Discovering Computers

Technology in a World of Computers,

Mobile Devices, and the Internet

Chapter
Module 1 6
Inside Computers
and Mobile Devices
Objectives Overview

Describe multi-core Identify

Describe various
processors and its characteristics of
computer & mobile
components, and 4 processors, and
device cases and the
steps in a machine describe the ways
contents they protect
cycle processors are cooled

Explain the Define a bit, and Explain how program

advantages and describe how a series and application
services of cloud of bits represents instructions transfer
computing data in and out of memory

2
Objectives Overview

Describe the
purpose of
Differentiate
adapter cards, USB Explain the
various types of
adapters, and function of a bus
memory
ExpressCard
modules

Explain the purpose of a Understand how to care

power supply and for computers and
batteries mobile devices
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Inside the Case

• The case contains

and protects the
electronics of the
computer or mobile
device from damage

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Inside the Case

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What’s inside the System Unit?

Drive bay(s)

Power supply

Sound card

Video card

Processor

Memory
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Motherboard (System board)

• Main circuit board of the computer

– A computer Chip is a small piece of semiconducting
material, usually silicon, on which integrated circuits
are etched.
– Integrated circuit (IC) contains many microscopic
pathways capable of carrying electrical current

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Motherboard (System board)

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Figure 4-3
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Processors

• Also called the central processing unit (CPU),

interprets and carries out the basic instructions
that operate a computer
– Contain control unit, arithmetic logic unit (ALU),
register, and cache.

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Multi-Core Processor Multi-core
processor
Dual-core
processor
Quad-core
processor

• Refers to a single chip with 2 or more separate

processor cores. Common multi-processor cores:
– Dual core (has 2 separate processor cores)
– Quad-core (has 4 separate processor cores)

• Runs at slower clock speed than a single-core, but

increases overall performance.
• Energy efficient requiring lower levels of power
consumption and emitting less heat.

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Processors

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CU and ALU

• Control unit (CU)

– Component of the processor that directs and
coordinates most of the operations in the computer.
– It directs the ALU, registers, and buses.

• Arithmetic logic unit (ALU)

– Performs arithmetic, comparison, and other
operations

• Registers and Cache (to be discussed later)

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Machine Cycle
• For every instruction, a processor repeats a set of
4 basic operations:

• Fetching - process of obtaining a program instruction

or data item from memory.
• Decoding - process of translating the instruction into
signals the computer can execute.
• Executing - process of carrying out the commands.
• Storing – writing the result into memory not in
storage
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Machine Cycle

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Figure 4-5
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Processor

• Most current personal

computers support
pipelining

– Processor begins fetching

the 2nd instruction
before it completes the
machine cycle for the
first instruction.
– Thus, executes faster

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Register
Processor contains registers that
temporarily hold data and instructions

Has system clock that controls the timing

of all computer operations

• The pace of the system clock is called the clock

speed, and is measured in gigahertz (GHz)
Ex: 3 GHz - has 3 billion clock cycles in one second

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Superscalar

• Each tick equates to a Clock cycle.

• In the past, processors used one or more clock

cycles to execute each instruction

• Processors today, often are Superscalar, which

means they can execute more than one
instruction per clock cycle.

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Threads

• Processor cores work simultaneously on related

instructions, called threads, can be independent
or part of a larger task.

• Software written to support multiple threads,

called a multi-threaded program, runs much
faster than those in non-threaded environments.

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Parallel Processing
• Method that uses multiple processors simultaneously to
execute a single program or task and requires special
software to divide the problem and then bring the results
back together again.
– Massively parallel processing involves hundreds or thousands of
processors

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Processor
• The leading manufacturers of personal computer
processor chips are Intel and AMD

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Intel and AMD

• Intel Core family:

– Pentium and Celeron (less expensive, basic PC)
– Xeon and Itanium (ideal for workstations and low-end
servers)
• AMD family
– Opteron (server), Phenom, Athlon, Sempron

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Processor

Discovering Computers 2012: Chapter 22

4
Which PC vendors are most popular?

• Hewlett-Packard (HP) has the highest market

share worldwide at approximately 20%, with Dell
at 13% market share.

