Ch2 - Hardware - Components - New

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Chapter 2
Computer Systems and
Hardware Components
ITP3901 OPERATING SYSTEMS FUNDAMENTALS
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Computer System Overview
Computer System = Hardware + Software
 Hardware: physical components that make up a computer system.

Motherboards, monitors, printers, power supplies are all hardware.
 Software: a set of instructions (with related data) that directs a computer to
perform specific operations.
ITP3901 Operating Systems Fundamentals

Chapter 2 - Computer Systems and Hardware Com
ponents
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Computer System Overview (Cont.)
Computer System = Hardware + Software
 The operating system (OS) is the software that controls functionality and
provides lower-level routines for application programs.
 Most operating systems provide functions to read and write data to files.

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Computer System Overview (Cont.)
 An operating system translates requests for operations on files into operations

that the disk controller can perform. The operating system helps the computer
perform four basic operations:
• Input / Output (I/O)

• Processing
• Storage

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Personal computer
 The personal computer (PC) is one of the most common types of computer.
 PCs are usually equipped with a case which is a plastic or metal enclosure
called case that houses most of the components
 Common hardware components inside the case include:
 Motherboard
 Central Processing Unit (CPU)
 Random Access Memory (RAM)
 Power Supply
 etc.

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Typical back panel layout

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Power Supply
 PCs have a power supply unit to convert high voltage alternating current
(AC) electric power to low-voltage direct current (DC) power.
 UPS (Uninterruptible Power Supply)
 One key component of a UPS is a battery to maintain power in the event of power
outage.
 Note that most UPSs are not designed for long time power supply for PCs. Most
UPSs keep computers running from 5 to about 30 minutes after a power outage,
enabling the system to stop the currently running job and the shut down the
computer properly.

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Power Supply
Motherboard Power
Connector
Disk Drive Power

Connector
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Factors to Consider When Selecting
a Power Supply
Factor Rationale
CPU type Different CPUs require different voltages. For
example, some AMD chips and motherboards require
more power than certain Intel chips and vice versa.
Expandability If the power supply only has enough power to supply

the current CPU, motherboard, and devices, there
might not be enough power to supply any upgrade to
the system.

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Motherboard
The motherboard is also called the system board or the main board. Everything
else in the system plugs into, is controlled by, or depends on the motherboard to
communicate with other devices on the system. The system board is the largest
of the printed circuit boards (PCB). Every system has one. The system board
generally houses the following components:
 The CPU  The Complementary Metal-Oxide

 The controller circuitry Semiconductor (CMOS)
 The Bus  The other Read Only memory (ROM)
 The RAM  The BIOS chips
 The expansion slots for
 The support chips providing varied
additional boards
functionality
 The ports for external devices
Check out a modern motherboard user manual for the component layout. e.g. ASUS PRIME H510M-A R2.0-CSM
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Motherboard Components
Components Description
Chipset A chip set is a set of chips on the motherboard that
(North Bridge + South Bridge) collectively controls the memory cache, external bus, and
some peripherals.
CPU interface The socket or slot that the CPU connects to on the
motherboard.
Expansion slots Receptacles on the motherboard that accept printed circuit
boards. All computers have expansion slots that allow
additional devices to be added.
Dip switches/jumpers
Used to change various aspects of how the motherboard is

configured.
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Motherboard Components (Cont.)
Components Description
I/O ports Connectors for input and output devices controlled by
the main board.
Internal buses Channels for data to move between the devices attached
to the system, and to the CPU and its components.
Power supply The connection for the power supply that provides
socket power to the motherboard.
BIOS chip Provides the computer with the basic instructions to start
up and check the hardware for errors
Battery Keeps system time and provides a way for the BIOS to
remember certain settings.
RAM sockets Connectors for inserting memory chips
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I/O Ports

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The Chipset
 A chipset is a set of chips on the motherboard that collectively controls

the memory cache, external bus, and some peripherals.
e.g. Intel R680E chipset
CPU
As of 2019, Intel and AMD had both

released chipsets in which all North RAM
northbridge functions had been PCI-E
integrated into the CPU. Bridge
Video RAM
South IDE
PCI Slots PCI BUS Bridge
USB
Major Chipset Manufacturers: Intel, SiS, nVidia, ATI and ALi

