Revision

COMPUTER
A pre-requisite
For
CAD/CAM
 What is Computer?
A computer is an electronic device, operating
under the control of instructions stored in its
own memory,
that can accept data,
process the data according to specified rules,
produce results,
and
store the results for future use.
 What Computers do?
Computers process data into information.

Data is a collection of unprocessed items,

which can include text, numbers, images, audio,
and video.

Information conveys meaning and is useful to

people.
 Information Processing Cycle

• Computers process data (input) into information (output).

• Computers carry out processes using instructions, which are the steps
that tell the computer how to perform a particular task.

• A collection of related instructions organized for a common purpose is

referred to as software.

• A computer often holds data, information, and instructions in storage

for future use.

• Some people refer to the series of input, process, output, and storage
activities as the information processing cycle.
 Components of Computers
A computer contains many electric, electronic,
and mechanical components known as
hardware.

• These components include input devices,

output devices, a system unit, storage devices,
and communications devices
System Unit
 System Unit
System unit is a case that contains electronic components of the computer used to
process data.

System units are available in a variety of shapes and sizes.

The case of the system unit, sometimes called the chassis, is made of metal or plastic
and protects the internal electronic components from damage.

.
All computers and mobile
devices have a system unit
 System Unit
On desktop personal computers, the electronic components and most storage devices
are part of the system unit.

Other devices, such as the keyboard, mouse, microphone, monitor, printer, USB flash
drive, scanner, Web cam, and speakers, normally occupy space outside the system unit.

An all-in-one desktop personal computer is an exception, which houses the monitor and
the system unit in the same case.

The trend is toward a smaller form factor, or size and shape, of the desktop personal
computer system unit.
 System Unit
On most notebook computers, including netbooks, the
keyboard and pointing device often occupy the area on
the top of the system unit, and the display attaches to
the system unit by hinges.
System Unit

On a convertible
Tablet PC , the system
unit is positioned
below a keyboard,
providing functionality
similar to a traditional
notebook computer or
netbook.
The system unit on an
Ultra-Mobile PC, a smart
phone, and a PDA usually
consumes the entire
device.

On these mobile computers

and devices, the display
often is built into the
system unit.
When you open s system unit, what you would find
inside;

CPU
Memory chips
Cards
 Motherboard
It is also called a system board, is the main circuit board of the
system unit.

Many electronic components attach to the motherboard; others are

built into it.

A desktop computer’s motherboard has

slots for adapter cards

the processor chip
memory slots.
 The Processor Chip
It is a small piece of semiconducting material, usually
silicon, on which integrated circuits are etched.

An integrated circuit contains many microscopic pathways

capable of carrying electrical current.

Each integrated circuit can contain millions of elements such

as resistors, capacitors, and transistors.

A transistor can act as an electronic switch that opens or

closes the circuit for electrical charges.

Today’s computer chips contain millions or billions of

transistors.

Most chips size is one-half-inch square.

Manufacturers package chips so that the chips can be

attached to a circuit board, such as a motherboard or an
adapter card.
 CPU
Processor chip is called the central processing
unit (CPU)

It interprets and carries out the basic instructions

that operate a computer.
 What is Microprocessor
On large computers, the functions of the processor
requires many chips and circuit boards.

On personal computer, all processing is done on

single chip.

This chip is called microprocessor.

Multi-core processor chip
A processor core contains the circuitry necessary to execute instructions.

The operating system views each processor core as a separate processor.

A multi-core processor is a single chip with two or more separate

processor cores.

Two common multi-core processors are dual-core and quad-core.

A dual-core processor is a chip that contains two separate processor

cores.

Similarly, a quad-core processor is a chip with four separate processor cores.

 Components of Processor
Processors contain a control unit and an
arithmetic logic unit (ALU).

These two components work together to

perform processing operations.
 Control Unit

The control unit is the component of

the processor that directs and coordinates
most of the operations in the computer.

It directs ALU, buses, registers in the processor

 ALU
ALU performs arithmetic, comparison, and other
operations.
 Data and Instructions are sent
Data and Instructions are sent to
back from Processor to Memory
Processor via Bus
via Bus

Data goes to
Memory

Data is entered via

Input Device
Processed data is finally sent to
output devices
Processed data is sent
for storage
 Machine Cycle
For every instruction, a processor repeats a
set of four basic operations, which comprise
a machine cycle
(1) fetching,
(2) decoding,
(3) executing,
(4) storing.
 Machine Cycle
Fetching is the process of obtaining a program
instruction or data item from memory.

