Knowing hardware (part 1)

From learnthat.com
What do you need to build a PC?
   Computer Case
  Power supply
  Processor
  Heatsink/Cooling fan
  Motherboard
  RAM memory
  SATA/IDE harddisk drive
  Optical drive (CD/DVD ROM)
  Floppy disk drive
  Keyboard, Mouse
What do you need to build a PC?
  Video card (ie. PCI Express, 8XAGP, integrated video,
etc.) compatible with the motherboard (this may be
integrated into the motherboard on some models)
  DVI or VGA monitor (computer screen)
  Sound card (these are generally integrated into the
motherboard)
  10/100 Ethernet Network Adaptor aka NIC
  A Phillips-head screwdriver with a long neck, preferably
magnetized
A flashlight is always a good thing to have.
Motherboards
  The motherboard, or system board, contains the central
processing unit (CPU), BIOS, other processing chips,
memory, IO device connections, expansion slots, and
more.
  The primary purpose of the motherboard is to process
instructions from the operating system and applications.
  A motherboard is unique to a certain chipset and family
of processor. For example, a vendor might create one
motherboard which is compatible with the Intel Socket
370 series of chips and a different motherboard which is
compatible with AMD’s AM2 Sempron series of chips.
CPU
  Processors, or Central Processing Units (CPUs), are the
chips that are at the core of the computer system and
process instructions and direct information between all of
the other chips, memory, and storage systems on the
computer.
  32-bit:
  Most computers built in the last decade, and a majority of
those being built today, use a 32-bit processor. The Intel
compatible 32-bit chips are often referred to as “32-bit x86
architectures.”
CPU
  64 bit
  AMD introduced the first 32-bit backwards compatible
architecture, the AMD64, in September 2003.
  Intel subsequently released their version of x86-64 chips and
64-bit chips were brought to the Windows desktop.
  The AMD and Intel chips can run 32-bit software, but
Microsoft, Apple, and Linux has Operating Systems written to
run in native 64-bit code. Microsoft calls these OSes Windows
XP 64-bit edition and Windows Vista x64.
CPU
  Multi-processor
  Microprocessor manufacturers wanted to get more
performance out of their chips so they began designing chips
with multiple microprocessors in one chip.
  By 2007, it is very common to see desktops, laptops and
servers with a dual-core processor – one which has two
microprocessing cores in it.
  Quad-core is the term for chips with four processors.
  Some high end manufacturers, such as Sun Microsystems, build
systems with 8-core CPUs.
Cooling system
  PCs generate a lot of heat – the CPU, hard drive, video
card, processing chips, etc. put out a ton of heat in a small
enclosed space. The computer system must properly
maintain a reasonable temperature or things could –
literally – melt down. There are several different type of
cooling systems available for PCs with two primary
methods: air and liquid.
Memory
  RAM is used for storing the
working area of the OS,
applications, and data. RAM comes
in memory “sticks” which insert
into slots on the motherboard.
RAM can be removed and
upgraded very easily – and
depending on the type of memory,
could be upgraded a chip at a time
DIMM
  A DIMM, or Dual Inline Memory Chip, is a major type of
memory which is replacing SIMM, or single in-line
memory modules. SIMMs have a 32-bit data path while
DIMMs have a 64-bit data path.
  SDRAM DIMMs - These first synchronous registered
DRAM DIMMs had the same bus frequency for data,
address and control lines.
* PC66 = 66 MHz
* PC100 = 100 MHz
* PC133 = 133 MHz
 DIMM
  DDR SDRAM (DDR1) DIMMs - DIMMs based on Double Data Rate (DDR)
DRAM have data but not the strobe at double the rate of the clock..

