Cooling Systems

• The flow of current between electronic

components generates heat. Computer
components perform better when kept
cool. If the heat is not removed, the
computer may run more slowly. If too
much heat builds up, the computer could
crash, or components can be damaged.
Therefore, it is must that computers be
kept cool.
• Increasing the air flow in the computer
case allows more heat to be removed. An
active cooling solution uses fans inside of
a computer case to blow out hot air, as
shown in Figure . For increased air flow,
some cases have multiple fans with cool
air being brought in while another fan is
blowing out hot air.
• Inside the case, the CPU generates a lot of heat. To draw heat away
from the CPU core, a heat sink is installed on top of it, as shown in
Figure . The heat sink has a large surface area with metal fins to
dissipate heat into the surrounding air. This is known as passive
cooling. Between the heat sink and the CPU is a special thermal
compound. The thermal compound increases the efficiency of heat
transfer from the CPU to the heat sink by filling any tiny gaps
between the two.
• CPUs that are overclocked or
running multiple cores tend to
generate excessive heat. It is a
very common practice to install
a fan on top of the heat sink, as
shown in Figure . The fan moves
heat away from the metal fins of
the heatsink. This is known as
active cooling.
• Other components are also
susceptible to heat damage and
are often equipped with fans.
Many video adapter cards have
their own processor called a
graphics-processing unit (GPU)
which generates excessive heat.
Some video adapter cards come
equipped with one or more fans,
as shown in Figure .
• Computers with extremely fast CPUs and GPUs might use a water-
cooling system, as shown in Figure 5. A metal plate is placed over
the processor, and water is pumped over the top to collect the heat
that the processor generates. The water is pumped to a radiator to
disperse the heat into the air and the water is then recirculates.
 ROM
• A computer has different types of memory chips.
However, all memory chips store data in the form of
bytes. A byte is a grouping of digital information and
represents information such as letters, numbers, and
symbols. Specifically, a byte is a block of eight bits stored
as either 0 or 1 in the memory chip.
• An essential computer chip is the read-only memory
(ROM) chip. ROM chips are located on the motherboard
and other circuit boards and contain instructions that can
be directly accessed by a CPU. The instructions stored in
ROM include basic operation instructions such as booting
the computer and loading the operating system.
 RAM
• RAM is the temporary working storage for data and
programs that are being accessed by the CPU.

• Unlike ROM, RAM is volatile memory, which means

that the contents are erased every time the computer
is powered off.
• Adding more RAM in a computer enhances the system
performance. For instance, more RAM increases the
memory capacity of the computer to hold and process
programs and files. With less RAM, a computer must
swap data between RAM and the much slower hard
drive. The maximum amount of RAM that can be
installed is limited by the motherboard.
 Adapter Cards and Expansion Slots
• There are a variety of adapter cards available that are used to
expand and customize the capability of a computer:

• Sound adapter - Sound adapters provide audio capability.

• Network Interface Card (NIC) - A NIC connects a computer to a

network using a network cable.

• Wireless NIC - A wireless NIC connects a computer to a network

using radio frequencies.

• Video adapter – Video adapters provide video capability.

• Capture card - Capture cards send a video signal to a computer so

that the signal can be recorded to the computer hard drive with
Video Capture software.

• Universal Serial Bus (USB) port - USB ports connect a computer to

peripheral devices.
 Storage Devices
• Storage drives, as shown in Figure 1, read information from or write
information to magnetic, optical, or semiconductor storage media.
The drive can be used to store data permanently or to retrieve
information from a media disk. The following are common types of
storage drives:

• Hard Disk Drive (HDD) - HDDs are the traditional magnetic disk
devices that have been used for years. Their storage capacity ranges
from gigabytes (GBs) to terabytes (TBs). Their speed is measured in
revolutions per minute (RPM). This indicates how fast the spindle
turns the platters that hold data. The faster the spindle speed, the
faster a hard drive can find data on the platters. Common hard drive
spindle speeds include 5400, 7200, and 10,000 RPM.
• Solid State Drive (SSD) - SSDs use nonvolatile flash
memory chips to store data. This means that they
are faster than magnetic HDDs. Their storage
capacity also ranges from GBs to TBs. SSDs have no
moving parts and therefore make no noise, are more
energy efficient, and produce less heat than HDDs.
SSDs have the same form factor as HDDs and are
increasingly being used in place of magnetic HDDs.
• Hybrid Drive – Also called a Solid State Hybrid Drive
(SSHD), these are a compromise between a magnetic
HDD and an SSD. They are faster than an HDD but
less expensive than an SSD. They are a magnetic HDD
with an onboard SSD serving as cache. The SSHD
drive automatically caches data that is frequently
accessed.
• Optical Drive - An optical drive uses lasers to read data on optical
media. There are three types of optical drives including compact
disc (CD), digital versatile disc (DVD), and Blu-ray disc (BD). CD,
DVD, and BD media can be pre-recorded (read only), recordable
(write once), or rewriteable (read and write multiple times).

