Computer Organization

Computer Organization

• A computer system has the following

main physical components:
– Input/output unit
– Central Processing Unit
– Memory Unit
• Other components include
motherboard, power supply, storage
devices, ports and cards.
Hardware

• Describes the physical components of

a computer system which can be
categorized as input devices, a central
processing unit, internal and external
memory and output devices
 1. Motherboard
• Also called the system board
• The motherboard is a circuit board inside the
microcomputer’s plastic case that contains
buses, or electrical pathways, that
interconnect electronic components.
• It contains integral components including
– CPU chip (central processing unit)
– Memory chip( RAM and ROM chips)
– I/O Interface
– Expansion slots
– Other logic circuits
1. Motherboard
• Expansion slots are connectors on the
motherboard where expansion cards
like display card can be connected
• I/O interface is the channel between
the CPU and other devices(keyboard,
monitor, etc)
• Chipset consists of the integrated
circuits on the motherboard that control
how system hardware interacts with
the CPU and motherboard.
1. Motherboard
 Cooling Systems
• Computer components perform
better when kept cool.
• Computers are kept cool using
active and passive cooling
solutions.
• Active solutions require power
while passive solutions do not.
• Passive solutions for cooling
usually involve reducing the
speed at which a component is
operating or adding heat sinks to
computer chips.
• A case fan is considered as
active cooling.
 CMOS
• The CMOS
(Complementary metal–
oxide–semiconductor)
battery is attached to the
motherboard. This battery
is the same as a watch
battery or a battery for a
remote to your car's alarm
system.
• Most batteries are
CR2032 which keeps the
memory for date and time
for your BIOS setting.

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 2. Power Supply
• A computer requires clean and steady power
source for working properly. Electricity from a
standard wall outlet is Alternating Current(AC)
but a computer uses Direct Current (DC).
• The power supply is a device that converts
AC to DC to run the computer.
• Power supplies vary in size and power(in
watt)
• Uninterruptible power supply(UPS) keeps
the computer running for a few minutes even
when the electricity supply goes off.
 2. Power Supply
• A desktop PC’s
power supply has a
fan in it, and when
you start up the PC,
the fan starts up too.
The fan pulls hot air
out of the power
supply and has a
side benefit of
circulating air
through the entire
system unit too.
3. Cards
• A computer card is an expansion device
that provides an existing computer with
certain added capabilities.
• Eg: video card, sound card, I/O card,
controller card, memory card.
• Video card(display card) generates the
text and graphic images for the monitor
while sound card generates sound.
• I/O card provide a place for connecting
your mouse and printer.
• Controller cards connect cables of hard
disks and floppy disks
 Network Interface Card

• A network interface
card (NIC) is a
computer circuit
board or card that
is installed in a
computer so that it
can be connected
to a network.
4. Ports
• Components used as pathways for flow of data.
The rear of a PC has many empty holes or
external sockets called ports or connectors.
• E.g. serial port, parallel port, game port, video port
and USB port.
• Serial Port is used to connect a mouse, modem or
scanner.
• Parallel port is generally used to connect a printer.
• Game port is used to connect a joystick while a
video port is a connector for the monitor.
• USB( Universal Serial Bus) can be used to
connect many types of input, output and storage
devices.
4. Ports
Ports
• Video Graphics Adapter (VGA): is the
older, analog type used for display
• The audio component for plugging in
speakers, headphones, and microphones.
They are usually color-coded: pink for
microphone, green for speakers or
headphones, and blue for line input.
• Universal Serial Bus (USB) is the most
common multipurpose port type; many
devices use USB ports, including
keyboards, mice, and printers.
 Ports
• Parallel port: This is a 25-pin connector, with
the holes arranged in two rows. It was used for
printers before USB became the dominant
interface for printers
• Serial (COM) port: This is a 9-pin connector,
with the pins arranged in two rows. This type of
port used to be an all-purpose port for a variety
of external devices, much like USB is today
 5. Central Processing Unit
• CPU is the main
component or “brain” of a
computer which performs
all the processing of input
data.
• The CPU or processor
accepts instructions and
data and executes them,
storing the result in
memory.
• The two largest
manufacturers of CPUs
are the companies Intel
and Advanced Micro
Devices (AMD).
5. Central Processing
Unit
• It determines how fast your computer will run
and is measured by its Gigahertz (GHz)
(Billion instructions per second) or
Megahertz (MHz) (Million cycles per
second) speed
• For example, a 2.4 GHz Pentium is much
faster than a 400 MHz Pentium CPU
• Every CPU includes the following
components:
– Arithmetic/Logic Unit
– the control unit
– Registers
a) Arithmetic / Logic Unit
(ALU)
• This is responsible for all arithmetic
operations like addition as well as logic
operations such as less than.
• Performs arithmetic (+, -, /, *)
• Logical operations
– Evaluates conditions
– Makes comparisons
– Can compare
– E.g. (NOT, AND, OR, =>, <, ><>, >=, ==)
b) Control Unit(CU)
• It is responsible for controlling the transfer
of data and instructions among other units
of a computer. It manages and controls all
units of a computer
• The control Unit controls the whole
computer system by performing the
following functions:
– Directs and coordinates all operation called
for by the program
– Activates the appropriate circuits necessary
for inputs and output devices.
– Causes the entire computer system to
operate in an automatic manner.
b) Control Unit(CU)
• For each instruction, CU carries out
four basic operations called the
machine cycle.

