Computer Construction

This reading accompanies chapter 2 (and to a lesser extent chapter 3) and lab 2

The central processing unit, or processor, is stored on a single chip, known as the microprocessor.
The CPU has a number of small pins (known as pads with our modern chips) on one side of it. It
is best to never touch these pins – bending them will most likely ruin the CPU. You insert the
CPU into a special socket on the motherboard. You might notice that one corner of the CPU has
a triangle on it. This will help you position the CPU correctly when you insert it into its socket.

Most computer memory is stored in DRAM (dynamic random access memory). We will usually
refer to this as main memory. Other types of memory in the computer are ROM (read-only
memory) and cache (another form of RAM called static RAM). ROM typically is already placed
on the motherboard and cache is part of the CPU and/or placed on the motherboard. Main memory
though comes in chips that are preinserted onto a memory circuit board. You slip the circuit board
into a special slot on the motherboard. Again, you will have to position the circuit board correctly
into the slot. If you notice in the figure, there are pins that run along the bottom of this circuit.
One set of pins is longer than the other, this will help you decide the proper orientation in the
memory slot.

This system unit is a case into which you will place several key components of the computer. The
most important component is the motherboard (see the next page). The motherboard will sit on
top of “standoffs” to elevate it above the surface. It will be placed along one side of the system
unit, not on the bottom. Looking at the system unit, you can see many screw holes, some of these
are for the standoffs.
Also inserted into the system unit are a power supply, a fan, and some external storage devices
such as an optical disk drive and a hard disk drive. There is room for other devices in the slots
along the front of the system unit.

The motherboard provides the connections between the CPU, memory and other components. The
other components either sit in the system unit (e.g., storage devices, modem) or are peripheral to
the system unit. In all cases, they either connect to the motherboard through expansion slots or
ports that line up against a hole at the rear of the system unit. The expansion slots are rectangles
that contain pin connectors much like the CPU socket.

The motherboard itself is a piece of fiberglass or plastic on which sockets and bus lines are
attached. The sockets include one (or more) socket for the CPU, sockets for DRAM memory,
expansion slots for cards that are interfaces with peripheral devices, connectors for storage devices,
power supply connections, and ports that will stick through the rear panel of the system unit. ROM
memory chips are already attached to the motherboard.
The motherboard has screw holes so that you can attach screw it into the standoffs that are
positioned in the system unit. As the system unit will usually stand vertically, the motherboard
will actually be positioned vertically as well, so it is important that the motherboard be attached
firmly. The standoffs ensure that the motherboard does not physically touch the inner surface of
the system unit. Since electrical current flows across the motherboard, if it were to touch the
metallic inner surface of the system unit, this could short out the current flow resulting in a lack of
current making it to the appropriate chips.

The underside of the motherboard contains “wires”, soldered lines that make up a portion of the
system bus. Current flows over these lines. It is important that these lines do not touch anything
else that is metal. This is one reason why we will mount the motherboard on top of “standoffs”.
This will elevate the motherboard off of the side of the system unit. Notice that the underside of
the motherboard is rough (bumpy) with little pieces of hardware and solder sticking out. When
you work on the motherboard, it is best to place it on top of a soft, yielding surface, but also one
that will not conduct any electricity. The box that the motherboard came in would be one
possibility, or the plastic bag that contained the motherboard from would be another.
The hard disk is the standard unit of long-term storage. In the earliest days of computers, magnetic
tape was used (reel-to-reel then magnetic tape cassettes and cartridges). Such units were external
to the computer because of the need to change tapes. The hard disk though has its storage media
(several hard disk platters) permanently sealed inside of it so that there is no reason to touch or
otherwise handle the hard disk. Thus, it sits inside the motherboard. Other storage devices like a
floppy disk drive, optical disc drive or magnetic tape drive can also be positioned in the system
unit. Access to insert and remove disk/disc/tape media is made available by removing a part of
the system unit.

Today, the hard disk drive stores a great quantity (typical storage sizes are about a full TB). The
hard disk drive contains several hard disk platters onto which information is stored as magnetic
charges. Read/write heads move in unison over the various disk surfaces. The hard disk drive
also contains the logic and mechanisms to spin the disks and move the read/write head arm.
There are generally two types of drives that we use today, IDE and SATA. Below, you see an IDE
drive and cables for both SATA (left) and IDE (right). The IDE drive has two types of connectors,
the data portion (bottom left of the figure) and power supply (bottom right of the figure). Notice
how the SATA connector has an “L-shape” to it, which helps you oriented the connector when
you plug it in.

We may use in place of the hard disk a solid-state drive or a combination of the two. Solid state
drives typically only store 250MB and are more expensive than hard disks but are much faster.

Our computers may contain an optical disk drive although in the most recent releases, these are
becoming more infrequent thanks to the use of USB drives, external hard disks and Internet-based
cloud storage. If available, the optical drive allows us to view DVDs/listen to CDs. The optical
drive may also be used as a form of removable storage, although as noted, we tend to use USB
drives, cloud-based storage or external hard disks for additional data storage.

In addition to the motherboard and drive units, you will also insert a power supply unit into the
system unit. The power supply unit connects to a number of cables. These cables are connected
to the motherboard to power the motherboard, CPU, the display panel (on the front of the system
unit), the fan, and the drives. This figure shows the cables all bundled together. You will have to
be careful as you connect the various power cables to their locations on the motherboard or drives
as these cables can be awkward to connect correctly such that they do not get in your way as you
continue with the assembly process.
You might wonder what about the connectors for the keyboard, mouse and display. These
connections are already part of the motherboard. You will remove a panel from the back of the
system unit so that the various connectors (ports) are accessible from outside.

