K

# A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z


K
See kilo.
K5
A Pentium-class CPU chip from AMD. K5 chips are available in models that rival a 166MHz Pentium chip. See K6.
K6
A Pentium II-class CPU chip from AMD. The first models were introduced in 1997 at 166MHz, 200MHz and 233MHz clock speeds. The K6 chip contains the MMX instruction set used in Pentium MMX and Pentium II CPUs and plugs into the Socket 7 processor socket on Pentium motherboards. The K6 was originally engineered by NexGen, which AMD acquired in 1996.

The second-generation K6-2 chip, introduced in 1998, improves performance and adds AMD's 3DNow 3-D instructions for faster rendering of games and animation. The K6-3 was introduced in 1999 with improved performance and greater onboard cache. The K6 series has been superseded by the Athlon.
K7
See Athlon.
KB
(1) (KB) (KiloByte) One thousand bytes (technically 1,024 bytes). See kilo.

(2) (Kb) (KiloBit) One thousand bits (technically 1,024 bits). Lower case "b" for bit and "B" for byte is the rule but it is not always followed and is often misprinted. Thus, Kb may refer to kilobyte. See kilo.
Kbps
(KiloBits Per Second) One thousand bits per second. Kbps is used as a rating of relatively slow transmission speed compared to the common Mbps or Gbps ratings. Upper case "B" in KBps means kilobytes per second, but "b" for bit and "B" for byte are not always followed and often misprinted. KBps or KB/s would be used for earlier disk and tape transfer ratings as data are transferred in parallel, not serial.

A variation of the term is "K bps," with a space between the K and bps. In this case, it may mean exactly 1,000 bps in constrast to "Kbps" without the space which would be the binary 1,024 bps. This usage is not widely known or adhered to and most modem ratings use Kbps. For example, 56 Kbps means 56,000 bps and not 56 times 1,024 bps. See kilo.
kilo
Thousand (10 to the 3rd power). Abbreviated "K." For technical specifications, it refers to the precise value 1,024 since computer specifications are based on binary numbers. For example, 64K means 65,536 bytes when referring to memory or storage (64x1024), but a 64K salary means $64,000. The IEEE uses "K" for 1,024, and "k" for 1,000. See KB.
kilobit
(thousand bits). For technical specifications, it refers to 1,024 bits. In general usage, it typically refers to an even one thousand bits (see kilo). Also written as Kb, Kbit and K-bit. As a rule, small "b" means "bit" and large "B" means "byte" following the "K".
kilobyte
(thousand bytes). For technical specifications, it refers to 1,024 bytes. In general usage, it typically refers to an even one thousand bytes (see kilo). Also written as KB, Kbyte and K-byte. As a rule, small "b" means "bit" and large "B" means "byte" following the "K".

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