* PC1600 = 200 MHz data & strobe / 100 MHz clock for address and control
* PC2100 = 266 MHz data & strobe / 133 MHz clock for address and control
* PC2700 = 333 MHz data & strobe / 166 MHz clock for address and control
* PC3200 = 400 MHz data & strobe / 200 MHz clock for address and control

  DDR2 SDRAM DIMMs - DIMMs based on Double Data Rate 2 (DDR2) DRAM
also have data and data strobe frequencies at double the rate of the clock. The
power consumption of DDR2 is significantly lower than DDR(1) at the same
speed.

* PC2-3200 = 400 MHz data & strobe / 200 MHz clock for address and control
* PC2-4200 = 533 MHz data & strobe / 266 MHz clock for address and control
* PC2-5300 = 667 MHz data & strobe / 333 MHz clock for address and control
* PC2-6400 = 800 MHz data & strobe / 400 MHz clock for address and control
Power Supply
  Acomputer power supply unit (PSU) is the component
which AC electrical power into DC power of various
voltages used inside the PC. The PSU converts 100-120V
American AC power or 220-240 European AC power into
low voltage DC power.
Storage Devices
  Hard Drives
  Hard disk drives are often referred to as “mass storage devices” –
they can hold a large amount of data and in the context of this
section, are “fixed” – installed in a PC.
  Hard drives come in many different physical sizes, speeds, and
connector types. It contains one or more platters with a head which
reads data. Speed is described in RPM: 5400RPM, 7200RPM,
10,000RPM, and even 15,000RPM.
  The higher the number, the faster the drive spins the platter and can
read data. Typically you will only see 10,000RPM (also called 10K) and
15,000RPM (15k) drives in servers or high-end workstations.

  Speed is also measured by the data transfer speeds which is limited

by the type of connector the hard drive uses.
  3 types according to its connectors: IDE (PATA), SATA, SCSI
ATA/PATA
  ATA: Commonly referred to as an IDE
connection, ATA supports a maximum of 2
drives. It is a 16-bit interface.

  ATA-2: Sold as Fast ATA or Enhanced IDE

(EIDE), ATA-2 supports block transfers and
logical block addressing.

  Ultra-ATA: Supports speeds of 33 Megabits per

second.

  ATA/66: Developed by Quantum and supported

by Intel, doubles ATA throughput to 66 Mbps.

  ATA/100: Most frequently used today – supports

up to 100 Mbps.
IDE Connector and 4 Pin Molex Power cable
SATA
  Serial ATAis an evolution of the Parallel ATA connectors
we discussed above (in the form of IDE). Serial ATA cables
are smaller allowing for easier airflow in computers.
Additionally, they are faster than ATA with speeds at 150
Megabytes per second and 300 Megabytes per second
(1.5 Gbits and 3.0 Gbits respectively).
SATA
  With a much higher data transfer rates, you can take
advantage of faster hard drives with SATA.
  SATA also supports hot pluggable drives while Parallel
ATA does not. For this reason, SATA has replaced some of
the lead SCSI has in the server market, allowing server
vendors to reduce some cost in their server systems.

  Whereas the ATA drives use a 4 pin molex power

connector, most SATA drives use a new flat style power
cable.
SCSI
  SCSIcomes with a variety of connectors, both internal
and external. The table above describes some of the
connectors based on which version of SCSI you are using.

  One of the primary differences between SCSI and ATA

adapters is the number of devices one port supports.
SCSI supports either 8 or 16 devices, depending on the
version you are using, with the SCSI adapter card being
one device. Each device has a unique SCSI ID in the chain,
from 0-7 or 0-15. The SCSI host adapter is typically SCSI
ID 7 – the ID with the highest priority on a narrow (8
device) or wide (16 device) host adapter.
Internal hard drives (IDE)
  Internal hard drives are used to store your operating
system, applications, and data. Installing a new hard drive is
a fairly simple process – whether you are replacing,
upgrading, or adding a new hard drive.

