Computer components

Principle of Computer Systems

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Hardware & Software

Hardware
All of the electronic and mechanical equipment in a
computer is called the hardware. Examples include:

• Motherboard
• Hard disk
• RAM
• Power supply
• Processor
• Case
• Monitor
• Keyboard
• Mouse
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Hardware & Software

Software
The term software is used to describe computer
programs that perform a task or tasks on a computer
system. Software can be grouped as follows:

• System software - Operating System etc.

• Utility programs - Antivirus etc.
• Applications Software - Word, SolidWorks etc.

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PC Components

Computer system - collection of electronic and

mechanical devices operating as a unit. The main
parts are:
1. System unit
2. Monitor
3. Keyboard
4. Mouse
5. Speakers
2 1

3 4
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System Unit

The system unit is the main container for system

devices. It protects the delicate electronic and
mechanical devices from damage. Typical system
unit devices include:

• Motherboard
• CPU (Processor)
• Memory
• Disk drives
• Ports - USB etc.
• Power supply
• Expansion cards - sound card, network
card, graphics card etc.

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Peripherals

Peripherals are devices that connect to the system

unit using cables or wireless technologies. Typical
peripherals include:

• Monitor
• Keyboard
• Printer
• Plotter
• Scanner
• Speakers
Plotter

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System Devices
Processor

An integrated circuit (IC) supplied on a single silicon

chip. Its function is to control all the computers
functions. The main processor manufacturers are:

• AMD - Ryzen etc. (mobile)

• Intel - Core i etc. (mobile)

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System Devices

Computer program - a series of instructions. When a

program is run, the processor carries out these
instructions in an orderly fashion. Typical instructions
include:

• Arithmetic - addition, subtraction etc

• Logical - comparing data and acting according
to the result
• Move - move data from place to place within the
computer system - memory to the processor for
addition - memory to a printer or disk drive etc.

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System Devices

Processor speed - measured in megahertz (MHz)

or Gigahertz (GHz) - the speed of the system clock
(clock speed) within the processor and it controls
how fast instructions are executed:

• 1 MHz - 1 million clock ticks every second

• 1 GHz - 1 billion clock ticks every second

Latest trend - multi-core processors can have two,

three or four processor cores or more on a single
chip.

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System Devices

Random Access Memory (RAM)

• Primary storage - main computer memory. Data,

programs currently in use are held in RAM
• Volatile - contents of memory are lost if the
computer is turned off
• Module - memory IC’s on a circuit board

IC’s
Memory
Module

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System Devices

Memory is sold in modules:

• DIMM’s (dual inline memory module) for

desktop computers

• SODIMM’s (small outline dual inline memory

module) for notebook computers.

DIMM
Module

SODIMM
Module

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 System Devices

DIMM’s and SODIMM’s are available in modules of

1GB, 2GB, 4GB, 8GB, 16GB, 32GB and more
The current technology is called DDR (double data ram)
and there are three types: DDR1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6

Any particular computer system is only compatible with

one type.
Module capacity
Module name

Module type Module speed

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 System Devices
Motherboard

Mainboard or system board - the main circuit board

for the computer system. All device in the computer
system will either be part of the motherboard or
connected to it.
Memory
Sockets
Processor
Socket
Chipset

PCI Slots
Ports
Graphics Slot
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System Devices
Processor socket - different processors require
different sockets and a motherboard must be chosen
to suit the processor intended for use:

• Socket AM4 - AMD Ryzen

• Socket LGA1151, LGA2066 etc – Intel Core i7

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System Devices

Chipset - controls data flow around the computer.

It consists of two chips:
• Northbridge - data flow between memory
and processor - data flow between the
processor and the graphic's card
• Southbridge - controls data flow to the
devices - USB, IDE, SATA, LAN and Audio -
controls PCI slots and onboard graphics

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System Devices

Buses - a path through which data can be sent to the

different parts of the computer system. Main buses:
Processor

Front Side
Bus RAM

Northbridge
Graphics Slot Memory Bus
PC-Express or AGP All Memory
Graphics Bus

Internal
Bus

Southbridge
PCI Slots PCI Bus Onboard
IDE Graphics
PCI Bus SATA
USB
LAN
Audio

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System Devices
Power Supply

A computer power supply has a number of functions:

• Converts Alternating current (AC) Direct

current (DC)
• Transforms mains voltage (240 Volts) to the
voltages required by the computer. The main
voltages are:
• 12 volts for the disk drives as they have motors
• 3.3 and 5 volts for the circuit boards in the computer

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System Devices
• Uses advances power management (APM) to
allow the computer go into a standby mode
• Some have a switch to toggle between 240 volt
supplies and 110 volt supplies.

