System Unit Components
Mumderanji James & Wilson Lemani
2021
Objectives Overview
Differentiate among various Describe the control unit
Identify chips, adapter
styles of system units on and arithmetic logic unit
cards, and other
desktop computers, components of a processor,
components of a
notebook computers, and and explain the four steps in
motherboard
mobile devices a machine cycle
Identify characteristics of
various personal computer Define a bit and describe Explain how program
processors on the market how a series of bits instructions transfer in and
today, and describe the represents data out of memory
ways processors are cooled
See Page 209
2
for Detailed Objectives
Objectives Overview
Differentiate between a port and
Describe the purpose and types
a connector, and explain the
of expansion slots and adapter
Differentiate among the various differences among a USB port,
cards, and differentiate among
types of memory FireWire port, Bluetooth port,
slots for various removable flash
SCSI port, eSATA port, IrDA port,
memory devices
serial port, and MIDI port
Explain the purpose of a power Understand how to clean a
Describe the types of buses in a
supply and describe how it keeps system unit on a computer or
computer
cool mobile device
3
The System Unit
• The system unit is
a case that
contains electronic
components of the
computer used to
process data
4
The System Unit
• The inside of the system unit on a desktop personal
computer includes:
Drive bay(s)
Power supply
Sound card
Video card
Processor
Memory
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The System Unit
• The motherboard is the main circuit board of the system
unit
• A computer chip contains integrated circuits
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Processor
• The processor, also called the central processing unit
(CPU), interprets and carries out the basic instructions
that operate a computer
• Contain a control unit and an arithmetic logic unit (ALU)
Multi-core Dual-core Quad-core
processor processor processor
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Processor
• The control unit is the component of the processor that
directs and coordinates most of the operations in the
computer
• The arithmetic logic unit (ALU) performs arithmetic,
comparison, and other operations
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Processor
• For every instruction, a processor repeats a set of four
basic operations, which comprise a machine cycle
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Processor
• Most current personal
computers support
pipelining
• Processor begins fetching
a second instruction
before it completes the
machine cycle for the
first instruction
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Processor
The processor contains registers, that
temporarily hold data and instructions
The system clock controls the timing
of all computer operations
• The pace of the system clock is called the clock
speed, and is measured in gigahertz (GHz)
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Processor
• The leading
manufacturers of
personal computer
processor chips are Intel
and AMD
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Processor
• Determine how you plan to use a new computer before
selecting a processor
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Processor
• A processor chip
generates heat that
could cause the chip to
burn up
• Require additional
cooling
• Heat sinks
• Liquid cooling technology
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Processor
• Parallel processing uses multiple processors
simultaneously to execute a single program or task
• Massively parallel processing involves hundreds or thousands of
processors
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Data Representation
Analog signals are continuous and vary in
strength and quality
Digital signals are in one of two states: on
or off
• Most computers are digital
• The binary system uses two unique digits (0 and 1)
• Bits and bytes
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Data Representation
A computer circuit represents Eight bits grouped together as
the 0 or the 1 electronically by a unit are called a byte. A byte
the presence or absence of an represents a single character
electrical charge in the computer ASCII character
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Data Representation
• ASCII (American
Standard Code for
Information Interchange)
is the most widely used
coding scheme to
represent data
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Memory
• Memory consists of electronic components that store
instructions waiting to be executed by the processor, data
needed by those instructions, and the results of
processing the data
• Stores three basic categories of items:
Data being
The operating
Application processed and the
system and other
programs resulting
system software
information
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Memory
• Each location in memory has an address
• Memory size is measured in kilobytes (KB or K),
megabytes (MB), gigabytes (GB), or terabytes (TB)
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Memory
• The system unit contains two types of memory:
Volatile memory Nonvolatile memory
Loses its contents when Does not lose contents
power is turned off when power is removed
Examples include ROM,
Example includes RAM flash memory, and
CMOS
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Figure 4-18
Memory
• Three basic types of RAM chips exist:
Dynamic RAM Magnetoresistive
Static RAM (SRAM)
(DRAM) RAM (MRAM)
