Computer Fundamentals

Lecture 3

Computer Components
(System Unit, CPU)
 The Components of a Computer

A computer contains many electric, electronic, and

mechanical components known as hardware

Hardware contains the following units :

1. Input Unit
2. Processing Unit (CPU)
3. Storage Unit
4. Output Unit
5. Power Unit

3.2
 The Components of a Computer
 This Figure shows how Computer Components are connected to
each other to carry out a task.

Processor
(CPU)

Instructions
Data
Information

Input Output
Devices
Data Memory Information
Devices

Instructions
Data
Information

Storage
Devices

3.3
 The working of a computer
 The working of a computer can be broadly categorized into
following four functions or steps.

(i) Receive input – Accept data/information from user through

various input devices like the keyboard, mouse, scanner, etc.

(ii) Process information –Perform arithmetic or logical

operations on data/information.

(iii) Store information —Store the information in storage devices

like hard disk,CD, pen drive etc.

(iv) Produce output –Communicate information to the user

through any of the available output devices like monitor, printer,
etc.

3.4
 Basic Computer Components

System Unit
Monitor

Printer

Speakers

Mouse
Keyboard

3.5
 System Unit / The Computer Case
 The system unit is the main Case of a computer or mobile
device.
 The case holds all the primary electronics of the computer. It
offers access to the outside world via ports and connectors.
 The most important of these components are the
Microprocessor, RAM, Motherboard, Storage Devices,
Power Supply … etc.

 Types of casing:
 Tower Case
 Horizontal Case
 All-in-one Case

Tower Case Horizontal Case All-in-one Case

3.6
System Units 3.7
System Unit

3.8
 Inside the System Unit
 The most important component inside the system unit:
 The Motherboard
 Processor (CPU)
 Memory (RAM, ROM)

 Other Components
 Storage Devices
 Buses
 Ports
 Power Supply
 … etc

Motherboard
3.9
 Motherboard
 The motherboard, sometimes called a system board.
 The motherboard is a thin printed circuit board (PCB)
which links all different components inside your
computer.
 It connects the CPU, memory, hard drives, optical drives, video
card, sound card, and other ports and expansion cards directly
or via cables.

 Popular Manufacturers of Motherboard

 Intel
 ASUS
 Gigabyte
 MSI

3.10
Motherboard

3.11
 Motherboard

Ports are used to connect external devices to the motherboard 3.12

Main Computer Components (In Short)

RAM

Motherboard
HDD
3.13
 The Processor
 Processor or Central Processing Unit (CPU) or
Microprocessor.
 CPU performs all types of data processing operations.
 CPU operates by reading and executing a set of instructions
stored in memory.
 It controls the operation of all parts of the computer.
 It is known as the ‘Brain of the Computer’

RAM

CPU Chip HDD

3.14
 The Processor
 For example, the CPU processed the instructions
to use a web browser to open and display this
web page on your computer.

3.15
 The Processor

CPU Chip

CPU Socket
3.16
 Components of the CPU
 A typical CPU has the following components:
1) Arithmetic Logic Unit (ALU)‫وحدة الحساب والمنطق‬
2) Control Unit (CU) ‫وحدة التحكم‬
3) Memory Registers ‫سجالت الذاكرة‬

RAM

ALU CU

Memory Registers

HDD

CPU 3.17
 Component of CPU
1) Arithmetic Logic Unit (ALU)
 It performs two types of operations:
 Arithmetic Operation: such as addition, subtraction,
multiplication, and division. ( +, -, x, ÷)
 Logical Operation: consist of Boolean comparisons such as
AND, OR and NOT.

2) Control Unit (CU)

 CU tells when to fetch the data and instructions, what to do,
where to store the results, the sequencing of events during
processing etc.
 It acts as a supervisor and, controls and coordinates the activity
of the other units of computer.

3.18
 Component of CPU

3) Memory Registers
 Registers are internal memory units in CPU
 Registers store data temporarily while it's being processed.
 Register memory is the smallest and fastest memory in a
computer.

 Why Memory Registers?

ALU CU

Memory Registers

CPU 3.19
 Processors

 A CPU doesn’t offer instructions; the software does.

 Thus, a computer’s software and CPU working
together in harmony are the brains of the operation.

3.20
 Processor performance

• Processor performance is measured in

several ways, including:
 Clockspeed: it indicates how many cycles
per second the processor can execute.

 Number of cores: The number of processing

cores, which can execute multiple instructions
simultaneously.

 Others??

