Basic Computer Hardware

Presented By:
SHAHID KHAN
 CONTENTS
 what is computer?
 Hardware components
 Process of binary System
Mother Board
 Microprocessor
 Memory
 Why is RAM is so Important?
 Expansion Slot
Different types of Ports
 A computer is:
 An electronic machine that can be
programmed to accept data (input), and
process it into useful information (output).
Data is put in secondary storage (storage)
for safekeeping or later use.
 Our PC (Personal Computer) is a
system, consisting of many
components. Some of those
components, like Windows XP, and all
our other programs are software. The
stuff we can actually see and touch is
hardware.
 Computer systems consist of the
following hardware components:
 Input devices accept data or commands in a form useable by computers. Data and
commands can also be sent to the processing unit; e.g., keyboards, mice, scanners,
microphone, digital camera.
 Output devices display the processed information understandably and usefully; e.g. printers,
monitors, speakers.
 Processing devices are contained in a computer’s system unit and are comprised of
circuitry. The main circuit board is the motherboard, with its central processing unit (CPU)
and memory.
 Storage devices include secondary storage for data and programs outside the computer’s
processing unit; e.g., hard disk drives, floppy disk drives, Zip® drives, CD-ROM, CD-RW and
DVD-ROM drives. Drives read from and write to storage media (the physical material that can
store data and programs).
 Communication devices provide connections between computers and communication
networks, allowing for exchange of information and data with other computers via
transmission media such as cables, telephone lines, and satellites.
Computers process data by means of
a binary system.
 Computers are devices powered by electricity, which has two discrete states: On or
Off.
 Two digits represent these states: 0 for the electronic state of Off, and 1
representing On (the presence of an electronic charge).
 To be processed, all data in a computer system (words, symbols, pictures, videos,
sounds) must be reduced to a string of binary digits. (The process of converting
data from other formats into binary digits is called digitization.)
 A binary digit 1 or 0 is called a bit, the smallest unit of data in a computer system.
Eight bits grouped together as a unit are called a byte, which provides enough
combinations of 0s and 1s to represent 256 individual characters, including
numbers, upper and lower case alphabet letters, punctuation marks and other
characters.
And, then what?
Coding Schemes define
the patterns of bytes
 Coding schemes, such as ASCII,
EBCDIC, and Unicode, provide the
means to interact with a computer that
recognizes only bits (on/off states).
 When you press a letter on a
keyboard, the electronic signals are
converted into binary form and stored
into memory. The computer then
processes the data as bytes of
information and converts them to the
letters you see on the monitor screen
or on a printed page.

SOURCE: http://spruce.flint.umich.edu/~weli/courses/bus181/notes/chap4.html
 The Motherboard and CPU
 The motherboard is the main circuit  The BIOS is also responsible for
board of a microcomputer. It contains allowing you to control your computer's
the central processing unit (CPU), the hardware settings, for booting up the
Basic Input/Output System (BIOS), machine when you turn on the power
memory, mass storage interfaces, or hit the reset button, and various
serial and parallel ports, expansion other system functions.
slots, and all the controllers for
standard peripheral devices like the
keyboard, disk drive and display
screen.
 BIOS stands for Basic Input/Output
System. It is the lowest-level software
in the computer; it acts as an interface
between the hardware (especially the
chipset and processor) and the
operating system. The BIOS provides
access to the system hardware and
enables the creation of the higher-level
operating systems that you use to run
your applications.
 Inside the Processor
The CPU has 2 fundamental sections: the
Control Unit, and the Arithmetic Logic Unit.
These work together to perform processing
operations.
Fundamentally all processors do the same
thing. They take signals in the form of 0s and
1s (thus binary signals), manipulate them
according to a set of instructions, and
produce output in the form of 0s and 1s. The
voltage on the line at the time a signal is sent
determines whether the signal is a 0 or a 1.
On a 3.3-volt system, an application of 3.3
volts means that it's a 1, while an application
of 0 volts means it's a 0.
Other components of the CPU include the
Registers and the System Clock. A
processor’s clock speed is measured in
Megahertz (MHz) and Gigahertz (GHz).
Clock speed is the speed at which a
processor executes instructions. A Pentium
IV typically has a clock speed of 1.4 GHz.

Further research: Buses,

System Bus, Expansion Bus
 ROM: Read Only Memory
 ROM is nonvolatile. ROM
chips contain permanently  Flash memory is
written data, called firmware reprogrammable memory.
(your BIOS lives here).
You can upgrade the logic
 ROM contains the programs
capabilities by simply
that direct the computer to
load the operating system downloading new software.
and related files when the This saves the expense of
computer is powered on. replacing circuit boards and
 ROM chips are usually chips.
recorded when they’re
manufactured.
 Random Access Memory (RAM)
 RAM is Primary Storage, also called internal storage.
 Serves as computer’s workspace, storing all or part of the
program that is being executed, as well as data being used by
the program.
 RAM stores the operating system programs that manage the
operation of the computer.
 RAM is Volatile storage:
 Power goes, data goes!

