ComputerHardware

Components

For:
SandraCooper

By:
AndrewNovinger
TyWhalin
WilliamTorres

October23,2003

Whenmostpeoplethinkofapersonalcomputertheygetscaredbecausetheythinkthat
thereisalottoacomputer.Actuallythereisntalottoacomputer,mostpersonal
computersconsistofapowersupply,amotherboard,RAM,videoandsoundcards,
modem,andstoragemedia.

PowerSupply
Oneofthemostimportantdevicesneededforapersonalcomputerisapowersupply.
Whatapowersupplydoesisitconverts120VoltsAC(AlternatingCurrent)into3.3
volts,5volts,and12voltsDC(DirectCurrent)(Mueller1156).Thereasonwhythe
powersupplyconvertsACtoDCisthatmostcircuitryinacomputersystemispolarized,
meaningthatitcanonlytakecurrentflowinonedirection.AswhereasACis
continuouslychangingtheflowofcurrentfrompositivetonegative,DCisonecontinues
flowofpositivecurrentseefigure1(Kurtus).

Figure1

Motherboard
Thesecondmostimportantdeviceinacomputeristhemotherboard.Themotherboardis
themaincomponentinapersonalcomputer.Themotherboardiswhereallthe
componentsinthecomputerarepluggedintoeitherbyaribboncableorbyabus.The
ribboncableconnectstoallofthedrives,suchastheharddrive,andfloppydrive.The
busiswherealloftheexpansioncardsarepluggedinto,suchasthevideocard,and
soundcard.ThemotherboardiswheretheCPUprocessorchipislocated.


Thischiptellsthecomputerhowtooperate.ThefastertheCPUprocessorchipisthe
fasteryourcomputercanrun.ThemotherboardisalsowheretheRAMmemorysticks
arelocated.TheRAMisconnectedtothemotherboardbyabusjustliketheonesused
bytheexpansioncard(Mueller202353).Seefigure2togetabetterideaofthe
motherboard.

Figure2(Motherboard)

RAM(RandomAccessMemory)
ThethirdmostimportantdeviceinacomputeristheRAM.TheRAMhelpsthe
computertorunfaster,byhavingmemoryupandreadytorunassoonastheprogram
thatisrunningatthetimeneedsit.TherearethreetypesofRAMSIMM(SingleInline
MemoryModule)DIMM(DualInlineMemoryModule),andRIMM(RambusMemory
Module).

TheSIMMRAMishardlyeverusedanymore.TheRIMMRAMisouttheretobeused
butmostPCmanufacturesusedthem.TheDIMMRAMisthehighlyusedRAM.The
DIMMRAMisbrokendownintotwotypes.TheSDRAM(StandardRAM),andthe
DDRSDRAM(DoubleDataRateStandardRam).Seefigure3forthevisualdifference
betweenSDRAMandDDRSDRAM(Mueller435).

Figure3(Mueller437)

VideoandSoundCards
Anotherimportantdevicetothecomputeristhevideo,andsoundcard.Withoutthe
videocardyoucouldoperatethecomputerbutitwouldnotbeaneasytask.Thevideo
cardiswhatmakesthemonitordisplaywhatthecomputerisdoingatthepresenttime.
Todaysvideocardscomewiththereownprocessorssotheycankeepupwiththefast
changingcolorsonvideogames,andothervideos.

WithoutthecardyoucouldnotplayanyPCgames(Mueller906).Thesoundcardis
importantasthevideocard,butnotthatreallyimportant.Thesoundcardsgivesmakes
thespeakerswork.WithoutthesoundcardyoucouldntlistentoCDs,playgameswith
sounds,andwatchmovieswithsound.Onmostcomputerstodaythesoundcardarebuilt
intothemotherboard,butifyouwantabettersoundyouneedtoupgradetoabettercard
(Mueller922959).

Modems
Modemsisanotherhardwaredevicethatenablesthecomputertocommunicatewitheach
otheroverconventionaltelephonelines,televisioncable,orradiowavesinawireless
modem.HavingthisdeviceallowstheusertotravelthroughtheInternet.Thereare
differentwaystypesofInternetconnections.YouhaveDSL,ISDN,Cable,anddialup.
WithDSL,Cable,andISDNyouneedaspecialmodemthatyoucanpickupatanylocal
computerstoresuchasCircuitCity,orBestBuy.

ForDSLandISDNyouneedtogetacontractthroughyourlocaltelephonecompany,for
CableyouneedtosignacontractwithyourlocalCableCompanythatprovidesCable
Internet.ThedifferencebetweenCableandDSListhatwithDSLyouhavethefull
connectingspeedaswhereaswithCableyouhavetosharetheconnectionwith
everybodyonthecircuit(Ford24).Withdialupyoucanusethestandardmodemthat
camewiththecomputer.YouneedtocontactanyInternetServiceProvider(ISP).See
table1forcomparisonsbetweenthefourtypesofInternetconnection.

