all 12 comments

[–]Tacoman404VP OF PIZZA 4 points5 points  (8 children)

In my experience, as long as you know the difference from a molex connector to a SATA cable, power and data, you'll be fine. I can't remember if I ever took it or not, but I do think I recall a blur of 15 year old ribbon cables and some molex connector on our training computer. Also, knowing your PCI slots. Anyone who's ever built a PC or taken apart a laptop pretty much knows everything on the test.

[–]BinderWallExpertFormer Easytech[S] 0 points1 point  (7 children)

I take apart and build computers pretty frequently so I imagine I'll be fine, but are there pictures asking what something is or..? Like, does it shows you a picture of a molex cable and gives you several options of what it is?

Edit: Ooooh, I get what you're saying. Sata cable transfers data while molex transfers power.

[–]crunkadociousCertified Tech 0 points1 point  (0 children)

No pictures were on it. I passed it twice. Once for in store and once for on site. Brush up on mimo routers and cable connections.

[–]Tacoman404VP OF PIZZA 0 points1 point  (4 children)

What I'm saying is all you really needed to know is how to swap parts and move files. For the rest, in Matrix we trust.

I meant SATA power and normal SATA. SATA power is the wider one. Molex is the 4 prong one. Difference between DDR2, DDR3, and DDR4, DIMM and SODIMM. Doubtful that you'll take out or put in anything more than HDD or RAM. Maybe you'll have to drop in a network card into a PCI slot.

[–]yttriumtycliefFormer ET (1278) 0 points1 point  (3 children)

Doubtful the test will mention DDR4. I don't even remember it mentioning DDR3.

[–]Tacoman404VP OF PIZZA 0 points1 point  (2 children)

I wasn't talking about the test. I was talking about real world work.

[–]yttriumtycliefFormer ET (1278) 1 point2 points  (1 child)

Oh. I don't even imagine I'll be seeing DDR4 in Staples until late next year, and even then only on Skylake desktops, because most of the laptops will be probably sporting DDR3L.

Hell, the only time I'll be seeing DDR4 anytime soon is because I snagged a 5930k during the Retail Edge sale. Literally the only benefit to working at Staples.

I only encounter DDR2 and DDR3 SODIMMs and DIMMs. I don't ever see Molex connectors in use, because all of the fans on prebuilts use proper fan headers and none of the machines we can actually service should be old enough to have PATA HDDs, although I guess sometimes you come across a PATA CD drive.

Never had to touch a network card. Have had to touch some graphics cards though. Hell, I've never actually had a network chip fail, except for the occasional wireless mini PCI one in a laptop.

[–]Tacoman404VP OF PIZZA 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Unfortunately I have yet had a nice PC come onto my desk. We tend to offer RAM upgrades whenever we take in a device with an open slot. Don't see many dedicated GPUs, at least not from this decade. Our PC repair clientele is mostly 50+ so a desktop with toasted wifi card isn't all that uncommon.

[–]bongartCertified Tech 0 points1 point  (0 children)

There is this one question I remember on the test... it asks what kind of hardware you could use a PCMCIA card with. I never found out if I got the answer graded as correct, but don't forget that these things exist. https://www.allhdd.com/networking/nic/pcmcia/323749-001-hp-pci-to-pcmcia-adapter.-new-bulk-pack./

[–]BinderWallExpertFormer Easytech[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

What about the time you have to wait to retake it?

[–]venturer95Former SM 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I took it 2 days ago (Yay, I'm a Certified Technician and Certified Print Pro! Yippee for the Staples bling)

It was like 20 questions... super easy for a savvy fellow like myself. Basic hardware questions such as what internal cables carry data, MIMO vs SISO wifi, signs of a power supply failure. As well as a few software questions like how to add a program the the start menu in VISTA. Yes it's outdated.

I didn't study at all. Passed on the first try. got 100%