Chapter 2

The Components
of the System Unit
The System Unit

What is the system unit? system unit

 Case that contains

electronic components
of the computer used
to process data
 Sometimes called
the chassis
system unit

system unit

system unit

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The System Unit
What are common components inside the system unit?
 Processor power supply drive bays
 Memory
 Adapter cards processor

 Sound card
 Modem card ports
memory

 Video card
 Network card
 Ports
sound card
 Drive bays
 Power supply
video card
modem card
network card

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The System Unit
adapter cards
What is the motherboard? processor chip

 Main circuit
board in system
unit
 Contains adapter memory chips

cards, processor
chips, and
memory chips
 Also called
memory slots
system board Expansion
slots for
adapter cards motherboard

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 The System Unit
dual inline
packages (DIP)
What is a chip? holds memory
chips
 Small piece of semi-conducting
material on which integrated
circuits are etched
 Integrated circuits contain
many microscopic pathways
capable of carrying electrical
current
pin grid
 Chips are packaged so they can array (PGA)
package
be attached to a circuit board holds processor
chips

Click to view animation

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Central Processing Unit

What is the central processing unit (CPU)?

 Interprets and carries Processor
out basic instructions Control
Control Arithmetic
Arithmetic
Unit Logic
Logic Unit
Unit (ALU)
that operate a computer Unit (ALU)

 Control unit directs and Information

coordinates operations in Data
computer Information

 Arithmetic logic unit

(ALU) performs Input Output
Devices
Data Memory Information
Devices
arithmetic, comparison,
and logical operations
Information
 Also called the processor Data
Information

Storage
Devices
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Central Processing Unit

What is a machine cycle?

 Four operations of the CPU comprise a machine cycle
Step 1. Fetch
Obtain program instruction
or data item from memory

Memory
Step 2.
Step 4. Store Decode
Write result to memory Translate
instruction into
Processor commands
ALU Control Unit
Step 3. Execute
Carry out command

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Central Processing Unit

What is a register?
 Temporary high-speed storage area that holds
data and instructions

Stores location
from where instruction
was fetched
Stores Stores data
instruction while it is while ALU
being decoded computes it
Stores results
of calculation

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 Central Processing Unit

How do personal computer processors compare?

Comparison of Widely Used
Personal Computer Processors
Name Date Clock
Introduced Speed
Itanium® 2 2002 1 GHZ and up
Xeon ™ 2001 1.4–2.4 GHZ
Itanium® 2001 733–800 MHZ
Pentium® 4 2000 1.4–2.53 GHZ
Pentium ® III Xeon ™ 1999 500–900 MHZ
Pentium ® III 1999 400 MHZ–1.2 GHZ
Celeron ® 1998 266 MHZ–1.8 GHZ
Operon™ 2003 To come
Athlon™ MP 2002 1.53–1.6 GHZ
Click to view video
Athlon™ XP 2001 1.33–1.73 GHZ
Athlon™ 1999 500 MHZ–1.4 GHZ
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Data Representation

How do computers represent data?

 Most computers are digital
 Recognize only two
discrete states: on or off
 Use a binary system to
recognize two states
 Use Number system with
two unique digits: 0 and
1, called bits (short for
binary digits)

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Data Representation

What is a byte?
 Eight bits grouped together as a unit
 Provides enough different combinations of 0s and 1s
to represent 256 individual characters
 Numbers
 Uppercase
and lowercase
letters
 Punctuation
marks

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 Data Representation

How is a letter converted to binary form and back?

Step 1.
The user presses Step 2.
the capital letter D An electronic signal for the
(shift+D key) on capital letter D is sent to the
the keyboard. system unit.

Step 4. Step 3.
After processing, the binary The signal for the capital letter D
code for the capital letter D is is converted to its ASCII binary
converted to an image, and code (01000100) and is stored in
displayed on the output device. memory for processing.

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Memory
Seat #2B4 Seat #2B3
What is memory?
 Electronic components that
store instructions, data, and
results
 Consists of one or
more chips on
motherboard or
other circuit board
 Each byte stored
in unique location
called an address,
similar to addresses
on a passenger train

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Memory

How is memory measured?

 By number of bytes available for storage

Term Abbreviation Approximate Size

Kilobyte KB or K 1 thousand bytes
Megabyte MB 1 million bytes
Gigabyte GB 1 billion bytes
Terabyte TB 1 trillion bytes

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Memory

What is random access memory (RAM)?

Memory chips that can be

read from and written
to by processor
Most RAM is
Also called
volatile, it is lost
main memory
when computer’s
or primary
power is
storage
turned off

The more RAM a

computer has, the
faster it responds

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Memory
How do program instructions transfer in and out of RAM?
RAM Step 1. When you start the computer, certain
operating system files load into RAM from the
Operating system Operating system hard disk. The operating system displays the user
instructions interface interface on the screen.

Step 2. When you start a Web browser, the

program’s instructions load into RAM from the
Web browser Web browser hard disk. The Web browser window is displayed
instructions window on the screen.

Step 3. When you start a word processing

program, the program’s instructions load into
RAM from the hard disk. The word processing
Word processing Word processing program, along with the Web Browser and certain
program instructions program window operating system instructions are in RAM. The
word processing program window is displayed on
the screen.
RAM
Step 4. When you quit a program, such as the
Web browser, its program instructions are
removed from RAM. The Web browser no longer
is displayed on the screen.

Web browser program Web browser

instructions are window no longer is
removed from RAM displayed on
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desktop
Memory

How much RAM do you need?

 Depends on type of applications you intend to run
on your computer
RAM 128 to 256 MB 256 to 1 GB 1 GB and up
Use • Home and business • Users requiring more advanced • Power users creating
users managing multimedia capabilities professional Web sites
personal finance • Running number-intensive • Running sophisticated
• Using standard accounting, financial, or CAD, 3D design, or
application software spreadsheet programs other graphics-intensive
such as word processing • Using voice recognition software
• Using educational • Working with videos, music, and
or entertainment digital imaging
CD-ROMs • Creating Web sites
• Communicating with • Participating in video conferences
others on the Web • Playing Internet games

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Memory

What is read-only memory (ROM)?

Memory chips that store Nonvolatile memory, it is not
permanent data lost when computer’s
and instructions power is turned off
EEPROM
Three types: (electrically
erasable programmable
read-only memory)—
Firmware— Type of PROM
Manufactured with containing microcode
permanently written PROM
programmer
data, instructions, (programmable can erase
or information read-only
memory)—
Blank ROM
chip onto which
a programmer
can write permanently

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Ports

What are ports and connectors?

 Port connects external devices to system unit
 Connector joins cable to peripheral

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Buses

What is a bus?
 Channel that allows devices
inside computer to
communicate with each other
 System bus connects processor
and RAM
 Bus width determines number
of bits transmitted at one time
 Word size is the number of
bits processor can interpret
and execute at a given time

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