1. Hardware Designed to Meet the Need
Chapter 2
Hardware Designed to Meet the Need
The Digital Revolution
Integrated Circuits and Processing
Storage
Input, Output, and Expansion
Selecting and Purchasing a Computer

2. The Value of Going Digital
Anything that can be expressed through words, numbers, sounds, pictures, and even scents can be digitized.
Digital information is easy to manipulate.
Digital information is easy to copy and transfer.
Digital information is long lasting.
Digitization standardizes the format of all different types of data and information leading to…

3. Digital Convergence
Digital convergence is the trend to merge multiple digital services into one device.

4. Integrated Circuits and Processing
Key Terms
Consider PC Choices
Transistor
Integrated circuit
Central Processing Unit (CPU)
Motherboard
Arithmetic/logic unit
Control unit
Random Access Memory (RAM)
The machine cycle
Megahertz (MHz)
Gigahertz (GHz)
Gigaflop
Moore’s Law

5. CompUSA Sony Apple Let’s go shopping!
In order to shop intelligently, you must understand the basics about processors, storage, input/output, and peripherals.

6. Key Components Processor Memory Storage Video OS Removable Storage
Networking
Security OS

7. Computer Hardware Evolution
A Binary System allows the use of switches to represent states.
This in turn makes computing possible.
Input
Storage
Processing
Output

8. Computer Hardware Evolution
Computers used different things as digital switches:
Actual Switches
Relays
Vacuum tubes
Transistors
Eniac: The first general purpose computer
Charles Babage Computer

9. Transistor
A transistor is an electronics component, composed typically of silicon, that opens or closes a circuit to alter the flow of electricity to store and manipulate bits.

10. Transistor
A transistor is an electronics component, composed typically of silicon, that opens or closes a circuit to alter the flow of electricity to store and manipulate bits.

11. Transistor
A transistor is an electronics component, composed typically of silicon, that opens or closes a circuit to alter the flow of electricity to store and manipulate bits.

12. Integrated Circuit
An Integrated Circuit (chip) combines transistors and capacitors in a tiny module to store and process bits and bytes in today’s digital electronic devices.

13. The Central Processing Unit
The Central Processing Unit (CPU) is a group of integrated circuits that work together to perform the processing in a computer system.

14. Microprocessor
The 8080 Microprocessor
Today’s technology allows us to pack all the CPU in a small integrated circuit called a Microprocessor.
The Rabbit 4000

15. The Motherboard
The motherboard is the primary circuit board of a computing device that houses the digital device’s circuitry including the microprocessor and memory.

16. Processing
Processing is the act of manipulating data as defined by a set of instructions.
The instruction set a set of predefined instructions that the CPU can understand.

17. CPU Components
Arithmetic Logic Unit (ALU): contains the circuitry to carry out the instructions in the processors instruction set.
Control Unit: sequentially accesses program instructions, decodes them, and coordinates the flow of data throughout the system.
Registers: hold the data and instructions currently being processed (~300 bytes).

18. Latest Technology
Multicore technology refers to housing more than one CPU on a chip.
Dual-core processors and quad-core processors use two and four CPUs on one chip that work together to provide twice and four times the speed of traditional single-core chips.

19. Processing
The microprocessor accesses instructions stored in memory over the system bus.
Random Access Memory (RAM) is temporary, or volatile, memory that stores bytes of data and program instructions for the processor to access.

20. System Bus
The system bus connects the CPU to the chipset, and through it to RAM and other components on the motherboard.

21. Processing – The Machine Cycle
The four stages of the machine cycle are (1) fetch the instruction from memory, (2) decode and (3) execute the instruction, then (4) store the results.

22. The Machine Cycle Examples
ipod
Fetch
Read digitized music
Decode
Process into audible sound
Execute
Send the sound to headset
Store
Store the downloaded music

23. CPU Characteristics
The first consideration in selecting a computer is typically its speed: how quickly it can carry out such tasks as loading a program, opening a file, and writing to a CD.

