1. Overview
1.1. Differentiate among various styles of system units on desktop computers, notebook computers, and mobile devices
1.2. Identify chips, adapter cards, and other components of a motherboard
1.3. Describe the control unit and arithmetic logic unit components of a processor, and explain the four steps in a machine cycle
1.4. Identify characteristics of various personal computer processors on the market today, and describe the ways processors are cooled
1.5. Define a bit and describe how a series of bits represents data
1.6. Explain how program instructions transfer in and out of memory
1.7. Differentiate among the various types of memory
1.8. Describe the purpose and types of expansion slots and adapter cards, and differentiate among slots for various removable flash memory devices
1.9. Differentiate between a port and a connector, and explain the differences among a USB port, FireWire port, Bluetooth port, SCSI port, eSATAport, IrDA port, serial port, and MIDI port
1.10. Describe the types of buses in a computer
1.11. Explain the purpose of a power supply and describe how it keeps cool
1.12. Understand how to clean a system unit on a computer or mobile device
2. The System Unit
2.1. Drive bay(s)
2.2. Power supply
2.3. Sound card
2.4. Video card
2.5. Processor
2.6. Memory
3. The Motherboard
3.1. The main circuit board of the system unit
3.1.1. A computer chipcontains integrated circuits
4. Processor
4.1. The processor, also called the central processing unit (CPU), interprets and carries out the basic instructions that operate a computer
4.1.1. The arithmetic logic unit(ALU) performs arithmetic, comparison, and other operations
4.1.2. The control unitis the component of the processor that directs and coordinates most of the operations in the computer
4.2. Core
4.2.1. Multi-core Processor
4.2.2. Dual-core Processor
4.2.3. Quad-core Processor
4.3. System clock
4.3.1. The system clockcontrols the timing of all computer operations
4.3.2. The pace of the system clock is called the clock speed, and is measured in gigahertz(GHz)
4.4. The processor contains registers, that temporarily hold data and instructions
4.5. Parallel processing
4.5.1. Parallel processing uses multiple processors simultaneously to execute a single program or task
4.5.2. Massively parallel processing involves hundreds or thousands of processors
5. Data Representation
5.1. Analogsignals are continuous and vary in strength and quality
5.2. Digitalsignals are in one of two states: on or off
5.2.1. Most computer are digital
5.2.2. The binary systemuses two unique digits (0 and 1)
5.2.2.1. Bits and bytes
6. Memory
6.1. Memoryconsists 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
6.2. Stores three basic categories of items
6.2.1. The operating system and other system software
6.2.2. Application programs
6.2.3. Data being processed and the resulting information
6.3. Each location in memory has an address
6.4. Memory size is measured in kilobytes(KBor K), megabytes(MB), gigabytes(GB), orterabytes(TB)
6.4.1. Kilobyte KB or K 1024 bytes
6.4.2. Megabyte MB 1048 576 bytes
6.4.3. Gigabyte GB 1073 741 824 bytes
6.4.4. Terabyte TB 1099 511 627 776 bytes
6.5. Types of memory
6.5.1. Volatile memory
6.5.1.1. Loses its contents when power is turned off
6.5.1.2. Example includes RAM
6.5.1.2.1. Dynamic RAM(DRAM)
6.5.1.2.2. Static RAM(SRAM)
6.5.1.2.3. Magnetoresistive RAM(MRAM)
6.5.2. Nonvolatile memory
6.5.2.1. Does not lose contents when power is removed
6.5.2.2. Examples include ROM,flash memory, and CMOS
