Hardware CPU RAM IO USB SSD GPU DIM MHZ GHZ http://www.flickr.com/photos/hape_gera/
Computing Systems • A computing system is composed of • hardware: the physical components of the system • software: the “instructions” that control the hardware • Hardware components include: • Motherboard • Central processing unit (CPU) • Memory (RAM / Drives) • IO Devices • Video Card • Sound Card • Network Card • Light cycles • Are not part of a computing system.
Sound Memory Video Network KeyboardMouse Computing System CPU
Slots for cards Slot for RAM Slot for CPU Hardware: Motherboard http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:ASRock_K7VT4A_Pro_Mainboard.jpg
Hardware: CPU • Central Processing Unit • The ‘brains’ of the system • An electronic chip that performs instructions • A CPU can only do a few simple things: • Can add/subtract/multiply/divide two numbers • Can compare two numbers to see if one is smaller/larger • Can copy/move data from one place to another • CPU’s appear more powerful than this since these tasks are done very quickly http://www.flickr.com/photos/superdeathsquid/490987592/sizes/z/in/photostream/
Hardware: CPU • AMD quad-core Opteron • Actual size is about the size of your thumb
http://biorobots.cwru.edu/server/howto/buildcomp/mountcpu/ http://www.flickr.com/photos/ehecatzin/71173187/in/photostream#preview Hardware: CPU
Hardware: Storage • All information needed for computing must be “storable” • The instructions that a CPU must perform • The data that the CPU requires as input • The data that the CPU generates as output • Computer storage (or memory) is used to “remember” these things
bit byte Hardware: Storage • All data is stored in binary form • The smallest binary datum is a bit (off / on) • Eight bits is a byte • Storage capacity is usually specified as the number of bytes the device can remember.
Binary Things • Denote an ‘on’ switch as ‘1’ • Denote an ‘off’ switch as ‘0’ • How many different patterns can you have with 2 bits? • How many different patterns can you have with 3 bits? • How many different patterns can you have with 8 bits? • How many different patterns can you have with N bits? • What does each pattern mean? • Could mean colors • Could mean people • Could mean numbers • Could mean characters
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:RAM_n.jpg Hardware: RAM • RAM (Random Access Memory) • PCs typically range between 4 to 64 Gigabytes of RAM
Hardware: Disk Drive Data is stored by magnetically charging “bits” on a rotating disk. The “bits” are read/written by a sensor Access is slow since the head (the sensor) must be mechanically moved to the location of the bit on the disk PC typically comes with about a 250 GigaByte disk http://www.flickr.com/photos/jpstanley/74574509/in/photostream/
Hardware: Flash Drive • Data is stored by charging small-scale “batteries” on the device. • Most flash drives have a capacity of 256 Megabytes up to 2 Gigabytes.