24. CPU Speed
System Clock is a series of Electronic pulses at predetermined rate
Synchronize processing activity
Typically takes four clock cycles to finish an instruction cycle.
Issue?
Heat

25. Other Performance Factors
Cache
Intelligent storage unit
Works like a phone book
Stores the most frequently used information for quick retrieval.
More expensive than RAM.
L1, L2, L3

26. Other Performance Factors
Memory Hierarchy

27. Other Performance Factors
Byte is 8 bits
A measure of storage space
Wordlength is a measure of processing capability
Number of bits the CPU can process at once.
64 vs. 32 bit processors
Not always a good performance indicator:
The software should support longer wordlengths!

28. Computer Performance ~ Factors

29. So How To Decide about CPU Performance?
What is the truest measure of a CPU performance?
The number of instructions the processor can process in one second.
Million Instructions per Second (MIPS)
The number of floating point operations per second (FLOPS)

30. Multiprocessing
In multiprocessing systems, while the CPU is carrying out general instructions co-processors perform specific types of other instructions.
Example?
GPU (Graphics Processing Unit)
CPU vs. GPU
Physics processors Physx

31. Parallel processing Parallel processing
Using several microprocessor to work on multiple instructions at the same time
Challenges?
Making the processors work efficiently in parallel
Data/instruction dependencies
Special types of software
Grid computing
Parallel processing with different types of computers

32. Moore’s Law
Gordon Moore, cofounder of Intel, observed in 1965 that the continued advances in technological innovation made it possible to reduce the size of transistors, doubling their density on the chip every two years.

33. Storage Key Terms Read-only Memory Magnetic Storage Optical Storage
CD-ROM
DVD
CD-RW
Solid State Storage
Flash memory card
USB

34. System Storage
System storage is storage that is used by a computer system for standard operations.
Forms of system storage, include
RAM
Cache
Video RAM
ROM
CMOS

35. Graphics Memory
Graphics memory, sometimes called video RAM or VRAM, is used to store image data for a computer display in order to speed the processing and display of video images.

36. Secondary Storage
DVD-RW
Secondary storage is used to store data more permanently without the need for electricity.
Internet storage:
The wayback machine
Tape Drive
One of the storage silo robots in NERSC’s 8.8-petabyte High Performance Storage System.
Mini Cards

37. Secondary Storage Storage Media Type
Magnetic storage devices use the magnetic properties of iron oxide particles to store bits and bytes more permanently than RAM.
Microdrives can store gigabytes of data on a disk one or two inches in size.
Optical storage media store bits using an optical laser to burn pits into the surface of a highly reflective surface.
Solid State storage devices use flash memory to store bits. 23

38. Magnetic Storage Hard Disk Drives Magnetic Tape
High-capacity Disks & Floppy Disks (outdated)
Microdrives
Microdrives from Toshiba provide iPods with their ultra high storage capacity.

39. Optical Media
CD, DVD, Blu-laser Disk (BD)

40. Solid State
Universal Serial Bus or USB is a standard that allows a wide variety of devices to connect to a computer through a common port.
A flash memory card is a chip that, unlike RAM, is nonvolatile and keeps its memory without the need for electricity.
USB Flash Drives use flash memory to provide high capacity storage through the USB port.

41. Input, Output, and Expansion
Key Terms
Input device
Output device
Touch screen
Game controller
Display resolution
LCD

42. I/O Concepts
An input device assists in capturing and entering raw data into the computer system.
An output device allows you to observe the results of computer processing with one or more of your senses.

43. I/O Concepts Speed and Functionality Human vs. Machine Readable Data
Source Data Automation

44. Input Devices Keyboard, Mouse, Trackball Touch screen, stylus, kiosks
Microphone, speech recognition
Gamepad, other game-centered devices
Digital cameras
Scanning devices

45. Output Devices Displays Liquid crystal display (LCD) or Flat panel
Printers and Plotters
Sound Systems

46. Selecting and Purchasing a Computer

47. Researching a Computer Purchase
Web sites such as and can help you decide on a computer type and platform.

48. Online Vendors
Online merchants allow you to compare packages from varying manufacturers to find the best configuration and price.

49. Strategies for Computer Shopping
Choose type: notebook, desktop, tablet, smart phone, or netbook
Choose platform
Windows/Mac/Linux
Choose Manufacturer
Choose Model
Select Add-ons

50. Helpful Links for Computer Shopping
Research
Computer Retailers
Direct from Manufacturer

51. Chapter 2 Questions? 51