Computer Hardware Components

IT 105-Computer Organization 1

Computer System and Hardware

ComponentsChapter II

IT 105

Prepared by: [email protected]


A computer system consists of Hardware

The physical equipment such as case, storage drives, keyboards, monitors, cables, speakers and printers.

Software Includes the operating system and programs. The operating system instructs the computer how

to operate. These operations may include identifying,

accessing and processing information.


Hardware Components

Computer Case Contains the framework to

support a computer’s internal components while providing an enclosure for added protection.

The size and layout of a case is called a form factor. (e.g. desktop (slim line or full sized) and tower (mini or full sized)

Computer cases may also called as computer chassis, cabinet, tower, box and housing.


Computer Case

Factors to consider when choosing a case: The size of the motherboard The number of external or

internal drive locations, called bays

Available space When choosing a computer

case, consider the ff: Model Type

There are two main case models, for desktop PCs and for tower computers.

The type of motherboard determines the type of case to be used.

The size and shape must match exactly.

Size If a computer has many

components, it needs more room for airflow to keep the system cool.

Available Space The design of the desktop case

may limit the number and size of the components that can be added.

Power Supply Match the power rating and

connection type of the power supply to the type of motherboard.

Appearance Some people don’t care how

the case looks, others do.


Computer Case

Status Display LED indicators that are

mounted on the front of the case can tell you if the system is receiving power, when the hard drive is being used, and when the computer is on standby or sleeping.

Vents All cases have a vent on

the power supply, and some have another vent on the back to help draw air into or out of the system.


Hardware Components

Power Supply Converts alternating-

current (AC) power coming from a wall outlet into direct-current (DC) power, which is a lower voltage.

DC power is required for all the components inside the computer.


Power Supply Form Factors

AT ATX- more advanced features

than AT ATXv12- add power support for

the motherboard by adding another 4-pin power connector.

Connectors Most connectors today are

keyed connector. Keyed connectors are designed

to be inserted in only one direction.

Power Color Codes Yellow Blue Orange Blue Orange Red White Black


Power SupplyVoltage Wire Color Use AT Power

SupplyATX Power

SupplyATXv12

Power Supply

+12V YELLOW Disk drive motors, fans, cooling devices, and

system bus slots

-12V BLUE Some types of serial port circuits and early Programmable Read

Only Memory (PROM)

+3.3V ORANGE Most newer CPUs, some types of system

memory and AGP video slots

+5V RED Motherboard, Baby AT and earlier CPUs, and

many motherboard components

-5V WHITE ISA bus cards and early PROMS

0V BLACK Ground: Used to complete circuits with

other voltages


Power Supply

Different connectors: Molex connector

A keyed connector used to connect to an optical drive or hard drive

Berg connector A keyed connector used to connect to a floppy drive It is smaller than Molex

20-pin or 24-pin slotted connector It used to connect to the motherboard 24-pin has two rows of 12 pins each 20-pin has two rows of 10 pins each

Four-pin-to-eight-pin auxiliary power connector It has two rows to four pins and supplies power to all areas of the

motherboard.


Hardware Components

Motherboards It is the main printed

circuit boards. It contains the buses, or

electrical pathways. These buses allow data

to travel between the various components that comprise a computer.

Also known as system board, backplane, or main board


Motherboards

Motherboard accommodates the CPU, RAM, expansion slots, heat sink/fan assembly, BIOS chip, chip set, and the embedded wires.

Sockets, internal and external connectors and various ports are also placed on the mother board.

Various form factors: AT- Advanced Technology ATX- Advanced Technology Extended Mini-ATX Micro ATX LPX- Low-Profile Extended NLX- New Low-Profile Extended BTX- Balanced Technology Extended


Motherboards Chip Set

Composed of various integrated circuits attached to the motherboard that control how system hardware interacts with the CPU and motherboard.

It allows the CPU to communicate and interact with computer’s other components and to exchange data with system memory, hard disk drives, video cards and other output devices.

