Lecture # 1

System Unit and its

Components

System Unit
It

contains
electronic
components
of the
computers
used to
process data

system unit

system unit
system unit

system unit

Components of SU

Processor
Memory
Adapter cards

Sound card
Modem card

power supply

drive bays

processor

memory
ports

Ports
Drive bays
Power supply

sound card

network card

modem card

video card

Motherboard
Circuit

board:

thin board containing chipsvery small pieces of silicon or other

semi-conducting material onto which integrated circuits are
embeddedand other electronic components
Mother Board

Main circuit board in system unit

Contains adapter cards, processor chips, and
memory chips
Connects all components
Allows communication between devices
Also called system board
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Motherboard
adapter cards

processor chip

memory chips

memory slots
Expansion
slots for
adapter cards

motherboard

What is a chip?

Small piece of semiconducting material on

which integrated circuits
are etched
Integrated circuits contain
many microscopic
pathways capable of
carrying electrical current

Two Main components of

CPU

Arithmetic/Logic Unit (ALU)

Perform two types of operations
Arithmetic (+,-,*,/) and logic(<,>,=)

Control Unit
Tell the rest of the computer how to carry out a programs

instructions
Works with a program counter (address of next instruction)
It directs the movement of electronic signals between memory,
instructions and arithmetic logic unit.
Direct control signals between the CPU and I/O devices.
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Machine cycle
There are four operations of Machine Cycle
Step 1. Fetch
Obtain program instruction or data item from
memory
Step 2. Decode
Translate instruction into commands
Step 3. Execute
Carry out command
Step 4. Store
Write result to memory

System Clock
Important measurement indicating speed
Located on a small chip
Produces electrical beats(impulse)
Expressed in gigahertz (1 GH=1 billion ticks

of

system clock per second)

Faster clock speed, faster computer
the clock speed determines how many instructions
per second the processor can execute
Processor speed can also be measured in millions
of instructions per second (MIPS)
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Factors affecting CPU

performance
Registers
Cache
System
RAM

Clock

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Heat Sink and Heat Pipe

Heat

sinkcomponent
with fins that cools
processor

heat sink fan

Heat

pipesmaller
device for notebook
computer

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Parallel Processing

Using multiple
processors
simultaneously to
execute a program
faster
Requires special
software to divide
problem and bring
results together

Control Processor

Processor 1

Processor 2

Processor 3

Processor 4

Memory

Memory

Memory

Memory

Results combined

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Data Representation
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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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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Encoding Schemes
Three

types of schemes

ASCII - American Standard Code for

Information interchange
EBCDIC - Extended Binary Coded
Decimal Interchange Code( used for
large computers)
Unicode ( for international
languages
ASCII
Symbol
EBCDIC
00110000
11110000
like Chinese and
Japanese.0
00110001
00110010
00110011

1
2
3

11110001
11110010
11110011
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Data Representation
How

is a letter converted to binary form and back?

Step 1.

Step 2.

The user presses

the capital letter
D (shift+D key)
on the keyboard.

An electronic signal for the

capital letter D is sent to the
system unit.

Step 4.

Step 3.

After processing, the binary

code for the capital letter D is
converted to an image, and
displayed on the output device.

The signal for the capital letter D

is converted to its ASCII binary
code (01000100) and is stored in
memory for processing.
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Memory

Electronic components that store instructions, data, and results

Consists of one or more chips on motherboard or
other circuit board
Before running a Program must be loaded into the memory
Memory slots on motherboard hold memory modules
RAM (random access memory): temporary memory that the computer
uses
Consists of chips connected to a memory module which is connected to
the motherboard
Hold data and program instructions while they are needed.
RAM is volatile, its content is lost
when the computer is shut off
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RAM (Random access

Memory)
Home

Task
Explore
SRAM, DRAM,
SIMM, DIMM
and RIMM
Virtual
Memory
Small portion
of hard Disk
acts as RAM

Memory chips that can be

read from and written
to by processor
Also called
main memory
or primary
storage

Most RAM is
volatile, it is lost
when computers
power is
turned off

The more RAM a

computer has, the
faster it responds
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Memory
Types

of Memory
Volatile , non volatile
How is memory measured?
By number of bytes available for storage
Term
Kilobyte
Megabyte
Gigabyte
Terabyte

Abbreviation Approximate Size

KB or K
MB
GB
TB

1 thousand bytes
1 million bytes
1 billion bytes
1 trillion bytes

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How do program instructions

transfer in and out of RAM?
RAM

Operating system
instructions

Operating system
interface

Step 1. When you start the computer, certain operating system

files load into RAM from the hard disk. The operating system
displays the user interface on the screen.
Word processing
program
instructions

Word processing
program window

Step 2. When you start a word processing program, the

programs instructions load into RAM from the hard disk. The
word processing program, along with the Web Browser and
certain operating system instructions are in RAM. The word
processing program window is displayed on the screen.
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Cache
It

helps to increase speed of computer

It stores frequently used data and instructions
Two types of cache
Memory Cache and Disk Cache
Memory Cache
L1: built directly in processor, less memory
L2:slower but has larger capacity
ATC (advanced transfer cache) is a type of L2
cache
L3:it is on motherboard separate from processor
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Registers
A register is a single storage location within the CPU
Unlike memory, which is outside the CPU
Examples of registers:
Accumulator (ACC)
Program counter (PC)
Instruction register (IR)
Memory address register (MAR)
Memory data register (MDR)
Status register
General purpose registers (R0, R1, )
Included on some CPUs
Used for high-speed temporary storage of program
variables

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ROM(Read Only
Memory)
Memory

chips that store

permanent data
and instructions
Nonvolatile memory, it is not
lost when computers
power is turned off

PROM (programmable ROM)

EEPROM (Electrically erasable read-only memory)

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Flash Memory

Nonvolatile memory that can be erased

electronically and reprogrammed
Used with PDAs, digital cameras, digital
cellular phones, music players, digital voice
recorders, and pagers

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CMOS
CMOS

stands for Complementary metaloxide semiconductor memory

It is used to store configuration information
about the computer
Uses battery
power to retain information when other power
is turned off
Stores date, time, and computers startup
information
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Expansion Slots and

Expansion Cards
What

is an adapter card?

Enhances system unit or provides connections to

external devices called peripherals
Also called an expansion card
Flash Memory Cards
PC Cards

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Expansion Slots and

Expansion Cards
What

is an expansion slot?

An opening, or socket,
on the motherboard
that can hold an
adapter card
With Plug and Play,
the computer
automatically
configures cards
and other devices
as you install them
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Ports and Connectors

Port connects
external devices to
system unit
Connector joins
cable to peripheral
Available in one
of two genders:
male and female

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Serial Port

Transmits one bit of data

at a time
Connects slow-speed
devices, such as mouse,
keyboard, modem

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Parallel Port
Connects

devices that
can transfer more than
one bit at a time, such as
a printer

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Bus
Connect parts of the CPU to each other
Connect the CPU to other devices on the system board.
Data roadway for traveling bits

Measured as bus width( number of bits transmitted at one time)

More lanes, faster traffic

Two basic categories of Expansion BUSES

System buses ( connect CPU to Memory)
Expansion buses ( connect CPU to slots on the system board)
Data Bus (Page # 148)
Address Bus__Connects only CPU & RAM(Page # 148)
BUS standard (chapter 4 page 148)
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