• CPU Cache Size? Check out the next lecture

notes.
3.21
 CPU Clock (Clock speed)

What does 3.70GHz mean

CPU
3.22
 CPU Clock
 A CPU's clock speed represents how many cycles per second it
can execute.
 This speed is measured in Hertz. One hertz means that one cycle
per second.
1 Hertz = one cycle per second

 1 Hertz = 1 clock cycles per second (frequency)

 1 MHz = 1,000,000Hz = 1,000,000 clock cycles per
second
 1 GHz = 1,000,000,000Hz = 1 billion cycles per second

 A CPU with a clock speed of 3.2 GHz executes 3.2 billion cycles
per second.

Q: How to check the CPU clock speed of your computer?

3.23
 CPU Core (Number of cores)
 A CPU core is a CPU’s processor.
 In the old days, every processor had just one core that
could focus on one task at a time.
 Today, modern CPUs have multiple cores, allowing them
to perform multiple tasks simultaneously.
 A multi-core processor is a chip with two or more
separate processors.

CPU RAM

Storage
Devices

3.24
 CPU Core (Number of cores)

 Types of Processors (based on cores)

 Single Core Processor
 Dual Core = 2 Cores
 Quad Core = 4 Cores
 Hexa Core = 6 Cores
 Octa Core = 8 Cores

 As of 2019, the majority of consumer CPUs feature

between 2 and 20 cores.
 Server CPUs may feature as many as 48 cores.

3.25
 CPU manufacturers
 The two major CPU manufacturers today are:
 Intel
 AMD (Advanced Micro Devices)

 Others?

3.26
 CPU manufacturers
 Intel
 It has divided its CPUs in about 75 families. Some of the famous Intel
CPU families are
 Celeron
 Pentium
 Core i3
 Core i5
 Core i7
 Core i9
 AMD
 Under AMD, you have 58 types of CPU.
 Some of the popular ones are:
 Ryzen
 Athlon
 Opteron

3.27
 AMD vs Intel CPUs - Example

Cache
Cores / Clock
CPU Price Memory Memory
Threads (GHz)
(L2+L3)

Ryzen 9 16 Cores 5.7

$782 80 MB DDR5-5200
7950X 32 Threads GHz

Core i9- 18 Cores 3.0 Quad DDR4-

$999 24.75 MB
10980XE 36 Threads GHz 2933

Cores?
Clock?
Cache?
Memory?

3.28
 Storage Capacity
 Computers developed using numbering system of 1s and 0s or binary
system.
 For computer to store information, must have memory chips installed.
 Memory measured in bits and bytes.
 Bit is smallest unit of data used by computers ( 0 or 1 ).
 Group of eight bits make one byte
 Example: 11011101 = 1 byte

1 Kilobyte = 1,024 Bytes ≈ 1 Thousand

Bytes
1 Megabyte = 1,048,576 Bytes ≈ 1 Million Bytes
1 Gigabyte = 1,073,741,824 Bytes ≈ 1 Billion Bytes
1 Terabyte = 1,099,511,627,776 Bytes ≈ 1 Trillion Bytes
1 Petabyte (PB) = 1,125,899,906,842,624 Bytes
 All data made up of bytes in combinations calculated by computer.
 Every file used in software program has specific file size.
 Data file size increases or decreases based on contents stored.
3.29
Data Storage Units Chart

Unit Shortened Capacity

Bit b 1 or 0

Byte B 8 bits

Kilobyte KB 1024 Bytes

Megabyte MB 1024 Kilobytes

Gigabyte GB 1024 Megabytes

Terabyte TB 1024 Gigabytes

Petabyte PB 1024 Terabytes

3.30
 Data Representation
 What are the different ways in which data can be represented?
 There are three ways in which data can be represented namely Bit, Byte
and Word:
 Bit: This is also the short name for binary digits. A characteristic of BIT is
that it can never be empty. Zero implies a power off state whereas one
means on state.
 Byte: A byte is a collection or group of 8 bits. A byte can store a single
character which can either be an alphabet, a number or a special
character.
 Word: The number of bits that a CPU possess indicates the power of the
computer. It also indicates how many numbers of bytes are present. In
today`s date most computers can handle 32 or 64 bit length

3.31
 For practical
 How to Check the Number of Cores in your Processor?
 How to check the CPU speed? Brand? Generation?

3.32
 Review Questions
 Define the term, motherboard.
 What are the main components of the motherboard?
 What is main components of CPU?
 What is the purpose of register memory?
 What is a CPU and what is a Core?
 Could a computer work without a CPU? Why?

3.33
 Review Questions
 The _____ is the main circuit board of the computer.
a. ALU
b. CPU
c. motherboard
d. system chassis
 A _____ is a single chip with two or more separate processor cores.
a. transistor
b. multi-core processor
c. resistor
d. capacitor
 _____ include basic calculations such as addition, subtraction,
multiplication, and division.
a. Arithmetic operations c. Machine cycles
b. Comparison operations d. Transistors

3.34