It establishes how much memory can be added to motherboard. It also determines the type of connectors on the motherboard. Two distinct components

Northbridge Controls the access to RAM, video card and the speed at which the

CPU can communicate with them Southbridge

Allows the CPU to communicate with the hard drives, sound card, USB ports and other I/O devices.


Hardware Components

CPU (Central Processing Unit) It is considered the

computer’s brain. Sometimes called the

processor. It comes in different form

factors, each style requiring a particular slot or socket on the motherboard.

Common CPU manufacturers include Intel and AMD.


Central Processing Unit

CPU socket or slot It is the connector that is the interface between the

motherboard and the processor. PGA (pin grid array)- most CPU sockets and processors built

today ZIF (zero insertion force)- the amount of force needed to

install the CPU. Slot-based processors are cartridge-shaped and fit into a slot

that looks similar to an expansion slot. Cache

While the CPU is executing one step of the program, the remaining instructions and data are stored nearby in a special memory called cache.


Central Processing Unit Two major CPU architectures

RISC (reduced instruction set computer) Architectures use a relatively

small set of instructions and RISC chips are designed to execute these instructions very rapidly.

CISC (complex instruction set computer) Architectures use a broad set

of instructions, resulting in fewer steps of operation.

Hyperthreading The CPU has multiple pieces

of code being executed simultaneously on each pipeline.

A CPU’s speed is rated in cycles per second Speed (MHZ, GHz)

The amount of data that a CPU can process at one time depends on the size of the processor bus (CPU bus or FSB (front-side bus)).

The wider the processor data bus, the more powerful the processor.

Current processors have a 32-bit or 64-bit processor data bus.

Single-core CPU One core inside a single CPU chip

that handles all the processing capability.

Dual-core CPU Two cores inside a single CPU chip,

in which both cores can process information at the same time


Hardware Components Cooling Systems

Case Fan It is installed in the computer case to make the cooling process more efficient.

CPU Fan A fan on top of the heat sink moves away the heat from the CPU.

Graphics Card Cooling System Fans are dedicated to cooling the graphics-processing unit (GPU).


Hardware Components Memory

ROM (Read-only Memory) Chips that contain

instructions that the CPU can access directly.

Stores basic instructions for booting the computer and loading the operation system.

The contents cannot be erased, changed, or rewritten by normal means.

ROM types includes: PROM (Programmable

read-only memory) Cannot be erased or

rewritten

EPROM (Erasable programmable read-only memory) Can be erased with

exposure to UV light. EEPROM (Electrical

EPROM) Also called as flash

ROMs. It can be erased and

rewritten without removing the chip from the computer


Memory

RAM (Random Access Memory) It is the temporary

storage for data and programs that are being accessed by the CPU.

It is a volatile memory. Types of RAM are as

follows. DRAM (Dynamic RAM)

A memory chip that is used as main memory.

SRAM (Static RAM) A memory chip that

is used as cache memory.


Memory

FPM DRAM (Fast Page Mode DRAM) A memory that

supports paging. Paging enables

faster access to the data than regular DRAM.

EDO (Extended Data Out) RAM A memory that

overlaps consecutive data accesses. This speeds up the access time to retrieve data from memory

Synchronous DRAM (SDRAM) A DRAM that

operates in synchronization with the memory bus.


Memory

Double Data Rate ( DDR) SDRAM A memory that

transfers data twice as fast as SDRAM.

DDR2 SDRAM A memory that is

faster than DDR-SDRAM.

It decreases noise and crosstalk between signal wires.

RAMBus DRAM (RDRAM) A memory chip that

was developed at very high rates of speed.

Rarely used.


Memory

Memory Modules DIP (Dual Inline Package)

Is an individual memory chip. A DIP had dual rows of pins used to attached it on the mother board.


Memory

SIMM (Single Inline Memory Module) A small circuit board that holds several memory chips.

SIMM have 30-pin and 72-pin configurations.

DIMM (Dual Inline Memory Module) A small circuit board that holds SDRAM (168 pins), DDR

(184-pins), and DDR2 (240-pins).