• The main connections are:

3 4

1 2

Connects to the motherboard and supplies the 3.3 and 5

1 Main connector
volt supply for the board.

2 Molex connector Connects IDE hard drives and optical drives.

3 Berg connector Connects floppy disk drives

4 SATA connector Connects SATA drives

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System Devices
Ports
Computer ports are interfaces between peripheral
devices and the computer. They are mainly found at
the back of the computer but are often also built into the
front of the computer chassis for easy access.
Ports at the rear of the computer

Ports at the front of the computer

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System Devices

• Serial port - a 9-pin port. Often called Com

ports - Com1, Com2 etc. Mice and external
modems were connected to these ports. They
are turquoise in colour.

• Parallel port - a 25-pin port used to connect

printers, scanners, external hard disks, zip
drives etc. to the computer. Burgundy in
colour, they are often called LPT ports -
LPT1, LPT2 etc.

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System Devices

• Video port - used to connect a monitor to the

computer system. There are two types:
• VGA port - This is a 15-pin port and is blue in
colour. It is an analogue port and is being replaced by
the DVI port.

• DVI port - white in colour, it is a digital port. This

means that no conversion is necessary between the
computer and the monitor and that means that images
can be produced more quickly on the monitor

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System Devices

• PS/2 port - used to connect keyboards and

mice to the computer. The keyboard port is
purple and the mouse port is green

• Modem port - used to connect a modem to a

telephone line. RJ11 is the technical term for the
port.

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System Devices

• USB port - intended to replace Serial, Parallel

and PS/2 ports with a single standard. 127
devices can be connected to a single USB port.
Hot swappable - devices can be connected
and disconnected while the computer is on

There are different USB standards in use:

• USB 1 - original standard - transfer data of 1.5MBps.
• USB 2 - current standard - transfer rate of 60MBps.
• USB3 - future standard (2009) transfer rate of 600MBps.

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System Devices

• FireWire port - (IEEE 1394) is an Apple

technology There are two versions available
and a third is planned:

• FW 400 - transfer rate of 50MBps.

• FW 800 - transfer rate of 100MBps.
• FW S3200 - transfer rate of 400MBps.

• USB devices must be connected to a host

computer while FireWire devices can be
connected to each other without using a
computer.
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System Devices
• Ethernet port - used to connect to a network.
Known as RJ45, it is larger than a modem port.

• Audio ports - used to input and output audio

from the computer. Three mini jack ports but
there may be more:

• Light blue - Line in - connect external devices

• Lime - Connect the speakers to this port.
• Pink - Connect a microphone to this port.

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System Devices
Graphics card 3

4
2

Graphics card handles it’s own processing making it

1 Processor and fan
almost independent of the processor.

2 Board connector AGP or PCI-Express

Graphics card has it’s own memory. This makes it much

3 Memory
faster. Most new cards use DDR3 memory.

4 DVI connector Digital output is supplied through this port.

5 VGA connector Analogue output is provided through this port.

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System Devices
Graphic card - screen images are made up of dots
called pixels (picture elements). The graphics card
must process each of these pixels to create the image.

The resolution of a screen is the number of pixels

being displayed. Typical resolutions include:

• 800 x 600 - 480,000 pixels

• 1024 x 768 - 786,432 pixels
• 1280 x 1024: - 1,310,720 pixels
• 1600 x 1200: - 1,920,000 pixels

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System Devices

There are two types of graphic card available:

• AGP (accelerated graphics port) - the older

technology but still available. It can output in
analogue or digital or both.
• PCI-Express - the newer technology - faster
than AGP. Allows for two graphics cards to
improve the performance - called Scalable
Link Interface (SLI). PCI-Express can also
output in analogue or digital or both.
• These cards are mutually exclusive and the
choice is made according to the graphics slot
on the motherboard.
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System Devices
Sound card

1 PCI connector Connects the sound card to a PCI slot

Musical Instrument Digital Interface port is used

2 MIDI socket to connect digital musical instruments to the
computer.
These are used to connect microphones, speakers,
3 Audio jacks
stereo systems etc to the computer.

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System Devices

The main functions of a sound card are:

• To use a DAC (digital to analogue converter)

to prepare audio for speakers etc.

• To use an ADC (analogue to digital converter)

to convert the audio coming into the computer.

A sound card can be connected to the following:

• Analogue input devices - Microphone, Radio,

Tape deck, Record player etc
• Headphones and speakers
• Output to tape etc.
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 System Devices
Network card
• allows computers join a network. Can be wired
or wireless. The standard used is called
Ethernet - covers wired and wireless
networks.
The wired standards include:
• Fast Ethernet - transmission speed of
100Mbps.
• Gigabyte Ethernet - transmission speed of
1000Mbps.

