ITCE 101: Computer Technologies

Chapter 2 _ Part 2:
Inside the System Unit
(System unit components)
Content based on Computers Are Your Future Book, Twelfth Edition
Objectives
 List the components found inside the system unit and explain their use.
 List the components found on the computer’s motherboard and explain
their role in the functioning of the computer’s systems.
 Describe the various physical connectors on the exterior of the system unit
and explain their use.
 Discuss how a CPU processes data.
 Explain the factors that determine a microprocessor’s performance.
 List the various types of memory found in a computer system and explain
the purpose of each.

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Computer Fundamentals -
System unit
System unit:
It is the Base unit of the computer—made up
of the plastic or metal enclosure, the
motherboard, and the integrated peripherals
 Motherboard: Circuit board that connects the
central processing unit(s) to the other system
components
 Integrated peripherals are the devices
embedded within the system unit case and
generally include the power supply, cooling
fans, memory, CD drive, DVD drive, and internal
hard drive.
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Computer Fundamentals -
System

unit
System units come in
different styles and have
varying footprints—the
amount of space that the
unit uses.
 System units vary in their
form factor, which
specifies how the internal
components are located
within the system unit.

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Computer Fundamentals -
System unit
 System unit
main
components:
 Motherboard
 CPU
 Power supply
 Cooling systems
 Internal speakers
 Expansion slots
 Drive bays

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What is inside system unit?
 Motherboard: It is main circuit board in a computer system. It
connects all of the internal components, like the memory, processor,
graphics card and other hardware. It also provides power to each
component and allows them to communicate with each other.
 Attached to the Motherboard the following components Either
directly or indirectly:
 Central Processing Unit (CPU) - Directly
 Memory (RAM, ROM, Cache) – Directly (Primary memory)
 Chipset (Southbridge/northbridge) - Directly
 Cooling system (Heat Sink and fan) - Indirectly
 Hard drives, CD and DVD drives – Indirectly (Secondary memory)

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 What is inside
system unit?
 The majority of parts found on the
motherboard are integrated circuits
(ICs).
 The main integrated chip in the
computer is the Central
processing unit (CPU).
 An integrated circuit (or chip)
includes millions of transistors
and carries electrical current.
 A transistor is a switch that is
able to control the electrical
signal flow to the circuit.
(ON/OFF)

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What is inside system unit?

Motherboa
rd

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What is inside system unit?
Chipset:
 The set of chips that collectively supply the
switching circuitry the CPU requires to move
data throughout the computer is called the
chipset.
 The CPU and the input/output bus are linked
through the chipset.
 The input/output (I/O) bus provides a means to
communicate with input and output devices.
 The PC chipset is divided into:
1. Northbridge (CPU – memory communication)
2. Southbridge (PC - Peripherals communication).

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What is inside system unit?
 Expansion slots: It is special slots inside the system unit
that enable you to add more devices (functionality not exist in
your device) on expansion cards. .
 Examples of cards:

 Sound card

 Network card

 Graphics card

 Modem card

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What is inside system unit?
 Examples of expansion slots

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What is inside system unit?
 Cooling system
Modern CPUs generate a lot of heat and thus require a a system to
avoid overheating.
Ways of cooling:

1. Air Cooling systems: (Consist of Heat sink and cooling fan)

 A heat sink is a big slab of copper or aluminum that helps draw
heat away from the processor.
 The fan then blows the heat out into the case.

2. Liquid cooling systems: (consists of water blocks, a pump,

a radiator, pipes)
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 COOLING
SYSTEMS
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What is inside system unit?
 Power supply: It provides the necessary electrical power
to make the PC operate..
 The power supply takes standard 220-volt (Alternating
Current) AC power and converts it into 12-volt, 5-volt, and
3.3-volt (Direct Current) DC power.
 Different voltage for different components.

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What is inside system unit?
 Hard Drive: It stores programs and data that are not currently
being used by the CPU (non-volatile component).
 Types of Drives:
1. Hard Disk Drive (HDD)
2. Solid State Drive (SSD)

The drive is connected to the motherboard through connections

Type of connections (Interfaces):
 Parallel Advanced Technology Attachment (PATA) (Old)
 Serial Advanced Technology Attachment (SATA) (Old)
 Small Computer System Interface (SCSI)
 NVMe (Non-volatile Memory Express) (Newest)

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What is inside system unit? – Drive Interfaces
Type of connections (Interfaces):
 Parallel Advanced Technology Attachment (PATA) (Old)
 Serial Advanced Technology Attachment (SATA) (Old)
 Small Computer System Interface (SCSI)
 NVMe (Non-volatile Memory Express) (Newest)