• Tape Drive - Magnetic tapes are most often used for archiving
data. The tape drive uses a magnetic read/write head. Although
data retrieval using a tape drive can be fast, locating specific data
is slow because the tape must be wound on a reel until the data is
found. Common tape storage capacities vary between a few GBs
to TBs.

• External Flash Drive - An external flash drive, such as a USB thumb

drive that connects to a USB port. An external flash drive uses the
same type of nonvolatile memory chips as SSDs. It does not
require power to maintain its data. Their storage capacity ranges
from MBs to GBs.
 Video Ports and Cables
• A video port connects a monitor to a computer using a cable. Video
ports and monitor cables transfer analog signals, digital signals, or
both. Computers are digital devices that create digital signals. The
digital signals are sent to the graphics card where they are
transmitted through a cable to a digital display.

There are several video ports and connector types

• Digital Visual Interface (DVI)
• Display Port connector
• Mini DisplayPort
• HDMI
• VGA connector
 Input Devices
• An input device enters data or instructions into a computer.

• The following are examples of input devices:

• Mice and Keyboards –These are the two most commonly used input
devices. The keyboard is used to enter text while the mouse is used to
navigate the graphical user interface (GUI). Laptops also have touchpads to
provide built-in mouse features.

• Touch Screens –These input devices have touch or pressure sensitive

screens. The computer receives instructions specific to the place on
the screen that the user touches.

• Joysticks and Gamepads – These are input devices for playing games.
Gamepads allow the player to control movement and views with
small sticks and multiple buttons. Many gamepads also have triggers
that register the amount of pressure the player puts on them.
Joysticks are often used to play flight simulation-style games.
• Digital Cameras and Digital Video Cameras – These input devices
capture images that can be stored, displayed, printed, or altered.
Stand-alone or integrated webcams capture images in real time.

• Scanners – These devices digitize an image or document. The

digitization of the image is stored as a file that can be displayed,
printed, or altered. A bar code reader is a type of scanner that
reads Universal Product Code (UPC) bar codes. It is widely used for
pricing and inventory information.

• Biometric Identification Devices – These input devices identify a

user based on a unique physical feature such as their fingerprints
or voice. Many laptops now have fingerprint readers to automate
logging in to the device.

• Smart Card Readers – These input devices are typically used on a

computer to authenticate the user. A smart card may be the size of
a credit card with an embedded microprocessor that is typically
under a gold contact pad on one side of the card.
 Output Devices
• An output device presents information to the user from a computer.

• Monitor
• Projector
• Printer
• Speakers
 Thick and Thin Clients
• Thick clients –Sometimes called fat clients, these are standard
computers that we have discussed Early . The computers have
their own operating system, multitude of applications, and local
storage. They are stand-alone systems and do not require a
network connection to operate. All of the processing is performed
locally on the computer.

• Thin clients –These are typically low-end network computers that

rely on remote servers to perform all data processing. Thin clients
require a network connection to a server and usually access
resources using a web browser. However, the client can be a
computer running thin client software or a small, dedicated
terminal consisting of a monitor, keyboard, and mouse. Typically
the clients do not have any internal storage and have very little
local resources.
 Audio and Video Editing Workstations
• An audio editing workstation is used to
record music, create music CDs, and
CD labels. A video editing workstation
can be used to create television
commercials, prime-time
programming, and movies for the
theater, or home movies.

• Specialized hardware and software are

combined to build a computer to
perform audio and video editing.
Audio software on an audio editing
workstation, shown in the figure, is
used to record audio, manipulate how
the audio sounds through mixing and
special effects, and finalize recordings
for publication. Video software is used
to cut, copy, combine, and change
video clips. Special effects are also
added to video using video software.
• Consider the following hardware when you need to run audio and video editing software:

• Specialized audio card - When recording music to a computer in a studio, multiple inputs from
microphones and many outputs to effects equipment may be needed. An audio card capable of
handling all these inputs and outputs is needed. Research different audio card manufacturers and
understand the needs of your customer to install an audio card that will meet all the needs of a
modern recording or mastering studio.

• Specialized video card - A video card that can handle high resolutions and multiple displays is
necessary to combine and edit different video feeds and special effects in real time. You must
understand the needs of the customer and research video cards to install a card that can handle the
large amounts of information that come from modern cameras and effects equipment.

• Large, fast hard drives - Modern video cameras record in high resolution at fast frame rates. This
translates into a large amount of data. Small hard drives will fill up very quickly, and slow hard drives
will not be able to keep up with demands, even dropping frames at times. A large, fast hard drive
such as SSD or SSHD drives are recommended to record high-end video without errors or missed
frames. RAID levels such as 0 or 5, where striping is used, can help to increase read or write speeds.

• Dual monitors - When working with audio and video, two, three, or even more monitors can be
very helpful to keep track of everything that is going on with multiple tracks, scenes, equipment,
and software. HDMI, Display Port, and Thunderbolt cards are recommended while DVI is
acceptable. If multiple monitors are required, specialized video cards are necessary when building
an audio or video workstation.