Intro to It Hardware1

8/8/2019 Intro to It Hardware1

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Knowing hardware (part 1)

From learnthat.com


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What do you need to build a PC?

Computer Case Power supply Processor Heatsink/Cooling fan Motherboard RAM memory SATA/IDE harddisk drive Optical drive (CD/DVD ROM) Floppy disk drive Keyboard, Mouse


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What do you need to build a PC?

Video card (ie. PCI Express, 8XAGP, integrated video,etc.) compatible with the motherboard (this may beintegrated into the motherboard on some models)

DVI or VGA monitor (computer screen)

Sound card (these are generally integrated into themotherboard)

10/100 Ethernet Network Adaptor aka NIC A Phillips-head screwdriver with a long neck, preferably

magnetized

A flashlight is always a good thing to have.


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Motherboards

The motherboard, or system board, contains the centralprocessing unit (CPU), BIOS, other processing chips,memory, IO device connections, expansion slots, and

more.

The primary purpose of the motherboard is to processinstructions from the operating system and applications.

A motherboard is unique to a certain chipset and familyof processor. For example, a vendor might create one

motherboard which is compatible with the Intel Socket

370 series of chips and a different motherboard which iscompatible with AMDs AM2 Sempron series of chips.


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CPU

Processors, or Central Processing Units (CPUs), are thechips that are at the core of the computer system andprocess instructions and direct information between all of

the other chips, memory, and storage systems on thecomputer.

32-bit: Most computers built in the last decade, and a majority of

those being built today, use a 32-bit processor. The Intelcompatible 32-bit chips are often referred to as 32-bit x86

architectures.


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CPU

64 bit AMD introduced the first 32-bit backwards compatible

architecture, the AMD64, in September 2003.

Intel subsequently released their version of x86-64 chips and64-bit chips were brought to the Windows desktop.

The AMD and Intel chips can run 32-bit software, butMicrosoft, Apple, and Linux has Operating Systems written to

run in native 64-bit code. Microsoft calls these OSes WindowsXP 64-bit edition and Windows Vista x64.


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CPU

Multi-processor Microprocessor manufacturers wanted to get more

performance out of their chips so they began designing chipswith multiple microprocessors in one chip.

By 2007, it is very common to see desktops, laptops andservers with a dual-core processor one which has twomicroprocessing cores in it.

Quad-core is the term for chips with four processors. Some high end manufacturers, such as Sun Microsystems, build

systems with 8-core CPUs.


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Cooling system

PCs generate a lot of heat the CPU, hard drive, videocard, processing chips, etc. put out a ton of heat in a smallenclosed space. The computer system must properly

maintain a reasonable temperature or things could literally melt down. There are several different type of

cooling systems available for PCs with two primarymethods: air and liquid.


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Memory

RAM is used for storing theworking area of the OS,applications, and data. RAM comes

in memory sticks which insertinto slots on the motherboard.

RAM can be removed andupgraded very easily anddepending on the type of memory,

could be upgraded a chip at a time


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DIMM

A DIMM, or Dual Inline Memory Chip, is a major type ofmemory which is replacing SIMM, or single in-linememory modules. SIMMs have a 32-bit data path while

DIMMs have a 64-bit data path.

SDRAM DIMMs - These first synchronous registeredDRAM DIMMs had the same bus frequency for data,address and control lines.

* PC66 = 66 MHz

* PC100 = 100 MHz

* PC133 = 133 MHz


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DIMM DDR SDRAM (DDR1) DIMMs - DIMMs based on Double Data Rate (DDR)

DRAM have data but not the strobe at double the rate of the clock..

* PC1600 = 200 MHz data & strobe / 100 MHz clock for address and control




DDR2 SDRAM DIMMs - DIMMs based on Double Data Rate 2 (DDR2) DRAMalso have data and data strobe frequencies at double the rate of the clock. Thepower consumption of DDR2 is significantly lower than DDR(1) at the samespeed.

* PC2-3200 = 400 MHz data & strobe / 200 MHz clock for address and control* PC2-4200 = 533 MHz data & strobe / 266 MHz clock for address and control

* PC2-5300 = 667 MHz data & strobe / 333 MHz clock for address and control

* PC2-6400 = 800 MHz data & strobe / 400 MHz clock for address and control


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Power Supply

A computer power supply unit (PSU) is the componentwhich AC electrical power into DC power of variousvoltages used inside the PC. The PSU converts 100-120V

American AC power or 220-240 European AC power intolow voltage DC power.


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Storage Devices

Hard Drives Hard disk drives are often referred to as mass storage devices

they can hold a large amount of data and in the context of thissection, are fixed installed in a PC.

Hard drives come in many different physical sizes, speeds, andconnector types. It contains one or more platters with a head which

reads data. Speed is described in RPM: 5400RPM, 7200RPM,10,000RPM, and even 15,000RPM.

The higher the number, the faster the drive spins the platter and canread data. Typically you will only see 10,000RPM (also called 10K) and15,000RPM (15k) drives in servers or high-end workstations.

Speed is also measured by the data transfer speeds which is limitedby the type of connector the hard drive uses.

3 types according to its connectors: IDE (PATA), SATA, SCSI


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ATA/PATA

ATA: Commonly referred to as an IDEconnection, ATA supports a maximum of 2drives. It is a 16-bit interface.

ATA-2: Sold as Fast ATA or Enhanced IDE(EIDE), ATA-2 supports block transfers andlogical block addressing.

Ultra-ATA: Supports speeds of 33 Megabits persecond.

ATA/66: Developed by Quantum and supportedby Intel, doubles ATA throughput to 66 Mbps.