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North Bridge and South Bridge
 North bridge is the chipset on your motherboard used to control data

communication and control signals to and from the CPU, Memory,
Onboard Graphics / PCIe / AGP Slot.
 South bridge
 incorporates a number of different controller functions
 looks after the transfer of data to hard disk and other I/O devices
 pass data to connect to the north bridge
 manages USB and RAID/hard-disk controllers on board

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ROM BIOS
 Basic Input Output System (BIOS) manages the startup process

(startup BIOS) and many basic I/O functions of the system (system
BIOS).
 BIOS is firmware (software embedded in a piece of hardware) stored
on a ROM chip
 BIOS manufacturer examples:
 American Megatrends Inc. (AMI)
 Phoenix Technologies
 IBM

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Different Types of PROM
 Three common types of Programmable Read-Only Memory (PROM)

in computers:
 EPROM (Erasable Programmable Read-Only Memory )
 EEPROM (Electrically Erasable Programmable Read-Only
Memory)
 Flash ROM (Special EEPROM chips that can be
reprogrammed )
 You can update the data on your BIOS chip, but only if it’s a flash
BIOS.

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UEFI - Unified Extensible Firmware Interface
 both UEFI and BIOS are low-level software that

starts when you boot your PC before booting your
operating system
 in 2017, Intel announced plans to completely
replace BIOS with UEFI on all their chipsets
 can accommodate 2.2 TB or larger drives
 handles drives with the aid of the Master Boot
Record rather than GPT technology
 has a better user interface and overall faster speeds

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CMOS (Complementary Metal
Oxide Semiconductor)
 A battery-powered storage chip located on the

system board.
 Stores the system startup configuration and
parameters
 The CMOS chip has rewritable memory since the
configuration data can be changed or updated as
the components or devices in the computer are
changed.

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CMOS – configuration parameters
 Boot Sequence
 Date / Time
 Default display (e.g. onboard, HDMI, VGA, DVI, etc.)
 RAM Wait State
 System Clock Rate / Bus Frequency Setting
 Hard Drive Type
 Microprocessor Type
 Core-to-Bus Speed Ratio
 Core Voltage Level
 etc.

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Central Processing Unit (CPU) -
Major components
 Arithmetic and Logic Unit (ALU)

 performs both arithmetic and logical operations.
 Arithmetic operations are fundamental math operations like addition, subtraction,
multiplication, and division.
 Logical operations such as AND, OR and XOR, make comparisons and decisions
 Control Unit (CU)
 fetches, decodes and executes instructions
 issues control signals that control hardware
 moves data around the system

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Central Processing Unit (CPU) -
Major components (Cont.)
 Internal CPU Bus CPU

 Responsible for
data /control signal Control Unit
transfer between
the various units Input Output
(e.g. ALU, registers
and control unit). Arithmetic &
Logic Unit
 Registers
 Temporarily
storage within the
CPU for Memory Unit
instructions and
data
Chapter 2 - Computer Systems and Hardware Com ITP3901 Operating Systems Fundamentals
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CPU - Sockets
Processor Socket Types / Slot Types

 A slot or socket is the physical connection used to attach the CPU to the
motherboard.
Server grade: LGA-7529 Desktop grade: LGA 1700 AM5

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CPU - Speed
 Clock speed
 a higher clock speed means a faster CPU
 the number of cycles your CPU executes per second,
measured in GHz (a clock speed of 3.2 GHz executes 3.2
billion cycles per second)
 Since different CPU designs handle instructions differently,
it’s best to compare clock speeds within the same CPU brand
and generation.
 Overclocking: running processor at excessive speed
 For more specialized use cases, individual benchmarks
are usually more appropriate.

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Terminology for CPU
 Multiprocessing
 Simultaneous processing by two or more ALUs
 Multiprocessor platform
 Contains two or more processors
 Multi-core processor (Quad-core, 16-core, 64-core, …etc.)
 A single processor contains multiple cores for multithreading or parallel
operations. For most processor designs, the cores share system bus, but have
separate cache

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Processors manufacturers
 Intel
 AMD
 Apple
 Amazon
 etc.

