Sukkur Institute of Business Administration University

Department of Computer System Engineering

CSE-111: Information and Communications Technologies (ICT)

Handout # 01: Inside the Personal Computer (PC)

[CLO-I]
Instructor: Engr. Muhammad Irfan Younas

Note: Submit this lab hand-out in the next lab with attached solved activities and exercises

Submission Profile

Name: Submission date ( / / ):

Marks obtained: Receiving authority name and signature:

Comments:

________________________________________________________________________________

Instructor Signature
Lab Learning Objectives:
After going through this lab student would be able to:
1. familiarise yourself with characteristics of computers
2. identify the basic components of a computer
3. explain the importance of various units of a computer
Lab Hardware and Software Required:

Desktop Computer (PC)

Background Theory:

Computers are made of electronic parts called components. Each component has a specific
function. They all work together when a computer is operated. Some of the components can be
seen partly from the outside. Some components are inside the computer box where we can’t see
them. Whenever we press a key, click the mouse, or start an application, we send instructions to
the CPU. These are all executed by the CPU.

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Hard disk drives can be internal or external in type. For internal drives, the two standards are:

IDE (Integrated Drive Electronics). The disks connect to the motherboard using a ribbon cable. This
cable is actually a bus extension from the motherboard. Each ribbon cable can hold two IDE drives set
up as master and slave. The drive is set as master or slave by positioning a jumper switch on the back of
the drive. As there are two IDE connectors on a motherboard, a total of four drives can be connected.

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SATA (Serial Advanced Technology Attachment) allow faster data transfer speeds than IDE drives
and as such, will eventually replace them. There is no master/slave arrangement with SATA and each
drive has it’s own cable. The cables are much smaller and allow better air circulation in the system
unit.

The motherboard connectors are shown below.

Hard disk capacities range from 100GB to 500GB and some computer manufacturers are now offering
computers with SATA drives of 1TB (Terabyte - 1000GB). Hard disks have rotational speeds of between
7,200rpm and 15,000rpm. This effects the transfer rate - the amount of data that can be written or read
from a disk per second. Transfer rate varies from 50MB/s for the 7,200rpm drive to 200MB/s for the
best 15,000rpm drives.

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Power supply, which provides power to all other components inside the computer case. Several types of
power supplies are available. The form factor of the computer case and motherboard dictates which type
of power supply can be installed in a system.

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The power supply converts the alternating current (AC) from your mains (110V input or 220V input) to
the direct current (DC) needed by the computer. In a PC, the power supply is the metal box usually found
in a corner of the case. The power supply is visible from the back of many systems because it contains the
power-cord receptacle and the cooling fan. Power supplies - often referred to as switching power
supplies, use switcher technology to convert the AC input to lower DC voltages. The typical voltages
produced are:
•3.3 volts,
•5 volts,
•12 volts

The 3.3-volts and 5-volts are typically used by digital circuits, while the 12-volt is used to power fans and
motors in disk drives. The main specification of a power supply is in watts. A watt is the product of the
voltage in volts and the current in amperes or amps. In a laptop the conversion is done by the AC

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adapter in the power cable. In current ATX this has changed from 20 pin to 24 pin (2 x12) to support
PCI-Express requirements.
The power supple has a number of connectors to connect to the motherboard, drives etc. The main
connectors are:

1 Main connector Connects to the motherboard and supplies the 3.3 and 5 volt supply for the
board.
2 Molex Connects IDE hard drives and optical drives.
connector
3 Berg connector Connects floppy disk drives
4 SATA Connects SATA drives
connector

The form factor of the power supply refers to its general shape and dimensions. The form factor of the
power supply must match that of the case that it is supposed to go into, and the motherboard it is to
power.
A 400-watt switching power supply will not necessarily use more power than a 250- watt supply. A larger
supply may be needed if you use every available slot on the motherboard or every available drive bay in
the personal computer case. It is not a good idea to have a 250-watt supply if you have 250 watts total in
devices, since the supply should not be loaded to 100 percent of its capacity.

Computer Monitor
A computer monitor displays images generated by the computer system. Like main memory, it is a
volatile device. When the power is removed, the image is lost. Monitors nowadays, are almost exclusively
LCD (Liquid Crystal Display). CRT (Cathode Ray Tube) monitors are rare and are now as expensive as
LCD monitors. Their physical size, weight and power consumption has made them unpopular.

The aspect ratio of a computer monitor is the ratio between the width and height of the screen.
The aspect ratios are:
• Standard monitor: 4:3
• Widescreen monitor: 16:9
The resolution is number of pixels a monitor can display. It is normally expressed as the number of pixels
in one horizontal row multiplied by the number of rows - 1024 x 768 etc.

