Glossary
Purpose
Section titled “Purpose”Define PC building, BIOS, Windows, thermal, storage, memory, and power terminology used in this manual.
| Term | Meaning |
|---|---|
| AIO | All-in-one liquid CPU cooler with pump, cold plate, tubes, radiator, and fans. |
| AM5 | AMD desktop CPU socket used by the Ryzen 7 7800X3D. |
| ATX | Motherboard and PSU size standard. This build uses an ATX motherboard and ATX PSU. |
| BIOS | Motherboard firmware used to configure boot, memory, fan, security, and hardware settings. |
| CMOS | Small firmware settings storage area. Clearing CMOS resets BIOS settings. |
| DDR5 | Current desktop memory generation used by this motherboard. DDR4 is not compatible. |
| DIMM | Desktop memory module. This build uses two DDR5 DIMMs. |
| EXPO | AMD memory profile that applies validated memory speed, timing, and voltage settings. |
| EPS | CPU power connector from the PSU to the motherboard. |
| fTPM | Firmware TPM support used by Windows 11 security requirements. |
| F_PANEL | Motherboard header for case power switch, reset switch, power LED, drive LED, speaker, and related case leads. |
| GPU | Graphics processing unit; the dedicated graphics card. |
| Header | Motherboard connector used for case wiring, fans, USB, audio, lighting, or control signals. |
| M.2 | Compact expansion slot used here for the NVMe SSD. |
| NVMe | High-speed SSD protocol used over PCIe. |
| PCIe | Expansion bus used by the GPU and NVMe SSD. |
| POST | Power-on self-test performed by the motherboard during boot. |
| PSU | Power supply unit. Converts wall power to PC component power rails. |
| Q-Flash | Gigabyte BIOS update function. |
| QVL | Qualified vendor list. Compatibility evidence list published by a manufacturer. |
| Secure Boot | UEFI feature that helps ensure trusted boot components. |
| TPM | Trusted Platform Module capability required for normal Windows 11 support. |
| UEFI | Modern firmware boot environment that replaced legacy BIOS boot. |
- This manual uses “BIOS” as the common user-facing term even where the firmware is technically UEFI.
- This manual treats compatibility as a documented evidence item, not a task left to the reader when the result is already known.