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Levels of Storage Hierarchy
CPU
Fast
Cache
Primary Storage
Primary
Memory
Disk
Secondary Secondary Storage
Tape Slow

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Primary storage
 Examples of primary storage device

are RAM and Cache.
 The data in primary storage are
volatile which means that the data
are lost when the computer is
powered off.
 CPU can access data in primary
storage directly.
Intel® Core™ i9-13900KS Processor spec

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CPU Cache
 Each CPU has at least two caches: L1 and L2. The L1 cache is built into the
CPU on modern systems, each core usually has its own L1 cache. It is the
front-side cache, where data waits to enter the CPU.
 The L2 cache, or back-side cache, is where data exiting the CPU waits. On
modern systems, the L2 cache is within the CPU’s packaging but not
integrated into the CPU’s die.
 L3 cache is a shared cache in modern CPU design. It usually sits between
the CPU and RAM to optimize data transfer between them.
 Newer systems require higher performance also have a L4 cache.

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Cache Memory
Why cache can improve the performance of the system
 Cache memory is intended to give memory speed approaching that of

fastest memories available.
 The size of cache is usually small (256KB ~ 32 MB)
 The cache contains a copy of portions of main memory.
 When the processor attempts to read a word of memory, a check is made to
determine if the word is in the cache.
 Note: Because of the phenomenon of locality of reference, when a block of

data is fetched into the cache to satisfy a single memory reference, it is
likely that future reference will be to other words in the block.

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Level 1 Cache (Internal)
 The Level 1 cache, or primary cache, is on the CPU and is used for
temporary storage of instructions and data organized in blocks.
 Primary cache is the fastest form of storage. Because it’s built into the chip
with a zero wait-state (delay) interface to the processor’s execution unit.
 Level 1 cache is implemented using Static RAM (SRAM).
 This is contrasted to dynamic RAM (DRAM), which must be refreshed many times per
second in order to hold its data contents.
 Modern CPU usually has a separate Level 1 cache for each core.

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Level 2 Cache
 Most PCs are offered with a Level 2 cache to bridge the processor / memory
performance gap. Level 2 cache - also referred to as secondary cache) uses
the same control logic as Level 1 cache and is also implemented in SRAM.
 Modern CPU usually has a separate Level 2 cache for each core.
 The aim of the Level 2 cache is to supply stored information to the
processor without any delay (wait-state).
 Some processors use a special transfer protocol called burst mode. (e.g.
transferring a 64-Byte cache line on a 16-Byte data path requires four times. A burst
cycle only indicates location at the first time that reduces addressing for latter
transfers, the speed is then improved. )

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Level 3 Cache
 A shared cache for frequently used data required by multiple cores in

modern CPU design.

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Random Access Memory (RAM)
 Random access memory (RAM) is the place in a computer where the OS,
application programs, and data in current use are kept so that they can be
quickly reached by the processor.
 RAM is considered temporary, or volatile memory.
 The more RAM a computer has, the more capacity the computer can hold
and process large programs and files.

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Types of RAM
 There are two classes of RAM that are commonly used today. These are
Static RAM (SRAM) and Dynamic RAM (DRAM).
 SRAM is relatively more expensive, but it is fast and holds data when the power
is turned off for a brief period of time. This is useful in such circumstances as an
unexpected loss of power. It is used for cache memory.
 DRAM is inexpensive and somewhat slow, and requires an uninterrupted power
supply to maintain the data. DRAM stores data in tiny capacitor that must be
refreshed to maintain the data. Once the power is turned off, the data is lost.