The screen size of a computer is measured diagonally in inches:

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Lab Activities:

Activity 1.1. If you use a PSU that does not supply enough power for the system, what would
happen with the system?

__________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________

ATX FORM FACTOR

ATX (Advanced Technology Extended) is the most commonly used form factor today. It is an open,
non-proprietary industry specification originally developed by Intel in 1995, and has undergone several
revisions since then. An ATX motherboard measures up to 12" x 9.6". The CPU and memory slots sit
beside expansion slots so that full-length expansion cards don’t bump into the CPU or memory modules
(see Figure above). The original ATX form factor had case fans blowing air into the case but early
revisions to the form factor had fans blowing air out of the case. Blowing air out of the case does a better
job of keeping the system cool.

Activity 1.2 Check and Measure various supply voltages of a PC.

a. Make sure the 24-pin ATX connector is in and the computer is hooked up to AC power. Set the multi-
meter to Voltage DC. Using the black multi-meter probe, probe the backside of the connector and set the
black probe in contact with pin 15, 16, or 17 (GND pins).

b. Use the red probe to probe the following pins (looking for the readings indicated in the parentheses):
Pin 9 (Purple, VSB) should be at 5 V (any other reading indicates a problem with the PSU); and Pin 14
(Green, PS On) should be between 3 and 5 volts. Press the PC power switch, and the PS On value should
drop to 0. Other readings indicate a faulty switch.

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c. Use the red probe to check Pin 8 (gray, Power_OK), which should be above 2.5 V; this signals that it is
okay for the computer to start. Pressing reset should make the Power_OK reading drop to 0 and then
climb back up.

d. Check all the pins of the connector and note the actual values measured by multi-meter.

Pin1:___________ Pin2:___________ Pin4:___________ Pin6:___________

Pin8:___________ Pin9:___________ Pin10:___________ Pin11:_________

Pin12:___________ Pin13:___________ Pin14:___________ Pin16:_______

Pin21:___________ Pin22:___________ Pin23:___________ Pin24:_______

Activity 1.3 Check the form factor of your PC’s Motherboard:

Form Factor: __________________________________

Other Components:

Ports
Computer ports are interfaces between peripheral devices and the computer system. They are hardware
devices built into the motherboard or on expansion cards. They are often built into the front of the
computer chassis for easy access but will be cabled back to the motherboard.

A port has the following characteristics:

External devices are connected to a computer using cables and ports.

Ports are slots on the motherboard into which a cable of external device is plugged in.

Examples of external devices attached via ports are mouse, keyboard, monitor, microphone, speakers etc.

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PS/2 connector is developed by IBM for connecting mouse and keyboard. It was introduced with IBM’s
Personal Systems/2 series of computers and hence the name PS/2 connector. PS/2 connectors are color
coded as purple for keyboard and green for mouse.

Serial Port

Although the communication in PS/2 and USB is serial, technically, the term Serial Port is used to refer
the interface that is compliant to RS-232 standard. There are two types of serial ports that are commonly
found on a computer: DB-25 and DE-9.

DB-25 is a variant of D-sub connector and is the original port for RS-232 serial communication. They
were developed as the main port for serial connections using RS-232 protocol but most of the
applications did not require all the pins.

DE-9 is the main port for RS-232 serial communication. It is a D-sub connector with E shell and is often
miscalled as DB-9. A DE-9 port is also called as a COM port and allows full duplex serial communication
between the computer and it’s peripheral.

Parallel Port or Centronics 36 Pin Port

Parallel port is an interface between computer and peripheral devices like printers with parallel
communication. The Centronics port is a 36 pin port that was developed as an interface for printers and
scanners and hence a parallel port is also called as a Centronics port. Before the wide use of USB ports,
parallel ports are very common in printers. The Centronics port was later replaced by DB-25 port with
parallel interface.

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Audio Ports

Audio ports are used to connect speakers or other audio output devices with the computer. The audio
signals can be either analogue or digital and depending on that the port and its corresponding connector
differ.

Surround Sound Connectors or 3.5 mm TRS Connector

It is the most commonly found audio port that can be used to connect stereo headphones or surround
sound channels. A 6 connector system is included on majority of computers for audio out as well as a
microphone connection. The 6 connectors are colour coded as Blue, Lime, Pink, Orange, Black and
Grey. These 6 connectors can be used for a surround sound configuration of up to 8 channels.

