1. The C P U In this lesson you will learn about the Press Enter or Click to continue Central Processing Unit

2. The CPU As mentioned in Lesson 1, the Central Processing Unit is the main microchip that is heart of every computer system. It is located inside the computer’s cabinet. Press Enter or Click to continue

3. The Motherboard The main computer chip (Central Processor Unit) is mounted on the main printed circuit board called the Motherboard. On the Motherboard, there are a various other microchips. Each microchip performs a specific function. Press Enter or Click to continue

4. The Microprocessor Chip The main computer chip that gives the computer all it’s power and capability is the Microprocessor Chip. This is the Central Processing Unit. Press Enter or Click to continue

5. Central Processing Unit The CPU is mounted on the motherboard in a special socket designed for it. Press Enter or Click to continue

6. Computer Speed The terms used to measure the speed of a computer is: Megahertz and Gigahertz. Hertz is an electronic term meaning Cycles per Second. Press Enter or Click to continue

7. Computer Speed Mega means million, and Giga means billion. Therefore, Megahertz, abbreviated MHz, means millions of cycles per second. Gigahertz, abbriviated GHz means billions of cycles per second. What this basically means is that computers are capable of performing millions or billions of operations each second. Press Enter or Click to continue

8. The Computer Because of their speed, computers are powerful tools. They perform millions and billions of complex calculations and operations of all sorts at extremely fast speeds. Press Enter or Click to continue

9. The C P U Microprocessor Chips are built by different companies. Many of the various chips put into today’s computers are built by INTEL. Intel is a large company producing about 80% of all microchips found in computers as well as a wide variety of other electronic devices. Many other companies also make microprocessors. AMD, Motorola, and IBM are just to name a few. Press Enter or Click to continue

10. Generations of CPUs Intel’s first chip for the IBM computer was the Intel 8088. It operated at a speed of 4 MHz (Megahertz). The 80286 chip operated at 8 MHz (8 million operations per second). The 80386 chip operated at 16 MHz (16 million operations per second). The 80486 chip operated at speeds of 25 MHz, 33 MHz or 66 MHz depending on the model. Today’s new CPU chips like the Intel Pentium 4 or the Athelon 64 operate in the Gigahertz range. Remember, this is over a billion operations per second. New CPUs are continually being developed that are faster and more powerful than their predecessors (the chips that came before it). Press Enter or Click to continue

11. The Microprocessor Chip While CPU chips are made by different companies, computers are identified by the CPU installed on the Motherboard. When you hear people talking about their Pentium 4 or AMD computers, they are referring to the Microprocessor chip that is on the Motherboard. The emblem to the right indicates that the computer has the newer Pentium 4 CPU. Press Enter or Click to continue

12. Random Access Memory It is now time to learn about another component of the Motherboard. The Random Access Memory, also known as RAM, is like a human brain where information is processed and stored. Press Enter or Click to continue

13. Computer Memory Some computers have small amounts of RAM (Random Access Memory) while others have much more. The amount of memory a computer has affects it’s speed of operation. As a general rule, computers with large memory capacities operate faster than computers with smaller amounts of RAM. Press Enter or Click to continue

14. Random Access Memory RAM is nothing more than microchips. SIMM stands for Single-In-line-Memory-Module. This is just a bank of several memory chips as shown to the left, SD-RAM (Synchronous Dynamic RAM), DDR (Double Data Rate SDRAM), and Rambus DRAM (RDRAM) are just a few types of computer memory. Press Enter or Click to continue

15. Random Access Memory Computer memory is measured in: Megabytes and Gigabytes. A BYTE is a group of 8 electrical impulses in a special pattern to represent each character of data. The CPU processes each byte (character of data) by recognizing and manipulating these unique bit patterns. Press Enter or Click to continue

16. Computer Memory The terms used to measure memory capacity are the Megabyte and Gigabyte. Mega is a metric term meaning million. Giga means billion. A computer that has 512 Megabytes of RAM can hold up to 512 million characters of data in its memory. In this picture, each memory module holds 2 Gigabytes of data. Press Enter or Click to continue

17. The Motherboard and Disk Storage Drives The hookups for connecting the disk drives are a set of short pins on the motherboard for plugging in the disk drive cables. Motherboards usually have 3 sets of pins. One for the hard drive, one for the CD-ROM or DVD Drive, and one for the 3.5” disk drive. Press Enter or Click to continue

18. Ribbon Cables for Disk Storage Drives In the computer cabinet, the ribbon cables are used to connect the various storage devices to the mother board. Press Enter or Click to continue

19. The Motherboard Aside from using ribbon cables to connect storage drives, additional components can be installed in the computer, with special places for plugging them in. Expansion cards are plugged into special slots called EXPANSION SLOTS located on the motherboard. Press Enter or Click to continue

20. Expansion Slots In these special expansion slots, you plug in printed circuit cards for things like faxes, modems, scanners, special video, sound, or any other devices you may need. Press Enter or Click to continue

21. Conclusion This wraps up this lesson on the Central Processing Unit, Computer Memory, and Expansion Slots. You have just added a few new computer terms to your vocabulary. Press Enter or Click to continue