(i) Fetch the instruction,

(ii) decode the instruction,

(iii) execute the instruction,

(iv) store the results

c) Registers

• They are small memories inside the

CPU
• Registers are;
– Special‐purpose
– High‐speed
– Temporary storage
– Located Inside CPU
Types of Registers

Instructions registers
• Holds instruction currently being
executed.
Data registers
• Holds data waiting to be processed.
• Holds results from processing.
 6. System Unit

A system unit is the part of a computer that houses the

primary devices that perform operations and produce
results for complex calculations.
7. MEMORY UNIT

• The component of a computer system

used to store data, instructions and
information before, during and after
processing by the ALU.
Understanding Memory
• computer memory stores data.
• there is both short-term (temporary) and
long-term (permanent) memory storage
• Some memory is dynamic, in that it stores
data only until the computer is turned off.
Dynamic memory (also called volatile
memory) must be constantly refreshed.
• Static memory (also called non-volatile
memory) retains whatever you put in it
indefinitely.
 MAIN TYPES OF
MEMORY
Read Only Memory (ROM)
• 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.
• In ROM Data and instructions can be
read but not modified and
Instructions are typically recorded at
factory
• This memory is permanent and is
not erased when they computer is
 MAIN TYPES OF
MEMORY
Random Access Memory
• RAM is the temporary working
storage for data and programs
that are being accessed by the
CPU.
• RAM is temporary and is erased
when the computer is switched
off. This means that it is volatile.
• 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.
Differences between RAM
and ROM
ROM RAM

ROM is nonvolatile RAM is volatile

ROM is cheaper than RAM RAM is very expensive

The contents of ROM are always The contents are not known
known
and can be verified

ROM serves as permanent data RAM can serve as temporary data

storage storage
How Computer Memory
Is Measured
• Data is stored in a computer in binary format as a series of
1s and 0s. Every 1 or 0 is a bit of information.
• Data is stored in a series of 8-bit combinations called a
byte. Every character, such as a letter, number, or
punctuation mark, is a byte created from a unique
combination of ones and zeros.
• Computers store characters in binary number system.
Why binary: Computer’s electronic/electrical handle
information in only two states ON(1) or OFF(0)
• Bit
• All computers work on a binary numbering system, i.e.
they process data in ones or zeros. This 1 or 0 level of
storage is called a bit
• Byte
• A byte consists of eight bits
How Computer Memory
Is Measured
• Byte
A byte consists of 8 bits
• Kilobyte
A kilobyte (KB) consists of 1024 bytes
• Megabyte
A megabyte (MB) consists of 1024 kilobytes
• Gigabyte
A gigabyte (GB) consists of 1024 megabytes
• Terabyte
A terabyte (TB) consists of 1024 gigabytes
How Computer Memory
Is Measured