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Types of DRAM
 1990s: SDRAM (Synchronous DRAM), RDRAM (RAMBus DRAM)

 DDR SDRAM (1998, max: 3200 MB/s)
 DDR2 SDRAM (2003, max: 8533 MB/s)
 DDR3 SDRAM (2007, max: 17067 MB/s)
 DDR4 SDRAM (2014, max: 25600 MB/s)
 DDR5 SDRAM (2020, max: 57600 MB/s)
 DDR6 – in development
Name in full: DDR5 SDRAM - Double Data Rate 5 Synchronous Dynamic Random-Access Memory

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Support for DRAM
 In order to get performance benefits from different types of DRAM, the

system must support it with an appropriate chipset and BIOS. Essentially,
speed enhancement depends in the types of chip set, the speed of the
processor bus and the speed of the memory.

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Secondary storage
 Example of secondary storage device is hard disk drive.

 The data in secondary storage are
non-volatile.
 Secondary storage is not directly accessible by CPU.
 A computer keeps its data for a longer time in secondary storage.

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Permanent Storage
 Provides slower but much cheaper storage for the bulk data; non-volatile
(i.e. it keeps the data when power supply is off); a variety of devices are
available:
 Magnetic (Hard disk) / Optical Disks (CDROM, DVD, Blu-ray, etc.) /
Solid-state (SSD)
 A magnetic disk ( Hard Disk ) is typically a circular platter with a magnetizable
coating.
 A no. of tracks are divided in concentric circles for recording information
 CD-ROM - 775MB / Digital video disk (DVD) - 4.7GB
 Blu-ray - 25GB / Ultra HD Blu-ray - 100GB

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Hard Disk Drive
Read/Write Heads
Platters
Spindle

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Track/Cylinder and Sector
 Track – A track is a concentric circle

around the disk where the outmost
track is track 0
 Cylinder – The track with the same

track number in each surface of
platter form a cylinder (i.e. the
number of cylinder must equal to the
number of track)
 Sector – Each track is split into

number of sectors. Sector size varies
in different disk models. For example:
512, 1024 or 4096 bytes per sector.

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Hard Disk Interface - ATA
 The ATA interface were the most commonly used

interface in PC.
 There are different versions of ATA standard.
Hard drive with ATA interface

ATA / ATA-1 ... ATA-6
 ATA is short for AT Attachment interface
 IDE cable
 also more commonly known as IDE
ATAPI
 Short for AT Attachment Packet Interface
 is an extension to ATA which allows support for
devices such as CD drives, Tape drives and other
computer peripherals

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SATA (Serial ATA)
SATA 1.0 was first released in August 2001 and is a replacement for the
Parallel ATA interface used in PC.
 Serial ATA is capable of delivering 1.5Gbps (150MBps) of
performance to each drive within a disk array, offers backwards
compatibility for existing ATA and ATAPI devices, and offers a thin
small cable solution.
 This cable (max. length 1 metre) helps make a much easier cable
routing and offers better airflow in the computer when compared to
the earlier ribbon cables used with ATA drives.

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SATAII / SATA-300 /SATA-3G
/SATA 3.0
 Increasing server and multimedia demands require a higher speed for hard
drive.
 SATA-II / SATA-300 /SATA-3G with transfer rate of 3Gb/s.
 SATA also used for DVD/Blu-ray/CD drive connection.
 SATA 3.0 is the new standard of hard disk with transfer rate of 6Gb/s.
 SATA 3.5 (released Jul 2020) introduced new features :
 Device Transmit Emphasis for Gen 3 PHY
 Defined Ordered NCQ Commands
 Command Duration Limit Features

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SATA
SATA Connectors
SATA cable

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SCSI (Small Computer System
Interface) /Ultra SCSI
 SCSI or Small Computer System Interface was completed

in 1982.
 SCSI is a hardware bus similar in function of the IDE
controller supporting hard disk drives, CD-ROM drives and
other peripherals.
 is a once-popular type of connection for storage and other
devices in a PC
 still find it used in some business and enterprise server
environments
 More recent versions include USB Attached SCSI (UAS)
and Serial Attached SCSI (SAS).
 the first version of SCSI supported eight devices with a
maximum transfer speed of 5 MBps (7 additional physical
devices can be attached)
 Ultra-640 SCSI: 640 MBps; connects 16 devices

