Notes

Chapter 2: System Unit

Book: Chapter 4

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Expansion cards
An expansion card is an electronic card/board that is used to add extra functionality to a
computer. It is inserted into an expansion slot on the motherboard of a computer. Expansion
cards contain edge connectors that are used to create an electronic link between motherboard and
card, thus enabling these two to communicate.
Many different classes of expansion card are available, including sound cards, video graphics
cards, and network cards and so on. All expansion cards are used to enhance the quality of their
specific function. For example, video graphics cards are used to enhance the video quality on a
computer. Expansion cards are also known as add-on cards or interface cards.
The primary purpose of an expansion card is to provide or expand on features not offered by the
motherboard.

Heat Sinks and Heat Pipes

fan

Heat Sinks
evacuate heat directly from the CPU die as quickly as
possibly
The heat sink has a thermal conductor that carries heat away from
the CPU into fins that provide a large surface area for the heat to
dissipate throughout the rest of the computer, thus cooling both the heat sink and processor.
Both a heat sink and a radiator require airflow and, therefore, both have fans built in Attaching a

heat sink to a portion of the heat pipe makes condensation take place at this point of heat transfer
and establishes a vapor flow pattern
Heat pipes are specifically designed to evacuate heat from the CPU as quickly as possible, and
move it further away from the die than was traditional, which makes the whole system more
effective when the CPU is running hot, and might have swamped a traditional spreader.
RAM
RAM is divided into sections.
Conventional RAM - First 640 Kb

DOS (about 130Kb)

TSR programs (terminate and stay resident program )is a computer program that
uses a system call in DOS operating systems to return control of the computer to
the operating system, as though the program has quit, but stays resident
in computer memory so it can be reactivated by a hardware or software interrupt

Other DOS (Disk Operating system) programs must run in this area
CMOS
In computer science, COMS often refers to chips saving basic boot information (such as date,
time and startup configuration) of computer. Sometimes, people are confused by CMOS and
BIOS. Actually, CMOS is a RAM chip that can be read and written on master board.
Alternatively referred to as a Real-Time Clock (RTC), Non-Volatile RAM
(NVRAM) or CMOS RAM, CMOS is short for Complementary Metal-Oxide
Semiconductor. CMOS is an on-board, battery powered semiconductor chip inside computers
that stores information. This information ranges from the system time and date to system
hardware settings for your computer
Ports on the Motherboard
A serial port is known as a male connector and this type of port connects a modem, mouse, or
scanner. A computer internally labels each serial port with letters COM.

An asynchronous port on the computer used to connect a serial device to the computer and
capable of transmitting one bit at a time. Serial ports are typically identified on IBM compatible
computers as COM (communications) ports. For example, a mouse might be connected to
COM1 and a modem to COM2.

A parallel port is known as a female connector

and this type of port is used to connect printers
LPT (line print terminal) is the usual designation
for a parallel portconnection to a printer or other
device on a personal computer. Most PCs come
with one or two LPT connections designated as
LPT1 and LPT2. Some systems support a third,
LPT3.
CISC (complex instruction set computer) and RISC (reduced instruction set computer)

Multiplying Two Numbers in Memory

On the right is a diagram representing the storage scheme for a generic computer. The main
memory is divided into locations numbered from (row) 1: (column) 1 to (row) 6: (column) 4.
The execution unit is responsible for carrying out all computations. However, the execution unit
can only operate on data that has been loaded into one of the six registers (A, B, C, D, E, or F).
Let's say we want to find the product of two numbers - one stored in location 2:3 and another
stored in location 5:2 - and then store the product back in the location 2:3.
The CISC Approach
The primary goal of CISC architecture is to complete a task in as few lines of assembly as
possible. This is achieved by building processor hardware that is capable of understanding and
executing a series of operations. For this particular task, a CISC processor would come prepared
with a specific instruction (we'll call it "MULT"). When executed, this instruction loads the two
values into separate registers, multiplies the operands in the execution unit, and then stores the
product in the appropriate register. Thus, the entire task of multiplying two numbers can be
completed with one instruction:
MULT 2:3, 5:2
MULT is what is known as a "complex instruction." It operates directly on the computer's
memory banks and does not require the programmer to explicitly call any loading or storing
functions. It closely resembles a command in a higher level language. For instance, if we let "a"
represent the value of 2:3 and "b" represent the value of 5:2, then this command is identical to
the C statement "a = a * b."
One of the primary advantages of this system is that the
compiler has to do very little work to translate a high-level
language statement into assembly. Because the length of the
code is relatively short, very little RAM is required to store
instructions. The emphasis is put on building complex
instructions directly into the hardware.

The RISC Approach

RISC processors only use simple instructions that can be executed within one clock cycle. Thus,
the "MULT" command described above could be divided into three separate commands:
"LOAD," which moves data from the memory bank to a register, "PROD," which finds the
product of two operands located within the registers, and "STORE," which moves data from a
register to the memory banks. In order to perform the exact series of steps described in the CISC
approach, a programmer would need to code four lines of assembly:
LOAD A, 2:3
LOAD B, 5:2
PROD A, B
STORE 2:3, A
At first, this may seem like a much less efficient way of completing the operation. Because there
are more lines of code, more RAM is needed to store the assembly level instructions. The
CISC
Emphasis on hardware
Includes multi-clock

RISC
Emphasis on software
Single-clock,

complex instructions
Memory-to-memory:

reduced instruction only

Register to register:

"LOAD" and "STORE"

"LOAD" and "STORE"

incorporated in instructions
Small code sizes,

are independent instructions

Low cycles per second,

high cycles per second

Transistors used for storing

large code sizes

Spends more transistors

complex instructions
on memory registers
compiler must also perform more work to convert a high-level language statement into code of
this form.

However, the RISC strategy also brings some very important advantages. Because each
instruction requires only one clock cycle to execute, the entire program will execute in
approximately the same amount of time as the multi-cycle "MULT" command. These RISC
"reduced instructions" require less transistors of hardware space than the complex instructions,
leaving more room for general purpose registers. Because all of the instructions execute in a
uniform amount of time (i.e. one clock), pipelining is possible.
Separating the "LOAD" and "STORE" instructions actually reduces the amount of work that the
computer must perform. After a CISC-style "MULT" command is executed, the processor
automatically erases the registers. If one of the operands needs to be used for another
computation, the processor must re-load the data from the memory bank into a register. In RISC,
the operand will remain in the register until another value is loaded in its place.
Bay
A drive bay is a standard-sized area for adding hardware to a computer. Most drive bays are
fixed to the inside of a case, but some can be removed.
External Drive Bays
This is a bit of a misnomer, since external means "outside" and these drive bays are certainly
inside the case. However, they are called "external" because they allow access to the device from
the outside. Any drive that uses removable media or has controls that must be operated manually
must go in an external drive bay. This includes floppy disk, CD-ROM, DVD, tape and
removable-storage drives.

Internal Drive Bays

These bays are entirely within the case and are not accessible from the outside. If a device does
not require any access from the outside it is preferable to use an internal bay, and save the case's
external bays for drives that need them. In practical terms, this means that internal drive bays are
usually used for hard disk drives, which do not require any access by the user.

Power Supply
In alternating current (AC), the flow of electric charge periodically reverses direction. Whereas
in direct current (DC, also dc), the flow of electric charge is only in one direction. The
abbreviations AC and DCare often used to mean simply alternating and direct, as when they
modify current or voltage.