Now that you have seen the various components, let’s look at how they go together. The first thing
you should do is identify all of the components. These will include the motherboard, CPU,
memory circuit boards (chips), power supply, hard disk drive, optical disk drive, screws and
standoffs, a grounding strap and tools. Although you do not have to wear the grounding strap yet,
be aware that it is very important that you put it on before touching any of the electronics
(motherboard, chips). To further protect the hardware, do not work on carpeting and wear lose
clothes that will not retain a static charge. A static charge could damage any of the chips, most
especially the CPU. In addition, keep the work area clean of clutter and debris. Do not plug in
the power supply yet, and always plug the power supply in to a power strip, not directly into a wall
socket
After identifying and organizing your components, the first step is to mount the power supply into
the power supply bay of the system unit. You will need to remove the side panel off of the system
unit. Place the power supply in its proper place and screw it in. You will also need to remove the
rear port panel. This should snap right out.

Next, you will insert the DVD and hard drive. You will have to remove the front “bezel” off of
the system unit in the location of where you want to insert the DVD drive (you do not need to do
this for the hard disk since the hard disk drive’s surface will not need to be visible, but the DVD
drive needs to open). Depending on the type of system unit shell you have, you will either have
to attach plastic rails onto the drives to slide them into their slots, or slide the drives in and attach
them using the slot “arms”. Once your drives are in place, do not yet connect any cables to them.
The cables would interfere with other work, so it is best to save the connections until the last steps.

Now, you will begin to assemble the components on the motherboard. For this, you need to wear
a grounding strap. You should attach the lose end of the grounding strap to something metal,
preferably the metal “cage” of the system unit. Using the motherboard, determine where the
standoffs are needed in the system unit. Do not affix the motherboard yet but screw in the standoffs
in their proper position (again, using the motherboard to determine where – you will need to look
for the screw holes in the motherboard and match then to screw holes in the side of the system
unit).

The first component to insert onto the motherboard is the CPU. Make sure you have the CPU
aligned properly (look for the arrow), lift the locking lever bar, flip up the CPU socket lid, slip the
CPU into its socket, lower the lid and then lock the lever into place.

Next, you will affix the CPU’s cooling unit. First, you need to place a dab of heat transfer paste
onto the outer surface of the CPU. The amount you place onto the CPU is small, about the size of
a small pea. Next, orient the cooling unit so that its four connectors (pegs) are positioned over the
four holes surrounding the CPU socket. Make sure that the unit is oriented so that the power cord
can easily fit into the power socket on the motherboard. Once it is positioned correctly, push down
on each of the four pins one at a time. Once all four pins have been pushed through the
motherboard, lift up the motherboard to confirm this. Then, turn each of the pins as indicated on
the surface to lock the pins in place.

The next step is to insert main memory. Take a memory circuit board and insert it into one of the
memory slots. Make sure that the board is aligned properly by looking for the gap in the pins and
match it to the gap in the slot. Make sure the tabs along the side of the slots are “open”. Slide the
circuit board onto the opening and then using your thumbs only, press down until you see the tabs
close automatically. You would repeat this step for each memory circuit that you wish to add to
your computer.

With these units in place, you can now screw the motherboard into place on the standoffs inserted
earlier. To finish off the installation, you will now need to make all of the connections between
the power supply unit, drives, fan and motherboard. First, find the cable that has four 2-pin
connectors (note: depending on the power supply unit, this might be a single 8-pin connector).
The attachments will be shown on the motherboard installation document. For instance, the
drawing below indicates the connections to power the disk drive LED, the reset (reboot) button,
the power LED, and the on/off switch. Failure to connect the connectors to the proper pins will
result in these components not functioning. In the diagram below, pins 1/3 are used for the hard
disk drive LED. Pins 2/4 power the on/off LED. Pins 5/7 are used for the reboot button. Pins
6/8 are used for the on/off button’s light. Finally, pin 9 does nothing.
Next, connect your drives. You will probably have two drives to connect, an optical drive and a
hard disk drive. Chances are, the hard disk is an IDE as IDE drives are more common in PC-style
computers. The optical drive may be either SATA or IDE. Identify the type to determine which
plugs to use. First, insert the drives into available bays in the system unit. You will probably want
to insert the optical drive on top. This is because the optical drive will interface with the outside
world so it is more common to have it appear near the top of the system unit. You will have to
remove the cover over that bay so that the optical drive is accessible from outside. Different system
units will have different types of bays. Commonly though, all you need to do is slide the drive
into the bay and then turn the key on the side of the bay.

Once both (or all) drives are in their bays, you must connect them to the motherboard and the
power supply unit. Find the appropriate power cable to attach to the power supply and the
appropriate data cable to connect to the motherboard. The last connection is to plug the fan power
cable into the power supply cable and to connect this to the motherboard. At this point, you can
plug in the power supply unit to both the computer and the surge protector. Make sure the surge
protector is plugged into an electrical outlet and turned on. Now you can boot your computer!

If the computer successfully boots, it will boot to the ROM BIOS but because there is no operating
system on your hard disk, it will not reach windows. If you have successfully assembled your
computer, insert a Windows installation CD into the optical drive, shut down the computer and
reboot. Once the computer has booted to ROM BIOS, you can go through the Windows
installation (Windows installation is covered in a separate supplemental reading).
Congratulations!