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Hard Disk Drive – Partition
 In order to place the operating system in hard disk, a disk address space of
blocks is divided into partitions.
 A hard disk can contain 4 primary partitions
 Partition contain a file system which is a system of block marking for file
storage. After creation of a file system on a partition and after files of
operating system are placed , the partition becomes a boot one.
 Information on a hard disk partitioning is kept in the first block of a hard
disk called the Master Boot Record (MBR)

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Solid-state Drive (SSD)
 A data storage
device using integrated
circuit assemblies as memory to
store data persistently
 No moving (mechanical)
components
 Resistant to physical shock
 Run silently
 Lower access time, and
less latency
 need less power to operate than
HDDs
 More expensive than traditional
hard disk

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Solid-state Drive (SSD)
Form factors
standard type of storage for slim laptops and notebooks

(support both SATA and PCIe)
connects over
SATA cables
only supports SATA
sends data through the PCIe

interface
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CDROM (Compact Disc Read-Only
Memory)
 A laser is shone onto the reflective surface of the disc to read the pattern of
pits and lands.
 This pattern of changing intensity of the reflected beam is converted into
binary data.
 Ref: How CDROM works (0:33)

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CDROM Drive Speed Ratings
CDROM Drive Rating Data Transfer Rate
2X 300 KBps / Second

4X 600 KBps / Second
8X 1.2 MBps / Second


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DVD (Digital Versatile Disc)
 DVD is an optical disc technology that replaced CDROM disc.

 The DVD holds 4.7 GB of information on one of its two sides
 With two layers on each of its two sides, it will hold up to 17 GB of video,
audio or other information).
 Come in four versions:
 DVD-5 is a single-sided single-layered disc boosting capacity seven-fold to
4.7GB
 DVD-9 is a single-sided double-layered disc offering 8.5GB
 DVD-10 is a 9.4GB dual-sided single-layered disc
 DVD-18 will increase capacity to a huge 17GB on a dual-sided dual-layered disc.

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DVD Types
 There are five physical formats of DVD:

 DVD-ROM is a high-capacity data storage medium
 DVD-Video is a digital storage medium for feature-length motion pictures
 DVD-Audio is an audio-only storage format similar to CD-Audio
 DVD-R offers a write-once, read-many storage format akin to CD-R
 DVD-RAM was the first rewritable (erasable) flavour of DVD to come to market
and has subsequently found competition in the rival DVD-RW and DVD+RW
format.

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Recordable DVD
 There are different (incompatible) recording formats.

 DVD-RW and DVD+RW are both very popular.
 DVD+RW supported by Microsoft
Which (DVD-R/RW or DVD+R/RW) one is better?

Read the following article:
http://www.dvdplusrw.org/Article.asp?mid=0&sid=3&aid=12

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Blu-ray Disc (BD)
 Digital optical disc data storage format designed to supersede

the DVD format
 Blue laser is used to read the disc
 Information is stored at a greater density than is possible with the longer-
wavelength red laser used for DVDs
 Capable of storing high-definition video resolution (1080p)
 Contains 25 GB per layer
 Ultra HD Blu-ray contains up to 100GB

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Removable Media – Flash Memory
Devices
 Flash memory is a type of nonvolatile memory that is divided into blocks
rather than bytes.
 Flash memory is also used in most recent computers for BIOS chips.
Different Types of Flash Memory Devices
 Secure Digital (SD)
 MiniSD
 MicroSD

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Removable Media – Flash Memory
Devices
Memory Stick
Standard
SmartMedia (SM) (left) Multimedia Cards (MMC) PRO
(right) SD card PRO Duo
Micro
xD-Picture Card Compact Flash (CF)

ATA Flash
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Tapes Drives
 Tape drives are most commonly used as the device for data backup on a
network server disk drive.
 There are a variety of tape devices that use different tape formats for storing
data.

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Roles of the Operation System
 An operating system (OS) is needed to manage all the computer

hardware and software resources
 The OS also provides common services for user computer programs

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OS Support
 The Windows Task Manager is a

very handy system utility that lists
the applications and processes that
are running.
 It shows system resource usage,
various performance statistics and
network information.

