Information Technology

Skills

Knowing Your Hardware

Saud S. Alotaibi, Ph.D

Email: ssotaibi@uqu.edu.sa

Course Material Web Site: elearn.uqu.edu.sa

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Computers Are
Data Processing Devices
 A computer’s four major functions:
 Gathers data (users input data)
 Processes data into information
 Outputs data or information
 Stores data and information

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BIOS – Basic Input/ Output System
 The software used to start your computer

A legacy (more than 25 years) BIOS example

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The BIOS- Location

ASUS E3 PRO GAMING V5

Motherboard
https://www.amazon.com/Asus-E3-
PRO-GAMING-
Motherboard/dp/B01AWGY5TS
https://www.asus.com/us/Motherboards/E
3-PRO-GAMING-V5/HelpDesk_Manual/
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The new BIOS: UEFI BIOS
 Unified Extensible Firmware Interface
 Based on Intel’s EFI

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The Motherboard (or MoBo)
 There are standard sizes of motherboards
 The Form factor is the specification of the motherboard:
dimensions, power supply, number of ports, etc.

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Motherboards Layout

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Motherboards - Components

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Getting documentation about your
Motherboard
 https://www.asus.com/us/Motherboards/E3-PRO-
GAMING-V5/

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PC Architecture Block Diagram

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Extension slots
 Peripheral Component Interconnect(PCI)
 It’s been around since 1994.
 It has a 32-bit and a 64-bit bus length.

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PCI Parallel Bus and Southbridge
 Manage connections
 PCI interface slots
 Other peripherals (USB, Ethernet,..)
 Onboard graphic controller
 BIOS

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PCI Express and Northbridge (memory
controller hub)
Connect the CPU to the memory
and high speed graphic card
 High bandwidth communication
 PICe: 250 megabytes per second per lane
 Modern computers include cooling
options
 Fan
 Heatsink
 https://www.partitionwizard.com/clone-disk/pci-vs-pcie.html

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RAM Memory
 Memory types have changed through
the years
 Driven by standardization and technology

One of the most important

components
Of your computer
 Speed, speed, speed

 Every motherboard is different

 Check the motherboard documentation
 DIMM. That stands for Dual Inline Memory Module

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RAM DIMM
 DIMM
 Dual inline memory module
 Electrical contacts are different on each side
 64 bit data width
 DDR SDRAM are 184 pins
 DDR2 and DDR3 SDRAM are 240 pins
 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NQo7G34hzVQ

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RAM and Motherboard Compatibility

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The CPU Slot
 Motherboards are matched with CPUs
 CPUs have specific socket requirements
 CPU socket is usually the largest thing
on the board
 And usually central to everything
 Not easily upgradable
 And often not an option

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CPU and Chipset evolution
 Nothing stays the same
 It’s all about speed

 More functions are moving into

the CPU
 Bigger, faster, stronger

 Modern processes
 Processor cores
 Memory controller
 Graphics processing unit (GPU)

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Hard drives

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RAID
 Redundant Array of Independent Disks
 They’re also inexpensive disks

 Different RAID levels

 Some redundant, some not

 RAID 0 - Striping
 RAID 1 - Mirroring
 RAID 5 – Stripping with Parity (3 Min)
 Nested RAID – RAID 1+0 (a.k.a. RAID 10)
 A stripe of mirrors
 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U-OCdTeZLac
 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pf_dzlgPCN8
 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Aa0RTgxJJy8

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SSD Solid State Drives

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Information Technology
Skills

Questions

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