Decoding refers to the process of translating the

instruction into signals the computer can execute.

Executing is the process of carrying out the commands.

Storing means writing the result to memory

How fast is the Processor?

System clock is small quartz (SiO2) crystal circuit to

control the timing of all operations.

It is one measure of processor speed.

Just as your heart beats at a regular rate to keep your

body functioning, the system clock generates regular
electronic pulses, or ticks, that set the operating pace
of components of the system unit.

Each tick equates to a clock cycle.

In the past, processors used one or more clock cycles to
execute each instruction.

Processors today often 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.

Current personal computer processors have clock

speeds in gigahertz (GHz).

One GHz equals one billion ticks of the system clock

per second.
System-on-a-Chip Processor

It integrates the functions of

a processor,
memory, and
a video card

on a single chip.

Types of Computers using this Processor are

Lower-priced personal computers,

Tablet PCs,
networking devices,
portable media players,
and game consoles
System-on-a-Chip Processor

The goal of system-on-a-chip

manufacturers is to create processors that
have

faster clock speeds,

consume less power,
are small, and
are cost effective.
How is data and Program are handled by Processor

Data is coded to Digital Form before being sent to Processor

ASCII (pronounced ASK-ee), which stands for American

Standard Code for Information interchange, is the most
widely used coding scheme to represent data.

It is an 8-bit Byte coding scheme

 BITS and BYTES
When people count, they use the digits in the
decimal system (0 through 9).

The computer, by contrast, uses a binary system

because it recognizes only two states.

The binary system is a number system that has just

two unique digits, 0 and 1, called bits.
How does the Processor work?
 BITS and BYTES
A bit (short for binary digit) is the smallest unit of
data the computer can process. By itself, a bit is not
very informative.
When 8 bits are grouped together as a unit, they form
a byte.
A byte provides enough different combinations of 0s
and 1s to represent 256 individual characters.
These characters include numbers, uppercase and
lowercase letters of the alphabet, punctuation marks,
and others, such as the letters of the Greek alphabet.
 BITS and CLOCK SPEED

Initially (1980), Personal Computers came with 16-bit

Processors with 4.7 MHz clock speed

Modern day computers (64-Bit processors) have

clock speed in excess of 3 GHz.

Laptops (Notebooks) usually clock speed in excess

of 2 GHz whereas handheld iPhones and smart
phones have processors with clock speed of in
excess of 1 GHz.
Computer Memory

It consists of electronic components that store instructions

waiting to be executed by the processor, data needed by those
instructions, and the results of processing the data
(information).

Memory usually consists of one or more chips on the motherboard

or some other circuit board in the computer.
Memory Chips
Why Memory is an integral part of Computer System
along with Processor

Memory stores three basic categories of items:

(1) the operating system and other system software that control or maintain
the computer and its devices;

(2) application programs that carry out a specific task such as word
processing; and

(3) the data being processed by the application programs and resulting
information.

This role of memory to store both data and programs is known as the stored
program concept.
Types of Memory

The system unit contains two types of memory:

volatile and nonvolatile.

When the computer’s power is turned off, volatile memory loses its
contents.

Nonvolatile memory, by contrast, does not lose its contents when

power is removed from the computer.

Thus, volatile memory is temporary and nonvolatile memory is

permanent.
RAM (Random Access Memory)
is the most common type of volatile memory.

Examples of nonvolatile memory include

ROM (Read Only Memory),

Flash memory, and
Cache
CMOS (complementary metal-oxide semiconductor )
RAM

main-memory
read and write memory

Operating System, applications

Program, User Programs, User data are
all stored here.

Only Problem :
All data is lost when you
power-off Computer
Types of RAM chips

Dynamic RAM
static RAM, and
magnetoresistive RAM.
Dynamic RAM (DRAM )

chips must be re-energized constantly or they lose their

contents.

Many variations of DRAM chips exist, most of which are

faster than the basic DRAM.

Most personal computers today use some form of

SDRAM chips or RDRAM chips.
Static RAM (SRAM)

chips are faster and more reliable than any variation of DRAM
chips.