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External connections
 Every peripheral connects to the system unit
through one of the many types of connectors
 The back of a typical system unit has lots of
cables running from the system unit to the
different peripherals.
 All these connectors have their own
naming conventions, and a good tech
knows all of them and should fit in one of
the
following groups:
(Port, Plug, Jack)
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Connectors examples
 Mini-DIN –(example: PS/2) (Old port)
 DB Connectors (9 to 37 pins ports) (Old port)
 USB (Type-A ,Type-B, Type-C)
 FireWire or IEEE 1394 (High speed) (Hot-swappable)
 RJ Connectors (Rj11 and Rj14 (Modem) ,Rj45 (Ethernet-
Network))
 Audio Connectors
 HDMI (Sound and Video)
 Displayport (Similar to HDMI)
 Video connectors (VGA , DVI, S-Video)
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External connections -
computer ports

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USB Features
USB has a number of features that make it particularly popular on
PCs (Most common port in computers).
1. USB devices are hot-swappable, which means you can insert or
remove them without restarting your PC.
 Plug-and-play (PnP): refers to a set of standards, jointly
developed by Intel Corporation and Microsoft, which enable a
computer to automatically detect the brand, model, and
characteristics of a device when you plug it in and configure the
system accordingly.
2. Many USB devices get their electrical power through the
USB connection, so they don’t need batteries or a plug for an
electrical outlet.
 USB is used to charge devices (smartphone)

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Central Processing Unit
(CPU)
The main integrated circuit chip (IC) that processes electronic
signals is called the central processing unit (CPU).
 The CPU is also known as a microprocessor or processor.
 It interprets and carries out software instructions by processing
data and controlling the rest of the computer’s components.
 The processor calculates (add, multiplies and so on), performs
logical operations (compares numbers and make decisions),
and controls the transfer of data among devices.
 Many electronic and mechanical devices we use daily, such as
smartphones, calculators, automobile engines, and industrial and
medical equipment, contain embedded processors.

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Central Processing Unit
(CPU)
In order to fit the CPU core on the motherboard, a specific
processor packaging should be used to hold the processor
and attach it the motherboard socket.

Socket
 Types of packages.

1. Pin Grid Array (PGA)

2. Land Grid Array (LGA)
3. Ball Grid Array (BGA)

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Central Processing Unit
(CPU)
A computer program is sequence of instructions the CPU
can execute.
 The program should be stored in a memory.
 Each operation (Program) performed by the CPU is assigned a
specific number of instructions.
 In general, different processors are there in the market with
different characteristics:
 Different speed (clock rate)
 Different architecture
 Different instruction set:
 The instruction set is the list of CPU instructions that the CPU can support.

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Central Processing Unit
(CPU)
The CPU can understand 0, 1 based-programs (machine code),
while the general programs are written using High Level Languages
(HLL) which referred to as 'the source code like C, C++, python,
Java … etc.
 The HLL code should be converted to machine code using system
tools.
1. Compiler: It takes source programs (HLL) and convert them to assembly
program
2. Assembler: It takes assembly program and converts it to machine code
(object file or library)
3. Linker: It takes multiple object file and libraries and converts it to a
single executable program.
4. Loader: It takes the executable program and store it in the memory.
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Central Processing Unit
(CPU)
 Once the program in the memory, the CPU can start execute it.
source
code

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How a CPU Processes data
 The two main parts of the CPU are:
1. Control unit
2. Arithmetic Logic Unit (ALU).
3. Registers
 The control unit retrieves instructions from
memory and interprets and performs those
instructions.
 The control unit manages the machine cycle
or processing cycle, the four-part process
performed by the CPU:
1. Fetch
2. Decode
3. Execute
4. Store
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How a CPU Processes data
 The control unit manages four
operations:
 Fetch: Retrieves the next program
instruction from the computer’s RAM
or cache memory.
 Decode: Determines what the
program is telling the computer to do.
It takes the fetched instruction and
translates it into a form that the
control unit understands.
 Execute: Performs the requested
Q) Based on the above, how many
instruction using the ALU cycles are needed to perform a
 Store: Stores the results to an internal program with 300 instructions?
register or in the RAM.
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How a CPU Processes data
CPU Memory

e n d th e
1-S
2-
CU inst r u ct ion
h)
interprets (Fetc
(Decode)
e n d the
S
data
Data &
e r e sult Instruction
t ore th
4-S mory
3-
Execute
ALU into m e

