The System Unit

Saint Louis
University
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 System Unit
• a case that contains electronic components of the
computer used to process data.
• available in a variety of shapes and sizes.
• the case of the system unit (chassis) is made of metal
or plastic and protects the internal electronic
components from damage
• The trend is toward a smaller form factor, or size and
shape, of the desktop personal computer system
unit.

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 Motherboard and chips
MOTHERBOARD
• system board
• the main circuit board of the system unit.

COMPUTER CHIP
• a small piece of semiconducting material, usually silicon,
on which integrated circuits are etched

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 Motherboard and chips
INTEGRATED CIRCUIT
• contains many microscopic pathways capable of carrying
electrical current
• can contain millions of
elements such as resistors,
capacitors, and transistors.

TRANSISTOR
• can act as an electronic switch that opens or closes the
circuit for electrical charges.
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 Computer Units

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 The Processor
• central processing unit (CPU)
• interprets and carries out the basic instructions that
operate a computer

PROCESSOR CORE
• contains the circuitry necessary to execute
instructions
• The operating system views each processor core as a
separate processor.
• manufacturers now offer multi-core processors

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 The Processor
multi-core processors
• is a single chip with two or more separate processor
cores
 dual-core processor : a chip that contains two
separate processor cores
 quad-core processor: a chip with four separate
processor cores

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 The Processor
multi-core processor vs single-core processor
• Each processor core on a multi-core processor
generally runs at a slower clock speed than a single-
core processor, but multi-core processors
typically increase overall performance.
• Multi-core processors are more energy efficient than
separate multiple processors, requiring lower levels
of power consumption and emitting less heat in the
system unit.

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 The Processor

INTEL Core 2 Quad Processor

NVIDIA ION Processor

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 The System Clock
• a small quartz crystal circuit
• what the processor relies on to control the timing of
all computer operations
• generates regular electronic pulses, or ticks, that set
the operating pace of the components of the system
unit
• Each tick equates to a clock cycle.

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 The System Clock
• In the past, processors used one or more clock cycles
to execute each instruction.
• Nowadays, processors are superscalar, which means
they can execute more than one instruction per clock
cycle.
• The pace of the system clock, called the clock speed,
is measured by the number of ticks per second.

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 The System Clock
• Current personal computer processors have clock
speeds in the gigahertz range.
• giga = billion
• Hertz = one cycle per second
• 1 gigahertz (GHz) = 1 billion ticks of the system clock
per second
• A computer that operates at 3 GHz has 3 billion (giga)
clock cycles in one second (hertz).

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 The CU and the ALU
• The control unit is the component of the processor
that directs and coordinates most of the operations
in the computer.
• Types of internal components that the control unit
directs include the arithmetic/logic unit, registers,
and buses.

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 The CU and the ALU
• The arithmetic logic unit (ALU), another component
of the processor, performs arithmetic, comparison,
and other operations.

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Processor's four operating stages
1. Fetch – a program's instructions and any needed
data into the processor
2. Decode – determines the purpose of the
instruction and passes it to the appropriate
hardware element
3. Execute – carries out the instruction
4. Store – takes the results of the execution stage
and places them into other processor registers
or the computer's main memory

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• Binary system – a number system that has just
two unique digits, 0 and 1, called bits
• bit – binary digit; the smallest unit of data the
computer can process such that by itself, it is
not informative
• byte – 8 bits grouped as a unit; provides
enough different combinations of 0s and 1s to
represent 256 different individual character

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 Coding Schemes
coding scheme - the combinations of 0s and 1s that
represent characters
• ASCII (American Standard Code for Information
Interchange) – a coding scheme sufficient for English
and Western European languages but is not large
enough for Asian and other languages that use
different alphabets

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 Coding Schemes
• Unicode – a 16-bit coding scheme that has the capacity
of representing more than 65,000 characters and
symbols
– capable of representing almost all the world's current
written languages, as well as classic and historical
languages.
– implemented in several operating systems, including
Windows, Mac OS, and Linux.
– Unicode-enabled programming languages and
software include Java, XML, Microsoft Office, and
Oracle.
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 Memory Architecture
• Memory consists of
– electronic components that store instructions waiting
to be executed by the processor
– data needed by those instructions
– the results of processing the data (information)
• Memory usually consists of 1 or more chips on the
motherboard

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 Memory Architecture
• Memory stores 3 basic categories of items
1. The OS and other system SW that control or maintain
the computer and its devices
2. Application programs that carry out a specific task such
as word processing
3. The data being processed by the application programs
and the resulting information

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 Types of Memory
• Volatile Memory – once computer is turned off, it loses
its contents (temporary)
• Nonvolatile Memory – does not lose its contents when
power is removed from the computer (permanent)

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 Memory Architecture
• Storage function
– Main Storage Unit (RAM) – volatile
– Cache
– ROM,CMOS, flash memory – non-volatile
– Auxiliary Storage Devices – non-volatile
• Hard disks
• Magnetic tape
• Floppy disk
• Magneto-optical disk2

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Memory Hierarchy Structure

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Memory Access Speed and Capacity

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 RAM
• RAM chips usually reside on a memory module
• Three types of memory modules
1.SIMM (single inline memory module)- has pins on
opposite sides of the circuit board that connect together
to form a single set of contacts
2.DIMM (dual inline memory module)- the pins on
opposite sides of the circuit board do not connect and
thus form two sets of contacts. SIMMs and DIMMs
typically hold SDRAM chips
3.A RIMM (Rambus inline memory module)- houses
RDRAM chips

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 RAM
Three basic types of RAM chips
1. Dynamic RAM (DRAM)
- must be re-energized constantly or they lose their contents
2. Static RAM
- faster and more reliable than any variation of DRAM chips
- do not have to be re-energized as often as DRAM chips
- much more expensive than DRAM chips
- Used by special applications such as cache
3. Magnetoresistive RAM (MRAM)
- stores data using magnetic charges instead of electrical charges
- Manufacturers claim it has greater storage capacity, consumes
less power, and has faster access times than electronic RAM.
- Also retains its contents after power is removed from the
computer, which could prevent loss of data for users.

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 Cache
• Two types of cache are memory cache and disk cache.
• Memory cache helps speed the processes of the
computer because it stores frequently used
instructions and data.

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 Expansion Slots and Adapter Cards
• An expansion slot is a socket on the motherboard
that can hold an adapter card.
• An adapter card, sometimes called an expansion
card, is a circuit board that enhances functions of a
component of the system unit and/or provides
connections to peripherals
• Today's computers support Plug and Play, which
means the computer automatically can configure
adapter cards and other peripherals as you install
them. Having Plug and Play support means you can
plug in a device, turn on the
computer, and then immediately begin using the
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