Computer
Architecture
Internal
structure of a digital computer, encompassing the design and
layout of its instruction set and storage registers. The architecture of a
computer is chosen with regard to the types of programs that will be run on it (business,
scientific, general-purpose, etc.). Its principal components or subsystems,
each of which could be said to have an architecture of its own, are
input/output, storage, communication, control, and processing.
Computers
are built of various components (called Hardware). These include: the CPU,
memory, busses, clocks, peripherals (printers, keyboards, etc), etc. All of
these components must communicate with each other and provide a necessary
service to the user.
A
computer is a complex device containing many sub-systems. Each sub-system is a
piece of computer hardware (or part of a piece of computer hardware.) How these
pieces interact is called the "Computer Architecture". The hard of a
computer includes:
·
- CPU — the "brain" of the computer
·
- Motherboard — The spine of the computer
·
- Power Supply — the "stomach" of the computer
·
- BUS — "trucks" data around the computer
·
- Clock — tells the CPU to start the next instruction
·
- Network Card — the "cell phone" of the computer
·
- Monitor — the "face" of the computer
·
- Fans — computers can cook food, they are so hot. We
must cool them down
·
- Memory:
·
·
Layers:
·
1. -
Registers (1 clock cycle)
2. -
Primary Cache: ~1 nano-second cache primary
3. -
Secondary Cache: 10 nano-seconds
4. -
fast RAM: 70 nanoseconds or less
5. -
fast disk: 10 milliseconds (10,000,000 nanoseconds)
6. -
CD/DVD: 160 milliseconds (160,000,000 nanoseconds)
7.
Memory
Acronyms you should know:
8. - ROM -
Read Only MemoryROM is memory that is "hard coded" from the -
manufacturer and never changes, such as the instruction to "boot" up
your computer.
9. - RAM -
Random Access MemoryRam is the core memory you buy for any machine. It
is often sold (today) in .5, 1, and 2 GIG boards.
10.
·
• IO Devices:
·
1. -
Graphics Card / Monitor
2. -
Keyboard
3. -
Disk Drive
4. -
Tape Backup
5. -
CD ROM
6.
7. What is
the most important component in a computer?
8.
Not
many people would stop and think about the most important component that is
currently in their computer. If they had to stop and think about it, some would
say the processor (CPU), memory, the video card, or even the hard drive.
Depending on what they use their computer for, everyone would have a different
idea of what is the most important component.
·
Most people, probably wouldn’t say that the power supply
unit (PSU) is the most important component. To me, it is the most
important component, and is one that you shouldn’t go cheap on purchasing. I
outline my reasons for thinking this way in this post.
·
I recently read a post on Info Carnivor titled Computer Terms
Glossary: Advice for Computer Shoppers where the author mentions that the
processor is most important part of a computer. I do disagree with him on that
point (it’s great that he allows people to disagree with him in the comments on
his blog). While we each are entitled to our opinion, I provide my reasoning of
why the power supply unit is more important.
Pentium
also is the most important part of thecomputer. It processes the data and
controls the computer. Powerfulcomputers used as servers often have more than
one processor.
·
·
Thereare two main types of memory: a)RAM (random access memory)
holds the program instructions andthe data that is being used by the processor,
b)ROM (read only memory) holds the program instructions andsettings required to
start up the computer.
o The
combination of the processor and memory is sometimes referredto as the CPU
(central processing unit), although sometimes theprocessor itself is referred
to as the CPU.
o The
other parts connected tothe CPU are known as peripherals.
These
can include input devices,output devices, storage devices and communications
devices. Inputdevices include: keyboards, scanners, barcode readers,
digitalcameras, microphonesand video cameras e.g. webcams (small digitalvideo
cameras used on the Web). Output devices include: monitors(VDU display
screens), printers, plotters, loudspeakers, headphones.Storage devices include:
magnetic tape, floppy disks (diskettes), harddisks, CD-ROMs, CD-R disks, CD-RW
disks, DVDs and MO disks. Acommon communications device is a modem
(amodulator/demodulator used for converting digital signals to analoguesignals
and vice versa to allow a computer to be connected to theordinary telephone
system). A set of connectors used for carrying signals between the
differentparts of a computer is known as a bus. Data is transferred
constantlybetween the processor and memory along the system bus. Each partof
memory has its own memory address and the processordetermines where processed
data is stored by sending an addresssignal along an address bus and data along
adata bus. This issynchronised by an electronic clock in the CPU that
determines theoperating speedof the processor. Transferring data between
theprocessor and RAM can slow up the computer; therefore, some veryexpensive,
extremely fast memory is usually used as a cache to holdthe most frequently
used data.
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