The Desktop Computer
When you mention the word "technology," most people think about computers. Virtually every facet of our lives has some computerized component. The appliances in our homes have microprocessors built into them, as do our televisions. Even our cars have a computer. But the computer that everyone thinks of first is typically the personal computer, or PC.A PC is a general-purpose tool built around a microprocessor. It has lots of different parts - memory, a hard disk, a modem, etc. - that work together. "General purpose" means that you can do many different things with a PC. You can use it to type documents, send e-mail, browse the Web and play games.
On the Inside
Let's take a look at the main components of a typical desktop computer.
Central processing unit (CPU) - The microprocessor "brain" of the computer system is called the central processing unit. Everything that a computer does is overseen by the CPU.
Memory - This is very fast storage used to hold data. It has to be fast because it connects directly to the microprocessor. There are several specific types of memory in a computer:
Random-access memory (RAM) - Used to temporarily store information that the computer is currently working with
Read-only memory (ROM) - A permanent type of memory storage used by the computer for important data that does not change
Basic input/output system (BIOS) - A type of ROM that is used by the computer to establish basic communication when the computer is first turned on
Caching - The storing of frequently used data in extremely fast RAM that connects directly to the CPU
Virtual memory - Space on a hard disk used to temporarily store data and swap it in and out of RAM as needed
Motherboard - This is the main circuit board that all of the other internal components connect to. The CPU and memory are usually on the motherboard. Other systems may be found directly on the motherboard or connected to it through a secondary connection. For example, a sound card can be built into the motherboard or connected through PCI.
Power supply - An electrical transformer regulates the electricity used by the computer.
Hard disk - This is large-capacity permanent storage used to hold information such as programs and documents.
Operating system - This is the basic software that allows the user to interface with the computer.
When we think about what a computer can do, we sometimes think it can do everything. In actuality, a computer simply stores, and processes information, or data. When we break down that information to its smallest component, we get the bit. A bit, or binary digit, is the basic unit that all computers use.
The EEPROM chip can store up to one kilobytes of data and is divided into 64 words with 16 bits each. Some memory is inaccessible or reserved for later us...
RAM is usually come in the form of chips of various sizes such as 256MB, 512MB, 1Gb, 2Gb, etc. computers are designed
Due to the volatile nature of the computer memory, information might be lost or overwritten over time. The chip in the random access memory helps the computer to run its programs more efficiently by pulling the data from the RAM. However, every time a machine is switched on, some data stored in the RAM is lost. Whereas the data stored on the hard drive is known as persistent data, the RAM is known as volatile memory. The RAM is constantly swapping the rarely used data that is the hard drive to create space for new information. Therefore, the longer the investigators wait, the more likely they will lose the incriminating data since the computer is not indefinitely persistent. It is fortunate that the investigators have found ways to preserve the evidence without necessarily switching on the computer. The contents are used in courts as the lawyers can use them as evidence for criminal activity.
“Also known as the logic board, main board, or computer board, the motherboard is the computer's main board and in most cases holds all CPU, memory, and I/O functions or has expansion slots for them”. (Kingston)
Paging is one of the memory-management schemes by which a computer can store and retrieve data from secondary storage for use in main memory. Paging is used for faster access to data. The paging memory-management scheme works by having the operating system retrieve data from the secondary storage in same-size blocks called pages. Paging writes data to secondary storage from main memory and also reads data from secondary storage to bring into main memory. The main advantage of paging over memory segmentation is that is allows the physical address space of a process to be noncontiguous. Before paging was implemented, systems had to fit whole programs into storage, contiguously, which would cause various storage problems and fragmentation inside the operating system (Belzer, Holzman, & Kent, 1981). Paging is a very important part of virtual memory impl...
Building a computer can be a useful skill in today's world. It allows you to
According to the dictionary, Memory is defined as a device that is used to store data or programs (sequences of instructions) on a temporary or permanent basis for use in an electronic digital computer. Computers represent information in binary code, written as sequences of 0s and 1s. Each binary digit (or "bit") may be stored by any physical system that can be in either of two stable states, to represent 0 and 1. Such a system is called bistable. This could be an on-off switch, an electrical capacitor that can store or lose a charge, a magnet with its polarity up or down, or a surface that can have a pit or not. Today capacitors and transistors, functioning as tiny electrical switches, are used for temporary storage, and either disks or tape with a magnetic coating, or plastic discs with patterns of pits are used for long-term storage.(Dictionary.com 20014)
RAM is split into partitions, every partition will consist of its own address and will have its own individual contents, the data that is stored in these partitions are in binary form, (Computer Science GCSE GURU, 2017).
The LTM has an unlimited capacity and can hold up to a lifetime of information. Continuing on from this, the memory has 3 processes which include encoding - transfer of information from one part to another, storage - holding the information and retrieval - travelling of information from LTM to STM when it is
CPU Stands for "Central Processing Unit." The CPU is the primary component of a computer that processes instructions. It runs the operating system and applications, constantly receiving input from the user or active software
Computer memory refers to any physical device that has the ability of storing information either permanently or temporarily. For instance, the Random Access Memory (RAM) is a volatile memory that has the ability of storing information on various integrated circuits that are used by not only the operating system, but also by the hardware and software. In essence, there are two major types of computer memory namely Read Only Memory (ROM) and the Random Access Memory (RAM). ROM refers to smallest parts of a computer system’s silicon or solid state memory which is not only fixed in size, but also permanently stores or keeps the instructions of the manufacturer upon switching on a computer. On the other hand, RM refers to the larger part of a computer memory that comprises of floppies, DVD, CD, and hard disk which are together referred to as secondary storage and which are employed or applied in both running of programs as well as archiving of relevant data. It is prudent to note that computer memory can either be volatile and non-volatile (Tanenbaum & Austin, 2012).
There are four types of memory. These are the RAM, ROM, EEPROM and the Bootstrap loader. The RAM, also known as Random Access Memory, is the temporary space where the processor places the data while it is being used. This allows the computer to find the information that is being requested quickly without having to search the hard drive space. Once the information has been processed, and stored onto a permanent storage device, it is cleared out of the RAM. The RAM also houses the operating system while in
A CPU has various discrete units to help it in these tasks for example there is an arithmetic and logic unit(ALU) that takes care of all the math and logical data comparisons that need to performed. A control register makes sure everything happens in the right sequence. The motherboard is the main circuit board inside the PC. All other components are either slotted into or soldered to this board.
In designing a computer system, architects consider five major elements that make up the system's hardware: the arithmetic/logic unit, control unit, memory, input, and output. The arithmetic/logic unit performs arithmetic and compares numerical values. The control unit directs the operation of the computer by taking the user instructions and transforming them into electrical signals that the computer's circuitry can understand. The combination of the arithmetic/logic unit and the control unit is called the central processing unit (CPU). The memory stores instructions and data.