Discovering Computers 2012: Chapter 23

4
Processor Cooling

• A processor chip
generates heat that could
cause the chip to burn up
• Require additional cooling
– Heat sinks (absorbs and
disperses heat produced
by electrical components
such as a processor)
– Liquid cooling technology
– Cooling mats/pads
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Processor Cooling

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Cloud Computing

• Refers to an environment of servers that house

and provide access to resources users access via
the Internet
• Home and business users choose cloud computing
for a variety of reasons

Space
Accessibility Cost savings Scalability
savings

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Cloud Computing Services

• Infrastructure as a Service(IaaS)
– Manage IT infrastructure
• Software as a Service (SaaS)
– provide applications
• Data as a Service (DaaS)
– access online data
• Platform as a Service (PaaS)
– and create applications using web-based
development platforms
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Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS)

• Uses software to emulate hardware capabilities,

enabling companies to scale, or adjust up or
down, storage, processing power, or bandwidth as
needed.

• Two special cases of IaaS

– Storage as a Service
– Desktop as Service

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Software as a Service (SaaS)

• Describes a computing environment where an

Internet server hosts and deploys applications

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Data as a Service

• Allows users and applications to access a

company’s data.

• Mashups are applications that incorporate data

from multiple providers into a new application.
– Example: Displaying homes or crime statistics on a
map that require data from real estate, police records,
and mapping providers.

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Platform as a Service

• Allows developers to create, test, and run their

solutions on a cloud platform without having to
purchase or configure the underlying hardware
and software.

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Security Threats in Cloud Storage

• Worry about data security

• Threat when transferring data between a network
and the cloud – subject to interception

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Data Representation

Analog signals are continuous and vary in

strength and quality

Digital signals are in one of two states: on

or off
• Most computers are digital
• The binary system uses two unique digits (0 and 1)
• Bits and bytes
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Data Representation
Computer circuitry Byte – consists of 8 bits as a
represents on or off states unit. It represents a single
electronically by the character
presence or absence of an
electronic charge

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 Data Representation

• ASCII (American Standard

Code for Information
Interchange) - most widely
used coding scheme to
represent data.

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Data Representation

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Memory

• Consists of electronic components that store

instructions waiting to be executed by the
processor, data needed by those instructions, and
the results of processing the data

• Stores 3 Basic Categories of Items:

Data being
OS and other processed and
Applications
programs resulting
information
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Bytes and Addressable Memory

• Each location in memory has an address

• Memory size commonly is measured in gigabytes
(GB – 1 billion bytes) or terabytes (TB – 1 trillion)

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Types of Memory

Nonvolatile
Volatile memory
memory
Loses its contents Does not lose contents
when power is turned when power is
off removed

Example includes RAM Examples include

ROM, flash memory,
(called main memory) and CMOS
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40
Types of RAM chips
Dynamic RAM Magnetoresistive
Static RAM (SRAM)
(DRAM) RAM (MRAM)

• Dynamic RAM (pronounced DEE-ram) chips

– must be reenergized constantly or they lose their
contents.
• Static RAM (pronounced ESS-ram) chips
– faster and more reliable than DRAM chips. Do not
have to be reenergized as often as DRAM chips.
– But, much more expensive than DRAM chips.
– Special applications such as cache use SRAM chips. 41
Common DRAM Variations

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Types of RAM chip
Dynamic RAM Magnetoresistive
Static RAM (SRAM)
(DRAM) RAM (MRAM)

• Magnetoresistive RAM (MRAM)- newer type of

RAM that stores data using magnetic charges
instead of electrical charges. Has greater storage
capacity, consumes less power, and has faster
access times than electronic RAM

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Memory
• RAM chips usually reside on a memory module
and are inserted into memory slots