These chips do not have to be re-energized as often as DRAM

chips, thus, the term static.

SRAM chips, however, are much more expensive than DRAM

chips.

Special applications such as cache use SRAM chips.

Magnetoresistive RAM (MRAM),

stores data using magnetic charges instead of electrical

charges.

Manufacturers claim that MRAM has greater storage capacity,

consumes less power, and has faster access times than electronic
RAM.

Also, MRAM retains its contents after power is removed from the
computer, which could prevent loss of data for users.

As the cost of MRAM declines, experts predict MRAM could

replace both DRAM and SRAM
How would you find RAM chips inside computer
casing

The RAM Chips usually reside on a memory module,

which is a small circuit board.

Memory slots on the motherboard hold memory

modules

Three types of memory modules are

SIMMs (single inline memory module

DIMMs (dual inline memory module)

RIMMs (rambus inline memory module)

Memory Cache

A type of memory either provided on

Processor chip or

in-between RAM and Processor chip

It is used to accelerate the processing of data and

computer speed
L1 cache is built directly in the processor chip.
L1 cache usually has a very small capacity,
32 KB or 64 KB.

L2 cache is slightly slower than L1 cache but

has a much larger capacity. It is called
advanced transfer cache (ATC). Capacity
ranges between 512 KB to 12 MB.

L3 cache is a cache on the motherboard

that is separate from the processor chip. L3
cache exists only on computers that use L2
advanced transfer cache. Personal computers
often have up to 8 MB of L3 cache; servers
and work stations have from 8 MB to 24 MB
of L3 cache.
ROM
Read-only memory

refers to memory chips storing permanent

data and instructions.

The data on most ROM chips cannot be modified

ROM is nonvolatile, which means its contents are not

lost when power is removed from the computer.

Manufacturers of ROM chips often record

data, instructions, or information on the chips
when they manufacture the chips. These ROM
chips, called firmware, contain permanently
A PROM (programmable read-only memory)

chip is a blank ROM chip on which a programmer

can write permanently.

Programmers use microcode instructions to program a

PROM chip.

Once a programmer writes the microcode on the PROM

chip, it functions like a regular ROM chip and cannot be
erased or changed.
EEPROM

A variation of the PROM chip, called an EEPROM (electrically

erasable programmable read-only memory) chip, allows a

programmer to erase the microcode with an electric signal.

Flash Memory

Flash memory is a type of nonvolatile memory that can be

erased electronically and rewritten, similar to EEPROM.

Most computers use flash memory to hold their startup

instructions because it allows the computer easily to update its
contents.

For example, when the computer changes from standard

time to daylight savings time, the contents of a flash memory chip
(and the real-time clock chip) change to reflect the new time.

Flash memory chips also store data and programs on many

mobile computers and devices, such as smart phones, portable
media players, PDAs, printers, digital cameras, automotive
devices, digital voice recorders, and pagers.
CMOS
Some RAM chips, flash memory chips, and other
memory chips use complementary metal-oxide
semiconductor technology because it provides high
speeds and consumes little power.

CMOS technology uses battery power to retain

information even when the power to the computer is off.

Battery-backed CMOS memory chips, for example, can

keep the calendar, date, and time current even when the
computer is off.

The flash memory chips that store a computer’s startup

information often use CMOS technology.
Memory Access Time

Access time is the amount of time it takes the processor to

read data, instructions, and information from memory.

A computer’s access time directly affects how fast the computer

processes data.

Accessing data in memory can be more than 200,000 times

faster than accessing data on a hard disk because of the
mechanical motion of the hard disk.
RAM SIZE AND PROCESSOR BITS
MHz as a measure of Access Time

Access times is usually described in MHz

For example, a RAM module with specification 800 MHz DDR2 SDRAM

How much time will it take to read/write data in one tick of clock?

One MHz = 106 cycles / second

One MHz = 106 / 109 (cycles / nano-second)
One MHz = 10-3 (cycles / nano-second)

For one MHz memory chip, it will take 1000 nano-seconds to complete one
clock cycle

So 800 MHz memory chip will take 1000/800 or 1.25 nano-seconds to

complete one clock cycle

So, Access time in Nano-second = 1000/ MHz of Memory

AS MHZ goes up, so the Access-Time goes down