Hardware - Inside the Box
Question: What is the central brain, inside
the box, through which all information
goes?
Office Hours
Dr. Urquhart



Monday 11:10-12
Tuesday 2-4 pm
Wednesday 11:10-12
TAs




Ben Ellis: Monday 6-8
Andy Speirs: Tuesday 6:45-8:45
Kash Siddiqui: Wednesday 7-9
Ben Ellis: Thursday 5:45-7:45
Announcements
READINGS on Website under
RESOURCES




Overview of how Microprocessors are
made
Summary of current INTEL Lineup
AMD Processors
BOLD are required
Today’s Information
Microprocessors
Motherboards
Buses, Slots, and Ports
Storage
Metric System
Kilo =
Mega =
Giga =
Tera =
These terms are used frequently to
describe storage and speed in computers
Metric System
Kilo = 1000
Mega = 1,000,000 = 1 million
Giga = 1,000,000,000 = 1 billion
Tera = 1,000,000,000,000 = 1 trillion
These terms are used frequently to
describe storage and speed in computers
Bits & Bytes
1 Byte = 8 bits = 8 1s or 0s in any
combination

10100011
1 KB = Kilobyte = 1024 Bytes (210)
1 MB = Megabyte = 1024 Kilobytes = 220
Bytes
1 GB = Gigabyte =1024 Megabytes = 230
Bytes (1073741824 Bytes)
Millions vs. Binary
1 KB = Kilobyte = 1024 Bytes (210)
1 MB = Megabyte = 1024 Kilobytes = 220
Bytes
1 GB = Gigabyte =1024 Megabytes = 230
Bytes (1,073,741,824 Bytes)
Hard drive companies: 1 GB = 109 Bytes

1,000,000,000
1073741824/1000000000 = 1.073
7% shortchange on hard drive capacity
Bytes and MP3s
If each song is 3 MB, how many songs
can you put on a 120 GB hard drive?
Use 1,000,000,000 for your GB size
Use 1,000,000 for your MB size
*If you have a calculator, try again using
1,000,000,000 for GB and 220 for MB
Bytes and MP3s
If each song is 3 MB, how many songs
can you put on a 120 GB hard drive?
There are either 1024 MB/GB or 1000
MB/GB


120 GB x 1024 MB per GB/3 MB=40,960
120 x 1000/3 = 40,000
Difference = 960 songs
Computer Speed
Hz = Hertz = Cycles/second = once per
second
MHz = Megahertz = Million cycles/second
GHz = Gigahertz = Billion cycles/second
Typical processor today runs at 2 GHz!
That’s 2 Billion times a second it can cycle
information!
Taking a Test
Would you rather have a faster brain or
one with more stuff stored in it when you
take a test?
Two things determine function
Processor Speed

This is the speed at which information is
processed
RAM (Random Access Memory)

This is how much information is available for
rapid processing
8088
Evolution of Intel Microprocessors
and Pursuit by AMD Processors
80286
80386
AMD 386
80486
AMD 486
Pentium
Pentium Pro
AMD K5
AMD K6
Pentium II
AMD K6-II
Pentium III
AMD K6-III
Celeron
(Castrated Pentiums)
Pentium IV
Duron
Athlon
Left off here
Evolution of the Intel
Microprocessor
Year of
1978
1981
1985
1989
1993
1995
1995
1998
1999
2001
Name
8088
80386
80486
4.77
16-33
16-120
Pentiu
m
60-266
Pent.
Pent.
Pro
II
150-200 200450
Pent.
III
450600
External
Bus Width
8 bit
16 bit 32 bit
32 bit
64 bit
64 bit
64 bit
64 bit
Pent/
III
5331133
MHz
133
Mhz
Pentium IV
IV
Speed (Mhz)
8028
6
8-16
Socket 5,
Socket 7
Socket 7
Slot 1
Slot 1
64 K L1
Up to 1Mb
L2
512 K L2
512 K L2
3.1
million
5.5 million
7.5
million
28
million
Achieved
RISC/
CISC
Blending
Celeron
is
castrated
PII
Introduction
Socket Type on
Motherboard
Cache Memory
Numer of
Transistors
Notes
Up to 32
K
64 K
Up to
3.2
GHz
400
MHz
28
42
million million
AMD – Advanced Micro Devices
Second largest microprocessor
manufacturer
Always following Intel in development
For a while leapt ahead of Intel with early
Athlon
Pentium IV and 0.13 u transisors
Micron is Micrometer, μm, 10-6 m
1/1000th of one milimeter!
Current Pentium IV transistor is 0.13
microns (eight fit in one micron)
Next generation 0.09 microns (90
nanometers)--NANOTECHNOLOGY
Size of a Dinner Plate
120 billion transistors!
Important Microprocessor Qualities
Speed, e.g. 2.5 GHz (Gigahertz)
Dr. U’s Ranking



