Hardware Basics
Professor Pepper
Major Objectives
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Microprocessor
RAM
ROM BIOS
Motherboard
Storage (CD, DVD, Hard Drive, Floppy, Zip,
Jump, Tape)
 Expansion slots and ports
 Monitor
Computer Desktop Shopping
 Dell website
 Comp USA
 Buy.com
Microprocessor theory
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Clock time (x mhz, x ghz)
Word size (x bit)
Cache (l1 in chip; l2 close; l3 less close)
Instruction set (categories:CISC, RISC; architectures:
IA64,IA-32)
Hyper-threading
Many processors inside one processor
Many separate processors on one board
Manufacturer
See moodle’s useful sites – hardware for updates
Microprocessors on the market
 Intel
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i-3, i-5, i-7
Intel Core2 Duo; Extreme; Quad
Pentium dual-core; Pentium 1- 4;
Pentium M: laptop
Celeron : budget
 AMD
 Athlon II X4
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Phenom; Turion; Opteron : current
Athlon X64 ; old premier
Duron, Sempron : old budget
 Transmeta
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Crusoe – tablet
 Motorola
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Power PC – MAC  no longer used in mac since OS 10.7
Microprocessor high needs
 3-D animated computer games
 Desktop publishing
 Video editing
 Upgrading later is usually not cost-effective
RAM
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Random Access Memory
Lose it when computer off
Like your head’s short term memory
Main measurement is size (Gb, Mb)
More than cache, much less than hard drive
Speed (Mhz)
Has a type: RDRAM; SDRAM; DDRRAM
Expandable limits
ROM BIOS & CMOS
 ROM BIOS
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Read only memory to start up your system
No relation to CD-ROM
 CMOS
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Basic hardware path settings
Programmable
Very low battery needed
 Neither usually effect your purchase
Motherboard
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Traffic cop
Everything connects to it
Hard disk to RAM to CPU via bus
Motherboard chipset moves data faster
800 MHZ bus last year to
Storage Introduction
 CD, DVD, Hard Drive, Floppy, Zip, Tape, flash
drive
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Media – holds the data
Device - writes and reads the data
• Need drive bays
• Need expansion slots
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Measures
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Versatility of drive
Durability
Speed
Capacity
Devices
Device
Size
Comments
Floppy
1.4 MB
Easily damaged;
Zip
CD
DVD
Blu-Ray
750 MB
680 MB
8.5 GB
50GB
Special drives
HD-DVD 30GB
Hard disk 80 GB++
Tape
4.7 single layer
100GB in prototype
45 GB prototype
Not very portable; quick
access; possible crash
200 GB++ Slow to read; quick to write;
sequential
Hard disk - Magnetic
 Notebook – Space
 Controller
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Serial ATA
Ultra ATA – 2 x EIDE (UDMA data transfer)
EIDE - old
SCSI – fast, but expensive
Memory
Sudden Death – backup
Speed (RPM) vs Access Time (MS)
GOOD MOVIE or Hard Disk to RAM
CD / DVD - Optical
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Access speed – 2x, 24x or kb/sec
CD-ROM (read only) – just read
CD-R(ecordable) – write once ;read by all
CD-RW (read /write) – write a lot; read by few
Same for DVD, but it has +/- formats
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DVD-RAM : video editing
 Blu-Ray (Sony, Samsung, Sharp, Thomson,
Hitachi, Matsushita, Pioneer and Philips,
Mistubishi and LG Electronics ; supported by
Warner Bros.)*
 HD-DVD (AOD) (Toshiba and NEC; supported by
Paramount and Universal ) *
* Blue Violet Rays insteadof Red
LINK TO INFO ON HD-DVD
Solid State Storage
USB Flash Card
Key chain
32 – 512 mb
Compact Flash
Card
Camera
8 mb – 1 gb
Multi-media cards
Digital camera
32-256 mb
Secure Digital card
Mp3 player
32-16 mb
Smart Media
(no controller
needed, but not
durable)
32-128 mb
Pointing Devices
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Track pad
Track ball
Mouse
Pointing stick (the red knob on a laptop)
Expansion Slots
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ISA – old / modems
PCI –graphics, sound, video, modem, NIC
ACP – graphics
PCMCIA – laptop
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Type I – memory
Type II – modem, sound, nic
Type III – hard drive or two of the other
Expansion Ports
 Device plug
 Often on expansion card (in expansion slot)
 Types
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Serial – mouse or modem
Parallel – printer; external drive
USB – lots
SCSI – disk drive; cd rom; scanner; tape backup
IEEE (firewire) – video camera; DVD player
VGA - monitor
Monitors
 Graphics card to give a boost
 CRT (large, all angles, smaller screen, cheaper) /
LCD (small, full screen) / Plasma (expensive)
 Resolution – dp (dot pitch –smaller is better)
 Viewable image size
 Color depth or bit depth (true color is 24)
 Graphics card
Terminology
 www.webopedia.com
 www.hyperdictionary.com
 Many others
Diagram
Computer Desktop Shopping
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Dell website
Comp USA
Buy.com
PC purchase exercise
Textbook purchase exercise