Video Ports

VGA Port

VGA port is found in many computers, projectors, video cards and High Definition TVs. It is a D-sub
connector consisting of 15 pins in 3 rows. The connector is called as DE-15.VGA port is the main
interface between computers and older CRT monitors. Even the modern LCD and LED monitors
support VGA ports but the picture quality is reduced. VGA carries analogue video signals up to a
resolution of 648X480. With the increase in use of digital video, VGA ports are gradually being replaced
by HDMI and Display Ports. Some laptops are equipped with on-board VGA ports in order to connect
to external monitors or projectors.

Display Port

Display Port is a digital display interface with optional multiple channel audio and other forms of data.
Display Port is developed with an aim of replacing VGA and DVI ports as the main interface between a
computer and monitor.

HDMI

HDMI is an abbreviation of High Definition Media Interface. HDMI is a digital interface to connect
High Definition and Ultra High Definition devices like Computer monitors, HDTVs, Blu-Ray players,
gaming consoles, High Definition Cameras etc. HDMI can be used to carry uncompressed video and
compressed or uncompressed audio signals.

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USB

Universal Serial Bus (USB) replaced serial ports, parallel ports, PS/2 connectors, game ports and power
chargers for portable devices. USB port can be used to transfer data, act as an interface for peripherals
and even act as power supply for devices connected to it. There are three kinds of USB ports: Type A,
Type B or mini USB and Micro USB.

RJ-45

Ethernet is a networking technology that is used to connect your computer to Internet and communicate
with other computers or networking devices. The interface that is used for computer networking and
telecommunications is known as Registered Jack (RJ) and RJ – 45 port in particular is used for Ethernet
over cable.

Activity 2.4. Identify and write down the names of the different ports available on your Lab/Personal
computer:

1.___________________ 2. ___________________ 3. ___________________ 4. ________________

5. ___________________ 6. ___________________ 7. ___________________ 8. ________________

Graphic card
Images displayed on a monitor are made up of dots called pixels (picture elements). The graphics card has
to decide what to do with each one of these pixels in order to create the required image. In the case of a
moving image as in a video file or a game, the task becomes more complex.

Sound card
In recent years, computers have become entertainment centres with media centre operating systems
controlling TV and video. The need for good quality sound and even surround sound has made it almost
standard on most computers. Most computers are supplied with an integrated sound system and this is
sufficient for most applications. A sound card can be fitted to an empty PCI slot and the integrated chip
turned off if the extra features of a card are required.

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The main functions of a sound card are:

• To use a DAC (digital to analogue converter) to prepare audio for speakers etc.

• To use an ADC (analogue to digital converter) to convert the audio coming into the computer.

Network card
A network card is designed to allow computers participate in a computer network. This can simply be a
home computer connected to a Broadband connection or a number of computers connected together to
share resources. Network capability is included on most new motherboards, but a different network card
can be added if required. The standard used in the majority of networks is called Ethernet. This covers
wired and wireless networks. Wired Ethernet is available as a PCI card for desktop computer systems, a
PC card version for notebook computers and a USB version for either of the above.

Wireless Ethernet is available as a PCI card for desktop computer systems, a PC card version for
notebook computers and a USB version for either of the above.

Modem
A modem is necessary to access the internet using a standard telephone line. Because a standard
telephone line is analogue, a modem must convert the digital computer data to analogue before
transmission across the telephone line and convert the analogue data in the telephone line to digital
before transmission to the computer. As digital to analogue conversion is called MOdulation and
analogue to digital conversion is called DEModulation, the device gets it’s name from these two terms.
The standard transmission speed of a modem is 56Kbps. This speed is rarely achieved because of line
conditions. Modems are available in PCI, external serial and USB versions. The V.92 standard allows uses
to answer a phone call without losing the Internet connection. A large number of users in rural areas still
depend on modems for Internet access.

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Activity 2.5. Find out the minimum and maximum resolution of your display device.

Min. Resolution: ________________________ Max Resolution: ________________________

Activity 2.6. Find out the Specification details of following cards from your PC:

a. Sound Card: _______________________________________________________________

b. Network Card: _____________________________________________________________

c. Graphics Card: _____________________________________________________________

Lab Exercises:

Exercise 1.1. Write down the typical power usage of following computer devices:

S.No Component Power Usage

1. Motherboard 60 watts

2. Processor

3. Memory

4. Processor fan

5. Graphics Card

6. Hard disk

7. Optical drive

Exercise 1.2. What is Firewire port? Why is USB port more common than Firewire port?

___________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________

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Exercise 1.3. Fill the below table:

S.No Standard Resolution

1 XGA (Extended Graphics Array): 1024 x 768
2 SXGA (Super Extended Graphics Array) :
3 UXGA (Ultra Extended Graphics Array):
4 QXGA (Quad Extended Graphics Array):

Exercise 1.4 [CLO-I]

Detailed readings:

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