PCI PC card USB

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System Devices
The wireless standards include:

• The B standard - introduced in 1999, it has

a transmission rate of 11Mbps and a range of
30 Metres.
• The G standard - introduced in 2003, it has
a transmission rate of 54Mbps and a range of
30 Metres.
• The N standard - introduced in 2006, it has
a transmission speed of 540Mbps and a
range of 50 metres.

PCI PC Card USB

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System Devices
Modem

• Internet access using a telephone line.

• Converts the digital computer data to analogue
(Modulation) before transmission over the
telephone line and converts the analogue data
to digital (DEModulation) before transmission to
the computer. The device gets it’s name from
these two terms.

• The standard transmission speed of a modem is

56Kbps.

PCI USB
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System Devices
Hard Disk

• Primary storage (memory) - volatile - contents

lost when power is turned off.

• Secondary storage (disk drives) - non-volatile -

can store files when power is turned off.

• In memory, voltages are used to store data as

binary 1’s and binary 0’s. It was decided to mimic
the situation for secondary storage using
magnetism instead of electrical voltages to
represent the binary data.

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System Devices
• A metal disk (platter) is coated with tiny iron
particles which can be magnetised to north and
south to represent the binary digits 0 and 1.

• A read-write head is used to magnetise the

particles on the disk surface to represent the data
held in RAM. The computer can now be switched
off and a copy of the data is safe for later use.

Metal disk
(platter)
covered with
iron particles.

Read-write
head

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 System Devices

Hard disks can be internal or external. The internal

standards are:

• IDE ( Integrated Drive Electronics). The disks

connect to the motherboard using a ribbon cable.
Each cable can hold two drives - master and
slave. The drive is set as master or slave by
positioning a jumper switch on the back of the
drive. There are two IDE connectors and a total
of four drives can be connected.

Master Slave M/board Jumper

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System Devices

• SATA (Serial Advanced Technology Attachment)

allow faster data transfer speeds than IDE.
There is no master/slave arrangement with
SATA and each drive has it’s own cable. The
cables are much smaller and allow better air
circulation in the system unit.
SATA
Cable

Motherboard connectors

IDE SATA

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 System Devices
External hard disk drives can be IDE or SATA and
can be mains powered or host powered. Host
powered drives receive their power from the USB port.
Mains Host
Powered Powered

Hard disk drives are also now found in video recorders,

digital music players, digital camcorders, digital
cameras and mobile phones.
2½ inch Notebook Drive
Microdrive
1 inch Microdrive

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System Devices
Optical drives
• Optical drives use lasers to sense pits and lands
mechanically pressed into a polycarbonate disk.
These pits and lands represent the binary 0’s and
1’s and so can store computer data.
• A thin layer of metal reflect the laser light. As the
disk rotates, the laser senses the pits and lands
and reads the data from the disk. The laser only
operates at a single intensity as it only scans the
surface of the disk to detect the pits and lands.

Land Pit

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 System Devices

CD-R (blank CD’s) use a dye layer to mimic the lands

and pits created mechanically on commercial disks.

• The laser used has two intensities.

• At the high setting, it burns spots on the dye
layer changing it from transparent to opaque. This
allows data to be written as spots of transparency
and opacity.
• At the low setting, it reads these differences
Label

Reflective metal layer

Dye layer
Polycarbonate

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 System Devices

The CD-RW (re-writable) disk is similar but the laser has

three intensities. The third and highest is needed to
turn the burned areas of the dye layer back to their
original condition. The dye layer can now be re-burned
to hold new data.

The three laser intensities are:

• Intensity 1 - Read data

• Intensity 2 - Burn data
• Intensity 3 - Erase data

The CD-R disk has a capacity of 650MB to 800MB.

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System Devices
DVD’s hold a lot more data than CD’s. They can
have several layers, each holding 4.7GB of data.
The possibilities are:
Number of sides 1 1 2 2
Number of layers 1 2 1 2
Disk capacity 4.7GB 8.5GB 9.4GB 17GB

Dual layer disks have two reflective layers, one which

can be penetrated at a certain intensity
Label

Total reflective metal layer

Dye layers Semi reflective metal layer

Polycarbonate

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System Devices
DVD Formats

Read only. Mechanically stamped and manufactured as single

1 DVD-ROM
or double layer and as single sided or double sided.

Single or dual layer disks and can be single or double sided.

2 DVD-R
They can be written to only once.

3 DVD-RW Same as DVD-R but can be written to several times.

These are single or dual layer disks and can be single or double
4 DVD+R
sided. They can be written to only once.
These are the same as DVD+R only that they can be written to
5 DVD+RW
several times.

DVD-R and DVD+R are incompatible with each other.