6.5.2.2.1. Read‐only memory(ROM) refers to memory chips storing permanent data and instructions
6.5.2.2.2. FirmwareA PROM (programmable read‐only memory) chip is a blank ROM chip that can be written to permanently•
6.5.2.2.3. Flash memorycan be erased electronically and rewritten
6.6. Memory cache
6.6.1. speeds the processes of the computer because it stores frequently used instructions and data
6.6.2. Level 1 Cache
6.6.3. Level 2 Cache
6.6.4. Level 3 Cache
6.7. Access timeis the amount of time it takes the processor to read from memory
6.7.1. Measured in nanoseconds
7. Expansion Slots and Adapter Cards
7.1. An expansion slotis a socket on the motherboard that can hold an adapter card
7.2. An adapter cardenhances functions of a component of the system unit and/or provides connections to peripherals
7.2.1. CableCARD
7.2.2. Disk controller
7.2.3. FireWire
7.2.4. HDTV tuner
7.2.5. MIDI
7.2.6. Modem
7.2.7. Network
7.2.8. PC-to-TV converter
7.2.9. Sound
7.2.10. TV Tuner
7.2.11. USB
7.2.12. Video
7.2.13. Video capture
7.3. With Plug and Play, the computer automatically can configure adapter cards and other peripherals as you install them
7.4. Removable flash memory
7.4.1. Memory cards
7.4.2. USB flash drives
7.4.3. PC card/ExpressCard modules
8. Ports and Connectors
8.1. A portis the point at which a peripheral attaches to or communicates with a system unit (sometimes referred to as a jack)
8.2. A connectorjoins a cable to a port
8.3. On a notebook computer, the ports are on the back, front, and/or sides
8.4. Port types
8.4.1. Audio in
8.4.2. Cable TV
8.4.3. Center surround sound/subwoofer
8.4.4. Composite video in
8.4.5. Digital Video interface (DVI)
8.4.6. eSATA port
8.4.7. FireWire
8.4.8. FM reception
8.4.9. HDMI port
8.4.10. Headphones
8.4.11. Keyboard
8.4.12. Microphone
8.4.13. Monitor
8.4.14. Mouse
8.4.15. Network
8.4.16. Rear surround sound
8.4.17. Serial
8.4.18. Sidesurround Sound
8.4.19. S/PDIF in
8.4.20. S/PDIF out
8.4.21. Speaker
8.4.22. S-video
8.4.23. Telephone line in
8.4.24. USB
8.4.24.1. A USB portcan connect up to 127 different peripherals together with a single connector
8.4.24.2. You can attach multiple peripherals using a single USB port with a USB hub
9. Buses
9.1. A busallows the various devices both inside and attached to the system unit to communicate with each other
9.1.1. Data bus
9.1.2. Address bus
9.2. Word sizeis the number of bits the processor can interpret and execute at a given time
9.3. Expansion slots connect to expansion buses
9.4. Common types of expansion buses include
9.4.1. PCI bus
9.4.2. PCI Express bus
9.4.3. Accelerated Graphics Port(AGP)
9.4.4. USB and FireWire bus
9.4.5. PC Card bus
10. Bays
10.1. A bayis an opening inside the system unit in which you can install additional equipment
11. Power Supply
11.1. The power supplyconverts the wall outlet AC power into DC power
11.2. Some external peripherals have an AC adapter, which is an external power supply
12. Putting It All Together
12.1. Home
12.1.1. Intel Core 2 Duo or Intel Celeron Dual Core or AMD Sempron
12.1.2. Minimum RAM: 2 GB
12.2. Small Office/Home Office
12.2.1. Intel Core 2 Quad or Intel Core 2 Extreme or AMD AthlonFX or AMD AthlonX2 Dual‐Core
12.2.2. Minimum RAM: 4 GB
12.3. Mobile
12.3.1. MobileIntel Core 2 Extreme or AMD TurionX2
12.3.2. Minimum RAM: 2 GB
12.4. Power
12.4.1. Intel Itanium 2 or AMD Quad Core Opteronor Intel Quad Core Xeon or Sun UltraSPARCT2
12.4.2. Minimum RAM: 8 GB
12.5. Enterprise
12.5.1. Intel Core 2 Quad or Intel Core 2 Extreme or AMD AthlonFX or AMD AthlonX2 Dual‐Core
12.5.2. Minimum RAM: 4 GB