Chapter 3

Inside the System Unit

 What You Will Learn . . .

 Understand how computers represent data

 Understand the measurements used to describe
data transfer rates and data storage capacity
 List the components inside the system unit
 List the components on the motherboard
 How a CPU processes data
 What You Will Learn . . .

 Factors that determine a microprocessors

performance
 The types and purpose of memory in a computer
system
 The physical connectors on the exterior of the
system unit
 Describing Hardware Performance
Hardware performance refers to the amount of
data a computer can store and how fast it can
process the data. System Case
512 MB
Mach Speed Intel
DDRPentium
SDRAM 4
80 GB
Socket 478 2.4Ghz
Memory Processor
Module
7200 RPM
ATX
Hard Drive
Motherboard
 How Computers
OFF Represent
ON Data
OFF
ON
OR = 1 bit
0 1
= 1 Byte
0 0 1 1 0 1 0 0
OR
= 1 Byte
0 1 0 0 0 0 0 1

 Bit (Binary digit) – On or off state of electric current;

considered the basic unit of information; represented by 1s
and 0s (binary numbers).
 Byte – Eight bits grouped together to represent a character
(an alphabetical letter, a number, or a punctuation symbol);
256 different combinations.
 Bits

1024 bits = 1 kilobit (kb)

1,048,576 bits = 1 megabit (mb)
1,073,741,824 bits = 1 gigabit (gb)

 Kilobits per second (Kbps), megabits per second

(Mbps), and gigabits per second (Gbps) are terms
that describe units of data used in measuring data
transfer rates.
• Example: 56 Kbps modem
 The System Unit

 The system unit is a boxlike case that houses the computer’s

main hardware components.
 A footprint is the amount if floor or desk space required be a
device, can also refers to the amount of disk space required
by an application.
Types of System Units
Inside the System Unit
 Inside the System Unit
 Motherboard (mainboard) – Large
printed circuit board with thousands
of electrical circuits
 Power supply – Transforms
alternating current (AC) from wall
outlets to direct current (DC) needed
by the computer
 Cooling fan – Keeps the system unit
cool
 Internal Speaker – Used for beeps
when face errors
 Drive bays – Housing for the
computer’s hard drive, floppy drive,
and CD / DVD drives
 The Motherboard
 Connects all system components
 Allows communication between devices
 Circuit board electronic components
 Sockets
Are used to connect the system board to a variety of different
types of chips, including microprocessor chip.
 Slots
Provides a connection point for specialized cards or circuit
board.
 Bus lines
Provide data pathway that connect various system
components.
Motherboard
 What’s On the Motherboard

 Microprocessor
Controls operations and performs arithmetic and logical operations, plug
into a special socket on the system board.
 Memory
Holds data, instructions, and information, plug into slots on the system
board
 Expansion Cards
allow external devices to connect to any expand a computer capabilities,
plug into expansion slots on the system board
Expansion slots: Provide connections for expansion cards
 The Central Processing Unit:
The Microprocessor

CPU

CPU socket
 Central processing unit (CPU) – A microprocessor that
interprets and carries out instructions given by software. It
controls the computer’s components.
 Components of the CPU
 Control unit – Coordinates and controls all parts
of the computer system
 Arithmetic-logic unit – Performs arithmetic or
logical operations
 Registers – Temporarily store the most frequently
used instructions and data
 The Control Unit
The control unit manages four basic operations (fetch,
decode, execute, and store).
 The four-step process is known as the machine cycle or
processing cycle.
 The processing cycle consists of two phases:
• Instruction Cycle
– Fetch – Gets the next program instruction from the
computer’s memory
– Decode – Figures out what the program (SW) is telling the
computer to do
• Execution Cycle
– Execute – Performs the requested action
– Store (Write-back) – Stores (writes-back) the results to a
register or to memory
 The Arithmetic-Logic Unit

The arithmetic-logic unit (ALU) performs basic

arithmetic and logic operations.
 Adds, subtracts, multiplies, and divides
 Compares alphanumeric data
 Registers

 High speed storage area within the CPU.

 All data must be represented in a register before it can
be processed.
 Register contains the address of the memory
locations.
 Registers are normally measured by the number of
bits they can hold.
 Microprocessor Performance
 Data bus width – The number of pathways within
the CPU that transfer data; they are measured in bits
(8, 16, 32, or 64)
 Word size – The maximum number of bits of data
that the CPU can process at one time (8 bits, 16 bits,
32 bits, or 64 bits)
 Clock speed– The number of instructions the
CPU can process in a second, Clock Speeds
are usually determined in MHz or GHz.
A CPU that processes 1 instruction per second will have a
clock speed of 1 Hz (Hertz).
 Parallel Processing

 Involves using more than one CPU to improve

performance
 Dual core chips (2 Cores)
having 2 separate processing units squeezed into a single chip.
Instead of having to process instructions one at a time, a dual
core CPU will be able to handle 2 instructions simultaneously.
This vastly improves its multitasking capabilities and allows it to
run multithreaded applications faster.
 Quad cores chips (4 cores)
 Popular CPUs
Intel Advanced
Micro Devices
Pentium MMX Pentium IV (AMD)

Pentium III

Cyrix Motorola (Apple)

 Memory

Read-Only
Memory (ROM)
Random Access
Memory (RAM)

Memory is the term used to describe devices that enable the

computer to retain information. Program instructions and
data are stored in memory chips for quick access by the
CPU.
 Types of memory chips

 RAM – Random-access memory

 ROM – Read-only memory

 Random-access memory (RAM)

 RAM is a type of memory that stores information

temporarily so that it’s available to the CPU.
 RAM is volatile; the memory’s contents are erased when
the power is turned off.
 Each byte of memory has a unique location or memory
address.
 Read-only memory (ROM)

 Are not short-live and cannot be changed by the

user
 CPU can read, or retrieve data and programs but
the computer cannot write
 Contain special instructions
 Needed to start a computer
 Give keyboard keys their special capabilities
 Put characters on screen
 Virtual Memory

FULL

 Virtual memory:
• Part of the hard disk is reserved as RAM.
• When RAM modules become full, the CPU accesses the
hard disk to store and retrieve data.
• Slower than RAM.
 Cache Memory

 Primary cache (Level 1 or L1) – Located within the CPU

chip, it is the memory that the microprocessor uses to store
frequently used instructions and data.
 Secondary cache (Level 2 or L2; Backside Cache) –
Located near the CPU, it is the memory between the CPU
and RAM.
 Cache memory is faster than RAM.
FRONT
Outside the System Unit

Drive bays

On/off switch

Reset button
BACK
Indicator lights

The front panel contains drive bays, various buttons, and indicator
lights.
Connectors and ports are Socket for connecting external devices
 Ports can connect directly to the system board or they can connect to cards that
are inserted into slots on the system board
 Types of Connectors
Point and click on a connector below to view information about it.
Click again to remove the text.

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Thank You for Your Attention