AMD Athlon XP
Pentium IV
Celeron
Pentium M?
Athlon 64?
Pentium V?
Athlon vs. Pentium
AMD released Athlon in August, 1999
First time ever that Intel was not producer of
fastest x86 chip
Athlon XP now 3200+ (~3.2 GHz)***
Athlon 64 now 3400+
Intel Pentium IV 3.4 GHz
Athlon XP Processors
Benchmark Performance


Benchmark is a task to test performance
Large image processing task or data crunching
PERFORMANCE RATINGS**
XP 3200+ is a 2.2 GHz processor,
equivalent to Pentium IV 3.2 GHz in
performance
Benchmark Test
Doubling of Processor Speed
Manufacturers always coming out with faster
processors
It takes about 2 years the fastest processors to
double in speed





1996 – 233 MHz
1998 – 450 MHz
2000 – 1.4 GHz (cost $600 in 2000, $100 today)
2002 – 3.06 GHz
2003 – 3.4 GHz
Take Home Message: Don’t buy the top of the
line processor, it will be dated very quickly!
Memory - RAM
RAM is Random Access Memory
Short Term, erased frequently
RAM is memory that is “alive,” constantly
changing
RAM stores program info and data

it’s what the processor communicates with to
determine how to display the program and file
Types of RAM
DDR Ram is Double Data Rate, for Athlon
and Pentium IV
SDRAM – Used in a lot of machines, but
being phased out
Adding new RAM is the cheapest and
easiest way to make your computer run
faster
Adding new RAM
Must match type to existing memory
Pull out chip and go to store to match



DDR PC2100, DDR PC 2700, PC 133, etc
DIMM 184 Pin for desktop
SODIMM for laptops
Can have one 128 MB and one 512 MB
(or any other combo) as long as the sam
etype
Choosing a RAM Chip
Form
Factor:
DIMM
DDR
PC2100
128 MB,
256 MB,
etc.
DDR
PC2700
128 MB,
256 MB,
etc.
DDR
PC3200
128 MB,
256 MB,
etc.
SDRAM
PC133
128 MB,
256 MB,
etc.
Form
128 MB, 128 MB, 128 MB, 128 MB,
Factor:
256 MB, 256 MB, 256 MB, 256 MB,
SODIMM etc.
etc.
etc.
etc.
RAM Prices
RAM $100 a Megabyte in 1990 – Typical
computer had 1 MB of RAM
$1 a MB in 1999
$2 a MB in late 1999?
$0.60 a MB last year
$0.15 a MB now (256 MB < $40) – Typical
computer has 256 MB of RAM
Analogy
If the processor is the brain of the
computer, then what is the motherboard?
The Spinal Cord
Processor and Motherboard make up
Central Nervous System
Motherboards
Circuitry that connects all items to the
processor
Card slots for modems, sound cards,
graphics cards
Socket or slot for processor
Bus speed determines processors
Good ones have Intel Chipset
Motherboards and
Microprocessors
Motherboard must have appropriate
socket or slot for processor
Motherboard must support processor’s
speed and have the same bus speed
Two-way Communication:
Modem
MOdulator / DEModualter = MO-DEM
Converts digital computer signal to analog
telephone signal and vice versa
Sends and receives information
56K is current standard
Connect speeds often slower than 56K
Cable Modems
Cable Modems convert from cable interface to
Ethernet or USB interface.
External, $50-$200 to buy
Must subscribe to Broadband/ Cable Internet
Service through your cable provider
Best way to go from home but expensive
($45/month)
Cable provider has a monopoly so prices won’t
drop
Storage Media
Media refers to the objects on which
information is stored
Singular of word is medium
A CD is a medium for storage, a floppy
disk is a medium, …
Storage: Magnetic
“Drive” Storage: magnetic film stores 1s
and 0s
Hard Drives - Internal, sealed platters
Floppy Drive - One flexible platter
Zip Drive – Very high capacity floppy
Most rewritable storage is magnetic
Storage: Optical Read Only
CD-ROM – 650MB or 700 MB, read only,
etched pits
drives 32X etc. for speed relative to normal
DVD - stands for Digital Versatile Disc, 4.7 Gb
(7X CD)
CD Burners – Optical Read/Write
CD RW

32x/8x/40x means 32x maximum write speed,
8x max. rewrite speed, and 40x max. read
speed
Media: CD-R is cheapest, write once
CD-RW – good medium for transporting
files