SSD | Solid-state drive | Storage device that keeps data in NAND flash memory chips with no moving parts, making it far faster, quieter and more shock-resistant than a hard drive. |
| SSHD | Solid-state hybrid drive | Hard drive with a small built-in flash cache, typically 8 GB, that stores frequently used files for faster access while keeping the large, cheap capacity of spinning… |
| TBW | Terabytes written | An SSD endurance rating: the total data the manufacturer guarantees can be written to the drive during its warranty. |
| TDP | Thermal design power | Amount of heat, in watts, that a processor or graphics chip is designed to produce under a sustained typical heavy load, used to size coolers and power delivery. |
| TFLOPS | Teraflops | Trillion floating-point operations per second, the unit commonly used to compare graphics cards and game consoles. |
| TIM | Thermal interface material | Substance placed between a heat source such as a CPU or GPU and its heatsink to fill microscopic gaps and improve heat transfer. |
| TLC | Triple-level cell | NAND flash memory that stores three bits per cell, the mainstream choice for consumer SSDs, phones and memory cards because it combines good speed with moderate cost. |
| TPM | Trusted Platform Module | Security chip, or firmware equivalent, that stores encryption keys, certificates and boot measurements in hardware that resists tampering. |
| TPU | Tensor Processing Unit | Google's custom chip for machine learning, designed to accelerate the tensor (multi-dimensional array) operations at the heart of neural networks. |
| UFS | Universal Flash Storage | JEDEC storage standard for smartphones and tablets that uses a high-speed serial interface able to read and write at the same time. |
| UPS | Uninterruptible power supply | Battery backup device that keeps computers, network equipment and other electronics running for minutes during a power outage and protects them from surges and brownouts. |
| USB | Universal Serial Bus | Standard for connecting keyboards, mice, drives, phones, printers, cameras and countless other devices to computers, and for charging them. |
| USB-A | Universal Serial Bus Type-A | Original flat, rectangular USB connector found on computers, chargers, TVs and car stereos, and on the host end of most older cables. |
| USB-B | Universal Serial Bus Type-B | Square-ish USB connector with beveled top corners used on the device end of cables for printers, scanners, audio interfaces and some external drives. |
| USB-C | Universal Serial Bus Type-C | Small, oval, reversible 24-pin connector used for charging and data on phones, laptops, tablets, headphones and accessories. |
| USB4 | Universal Serial Bus 4 | USB generation based on Intel's Thunderbolt 3 protocol, offering 20 or 40 Gbit/s over USB-C, and up to 80 Gbit/s in USB4 Version 2.0. |
| VDU | Visual display unit | British term for a computer monitor or terminal screen, common from the 1970s to the 1990s and still found in workplace health and safety contexts. |
| VGA | Video Graphics Array | Analog video connector and display standard introduced by IBM in 1987, using a blue 15-pin D-sub (DE-15) plug with screw thumbscrews. |
| VRAM | Video random-access memory | Dedicated memory on a graphics card or GPU that stores textures, frame buffers, 3D models and, for AI work, model weights. |
| VRM | Voltage regulator module | Power-conversion circuit on a motherboard or graphics card that steps 12-volt power from the power supply down to the roughly 1 to 1.5 volts a processor needs… |
| WORM | Write once, read many | Storage that can be written once but not modified or deleted afterward, used to keep records tamper-proof for legal, financial and medical compliance. |
| XMP | Extreme Memory Profile | Intel specification for storing tested overclocking settings, such as speed, timings and voltage, on a memory module so that users can apply them with one setting in… |
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