Table1

(Computing175)

Type

Speed

AverageMonthlyFee

DialUp

56,000Bytespersecond

$16.00

ISDN

128,000Bytespersecond

$30.00

DSL

1,500,000Bytespersecond

$50.00

Cable

1,500,000Bytespersecond

$50.00

StorageMedia
Everycomputerhassomesortofstoragemedia.Astoragemediaconsistsofharddrive,
floppydrive,andaCDROM.Afloppyandharddrivebasicallythesamethingjustthat
theharddriveholdsalotmoreofmemory.Harddriveandfloppyarenonvolatilemedia
storage,whichmeansthatitdoesnotloseitsmemorywhenthepoweristakenawayfrom
it.Theyareusefultostoreprogramsandinformationon.

Theyarebothwrittenonmagneticdisks.Thefloppydrive,andtheharddrivearebotha
mechanicaldrivebecausetheyhaveanarmtheswingsoutonthedisktopullthe
informationoffofthedisk,becauseofthisfeaturethesedrivesareslow.Seefigure4for
anillustration.Anaverageharddrivecanholdfrom2gigabytes(2,000,000,000)to80
gigabytes(80,000,000,000).

Atypicalfloppydriveholdsonly1.4megabytes(1,400,000)(Mueller).ACDROM
drivesarethenewtypesofstoragemedia.TobeabletowritetoaCDyouneedtogeta
CDRoraCDRWdrive,whichcanwritefiles,andotherinformationtoaCD.ACDis
writtenwithalasersoitmakestheCDROManopticaldrive.TheCDisthebeststorage
mediarightnowbecausesinceitisnotmagneticbeingtoclosetoamagneticsource
cannotcorruptit.MostCDscanhold700megabytes(700,000,000)ormoredepending
ontheformatoftheCD(Mueller).

LimitationsofEarlyHardDiskDrives
TheoriginalbasicharddiskdrivesspecificallytheST506wererelativelysimpleto
installbecausetheprimaryinput/output(I/O)commandswerehandledbythePCAT
systemBIOS.TheyusedtheroutinesbuiltintotheoriginalIBMATandthesame
interfacecommandsetastheoriginalST506harddrive.

Asdrivecapacitiesgrew,theyrequiredmanychangesinsetuptogetaroundthe
limitationsimposedbyearliermodels.Often,thesechangesaddedtotheworkloadofthe
processor,whichhadaneteffectofslowingdowntheprocessingofdata.Thisresultedin
researchfornewmethodstoovercomethosebottlenecks,whichinturnledtoother
designconsiderationsthathadtobeaddressed.Theendresultisthatstoragetechnology
isstillevolving.Drivesincreaseincapacityandspeed,causingchangesinPCdesignand
operatingsystemsupporttotakeadvantageofthelargercapacity,fasterdrives.

IDEdriveshavebeeninusesincethelate1980s.ThepurposeoftheIDEwastointegrate
thedrivecontrollerwiththedriveitselfratherthanuseaseparatecontrollercard.The
AdvancedTechnologyAttachment(ATA)theofficialnameforIDEdrivesstandard
isbasedontheoriginalIBMATstandardforharddiskdrives.
ATAdrivesusethesameinterfacecommandsetastheoriginalST506drivesandare
handledbythesystemBIOSbuiltintotheoriginalIBMAT.ATAwas,andis,agood
commandset,butitslimitationsledtoitsdeclineasaviableharddriveinterface.These
limitationssetthestageforthedevelopmentofEIDE.TheEIDEdrivesystemwas
developedwithtwoessentialobjectives:increasingthesizeofavailablediskdrivesand
increasingthespeedofdatatransferbetweenthehostandthediskdrive.

ATAdrivestransferdatatoandfromtheharddiskdriveandmemoryusingstandardized
protocolscalled
PIO(ProgrammedInput/Output)
modes.WithPIO,dataisexchanged
betweenthemainmemoryandaperipheraldevice,notbymeansofdirectmemory
access(DMA),butwithinandoutinstructionsthroughthecentralprocessingunit
(CPU).TheSmallFormsFactor(SFF)standardscommitteedefinedthesedatatransfer
ratesasPIOmode0,PIOmode1,andPIOmode2.

ATAdrivescanusePIOmode0,1,or2.WitheachimprovedPIOstandard,the
efficiencyandspeedofdatatransferincreased.TheoriginalATAdrivescouldtransfer
datafromtheharddiskdrivetoRAMatamaximumrateofroughly3.3MBpersecond.
Speedincreasesto5.2MBpersecond,andthen8.3MBpersecondandbeyond,followed
shortlythereafter.


Figure4(Active@)

Conclusion
Thesearethemaincomponentsofapersonalcomputerwithoutthese
componentsthecomputerwouldnotwork.

References

Active@Undelete.
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Ford,JerryLee.
GuideToHomeNetworking,Broadband,andWireless
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2002.

Kurtus,Ron.AlternatingCurrent(AC)Electricity.
AlternatingCurrent(AC)Electricity
SucceedinPhysicalScience
.July31,2003.SCILinks.September25,2003
<http://www.schoolforchampions.com/science/ac.htm>.

MicroprocessorResources.MotherboardManuals.Dr.DobbsJournal.October16,
2003.<http://x86.ddj.com/intel.doc/intelmotherboards.htm>

th
Mueller,Scott.
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