Flashcards
Internal Hardware Components of a Computer
Cards in this deck (22)
- 1MotherBoard~ Everything is connected to the Mboard
~ Central Interface for all components
~ How a device is connected depends of the bandwidth of the device,
how often it's used,
what the device is used for - 2Hard Disk Drive (HDD)~ Most common secondary storage device used by a computer to store programs/data
~ Can be partitioned so that the computer thinks theres more than 1 hard drive - allowing multiple OS' to be installed at the same time (dual booting)
~ HDDs - large in volume - slower than SSDs - 3Solid State Drives (SSD)~ Being used more increasingly
~ More expensive than HDDs
~ Write/speeds = much faster - enabling OS' to boot in seconds - 4Power Supply (PS)~ PSUnit provides/regulates the supply of power to MBoard (so all components)
~ Allow computer to control when it turns on/off + power saving modes + how the user wants the power to be used
~ PS' vary in size (physical/no. of watts)
~ Standard PS on an av. computer = 200-500 - 5How Pieces Are Connected~ Connected to MBoard
~ Method of communicating along the wires connecting components to MB may be restricted (may limit speed at which computer operates
~ Hardware components - connected via buses - 6Processor~ CPU - 'brains of the computer'
~ Component that does the majority of work in everyday apps
~ Manipulates information sent to the registers of the CPU
~ Can have many CPUs
~ CPUs = mounted in a socket attached to MB - enclosed with heatsink (preventing overheating) - 7Processor Speed~ Given in (MHz/GHz)
~ 1MHz = computer is performing 1 mil instructions per sec
~ 1 GHz = 1 bil
~ Processor can deal with certain no. bits per instruction - comps(64 bits) - laptops(32 bits) - 8Main Memory~ MM = the memory directly accessible to the processor - needs to v.fast so it doesn't slow the system down (bottlenecking)
- 9Main Memory - ROM~ Read Only Memory - permanent area of storage for special programs/data that were installed during manufacturing
~ Cannot be altered - data has been written onto a ROM chip (cannot be removed)
~ Retains its contents even when computer is switched off - Non-Volatile - 10Main Memory - ROM (2)Basic Input/Output System (BIOS)
~ Part of ROM - stores critical programs e.g. the one that starts the computer - 11Main Memory - RAM~ Random Access Memory - constitutes the working area of computer - used as a storage for programs currently being used
~ Size (gigabytes) Frequency (megahertz)
~ Average RAM comp size - 4-6 Gigabytes
~ RAM = volatile - all data lost when switched off - 12Main Memory - Cache Memory~ Holds frequently accessed code/data
~ Extremely fast - accessed by processor - no delay via going through main memory
~ This limits the amount of data that can be cached - so memory = v.small - 13Buses~ Carries info from one place to another inside the computer
~ Electric wire 1's and 0's are sent along
~ The larger a bus - the more powerful the computer - can transfer more data at a time (so comp is faster), can reference larger numbers (more memory) - comp can support greater no./variety of instructions - 14Buses - Data Bus~ Carry the data being exchanged around a system in their binary form
~ Has the largest word size as actual info will be most of the data that's sent
~ Other buses how/where data in this bus is processed/stored - 15Buses - Address Bus~ Carry info about where the data is being sent
~ The wires go to each component in turn - these watch the address bus until they recognise one
~ When this happens the comp retrieves or place info on the bus for the CPU to use - 16Buses - Control Bus~ Carries the signal that regulates data flow around a system
~ Concerned with timing operations - memory writing/reading, I/O operations
~ All signals on a bus follow strict timing sequences - 17Buses - PCI Bus (Peripheral Component Interconnect)~ The bus to which most of the other components/buses are connected
~ Bandwidth = 132 Mbps, runs at 33 MHz - 18I/O Controllers~ Provide the interface between the ports and MB
~ Most MBs have a number of ports built in so there are no additional controller cards - 19Computer Architechtures~ Von Neumann Model - earlier version, memory is used to store programs/data together - processor uses the fetch-execute cycle, so works on 1 instruction at a time
~ Harvard Model - uses separate memory for data/programs and uses the control unit at the center of the structure. Allows processor to pipeline - 20Harvard vs VON NEUMANN1. Single storage for programs/data
2. Each instruction takes 2 clock cycles (decode and execute)
3. Pipelining cannot be implemented
4. Older than Harvard - more robust - 21HARVARD vs Von Neumann1. Separate storage for programs/data
2. Processor can complete an instruction in single clock cycle if pipelining is used
3. Pipelining can be implemented
4. Modern architecture - 22—
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- AS - Level Computing Flashcards on Internal Hardware Components of a Computer, created by Alys6499 on 16/06/2016.
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- Alys6499
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