ATA/100: Most frequently used today supportsup to 100 Mbps.


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IDE Connector and 4 Pin Molex Power cable


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SATA

Serial ATA is an evolution of the Parallel ATA connectorswe discussed above (in the form of IDE). Serial ATA cablesare smaller allowing for easier airflow in computers.

Additionally, they are faster than ATA with speeds at 150Megabytes per second and 300 Megabytes per second

(1.5 Gbits and 3.0 Gbits respectively).


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SATA

With a much higher data transfer rates, you can takeadvantage of faster hard drives with SATA.

SATA also supports hot pluggable drives while ParallelATA does not. For this reason, SATA has replaced some ofthe lead SCSI has in the server market, allowing server

vendors to reduce some cost in their server systems.

Whereas the ATA drives use a 4 pin molex powerconnector, most SATA drives use a new flat style power

cable.


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SCSI

SCSI comes with a variety of connectors, both internaland external. The table above describes some of theconnectors based on which version of SCSI you are using.

One of the primary differences between SCSI and ATAadapters is the number of devices one port supports.SCSI supports either 8 or 16 devices, depending on theversion you are using, with the SCSI adapter card beingone device. Each device has a unique SCSI ID in the chain,from 0-7 or 0-15. The SCSI host adapter is typically SCSI

ID 7 the ID with the highest priority on a narrow (8device) or wide (16 device) host adapter.


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Internal hard drives (IDE)

Internal hard drives are used to store your operatingsystem, applications, and data. Installing a new hard drive isa fairly simple process whether you are replacing,

upgrading, or adding a new hard drive.

The type of hard drive determines how you can install it.If you hard drive is an IDE drive, IDE supports a maximumof 2 drives per channel (most computers have two

channels supporting four total drives). SCSI and SATA

have different requirements.


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Internal Hard Drives

We need to ensure that thehard drive is set up to be themaster drive on its IDE cable.

Each IDE cable can support upto two IDE devices, but in

order for this to work, oneIDE device must be designatedas a master device, and one

must be designated as a slavedevice. You cannot have two

master devices or two slavedevices on a single cable.


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Internal Hard Drives

You have a couple different choices for drive configurations:

IDE 0 Hard drive 1 IDE 1 Hard drive 2 IDE 2 CD-ROM drive IDE 3 Open

Or

IDE 0 Hard drive 1 IDE 1 CD-ROM drive IDE 2 Hard drive 2 IDE 3 Open


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External harddrives

External hard drives are in cases and typically connectthrough one or more of these connection types (in orderof popularity): USB, Firewire (IEEE1394), Ethernet, eSATA,

SCSI, or wireless. Some drives have multiple connectionports so you can pick and choose based on your

requirements e.g. transfer speed, open ports on yourcomputer.


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External Hard drives

Installing external hard drives is one of the easiest taskson newer systems most come preformatted and readyto go right out of the box you simply plug it in.

Windows will automatically recognize the external harddrive and mount it.


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Display Devices

There are two types of display devices you should befamiliar with: notebook screens and external monitors.

Notebook screens are typically LCD and are measured bythe diagonal length of the screen. Screen sizes range fromseveral inches to 17 widescreen on most commonplace

laptops.


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CRT Monitors

For years, Cathode Ray Tube (CRT)monitors were standard and very fewpeople could afford an LCD screenlike a laptop uses.

CRT monitors are known for their sizeand bulk, but have great picture andcolor quality. It took several years forLCD to catch up and exceed CRT

monitors. CRT monitors range in sizefrom old 12 to 24 and larger.


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LCD Monitors

Over the last several years, LCD monitors have becomevery commonplace and are loved by consumers for theirsmall size and low weight. At one time LCD monitors

were very pricey as compared to CRT monitors, but theprice gap has narrowed so much as to not be a significant

factor any longer.


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Various Ports and Cables

Universal Serial Bus, or USB, is thenew standard for peripheralconnection to PCs. USB is a jack of

all trades handling a wide varietyof input devices and storage

devices including external harddrives, keyboards, mice, scanners,printers, PDAs, digital cameras,

USB devices range from scannersto printers to storage devices.


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Ports and Cables

There are two standard versions for USB: 1.1 and 2.0. 2.0is backward compatible with 1.1 (it supports 1.1 devices)but has a much faster data transfer speed. USB 1.1

supports data transfer up to 12 mbps while USB 2.0supports data transfer speeds of up to 480 Mbits per

second. USB 3.0 will bring us transfer speeds of up to 4.8Gbits per second. Each PC supports up to 127 devices.


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Ports and Cables

DB-9 DB-9 is a standard connection for a COM cable (serial cable).

Contains 9 pins.

DB-25 DB-25 is the other standard connection for Serial cables. Serial

communications only use 9 of the available 25 pins.

RJ-11 RJ-11 is a standard telephone type connection. It is 4 or 6 wire

and some networking equipment has used RJ-11, though RJ-45is more common.

RJ-45 is the most popular network cable/connection


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Ports and Cables

IEEE 1394 IEEE 1394 is the standard for what is commonly referred to as Firewire. Apple

Computer coined the term when they began adding Firewire ports to theirMacintosh computers.

IEEE 1394, or Firewire, is a high speed connector for data intensive applicationssuch as video editing or external storage devices. Standard Firewire supports upto 400 Mbits per second transfer while newer Firewire/800 supports 800 Mbits/second. Each PC can support up to 63 Firewire devices.


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Ports and Cables

PS2/MINI-DIN PS2 is a standard developed by IBM for keyboards, mice, and

input devices. Uses a DIN connection with 6 pins.


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TO BE CONTINUED

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