Discovering Computers 2012: Chapter 44

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Types of Memory Module

• SIMM (single inline memory module) - has pins

on opposite sides of the circuit board that
connect together to form a single set of contacts.
• DIMM (dual inline memory module) - pins on
opposite sides of the circuit board do not connect,
thus forming two sets of contacts.
– SIMMs and DIMMs typically hold SDRAM chips
• RIMM (Rambus inline memory module) - houses
RDRAM chips.
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Putting DIMM in Memory Bank

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Memory Cache

• Speeds the processes of the computer because it stores

frequently used instructions and data

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Types of Memory Cache

• L1 cache - built directly in the processor chip. Has a very

small capacity, ranging from 8 KB to 128 KB. Common
sizes for PC’s are 32 KB or 64 KB.

• L2 cache - slightly slower than L1 cache but has much

larger capacity, ranging from 64 KB to 16 MB.

• L3 cache - cache on motherboard that is separate from

the processor chip. Exists only on computers that use L2
advanced transfer cache.

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 Search Order when CPU needs
data or instruction:
• L1 cache
• L2 cache
• L3 cache
• RAM
• then processor searches in slower speed storage
medium such as a hard disk or optical disc.

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Read Only Memory (ROM) & PROM

Read-only memory (ROM) refers to memory

chips storing permanent data and instructions
• Firmware

A PROM (programmable read-only memory)

chip is a blank ROM chip that can be written to
permanently
• EEPROM can be erased
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Flash Memory

• Nonvolatile memory that can be erased

electronically and rewritten. Most computers use
this to hold their start-up instructions because it
allows the computer to update its contents easily.

• CMOS technology provides high speeds and

consumes little power

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Memory Access Time

• Amount of time it takes the processor to read

from memory
– Measured in nanoseconds
(1 billionth of a second)

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Adapter Card
• Enhances functions of a component of a desktop or
server system unit and/or provides connections to
peripherals
– Sound card and graphics card

• An expansion slot is a socket on a desktop or server

motherboard that can hold an adapter card

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54
Ports for Computers and Mobile Devices

• For Display devices • For Networking

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Ports for Computers and Mobile Devices

• For Audio • For Other Input, output

and storage devices

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Plug and Play

• With Plug and Play, the computer automatically

recognize peripheral devices as you install them.

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Adapters

• Adapters for mobile computers are in the form of

a removable flash memory device
– USB adapter
– ExpressCard module

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Buses

• Allow various devices both

inside and attached to the
system unit to communicate
with each other
– Data bus
– Address bus
– Control bus

• Word size is the number of

bits the processor can interpret
and execute at a given time
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Buses

• Bus width
– Refers to the size of a bus that determines the
number of bits that the computer can transmit at one
time.
• Every bus also has a clock speed.
– Higher the bus clock speed, the faster the transmission
of data, thus, running the program faster.

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Types of Buses
System Backside Expansion
bus bus bus

• System bus - also called the front side bus ( FSB), is part
of the motherboard and connects the processor to main
memory.
• Backside bus ( BSB) - connects the processor to cache.
• Expansion bus - allows the processor to communicate
with peripheral devices

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Types of Expansion Buses

• Common types of expansion buses include:

PCI Express Accelerated

PCI bus
bus Graphics Port

USB and
PC Card bus
FireWire bus

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Bay

• Opening inside the

system unit in which
you can install
additional equipment
– A drive bay typically
holds disk drives

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Power Supply and Battery

• Power supply or laptop

AC adapter converts
the wall outlet AC
power into DC power

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Power Supply and Battery

• Mobile computers and devices can run using

either a power supply or batteries
• Batteries typically are rechargeable lithium-ion
batteries

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Keeping Your Computer
or Mobile Device Clean

Clean your computer or mobile device once or twice a year

Turn off and unplug your computer or mobile device before

cleaning it

Use compressed air to blow away dust

Use an antistatic wipe to clean the exterior of the case and a

cleaning solution and soft cloth to clean the screen
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END OF MODULE 1
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