Chapter 2

The System Unit

 The System Unit

o Also known as the system chassis, the system unit houses most of the electronic
components that make up a computer system.
 Desktop system units typically contain the system’s electronic
components and selected secondary storage devices. Input and output
devices, such as a mouse, keyboard, and monitor, are located outside the
system unit.

 Electronic Data and Instructions

o Computers are digital devices as opposed to analog devices. Therefore,
computers can only understand things as on or off.
o On is represented as a 1 and off as 0, thus a binary system. The binary system,
however, consists of only two digits—0 and 1.
o Each 0 or 1 is called a bit—short for binary digit.
o In order to represent numbers, letters, and special characters, bits are combined
into groups of eight called bytes. Each byte typically represents one character.
o Binary coding schemes
 There are many types of coding schemes, these are the most commonly
used:
 ASCII (American Standard Code for Information Interchange)
 EBCDIC (Extended Binary Coded Decimal Interchange Code)
 Unicode

 System Board
o It is the communications medium for the entire computer system because every
component of the system unit connects to the system board. Also known as the
motherboard.
o A large flat circuit board covered with a variety of different electronic
components.
o Sockets provide a connection point for small specialized electronic parts called
chips.
o Chips consist of tiny circuit boards etched onto squares of sand-like material
called silicon. Also called integrated circuits.
o Slots provide a connection point for specialized cards or circuit boards. These
cards provide expansion capability for a computer system.
o Connecting lines called bus lines provide pathways that support communication
among the various electronic components that are either located on the system
board or attached to the system board.

 Microprocessor

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 o The central processing unit (CPU) or processor is contained on a single chip
called the microprocessor.
o The microprocessor is the “brains” of the computer system.
o It has two basic components:
 The control unit tells the rest of the computer system how to carry out a
program’s instructions. It directs the movement of electronic signals.
 The arithmetic-logic unit, usually called the ALU, performs two types of
operations: arithmetic and logical.

 Memory
o Memory is a holding area for data, instructions, and information.
o There are three well-known types of memory chips: random-access memory
(RAM), read-only memory (ROM), and complementary metal-oxide
semiconductor (CMOS).
o RAM
 Random-access memory (RAM) chips hold the program (sequence of
instructions) and data that the CPU is presently processing.
 RAM is temporary or volatile storage because everything in most types of
RAM is lost as soon as the microcomputer is turned off.
 Cache memory improves processing by acting as a temporary high-speed
holding area between the memory and the CPU.
 Memory capacity is expressed in bytes. See chart in figure 6-12.
 Virtual memory is space utilized on a secondary storage device by the
operating system when there isn’t enough RAM to process all
applications. It is a swap area where each part is read into RAM only
when needed.
o ROM
 Read-only memory (ROM) chips have programs built into them at the
factory.
 ROM chips are not volatile and cannot be changed by the user.
 ROM chips typically contain special instructions for detailed computer
operations.
o Flash Memory
 Offers a combination of the features of RAM and ROM.
 Flash memory chips can retain data even if power is disrupted.
 Used for a wide variety of applications.

 Expansion slots and cards

o Expansion cards plug into slots located on the system board.
o Ports on the cards allow cables to be connected from the expansion cards to
devices outside the system unit.
o Some of the more common devices are graphics cards, sound cards, modem
cards, network interface cards, and TV Tuner cards.

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 o Plug and Play is a set of hardware and software standards developed by
hardware and software vendors that is associated with the ability to plug any
device into a computer and have it play or work immediately.

 Bus Line
o A bus line connects the parts of the CPU to each other.
o Buses also link the CPU to various other components on the system board.
o A bus is a pathway for bits representing data and instructions.
o Bus design or bus architecture is an important factor relating to the speed and
power for a particular computer.
 The wider the bus, the more bits that can be moved simultaneously.
o There are two types of buses
 System - connects the CPU to memory on the system board
 Expansion - connects the CPU to other components on the system board.
o Expansion Buses
 Peripheral component interconnect (PCI) – developed to meet the video
demands of graphical user interfaces. 32- or 64- bit.
 Universal serial bus (USB) combines with a PCI bus on the system board
to support several external devices without using expansion cards or
slots.
 FireWire buses operate much like USB buses.
 Serial Advanced Technology Attachment (SATA) buses are much faster
than USB 2.0 and FireWire buses and are now widely used for connect
high-speed storage devices to the system board.
 PCI Express (PCIe) is widely used in many of today’s most powerful
computers. It provides a single dedicated path for each connected device.
PCIe buses are much faster and are replacing the PCI bus.

 Ports
o A port is a socket for external devices to connect to the system unit.
o Five standard types: Serial, Parallel, USB, FireWire, and Ethernet
o Specialized types: S/PDIF, HDMI, and MIDI
o Cables are used to connect devices to the appropriate port

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