Chapter 5: The System Unit Flashcards
Speed, capacity, and flexibility determine what?
The power of personal computers
Knowledge of a computer’s power allows you to do what?
Make good buying decisions and determine if your current system will run new applications
Competent end users need to understand what?
The functionality of the basic components of the system unit
Container that houses most of the electronic components that make up a computer system:
System Chassis
Personal Computer
Most widely used type of computer
Five most common types of the personal computer:
1) Desktop
2) Laptops
3) Tablets
4) Smartphone
5) Wearable Computers
System Unit Types
- Desktops
- Laptops
- Tablet or Tablet Computer
- Smartphone
- Wearable
- Desktops
The system unit is in a separate case:
1) Tower Units
2) All-in-Ones
3) All components including monitor
- Laptops
Portable and much smaller:
1) Two-in-one laptops
2) Ultrabooks
3) Gaming
- Tablet or Tablet Computer
1) Mini tablet
- Smartphone
1) Most popular device-handheld computer
2) Extend the capabilities of cell phones
- Wearables
1) Contain embedded computers
2) Smartwatch
3) Activity Trackers
Making IT Work for You - Gaming
1) Console Gaming
2) Mobile Gaming
3) PC gaming
Components
Although all devices come in many shapes and sizes, they have similarities such as:
1. System boards
2. Microprocessors
3. Memory
System Board
The system board, main board, or motherboard controls communication for the entire computer system.
The system board, main board, or motherboard controls communication for the entire computer system.
1) All components and devices connect to the system board
2) Data path and traffic monitor: Allows various components to communicate efficiently with one another
Sockets and Chips
The system board contains a variety of electronic components:
1. Socket
2. Chips
- Socket
The connection point for chips
- Chips
1) Tiny circuit boards etched onto squares of silicon
2) Also called silicon chip, semiconductor, or integrated circuit
3) Mounted-on-chip carriers
Slots and Bus Lines
Additional system board components:
1. Slots:
2. Bus lines:
- Slots:
1) Provide a connection point for specialized cards or circuit boards
2) Provide expansion capabilities for the computer
- Bus lines:
1) Connecting lines that provide pathways to support communication among electronic components
Microprocessor
- Central Processing Unit (CPU) or Processor
- Two basic components of the CPU
- Central Processing Unit (CPU) or Processor:
1) Contained on a single chip called a Microprocessor
2) Brains of the computer
- Two Basic Components of the CPU:
1) Control unit: tells the computer system how to carry out a program’s instruction
2) Arithmetic-logic unit (ALU): performs arithmetic and logical operations
Microprocessor Chips
- Chip capacities are expressed in word size
- Clock Speed
- Chip capacities are expressed in word size:
1) Word is the number of bits that can be processed at one time: 16, 32 or 64
- Clock Speed
1) Processing speed or the number of times the CPU fetches and processes data or instructions in a second