Memory

Cache Memory SRAM is used as cache

memory to store the most frequently used data. SRAM gives processor

faster access to the data than retrieving it from slower DRAM or main memory.

Types of cache memory L1 is internal cache

integrated into the CPU. L2 is external cache

originally mounted on the motherboard near the CPU.

L3 is used on some high-end workstations and server CPUs.

Error Checking Nonparity does not check

for errors in memory. Parity contains 8 bits for

data and 1 bit for error checking. The error-checking bit is called a parity bit.

Error Correction Code (ECC) can defeat multiple bit errors in memory and correct single bit errors in memory.


Hardware Components

Adapter Cards Adapter cards increase a

computer’s functionality by adding controllers for specific devices or by replacing malfunctioning ports.

NIC connects a computer to network using a network cable.

Wireless NIC connects a computer to a network using radio frequencies.

Sound Adapter Provides audio

compatibility.


Adapter Cards

Video Adapter Provides graphic

capability. Modem Adapter

Connects a computer to the internet using phone line.

SCSI Adapter Connects SCSI devices

such as hard drives or tape drives to a computer.


Adapter Cards

RAID Adapters Connects multiple hard

drives to a computer to provide redundancy and improve performance.

To connect peripheral devices: USB port Parallel port Serial port


Adapter Cards

Expansion Slots ISA (Industry Standard

Architecture) Is an 8-bit or 16-bit

expansion slots. This is older technology and is seldom used.

EISA (Extended ISA) It is a 32-bit expansion slot

and is seldom used. MCA (Microchannel

Architecture) Is an IBM proprietary 32-bit

expansion slot. AGP (Advanced Graphics

Port) Is 32-bit expansion slot. It is

designed for video adapters.

PCI (Peripheral Component Interconnect) Is a 32-bit or 64-bit

expansion slot. PCI-express

Is a serial bus expansion slot.

It is backward-compatible with PCI slots.


Hardware Components

Storage Drives A storage drive reads or

write information to magnetic or optical storage media.

Storage drives can be installed inside the computer case such as hard drive.

For portability, some storage drives can connect to the computer using USB port, FireWire port or SCSI port.


Storage Drives

Types of storage drives: Floppy Drives (A: drive)

Is a storage device that uses removable 3.5 inch floppy disks.

This can store 720 KB or 1.44 MB of data.

One of the oldest technology.

Hard Drives (C: drive/D: drive) Is a magnetic storage

device that is installed inside the computer.

Is used as permanent storage for data.

Capacity-GB and speed rpm (revolutions per minute)


Storage Drives

Optical Drives Is a storage device that

uses lasers to read data on the optical media.

Types: Compact Disc (CD) Digital Versatile Disc

(DVD) CD and DVD media can

be prerecorded (read-only), recordable (write once), rerecordable (read and write multiple times)

CD-700 MB DVD-8.5 GB

Other types of optical media: CD-ROM- PR CD-R- RO CD-RW- R,RR,E DVD-ROM- PR DVD-RAM- R,RR,E DVD+/-R- RO DVD+/-RW- R,RR,E

Legend: PR-Prerecorded, RO- Recorded once, E- Erased, RR-Rerecorded, R-recorded


Storage Devices

Flash Drives Also known as thumb

drive Is a removable storage

device that connects to a USB port

Storage capacity is up to 16 GB

Network Drives Is a connection to a

remote computer’s storage for access to files, directories, and applications.

Types of Drive Interfaces Integrated Drive

Electronic (IDE ) Also called Advanced

Technology Attachment (ATA), an earlier drive controller interface that connects computers and hard disk drives.

It has 40-pin connector.


Storage Devices Enhanced Integrated

Drive Electronics (EIDE) Also called ATA-2, is

an updated version of the IDE drive controller interface.

Parallel ATA (PATA) Refers to the parallel

version of the ATA drive controller interface.

Serial ATA (SATA) Refers to the serial

version of the ATA drive controller interface.

Uses 7-pin connector.

