System Concept

A system is a group of integrated parts which

have common purpose of achieving some
objectives.
The key characteristics are:
– A system has more than one element.
– All the elements of a system are logically
related.
– All the elements of a system are controlled in
a manner to achieve the system goal.
 Storage Unit

Program Secondary
& Data Storage
Input Output
Unit Unit
Primary
Storage Information

Control
Unit

Arithmetic
Logic Unit Basic Organization of
a Computer System

Central Processing Unit

Functions performed by Input Unit
It accepts the instructions and data from the outside
world.
It converts these instructions and data in computer
acceptable form.
It supplies the converted instructions and data to the
computer system for further processing.
Summarizing
– Cause an input device to physically read data.
– Transmit the data from the input device to an input
area of the CPU.
Functions performed by Output Unit
It accepts the results produced by the
computer, which are in coded form, and
hence, cannot be easily understood by us.
It converts these coded results to human
acceptable form
It supplies the converted results to the
outside world.
 Storage Unit
Specific Functions are to hold
– The data and instructions required for
processing (received from input devices)
– Intermediate results of processing
– Final results of processing, before these
results are released to an output device.
Primary Storage
Secondary Storage
 Central Processing Unit (CPU)

Brain of the computer.

Data is manipulated.

At times there are multiple

CPU’s in a single system.

1St processor was the Intel

4004, Only Add n Subtract
4 Bits. Introduced in 1971
PC CPUs Year No. of Transistors

1st Gen 8086, 8088 1978-81 29,000

2nd Gen 80286 1984 134,000

3rd Gen 80386 1987-88 275,000

4th Gen 80486 1990-92 1,200,000

5th Gen Pentium, 1993-95 3,100,000

Cyrix 6x86, 1996
AMD K5 1996 3,500,000
Improved Pentium MMX, 1997 4,500,000
5th Gen IBM/Cyrix 6x86MX, 1997 6,000,000
IDT Winchip2 3D 1998 6,000,000
 Basic Components of CPU

Primary Storage

Input Output

ALU Control Unit

CPU
 How does CPU work?
CPU is centrally located on the
motherboard.
It continually receives instructions to be
executed.
The work mostly consists of calculations
and data transport.

Data to be Processed
processed
The CPU
Data
Data have a path to the CPU.
Data expressway  System bus

The
The
The CPU The System Bus Other
RAM
Units

CPU receives at least two types of data:

– Instructions on how to handle the other data.
(Program Code)
– Data, which must be handled according to the
instructions (User Data)
 Types of CPU Memory
Magnetic Core Memory
– doughnut shaped ferrite elements.
– Clockwise – Anticlockwise.
Integrated Circuits
– made from semiconductors
– Two types : bipolar and metal oxide semiconductor.
Charge-Coupled Devices (CCD)
– High Speed Memories with large capacities at a relatively low
cost.
Magnetic Bubble Memory
– Consists of magnetized spots on a thin film of semiconductor
material.
– Non-volatile.
 The ROM Chip
ROM code holds start-up instructions
Connects to various hardware peripherals
Connects to CMOS instructions

Setup Program BIOS Program

Calls OS

POST Routines Boot Instructions

ROM Chip
 Inside a CPU
A microprocessor executes a
collection of machine
instructions that tell the
processor what to do.
Using its ALU
(Arithmetic/Logic Unit), a
microprocessor can perform
mathematical and logical
operations
A microprocessor can move
data from one memory
location to another.
A microprocessor can make
decisions and jump to a new
set of instructions based on
those decisions.
 CPU
This is about as simple as a
microprocessor gets. This
microprocessor has:
An address bus (that may be
8, 16 or 32 bits wide) that
sends an address to memory
A data bus (that may be 8,
16 or 32 bits wide) that can
send data to memory or
receive data from memory
An RD (read) and WR (write)
line to tell the memory
whether it wants to set or get
the addressed location
A clock line that lets a clock
pulse sequence the
processor
A reset line that resets the
program counter to zero (or
whatever) and restarts
 Machine Cycles

Each time the CPU executes an instruction, it takes a

series of steps. The completed series of steps is called a
machine cycle.

Machine Cycle

Instruction Cycle Execution Cycle

Fetching Decoding Executing Storing

 Arithmetic Logical Unit (ALU)
The ALU mainly performs two types of operations.
Mathematical – Add(+), Subtract(-), Multiply(*), Divide(/) and
Raise by a power (^)
Logical – Equal to OR not equal to, Greater than OR not
greater than, less than or not less than, greater than or equal
to, not greater than or equal to, less than or equal to, not
greater than or equal to.
When the instruction decoder encounters any instruction that
involves arithmetic or logical operation it passes it to the ALU.
It includes high speed registers used to hold data currently
being processed. Size of register determines amount of data
the computer can work on at any given time.
 ROM – Read Only Memory
Also known as firmware
Data stored in these
chips is nonvolatile - it is
not lost when power is
removed.
Data stored in these
chips is either
unchangeable or
requires a special
operation to change
BIOS - basic
input/output system of
your computer are saved
in the ROM. It Contains
startup instruction
 ROM types

There are four basic ROM types:

ROM – Read only Memory (Non Volatile)
PROM – Programmable ROM
EPROM – Erasable Programmable ROM
EEPROM – Electrically Erasable Programmable ROM
 RAM – Random Access Memory
Volatile memory requires
power to store data.
Any memory cell can be
accessed randomly if row
n column of memory cell
known.
If power is removed all
data stored on RAM is
lost.
Make processing time
very fast. Cheapest way
to make your PC faster
 RAM working
In Dynamic RAM a memory
cell consists of a capacitor
and a transistor (Switch)
A memory cell’s charge is
lost in a few milliseconds
hence needs to be refreshed
by the CPU or memory
controller.
Saves data that is most
frequently accessed by CPU.
Improves speed of computer
by minimizing access time of
frequently used data.
 Cache
Caching is a technology based on the memory
subsystem of your computer.
The main purpose of a cache is to accelerate your
computer while keeping the price of the computer low.
Caching allows you to do your computer tasks more
rapidly.
L1 cache – cache onboard the microprocessor, smallest
in size and access time is smallest too. Most expensive.
L2 cache – Earlier this cache was onboard the mother
board and access speed was faster than RAM but
slower than L1 cache. Size larger than L1 cache.
L3 cache – Now L2 cache also has been included into
the microprocessor giving birth to L3 cache as onboard
the motherboard.
 DATA & ADDRESS BUS
DATA – transfers data to & from CPU to other devices.
Size of bus can be 16Bit, 32Bit & now a days 64Bit.

Speed of bus is another important criteria. Mostly the

speed of the bus is a multiple of the processor speed.
E.g.. 400Mhz in a 1.6Ghz processor. Earlier speeds use
to be only 100-133Mhz. Now a days speeds go up to
800Mhz & even higher.

ADDRESS – similar to the Data bus it only connects the

CPU to the RAM and only carries memory addresses.
Note each byte of RAM is associated with a number,
which is the memory address.
 BUS Standards
ISA – Industry Standard Architecture, 16Bit, released in
mid 1980’s, still used to connect slow devices.
PCI – Peripheral Component Interconnection, designed
by Intel to make it easier to integrate new data types’
such as audio, video & graphics.
AGP – Accelerated Graphics Port, Allows video cards to
access system RAM, greatly increases speed of
graphics performance.
USB – Universal Serial Port, Hot swap, up to 127 device
connection in daisy chain or hub layout.
IEEE 1934 – (Fire Wire), very fast data transfer but
expensive, used mainly for video & TV connection.
PC Data Card – to attach external devices such as WiFi,
modems, Thumb scanner etc.