• 26000 bytes=_________KB

• 360,000 bytes=_____GB

• 50,000,000,000 MB=_________________TB

• 50,000,000,000 bytes=_________________GB
8. Storage Unit
• Primary memory(especially RAM)
stores data, instructions and
information temporarily during
processing by CPU. When the
computer is switched off, this memory
gets erased.
• The storage unit is for the computer to
store data, information and software
permanently, so that they can be
retrieved whenever required
Storage Devices
• If you want to keep a permanent copy
of data, you must store it on some type
of storage medium.
• Storage media are permanent, such as
hard disk drives, or removable, such as
floppy disks and CDs.
• Storage devices are categorized by the
method they use to store data,
including magnetic and optical storage
devices.
 Magnetic Storage
Devices
Hard Disk Drives(HDD)
• Hard disks are large-capacity and
fast-access storage devices.
• It is an electro-mechanical data
storage device that uses magnetic
storage to store and retrieve digital
data using one or more rigid rapidly
rotating platters .
• They are used to store your operating
system, your application programs
(i.e. your word processor, games etc.)
and your data
• They are much faster than CD-ROMs
and floppy disks and can also hold
much more data.
• An HDD can be internal or external,
but most are internal, installed inside
the system unit.
 Tape Drives
• Tape Drive most often used for
archiving data.
• Tape drives use a magnetic
read/write head and removable
tape cartridge.
• Common tape storage
capacities vary between a few
GBs to many TBs.
• At one time they were useful for
backing up PCs, however as
HDDs became cheaper,
external HDD drives are now
frequently used for this purpose.
Semiconductor Storage
Solid State Drives (SSD)
• Solid-state drives (SSD) store data as
electrical charges in semiconductor flash
memory. This makes SSDs much faster
than magnetic HDDs.
• SSD storage capacity ranges from around
120 GBs to many TBs.
• SSDs have no moving parts, make no
noise, are more energy efficient, and
produce less heat than HDDs. Because
SSDs have no moving parts to fail, they
are more reliable than HDDs
 Optical Storage Devices
• An optical drive uses a
light beam and sensor to
read the data.
• There are several types of
optical drives and discs.
• The oldest and most basic
type is a compact disc
(CD), which holds up to
900MB of data. CDs are
used for small amounts of
data and also for audio
recordings.
 Optical Storage Devices
• A digital versatile disc (DVD) can store up to
4.7GB per disc (single sided, single layer). DVDs
can also be double-sided, with recordings on
both sides rather than recording on one and a
label on the other. DVDs are used to distribute
large applications, large amounts of data, and
standard definition movies.
• Blu-ray discs (BD) can store up to 128GB in up
to four layers. They are used to distribute even
larger amounts of data, or high-definition movies.
• CD, DVD, and BD media can be pre-recorded
(read only), recordable (write once), or re-
recordable (read and write multiple times).
Flash Memory and
Memory Cards
• Flash memory is rewritable and
nonvolatile (it retains data even when
power is turned off).
• Flash memory sticks or cards are used in
portable devices such as digital cameras,
cell phones, and hand-held computers.
• Memory cards the size of credit cards can
be used to store monetary value or can
serve in place of disk storage in a small
computer.
Network Drives
• most computer storage is directly attached to
the individual computer. However, computers
can also use a network to access storage
that’s not physically nearby.
• Storage that is available via a network is
called network-attached storage (NAS).
• A network drive is located on another
computer or a server where space is provided
for storage of data from many computer
terminals.
• Network drives may appear as the Q:\or
R:\drive on a terminal to distinguish it from the
drives that are part of the computer terminal.
Cloud Storage
• A cloud is a secure computing
environment consisting of a set of remote
servers that users access via the Internet.
• A cloud can include applications,
communication with other users, and
storage space (cloud storage).
• One of the most popular individual cloud
storage systems is Microsoft OneDrive. If
you have a Microsoft account (which is
free), you automatically get several
gigabytes of OneDrive storage online
9. Peripheral Devices
• A peripheral device is any device that you can
attach to your computer
– You can attach a scanner, printer, data projector,
speakers etc. to your system unit
 Thank you!

Any Questions?