BE/B.Tech .DEGREE EXAMINATION ,NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2008.

Seventh Semester
(Regulation 2004)
Electronics and Communication Engineering

EC 1003-COMPUTER HARDWARE AND INTERFACING

(Common to B.E.(Part-time)Sixth semester Regulation 2005)
Time:Three hours Maximum:100

Answer All Questions

PART-A-(10*2=20 marks)

1.Distinguish between CISC and RISC.

2.What are the failures associated with CPU over clocking?

3.List the features handled by a south bridge chip?

4.List the core features of a modern BIOS.

5.What is the memory cache and what are its advantages?

6.What are zonal recording and write compensation techniques employed in hard drives?

7.List the features of IEEE 1284 mode for the parallel port.

8.List the features of Direct X.

9.What are the three components involved in PnP system?

10.List the different phases of operation involved in the SCSI communication.

PART-B--------(5´16=80)

11. a) (i) Describe the performance enhancement features found in modern

microprocessors.

(ii) Explain the critical elements of any PC that influence over clocking.
or

b) (i) Discuss the different modes of operation that have evolved for a PC.

(ii) Discuss the salient features of different memory types.

12.a) (i) Show the block diagram of a typical chipset and explain the functions performed
by North bridge chip.

(ii) Explain the BIOS shortcomings and compatibility issues.

Or
b) (i) Explain the boot process.

(ii) Show the block diagram of a typical Pentium 4 motherboard and explain the function
of various blocks.

13. a) (i) Discuss the use of hard drive cache and explain the current enhancements
implemented in the cache management circuitry.

(ii) Explain the block diagram of a typical hard drive electronics system.
Or

b) (i) Explain the block diagram of a typical CD drive.

(ii) Explain IDE drive standard and its features.

14. a) (i) Show the parallel port timing diagram and describe the standard sequence of
events in a parallel port.

(ii) Explain briefly the audio benchmarks.

Or
b) (i) Discuss briefly the various features offered by the 3D graphics accelerators.

(ii) Explain the function of various signals on serial port.

15. a) (i) Discuss briefly the features of current PCI bus and explain the function of
various signals on a PC bus.
(ii) Discuss the characteristics of USB
Or

b) (i) List the major differences between PCI and AGP and explain the block diagram of
an AGP interface.

(ii) Describe the requirements for PnP and outline the special requirement for
implementing PnP under DOS?