Understanding Computers. Hardware Terminology

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1 Understanding Computers Hardware Terminology

useful for individuals, intended to be operated directly by an end user (one person).

2 Definitions A computer is a machine that manipulates data according to a list of instructions. Personal computer: a computer whose original sales price, size, and capabilities make it useful for individuals, intended to be operated directly by an end user (one person). bus - a subsystem that transfers data between computer components inside a computer or between computers.

It was developed in the mid-1990s and defines the cables, connectors and

3 USB USB (Universal Serial Bus) - a specification to establish communication between devices and a host controller (usually a personal computers). It was developed in the mid-1990s and defines the cables, connectors and communications protocols used in a bus for connection, communication, and power supply between computers and electronic devices.

electric power. It has become commonplace on other devices, such as smartphones, PDAs and video game consoles.

4 USB was designed to standardize the connection of computer peripherals (including keyboards, pointing devices, digital cameras, printers, portable media players, disk drives and network adapters) to personal computers, both to communicate and to supply electric power. It has become commonplace on other devices, such as smartphones, PDAs and video game consoles. USB has effectively replaced a variety of earlier interfaces, such as serial and parallel ports, as well as separate power chargers for portable devices.

5 Versions There are several versions that have been developed over the years.

Front-Side Bus A front-side bus (FSB) was a computer

Intel-chip-based computers during the 1990s and 2000s.

CPUs. Both typically carry data between the central

6 Front-Side Bus A front-side bus (FSB) was a computer communication interface (bus) often used in Intel-chip-based computers during the 1990s and 2000s. The competing EV6 bus served the same function for AMD CPUs. Both typically carry data between the central processing unit (CPU) and a memory controller hub, known as the northbridge.

The speed of the front side bus is often used as an important measure of the performance of a computer.

7 Depending on the implementation, some computers may also have a back-side bus that connects the CPU to the cache. This bus and the cache connected to it are faster than accessing the system memory (or RAM) via the front-side bus. The speed of the front side bus is often used as an important measure of the performance of a computer. The original front-side bus architecture has been replaced by HyperTransport, Intel QuickPath Interconnect or DMI 2.0 in modern volume CPUs.

9 IEEE 1394 Interface The IEEE 1394 interface is a serial bus interface standard for high-speed communications and isochronous realtime data transfer. It was developed in the late 1980s and early 1990s by Apple, who called it FireWire. The 1394 interface is comparable to USB though USB has more market share.

interface on the Mac Minimodel, being replaced by the Thunderboltinterface on all other

10 Apple first included FireWire in some of its 1999 models, and most Apple computers since the year 2000 have included FireWire ports, though, as of 2014, it only remains as an interface on the Mac Minimodel, being replaced by the Thunderboltinterface on all other Mac-models. The interface is also known by the brand i.link (Sony), and Lynx (Texas Instruments).

11 IEEE 1394 replaced parallel SCSI in many applications, because of lower implementation costs and a simplified, more adaptable cabling system.

of a processor's performance: the average number of clock cycles per

12 Speed Measurements In computer architecture, cycles per instruction (aka clock cycles per instruction, clocks per instruction, or CPI) is one aspect of a processor's performance: the average number of clock cycles per instruction for a program or program fragment. It is the inverse of instructions per cycle.

IPC) is one aspect of a processor's performance: the

13 Instructions per Clock In computer architecture, instructions per clock (instruction per cycle or IPC) is one aspect of a processor's performance: the average number of instructions executed for each clock cycle.

For an accurate measure of performance relevant to them, application benchmarks (which we will see later)

14 For users and purchasers of a computer system, instructions per clock is not a particularly useful indication of the performance of their system. For an accurate measure of performance relevant to them, application benchmarks (which we will see later) are much more useful. Awareness of its existence is useful, in that it provides an easy-to-grasp example of why clock speed is not the only factor relevant to computer performance.

In computers, most central processing units (CPU) are labelled in terms of their clock rate expressed in

15 Hertz (Mega, Giga) The hertz (symbol Hz) is the unit of frequency in the International System of Units (SI). It is defined as one cycle per second. In computers, most central processing units (CPU) are labelled in terms of their clock rate expressed in megahertz, gigahertz or terahertz (10 6, 10 9 or hertz (Hz), respectively: MHz, GHz, THz). This number refers to the frequency of the CPU's master clock signal ("clock rate").

Historically, the byte was the number of bits used to encode a single character of

16 Size Measurements - Bytes The byte is a unit of digital information in computing and telecommunications that most commonly consists of eight bits (0 s and 1 s). Historically, the byte was the number of bits used to encode a single character of text in a computer and for this reason it is the smallest unit of memory in many computer architectures.

Many types of applications use information representable in eight or fewer bits and processor

17 The standard of eight bits is a convenient power of two permitting the values 0 through 255 for one byte. Many types of applications use information representable in eight or fewer bits and processor designers optimize for this common usage. The unit symbol for the byte is specified in IEC , IEEE 1541 and the Metric Interchange Format as the upper-case character B.

18 Multiple Conversions Prefixes for multiples of bytes (B) Decimal Binary Value Metric Value JEDEC 1000 k kilo 1024 k kilo M mega M mega G giga G giga T tera T tera

19 Activity Now complete the activity 1_HTerms

card slots CPU socket Monitor Computer case houses CPU (Central Processing Unit), CPU central power supply, DVD drive, etc processing unit Keyboard

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