 More memory = larger workspace

 Large programs = large number of instructions

 Measured in Bytes (KB, MB, GB, etc.)

 Data/instructions are copied into memory as needed.

 Not enough memory or corruption of data/instructions in
memory can cause crash.
 Why is RAM so important?
 Aside from the processor, the two most important factors affecting a
computer system’s performance are RAM and hard disk capacity.
 Hard disks are typically huge, with GBs of storage, so the primary limiting
factor is the amount of installed RAM.
 Without enough RAM, the operating system must swap out storage space
with your hard disk. The OS creates a Paging File (swap file) to
supplement RAM (workspace). This is Virtual Memory.
 Virtual memory is inherently slow! RAM speed can typically be 120,000
times FASTER than the hard disk—so the less you must rely on virtual
memory (swapping files between RAM and hard disk), the faster your
system will perform.
 More About RAM:
 RAM provides instructions and data to the CPU. These instructions/data are coded in
bytes. Each byte is placed in a precise location in memory, called an address. To
access data or instructions in memory, the computer references the addresses containing
the bytes.
 The amount of memory available is therefore measured in bytes:

Approx. Pages
Name Abbreviation Approx. # of Bytes Exact # of Bytes
of Text
Byte B One 1 One character
Kilobyte KB (or K) One thousand 1,024 One-half page
Megabyte MB One million 1,048,576 500 pages

Gigabyte GB One billion 1,073,741,824 500,000 pages

500,000,000
Terabyte TB One trillion 1,099,511,627,776
pages
 RAM continued--
 Ram chips consist of millions of  RAM chips are typically packaged on
switches that are sensitive to changes small circuit boards called memory
in electric current. When you turn on modules, which are inserted into
your computer, operating system files special slots on the motherboard.
are loaded from a storage device (the  DIMMs, or dual inline memory
hard disk, usually) into RAM, and they modules provide a 64-bit data path to
remain there as long as your computer the processor. Older SIMMs only
is running. RAM contents changes as provide a 32-bit path.
programs are executed.  The amount of RAM needed depends
 Two basic types of RAM are Dynamic on the types of applications you intend
RAM (DRAM), and Static RAM to run on the computer. Software
(SRAM). Most computers today use programs indicate the minimum
DRAM (specifically, Synchronous amount of RAM required to run. How
DRAM or SDRAM), which is faster much RAM determines how many
because it is synchronized to the programs and how much data your
system clock. computer can handle at one time.

Topic not covered: The Cache

 Expansion Slots and Cards
 Expansion slots are sockets to  For further research about
provide direct connections to the connecting devices to your
common electrical bus, allowing computer, look up:
you to insert a circuit board into  Peripheral Component
the motherboard. Interconnect (PCI)
 Typical Expansion Cards:  Accelerated Graphics Port (AGP)
 Video Cards  Industry Standard Architecture
 Sound Cards
(ISA)
 Modem Cards
 Universal Serial Bus (USB)
 Network Interface Cards (NIC)
 Small Computer System Interface
 Laptops and portable computers (SCSI)
typically have PC Cards – thin  Integrated Drive Electronics (IDE)
credit-card sized devices used to
add memory, disk drives, etc.
 •Expansion Cards plug into the expansion

Expansion Cards slots found on the motherboard.

Convenient way to add extra ports or
expand the computer’s capabilities.

Peripheral Component Interconnect (PCI)

Accelerated Graphics Port (AGP)
Types of Ports
 Serial ports transmit data one bit at a
time, like the picture on the left
illustrates.
 Parallel ports transmit more than one
byte at a time.
 These types of port designs are based
on whether or not fast data
transmission rates are required by the
device or not.
 Most computers come with basic types
of ports (serial, parallel, keyboard,
mouse, and USB); and expansion
cards allow you to expand the
available types needed by specific
devices.

Other types to look up and read about:

SCSI, USB, Fire Wire, and MIDI.
Different Types of Connectors
 Understanding the differences
among connector types is
useful and important, as the
cable required to attach a
device to your computer is
specific to its connector, not to
mention the port on the
computer.

Fire wire connectors and port.

(Also called IEEE 1394)
 Credits
Pictures & info obtained from:
www.cnet.com
www.zdnet.com
www.techtv.com
www.pcguide.com
www.webopedia.com
http://spruce.flint.umich.edu/~weli/courses/bus181/
notes/chap4.html