Manufacturers have produced DVD±R drives capable
of reading and writing to both standards.
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System Devices
A number of new high capacity formats have come
onto the market.

These are:

Uses a new laser technology resulting in layer of 15GB instead

1 HD-DVD of the 4.7GB on standard DVD. This gives a total capacity of
a double sided - double layered disk as 60GB.

Higher capacity than HD-DVD - 25GB of data/layer. A dual

2 Blu-Ray layer disk can hold 50GB. Technically, a double sided and
double layered disk can hold 100GB of data.

Blu-Ray HD-DVD

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System Devices
Card readers
Replaces floppy drives in new computers. They can
read media cards from most digital cameras:

• Microdrive:
• Smartmedia:
• SD memory card:
• Memory stick/Duo/Pro:
• xD picture card:
Card reader drive

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System Devices
Monitors
A computer monitor displays images generated by the
graphics card.

Monitors are almost exclusively LCD (Liquid Crystal

Display). CRT (Cathode Ray Tube) monitors are rare
and are now as expensive as LCD monitors.

19 inch Widescreen LCD

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 System Devices
The aspect ratio of a computer monitor is the ratio between the
width and height of the screen. The aspect ratios are:

• Standard monitor - 4:3

• Widescreen monitor - 16:9

Most LCD monitors offer a HDMI, VGA and a DVI connection.

The VGA connector is used for analogue signals and the DVI
connector is used for digital. As the computer is a digital machine,
it is best if no conversion is required and so the best option is the
DVI connection.

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 System Devices

Resolution
Standard monitor

• XGA (Extended Graphics Array) - 1024 x 768

• SXGA (Super Extended Graphics Array) - 1280 x 1024
• UXGA (Ultra Extended Graphics Array) - 1600 x 1200
• QXGA (Quad Extended Graphics Array) - 2048 x 1536

Widescreen

• WXGA (Wide XGA) - 1280 x 800

• WSXGA (Wide SXGA) - 1680 x 1050
• WUXGA (Wide UXGA) - 1920 x 1200

LCD monitors - native resolution at which the image is crisp.

Other resolutions are possible but the image quality decreases.
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System Devices

Keyboard
Primary input device - divided into sections:

• Typing keys - contains the letter and number

keys, shift keys, spacebar, return key etc.

• Numeric keypad - These keys are arranged as

on a calculator.

• Function keys - programmable keys used by

software for special functions. E.g. - F1 - Help.

• Control keys - screen and cursor control.

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System Devices

• Most common arrangement is called

QWERTY after the first six keys.
• Other arrangements are available including
Dvorak, ABCDEF, AZERTY etc.

QWERTY

Dvorak
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System Devices

Keyboards are available wired or wireless:

• Wired - These are either PS/2 or USB.

• Wireless - The keyboard uses batteries.

Wireless keyboard

Rubber keyboard - useful for use with notebook

computers. Leaves users less prone to RSI (Repetitive
Strain Injury)

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System Devices

Mouse
Input device - uses point and click technology
There are two main types:
• Ball mouse - uses a ball to roll across the surface and move
rollers attached to sensors inside the mouse - reflecting the
ball movement as cursor movement.
• Optical mouse - camera takes thousands of images per
second and sends them for digital processing. The red LED
lights up the surface for the camera.
Ball mouse

Optical
mouse

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 System Devices
Printers
Output devices - produce a hardcopy ( permanent
and readable) of computer data. The can print onto
paper, transparency, photographic paper, card etc.

There are two main technologies involved:

• Inkjet (Bubble-jet)
• Laser
Laser

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System Devices
• Inkjet - uses an electric charge to vibrate a membrane.
When the membrane flexes downwards, it ejects an ink
droplet through the nozzle (1). When it flexes upwards, it
draws more ink into the reservoir (2).

1 2

• Bubblejet - a heating element locally heats ink to form a

bubble (1). As the bubble expands, it forces ink through the
nozzle (2). When it bursts, it causes a vacuum which draws
ink into the reservoir (3).

1 2 3

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 System Devices
Laser printers use toner (powdered ink) instead of
liquid ink as in inkjet printers.
• Laser printers produce images using dots. The image is
created using a laser beam and a mirror -lens
arrangement on a drum coated with magnetically
charged toner and then transferred from the drum to the
paper. The paper is then fed through a heated fuser
which fuses the toner to the paper as ink.
Laser

Toner

Fuser
Mirror
and lens

Drum
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 System Devices
Printers are available as A4, A3 and even A2, but if
larger drawings and images are required, a plotter is
more suitable.

Plotters use inkjet technology and are available in A3,

A2, A1 and A0. They take up much less space than
an equivalent inkjet or laser, bur are more expensive.

Plotter
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