Small Computer System Interface (SCSI) A drive controller

interface that can connect up to 15 drives. It uses a 5-pin, 68-pin, or 80-pin connector.


Hardware Components

Internal Cables Data cables connect

drives to the drive controller, which is located on an adapter card or the motherboard.

Types of data cables: Floppy disk drive (FDD)

data cable Has up to two 34-pin

drive connectors and one 34-pin connector for the drive controller.


Internal Cables PATA (IDE) data cable

Has 40 conductors, up to two 40-pin connectors and 40-pin connector for the drive controller.

PATA (EIDE) data cable Has 80 conductors, up

to two 40-pin connectors for drives and one 40-pin connector for drive controller.

SATA data cable Has seven conductors,

one keyed connector for the drive and one keyed connector for the drive controller

SCSI data cable Three types:

A narrow SCSI data cable has 50 conductors, up to seven 50 –pin connector, and one 50 – pin connector for host adapters

A wide SCSI data cable has 68 conductors, up to 15 68 –pin connector, and one 68 – pin connector for host adapters

An Alt-4 SCSI data cable has 80 conductors, up to 15 80 –pin connector, and one 80 – pin connector for host adapters


Hardware Components

Ports and Cables Serial

Can be either DB-9, or DB-25 male connector

To connect a serial device, such as modem or printer, serial cable must be used.

A serial cable has a maximum length of 50 feet (15.2 m)

USB Ports Is standard interface that

connects peripheral devices to a computer.

A single USB port in a computer can support up to 127 separate devices with the use of multiple USB hubs.

USB 1.1 -12 Mbps USB 2.0 – 480 Mbps

FireWire Ports Is a high-speed, hot-

swappable interface that connects peripheral devices to a computer.

A single FireWire port in a computer can support up to 63 devices.


Ports and Cables

Parallel Ports Is a standard Type A DB-25

female connector. To connect a parallel

device, such as printers, a parallel cable must be used.

A parallel cable has a maximum length of 15 feet.

SCSI Ports If a single SCSI device is

connected to SCSI port, the cable can be up to 80 feet in length.

Can support up to 15 devices.

Network Ports Also called an RJ-45 port,

connects a computer to a network

The connection speed depends on the type of network port

Standard Ethernet can transmit up to 10 Mbps, Fast Ethernet can transmit up to 100 Mbps, and Gigabit Ethernet can transmit up to1000 Mbps


Ports and Cables

PS/2 Ports Connects a keyboard or

mouse to a computer Is a six-pin mini DIN

female connector Audio Ports

Connects audio devices to the computer

Common audio ports Line In –connect

external source such as stereo

Microphone In –connects to a microphone

Line Out –connects to speakers or headphones

Auxiliary In –an additional line in

Gameport/MIDI –connects to a joystick or MIDI-interfaced device


Ports and Cables

Video Ports Connects a monitor

cable to a computer Several types:

VGA (Video Graphics Array) Has three-row 15-pin

female connector Analog output

DVI (Digital Visual Interface) Has a 24-pin female

connector or 29-pin female connector

Digital output

HDMI (High-Definition Multimedia Interface) Has 19-pin connector Provides both analog

and digital signals S-Video

Has 4-pin connector and provides analog signals

Component/RGB Has three shielded

cables (red, green, and blue) with RCS jacks and provides analog signals


Hardware Components

Input Devices Is used to enter data or

instructions into a computer Mouse and Keyboard Digital Camera and

Digital Video Camera Biometric Authentication

Device Touch Screen Scanner

Output Devices Is used to present

information to the user from a computer Monitors

CRT (cathode ray tube) LCD (liquid crystal

display) DLP (digital light

processing) Printers, scanners, and

fax machines Speakers and

headphones


Project #1 (individual or by pair) Choose your own partner. Create a portfolio that

compiles all the images of all given hardware components and sub-components. Indicate their names and functions. Categorize them for better readable output. Use your own creativity, formal or informal. Deadline is before or on the preliminary exam day.

Creativity-40% Readability-20% Originality- 40%

Education

Computer Hardware Components