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OS Support
 In Windows, the device manager keeps a listing of all the hardware devices
on your computer. It is the best tool to use for troubleshooting hardware
problems.

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Energy-efficient computers
 It is not only wasting money but also an environmental issue if we do not

use energy-efficient computers.
Read the following article:

http://science.howstuffworks.com/environmental/green-tech/sustainable/5-energy-efficient-computers.htm

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Hazardous materials in computers
 Mercury 水銀 , phosphors 熒光粉 and lead 鉛 in monitor

 Cadmium 鎘 used in rechargeable computer batteries
 Nickel 鎳 used in some mobile phones’ circuit boards
 Toners and inks in printer
 Beryllium 鈹 in motherboard
 Mercury and lead in circuit board

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Disposal of hazardous materials in
computers
 Contact the manufacturers and ask if they will take back the outdated
computer equipment.
 Contact the non-profit organizations to see if they are interested in the
outdated computer equipment.
 Search the collector or recycler on the website of Environmental Protection
Department, The Government of the Hong Kong Special Administrative
Region
http://www.epd.gov.hk/epd/english/environmentinhk/waste/guide_ref/guide_ref_dwc.html

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1

Computer System = Hardware + Software

 Hardware: physical components that make up a computer system.

ITP3901 Operating Systems Fundamentals

Computer System = Hardware + Software

ITP3901 Operating Systems Fundamentals

 An operating system translates requests for operations on files into operations

• Input / Output (I/O)

ITP3901 Operating Systems Fundamentals

ITP3901 Operating Systems Fundamentals

ITP3901 Operating Systems Fundamentals

ITP3901 Operating Systems Fundamentals

Disk Drive Power

Expandability If the power supply only has enough power to supply

ITP3901 Operating Systems Fundamentals

 The CPU  The Complementary Metal-Oxide

Used to change various aspects of how the motherboard is

ITP3901 Operating Systems Fundamentals

 A chipset is a set of chips on the motherboard that collectively controls

As of 2019, Intel and AMD had both

ITP3901 Operating Systems Fundamentals

 North bridge is the chipset on your motherboard used to control data

ITP3901 Operating Systems Fundamentals

 Basic Input Output System (BIOS) manages the startup process

ITP3901 Operating Systems Fundamentals

 Three common types of Programmable Read-Only Memory (PROM)

ITP3901 Operating Systems Fundamentals

 both UEFI and BIOS are low-level software that

ITP3901 Operating Systems Fundamentals

 A battery-powered storage chip located on the

ITP3901 Operating Systems Fundamentals

ITP3901 Operating Systems Fundamentals

 Arithmetic and Logic Unit (ALU)

ITP3901 Operating Systems Fundamentals

 Internal CPU Bus CPU

Processor Socket Types / Slot Types

Server grade: LGA-7529 Desktop grade: LGA 1700 AM5

ITP3901 Operating Systems Fundamentals

ITP3901 Operating Systems Fundamentals

ITP3901 Operating Systems Fundamentals

ITP3901 Operating Systems Fundamentals

ITP3901 Operating Systems Fundamentals

 Examples of primary storage device

Intel® Core™ i9-13900KS Processor spec

ITP3901 Operating Systems Fundamentals

ITP3901 Operating Systems Fundamentals

 Cache memory is intended to give memory speed approaching that of

 Note: Because of the phenomenon of locality of reference, when a block of

ITP3901 Operating Systems Fundamentals

ITP3901 Operating Systems Fundamentals

ITP3901 Operating Systems Fundamentals

 A shared cache for frequently used data required by multiple cores in

ITP3901 Operating Systems Fundamentals

ITP3901 Operating Systems Fundamentals

ITP3901 Operating Systems Fundamentals

 1990s: SDRAM (Synchronous DRAM), RDRAM (RAMBus DRAM)

ITP3901 Operating Systems Fundamentals

 In order to get performance benefits from different types of DRAM, the

ITP3901 Operating Systems Fundamentals

 Example of secondary storage device is hard disk drive.

ITP3901 Operating Systems Fundamentals

ITP3901 Operating Systems Fundamentals

ITP3901 Operating Systems Fundamentals