  The type of hard drive determines how you can install it.
If you hard drive is an IDE drive, IDE supports a maximum
of 2 drives per channel (most computers have two
channels supporting four total drives). SCSI and SATA
have different requirements.
Internal Hard Drives
  We need to ensure that the
hard drive is set up to be the
master drive on its IDE cable.
Each IDE cable can support up
to two IDE devices, but in
order for this to work, one
IDE device must be designated
as a master device, and one
must be designated as a slave
device.You cannot have two
master devices or two slave
devices on a single cable.
Internal Hard Drives
  You have a couple different choices for drive configurations:

  IDE 0 Hard drive 1

  IDE 1 Hard drive 2
  IDE 2 CD-ROM drive
  IDE 3 Open

Or

  IDE 0 Hard drive 1

  IDE 1 CD-ROM drive
  IDE 2 Hard drive 2
  IDE 3 Open
External harddrives
  Externalhard drives are in cases and typically connect
through one or more of these connection types (in order
of popularity): USB, Firewire (IEEE1394), Ethernet, eSATA,
SCSI, or wireless. Some drives have multiple connection
ports so you can pick and choose based on your
requirements – e.g. transfer speed, open ports on your
computer.
External Hard drives
  Installing
external hard drives is one of the easiest tasks
on newer systems – most come preformatted and ready
to go right out of the box – you simply plug it in.
Windows will automatically recognize the external hard
drive and mount it.
Display Devices
  There are two types of display devices you should be
familiar with: notebook screens and external monitors.
  Notebook screens are typically LCD and are measured by
the diagonal length of the screen. Screen sizes range from
several inches to 17” widescreen on most commonplace
laptops.
CRT Monitors

  For years, Cathode Ray Tube (CRT)

monitors were standard and very few
people could afford an LCD screen
like a laptop uses.

  CRT monitors are known for their size

and bulk, but have great picture and
color quality. It took several years for
LCD to catch up – and exceed – CRT
monitors. CRT monitors range in size
from old 12” to 24” and larger.
LCD Monitors
  Over the last several years, LCD monitors have become
very commonplace and are loved by consumers for their
small size and low weight. At one time LCD monitors
were very pricey as compared to CRT monitors, but the
price gap has narrowed so much as to not be a significant
factor any longer.
Various Ports and Cables
  Universal Serial Bus, or USB, is the
new standard for peripheral
connection to PCs. USB is a jack of
all trades – handling a wide variety
of input devices and storage
devices including external hard
drives, keyboards, mice, scanners,
printers, PDAs, digital cameras,
USB devices range from scanners
to printers to storage devices.
Ports and Cables
  There are two standard versions for USB: 1.1 and 2.0. 2.0
is backward compatible with 1.1 (it supports 1.1 devices)
but has a much faster data transfer speed. USB 1.1
supports data transfer up to 12 mbps while USB 2.0
supports data transfer speeds of up to 480 Mbits per
second. USB 3.0 will bring us transfer speeds of up to 4.8
Gbits per second. Each PC supports up to 127 devices.
Ports and Cables
  DB-9
  DB-9 is a standard connection for a COM cable (serial cable).
Contains 9 pins.
  DB-25
  DB-25 is the other standard connection for Serial cables. Serial
communications only use 9 of the available 25 pins.
  RJ-11
  RJ-11 is a standard telephone type connection. It is 4 or 6 wire
and some networking equipment has used RJ-11, though RJ-45
is more common.
  RJ-45 is the most popular network cable/connection
Ports and Cables

  IEEE 1394
  IEEE 1394 is the standard for what is commonly referred to as “Firewire”. Apple
Computer coined the term when they began adding Firewire ports to their
Macintosh computers.

  IEEE 1394, or Firewire, is a high speed connector for data intensive applications
such as video editing or external storage devices. Standard Firewire supports up
to 400 Mbits per second transfer while newer Firewire/800 supports 800 Mbits/
second. Each PC can support up to 63 Firewire devices.
Ports and Cables
  PS2/MINI-DIN
  PS2 is a standard developed by IBM for keyboards, mice, and
input devices. Uses a DIN connection with 6 pins.
TO BE CONTINUED …