Fetch-execute
cycle

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How a CPU Processes data
 The Arithmetic Logic Unit (ALU) performs arithmetic and
logical operations.
1. Arithmetic operations: involve adding, subtracting, multiplying,
and dividing (+, -, *, / ).
2. Logical operations involve comparisons between two or more data
items (AND, OR, NOT, XOR).
 Registers are small memory elements to store data when it
must be temporarily stored in the CPU during the execution of
instructions.
 Example of registers:
 Program counter (PC),
 Instruction register (IR)
 General purpose registers (GPRs) – generally 32 Registers

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Factors that affect the performance of a CPU
 Factors that affect the performance of a CPU includes:
 The number of existing transistors
o Less size of transistor, allow to add more transistors, better
performance
 Data bus width and word size
o Bigger data bus width, better performance.
 Clock speed (Frequency)
o Higher frequency leads to better performance,
 Operations per microprocessor cycle
o Increase the no. of operation within a specific time, increase the
performance. (dual core/ quad core/octa core, superscalar)
 Use of parallel processing
 Type of chip

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Factors that affect the performance of a CPU
 A data bus is the group of parallel wires that connect
the CPU’s internal components.
 Data bus width is measured in bits (8, 16, 32, or 64).
 The maximum number of bits the CPU can process at once is
called the word size.
 Word size determines which operating systems and software
a CPU can run.
 The more bits can be processed
at once, the better performance Compone Size of Compone
nt A the data nt B
Q) Compare between:
bus
32-bit and 64-bit processors

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Factors that affect the performance of a CPU
 Q) Compare between 32-bit and 64-bit processors

A+B= Can ALU Execute it?

yes
32- 32- How many steps? 1
ALU bit bit step
Word Can ALU Execute it? yes
size (32-
A+B=
How many steps? 2 steps
bit) 64- 64-
bit bit
32- 32- 32- 32-
bit bit bit bit
 If 64-bit processor is used.

The second operation can be done in one step

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Factors that affect the performance of a CPU
 The system clock is an electronic circuit
that produces rapid pulses and coordinates
the computer’s internal activities.
 Clock speed is the measurement of the electrical
pulses generated by the system clock to synchronize
the computer’s internal activities, including the
movement from one stage of the machine cycle to
another.
 It is usually measured in gigahertz (GHz) billions of
cycles per second.
 System clock is the processor speed.
 In general, the higher the clock speed,
the faster the computer.

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Factors that affect the performance of a CPU
Operations per cycle:
 The number of operations per tick of the system clock affects
microprocessor performance.
 Different architectures are implemented to increase
operation per cycles:
 Superscalar architecture enables the CPU to perform more than one
instruction for each clock cycle.
 Pipelining enables the CPU to process more than one instruction at a
time, which improves CPU performance.

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Factors that affect the performance of a CPU

Unpipelined Vs Superscalar
Pipelined architecture

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Factors that affect the performance of a CPU
Parallel processing is a method in
which more than one processor
performs at the same time, resulting
in faster processing.
 The idea is to speed up the execution
of a program by dividing the program
into multiple fragments that can
execute simultaneously, each on its
own processor.
 Multi-Core Processing: The newest
computers being sold are equipped
with dual-core and quad-core
processors.

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Primary Memory: RAM
Random access memory (RAM):
 Temporarily stores data and instructions to be used by the central
processing unit
 It is considered volatile because its contents are erased when the
computer is shut off
 The purpose of RAM is to:
 Receive and hold program instructions and data while being used
by the system.
 Provide those instructions and data to the CPU when needed.
 Hold the results of the CPU’s processing until an instruction is
received to transfer it to a printer or permanent storage device.
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Primary Memory: RAM
Random access memory (RAM):
 The memory is divided into locations
each with an address
 All memory locations have the same size

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Primary Memory: ROM and Cache Memory
 Read-only memory (ROM):
 It contains prerecorded instructions used to start the computer
 It is considered nonvolatile because its contents are stored
when CPU power is turned off
 Cache memory:
 It is a small unit of fast memory built into the processor to improve
performance
 It is more expensive than RAM, faster, and smaller in size.
 Comes in two types:
 Primary cache, found in the microprocessor chip (L1 cache)
 Secondary cache, located on the circuit board (L2 and L3 cache)

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Primary Memory: Cache Memory
 Why the computer needs cache memory?
 The key point is the access time, the less time to retrieve data from
memory could increase the performance of the computer, and this not the
case with RAM.
 A memory with less access time (retrieval time) is needed, therefore
cache is introduced.

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Research-based Learning
 Conduct a research to identify and
explore the following related
keywords:
1. Overclocking
2. Virtual Memory
3. Thermal Paste
4. Chipset Compatibility
5. Instruction Set Architecture
6. Latency

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