Download - Understanding and Assessing Hardware
-
8/3/2019 Understanding and Assessing Hardware
1/21
Understanding and Assessing Hardware
To Buy or to Upgrade?
Things to consider
Moores Law
Cost of upgrading vs. buying
Time to install software and files
Needs and wants
Determine your ideal computer system
Assess existing computers subsystems
CPU
-
8/3/2019 Understanding and Assessing Hardware
2/21
RAM
Storage devices
Video
Audio
Consider training needs
Desktop of Notebook?
Desktop
Hard to move around
Less expensive
Harder to steal
Easier to expand and upgrade
Difficult to transport
Notebook
Portable
More expensive
Easily stolen
Difficult to upgrade
-
8/3/2019 Understanding and Assessing Hardware
3/21
Easy external expansion
Prone to damage
To Buy or not to Buy
-
8/3/2019 Understanding and Assessing Hardware
4/21
-
8/3/2019 Understanding and Assessing Hardware
5/21
-
8/3/2019 Understanding and Assessing Hardware
6/21
How Does the CPU Work?
Control unit
Arithmetic logic unit (ALU)
Machine cycle
Fetch
Decode
Execute
Store
-
8/3/2019 Understanding and Assessing Hardware
7/21
Machine Clocks
The timing of each cycle is defined by the system clock
The clock cycle sets the pace and this pace is known as the
clock speed
Measured in Hertz (Hz) or number of times per second
3 GHz = 3 billion times per second
Differentiating CPUs
Processing power
Core: a complete processing section from a CPU embedded
into the same physical chip
Clock speed
Cache: the amount of immediate access memory the CPU has
Front side bus: connects the processor to system memory
(RAM)
-
8/3/2019 Understanding and Assessing Hardware
8/21
Hyperthreading: allows one instruction to be begun before the
previous one is finished
Evaluating the CPU
Identify your current CPU
Determine whether it is meeting your needs
Go to Task Manager to review your CPU usage
Consider how quickly data moves to or from the CPU
Evaluating RAM
Random access memory (RAM)
Temporary storage (memory)
Volatile
Memory modules fit on motherboard
-
8/3/2019 Understanding and Assessing Hardware
9/21
Most are called dual inline memory modules (DIMMs)
DDR2
DDR3
SRAM
DRAM
SDRAM
How Much RAM do you Need?
Physical memory vs. kernel memory
Need RAM for operating system, application, software, and data
Virtual Memory
Memory-bound system
Virtual memory
Page file (Swap)
Drawback = speed
Increasing RAM can avoid this
problem
Adding RAM
-
8/3/2019 Understanding and Assessing Hardware
10/21
Things to consider
Type of RAM module
Amount of RAM
Maximum limit
Number of slots
Operating system
Relatively easy to add by yourself
Watch prices carefully lots of fluctuation
Storage (permanent)
Types of storage (devices)
Hard drive
USB flash drive
Optical drive
External hard drive
Online storage
Nonvolatile storage
The Hard Drive
Storage capacity is up to 2 terabytes (TB)
-
8/3/2019 Understanding and Assessing Hardware
11/21
Stack of typewritten pages over 100 miles high
Access time is measured in milliseconds
Data transfer rate is measured in megabits or megabytes per
second
How a Hard Disk Works
-
8/3/2019 Understanding and Assessing Hardware
12/21
Composed of coated platters stacked on a spindle
Data saved to the disk: pattern of magnetized spots
Spots = 1
Spaces = 0
Spots are translated into data
Divided into tracks and sectors
Arms pass between the platters (which spin at up to 15,000RPM)
Read/write head is attached to end of arm
Access time is the time taken to locate the data on the platter and
send it to RAM
Evaluating Storage
Identify your hard drives total capacity
Determine your storage capacity needs
Music and photos 30-100GB
Videos 100-200 GB (more if all HD)
Consider data transfer rates
Internal
External
SSD or ATA?
-
8/3/2019 Understanding and Assessing Hardware
13/21
Optical Storage
Optical media: store data as tiny pits burned into a disc by a laser
Prerecorded
CD-ROM, DVD-ROM, BD-Rom
Recordable
CD-R, DVD-R, BD-R
Rewritable
CD-RQ, DVD-RW, BD-RE
Consider replacing CD/DVD drive with BD burner
-
8/3/2019 Understanding and Assessing Hardware
14/21
Different DVD formats
DVD-R or DVD-RW (dash)
DVD+R or DVD+RW (plus)
DVD-RAM (encased in plastic)
Need to know the format of your drive and buy the appropriate
media
How does it work?
-
8/3/2019 Understanding and Assessing Hardware
15/21
ROM: bumps in the mirror put there when manufactured.
Therefore cannot be changed.
R: A clear dye covers the mirror. The write laser heats the
dye to make it opaque. Reads the difference between opaque
and reflective.
RW: Special dye layer that can be changed at a certain
temperatures to vary between clear and opaque.
Blue-ray:
Shorter wavelength
Pits on top of disc
Stops birefringence disc tilt
Needs extra layer for protection
-
8/3/2019 Understanding and Assessing Hardware
16/21
Speed of drives
CD-RW 52x32x52
Records at 52x150 Kb/s
Re-writes at 32x150 Kb/s
Playback at 52x150 Kb/s
1xDVD approx. 1.3 Mb/s
1xBD approx. 36 Mb/s
-
8/3/2019 Understanding and Assessing Hardware
17/21
Evaluating Video
Two components
Video card (adapter)
Monitor
Video Cards
Process binary data into images
Contain memory known as video memory
Control the number of colours a monitor can display (bit depth)
Standard VGA
True colour
-
8/3/2019 Understanding and Assessing Hardware
18/21
Graphics Processing Unit
Performs the same work as a CPU
Specialized to handle
3D graphics
image and video processing
CPUs perform better with a GPU handling graphics computation
Evaluating Video
Identify the amount of video memory on your video card
Determine your video needs
128 MB is a realistic minimum
Consider how many monitors you want to use
Bit Depth: the number of bits used to describe the colour of a
single pixel.
4 bit gives 16 colours, the minimum for colour monitor
Most video cards now come in 24 bit, giving 3x8 bit
descriptors, one each for red, green, and blue
Each colour has 256 shades
256x256x256 = 16,777,216 colour possibilities
True colour
-
8/3/2019 Understanding and Assessing Hardware
19/21
Evaluating Audio
Sound cards
Attach to motherboard
Process digital data into sounds
3D sound cards
Surround sound
Allow you to connect audio devices
Evaluating System Reliability
Performance problems
Slow
Freezes
Crashes
-
8/3/2019 Understanding and Assessing Hardware
20/21
Upkeep and maintenance
System tools
Control Panel
Update software
Clean out your startup folder
Clear out unnecessary files
Run spyware/adware program
Run the Disk Defragmenter utility
Update Software and Hardware Drivers
Software
Patches
Automatic updates
Hardware
Download updated drivers
The Last Resort
If problems persist:
Upgrade the operating system to latest version
Reinstall the operating system
-
8/3/2019 Understanding and Assessing Hardware
21/21
The Final Decision
How closely does your system meet your needs?
How much would it cost to upgrade your system?
How much would it cost to purchase a new system?