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KEY COMPONENTS OF
A COMPUTER SYSTEM
 Objectives Overview

Differentiate among Describe the control unit

various styles of system Identify chips, adapter and arithmetic logic unit
units on desktop cards, and other components of a
computers, notebook components of a processor, and explain
computers, and mobile motherboard the four steps in a
devices machine cycle

Identify characteristics
of various personal
Define a bit and Explain how program
computer processors on
describe how a series of instructions transfer in
the market today, and
bits represents data and out of memory
describe the ways
processors are cooled

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 Objectives Overview

Differentiate between a port

Describe the purpose and
and a connector, and explain
types of expansion slots and
the differences among a
Differentiate among the adapter cards, and
USB port, FireWire port,
various types of memory differentiate among slots for
Bluetooth port, SCSI port,
various removable flash
eSATA port, IrDA port, serial
memory devices
port, and MIDI port

Explain the purpose of a Understand how to clean a

Describe the types of buses
power supply and describe system unit on a computer or
in a computer
how it keeps cool mobile device

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The System Unit

• is a case that
contains electronic
components of the
computer used to
process data
 The System Unit
• The inside of the system unit on a desktop personal computer
includes:

Drive bay(s)

Power supply

Sound card

Video card

Processor

Memory

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 The System Unit
• The motherboard is the main circuit board of the system unit
• A computer chip contains integrated circuits

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 Processor
• The processor, also called the central processing unit
(CPU), interprets and carries out the basic instructions that
operate a computer
• Contain a control unit and an arithmetic logic unit (ALU)

Multi-core Dual-core Quad-core

processor processor processor

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 Processor
• The control unit
• is the component of the processor that directs and
coordinates most of the operations in the computer
• The arithmetic logic unit (ALU)
• performs arithmetic, comparison, and other
operations

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 Processor
• For every instruction, a processor repeats a set of four basic
operations, which comprise a machine cycle

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Figure 4-5
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Processor
• Most current personal
computers support
pipelining
• Processor begins fetching a
second instruction before it
completes the machine cycle
for the first instruction
• Pipelining
• is a technique where
multiple instructions are
overlapped during
execution
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Processor

The processor contains registers, that

temporarily hold data and instructions

The system clock controls the timing

of all computer operations
• The pace of the system clock is called the
clock speed, and is measured in gigahertz
(GHz)
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Processor
• The leading
manufacturers of
personal computer
processor chips are
Intel and AMD

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 Processor
• Determine how you plan to use a new computer before
selecting a processor

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Processor
• A processor chip
generates heat that
could cause the chip to
burn up
• Require additional
cooling
• Heat sinks
• Liquid cooling
technology

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 Processor
• Parallel processing uses multiple processors
simultaneously to execute a single program or task
• Massively parallel processing involves hundreds or
thousands of processors

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Data Representation

Analog signals are continuous

and vary in strength and quality

Digital signals are in one of two

states: on or off
• Most computers are digital
• The binary system uses two unique digits (0 and 1)
• Bits and bytes
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Data Representation
A computer circuit represents Eight bits grouped together as
the 0 or the 1 electronically by a unit are called a byte. A byte
the presence or absence of an represents a single character in
electrical charge the computer

ASCII character

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Data Representation
• ASCII (American
Standard Code for
Information
Interchange) is the
most widely used
coding scheme to
represent data

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 Memory
• Memory consists of electronic components that store
instructions waiting to be executed by the processor, data
needed by those instructions, and the results of processing the
data
• Stores three basic categories of items:

The operating Data being

system and Application processed and
other system programs the resulting
software information
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 Memory
• Each location in memory has an address
• Memory size is measured in kilobytes (KB or K), megabytes
(MB), gigabytes (GB), or terabytes (TB)

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 Memory
• The system unit contains two types of memory:

Nonvolatile
Volatile memory
memory
Loses its contents Does not lose
when power is contents when
turned off power is removed

Examples include
Example includes
ROM, flash memory,
RAM
and CMOS

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 Memory
• Three basic types of RAM chips exist:

Dynamic RAM Static RAM Magnetoresistive

(DRAM) (SRAM) RAM (MRAM)

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 Memory
• RAM chips usually reside on a memory module and are
inserted into memory slots