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Figure 4-19
Memory
• RAM chips usually reside on a memory module and are
inserted into memory slots
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Memory
• The amount of RAM necessary in a computer often
depends on the types of software you plan to use
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Memory
• Memory cache speeds the processes of the computer
because it stores frequently used instructions and data
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Memory
Read-only memory (ROM) refers to memory chips
storing permanent data and instructions
• Firmware
A PROM (programmable read-only memory) chip is
a blank ROM chip that can be written to
permanently
• EEPROM can be erased
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Memory
• Flash memory can be erased electronically and rewritten
• CMOS technology provides high speeds and consumes little
power
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Memory
• Access time is the amount of time it takes the processor
to read from memory
• Measured in nanoseconds
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Expansion Slots and Adapter
Cards
• An expansion slot is a socket
on the motherboard that can
hold an adapter card
• An adapter card enhances
functions of a component of
the system unit and/or
provides connections to
peripherals
• Sound card and video card
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Expansion Slots and Adapter
Cards
• With Plug and Play, the computer automatically can
configure adapter cards and other peripherals as you
install them
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Expansion Slots and Adapter
Cards
• Removable flash memory includes:
• Memory cards, USB flash drives, and PC Cards/ExpressCard
modules
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Ports and Connectors
A port is the point at which a peripheral attaches to or
communicates with a system unit (sometimes referred
to as a jack)
A connector joins a cable to a port
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Figure 4-29
Ports and Connectors
• On a notebook computer, the ports are on the back, front,
and/or sides
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Figure 4-31
Ports and Connectors
• A USB port can connect up to 127 different peripherals
together with a single connector
• You can attach multiple peripherals using a single USB port with
a USB hub
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Ports and Connectors
• Other types of ports include:
Firewire Bluetooth
SCSI port
port port
eSATA
IrDA port Serial port
port
MIDI port
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Ports and Connectors
A Bluetooth wireless port A smart phone might
adapter converts a USB port into communicate with a notebook
a Bluetooth port computer using an IrDA port
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Ports and Connectors
• A port replicator is an
external device that provides
connections to peripherals
through ports built into the
device
• A docking station is an
external device that attaches
to a mobile computer or
device
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Buses
• A bus allows the various
devices both inside and
attached to the system
unit to communicate
with each other
• Data bus
• Address bus
• Word size is the number
of bits the processor can
interpret and execute at
a given time
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Buses
• Expansion slots connect to expansion buses
• Common types of expansion buses include:
PCI Express Accelerated
PCI bus
bus Graphics Port
USB and
PC Card bus
FireWire bus
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Bays
• A bay is an opening
inside the system unit in
which you can install
additional equipment
• A drive bay typically
holds disk drives
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Power Supply
The power supply converts the wall
outlet AC power into DC power
Some external peripherals have an AC
adapter, which is an external power
supply
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Putting It All Together
Home Small Office/ Mobile
Intel Core i5 or Home Office Intel Core i7 Extreme or
Intel Core 2 i3 or Intel Core i7 or Intel Core i7 or
AMD Athlon II or Intel Core i7 Extreme or AMD Phenom II or
AMD Sempron AMD Phenom II or AMD Turion II
AMD Athlon II
Minimum RAM: 2 GB Minimum RAM: 2 GB
Minimum RAM: 4 GB
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Putting It All Together
Power Enterprise
Intel Xeon or Intel Core i7 or
Intel Itanium or Intel Core i7 Extreme
AMD Opteron or AMD Phenom II or
Minimum RAM: 8 GB AMD Athlon II
Minimum RAM: 4 GB
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Keeping Your Computer
or Mobile Device Clean
Clean your computer or mobile device once or twice a year
Turn off and unplug your computer or mobile device before
cleaning it
Use compressed air to blow away dust
Use an antistatic wipe to clean the exterior of the case and a
cleaning solution and soft cloth to clean the screen
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Video: The Leopard with a Time
Machine
CLICK TO START
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Summary
Sequence of operations
How memory stores
Components of the that occur when a
data, instructions, and
system unit computer executes an
information
instruction
Comparison of various
How to clean the
personal computer
exterior and interior of
processors on the
a system unit
market today
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THANKS