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 Memory
• The amount of RAM necessary in a computer often depends
on the types of software you plan to use

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 Memory
• Memory cache speeds the processes of the
computer because it stores frequently used
instructions and data

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Memory

Read-only memory (ROM) refers to memory

chips storing permanent data and instructions
• Firmware

A PROM (programmable read-only memory)

chip is a blank ROM chip that can be written
to permanently
• EEPROM can be erased

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 Memory
• Flash memory can be erased electronically and rewritten
• CMOS technology provides high speeds and consumes little power

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 Memory
• Access time is the amount of time it takes the processor to
read from memory
• Measured in nanoseconds

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 Expansion Slots and Adapter Cards
• An expansion slot is a socket on the motherboard that can
hold an adapter card
• An adapter card enhances functions of a component of the
system unit and/or provides connections to peripherals
• Sound card and video card

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 Expansion Slots and Adapter Cards
• With Plug and Play, the computer automatically can configure
adapter cards and other peripherals as you install them

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 Expansion Slots and Adapter Cards
• Removable flash memory includes:
• Memory cards, USB flash drives, and PC Cards/ExpressCard
modules

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 Ports and Connectors

A port is the point at which a peripheral

attaches to or communicates with a
system unit (sometimes referred to as a
jack)

A connector joins a cable to a port

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 Ports and Connectors
• On a notebook computer, the ports are on the back, front,
and/or sides

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 Ports and Connectors
• A USB port can connect up to 127 different peripherals
together with a single connector
• You can attach multiple peripherals using a single USB port with a USB
hub

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 Ports and Connectors
• Other types of ports include:

Firewire Bluetooth
SCSI port
port port

eSATA Serial
IrDA port
port port

MIDI port

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Ports and Connectors
A Bluetooth wireless port A smart phone might
adapter converts a USB port communicate with a notebook
into a Bluetooth port computer using an IrDA port

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Ports and Connectors
• A port replicator is an
external device that
provides connections to
peripherals through ports
built into the device
• A docking station is an
external device that
attaches to a mobile
computer or device

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Buses
• A bus allows the various
devices both inside and
attached to the system
unit to communicate with
each other
• Data bus
• Address bus
• Word size is the number
of bits the processor can
interpret and execute at
a given time
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 Buses
• Expansion slots connect to expansion buses
• Common types of expansion buses include:

Accelerated
PCI Express
PCI bus Graphics
bus
Port

USB and
PC Card
FireWire
bus
bus

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Bays
• A bay is an opening
inside the system unit
in which you can install
additional equipment
• A drive bay typically
holds disk drives

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Power Supply

The power supply converts the

wall outlet AC power into DC
power

Some external peripherals have an

AC adapter, which is an external
power supply
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Putting It All Together

Home Small Office/ Mobile

Intel Core i5 or Home Office Intel Core i7 Extreme
Intel Core 2 i3 or Intel Core i7 or or
AMD Athlon II or Intel Core i7 Extreme Intel Core i7 or
AMD Sempron or AMD Phenom II or AMD Phenom II or
AMD Turion II
AMD Athlon II
Minimum RAM: 2 GB
Minimum RAM: 2 GB
Minimum RAM: 4 GB

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Putting It All Together

Power Enterprise
Intel Xeon or Intel Core i7 or
Intel Itanium or Intel Core i7 Extreme
AMD Opteron or AMD Phenom II or
Minimum RAM: 8 GB AMD Athlon II

Minimum RAM: 4 GB

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 Keeping Your Computer
or Mobile Device Clean

Clean your computer or mobile device once or twice a

year

Turn off and unplug your computer or mobile device

before cleaning it

Use compressed air to blow away dust

Use an antistatic wipe to clean the exterior of the case

and a cleaning solution and soft cloth to clean the screen

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 Activity
• Visit LMS for the problems.

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 Assignment

1. Discuss computer security and its importance;

2. describe each category of cybercrime and various types of Internet and
network attacks,
3. Explain how a virus can spread in an e-mail; and,
4. Formulate a guideline on ways to safeguard internet and network
attacks, including firewalls and intrusion detection software.
5. Describe malware.
• How do malware infect hosts?

• How do malware hide hide?

• How do malware propagate?

• How to detect malware?

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Video: The Leopard with a Time Machine

CLICK TO START

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