1. SC ICT Certification Level 1 03 Computer Hardware By Ross Parker

2. WHY DO I CARE? 03.1

3. Mysterious Magical Stuff Do you treat your computer like a “black box”? Why should I care what it is doing inside?

4. 4 Reasons Purchasing –Understand what you are buying Performance –Know why your computer is running slow Power –Persuade your boss as to why you need a new or upgraded computer! Peace-of-mind –Understand what is normal and what is not

5. THE BASICS 03.2

6. What is a Computer? Source: Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory

7. What is a Computer? Source: Wikimedia Commons

8. What is a Computer? Source: Wikimedia Commons

9. What is a Computer? Source: Wikimedia Commons

10. What is a Computer? Source: Wikimedia Commons

11. What is a Computer? wikipedia.org: “a computer is a machine that manipulates data according to a list of instructions.” techterms.com: “technically, a computer is a programmable machine” merriam-webster.com: “a programmable usually electronic device that can store, retrieve, and process data”

12. How a Computer Works “The Fundamental Idea” wikipedia.org: “a computer is a machine that manipulates data according to a list of instructions.” InputProcessOutput I / O

13. How a Computer Works “The Fundamental Idea” InputProcessOutput Disk Storage

14. Keyboard Mouse CD-ROM Voice Data Collection Devices Touch and beyond

15. Disk Storage Monitor Printer Speakers

16. Disk Storage Hard Drive CD-ROM - Writable USB

17. Disk Storage Storage Capacity

18. Disk Storage 120 to 250GB (Gigabytes)

19. A Little More on Disk Storage How much do you need? Buy the biggest that you can afford! 100 Gigabytes: all the academic journals on the shelves of a single library floor 10 Terabytes: all printed collections of U.S. Library of Congress 5 Exabytes: All words ever spoken by human beings

20. What Does This Storage Mean for You? 1TB (Terabyte) Hard Drive 781,250 pictures 1,250 hours of video

21. INSIDE THE COMPUTER 03.3

22. What Makes a Computer

23. Motherboard

24. CPU GigaHertz (GHz) 2.00GHz 2 Billion Calculations per Second!!!

25. Memory - RAM Typical RAM size for 2008: 2GB Good RAM size for 2008: 4GB Outstanding RAM size for 2008: 16GB

26. What Makes a Computer? Motherboard – connects together and coordinates other components. CPU – processes information according to stored instructions. The heart of the beast! Internal Storage – persistent instruction and data storage. Usually a hard disk. Memory – temporary instruction and data storage. Usually RAM. Removable media devices I/O –Keyboard, mouse, webcam –Display, speakers –Network Power supply

27. What Goes On? Motherboard CPU Memory Storage I/O User controls computer using I/O devices Motherboard passes signals to CPU CPU loads and runs programs and data from storage Computer gives feedback using I/O devices ~~~ Memory is much quicker than storage, so CPU tries to keep the right things in memory for quick access This is why adding RAM (memory) to a computer usually makes it quicker

28. Slowness Hardware –Older, slower processor –Insufficient RAM –Slow hard drive –Hard drive almost at capacity –Network issues Software –Demanding operating system & applications –Excessive multi-tasking –Malicious software

29. PLAYTIME! 03.4

30. The Messy, Real-World View Case Hard drive (hidden) RAM CPU Power supply Cable nest Motherboard Optical Drive (on top) Internal Storage (hidden)

31. Get Stuck In There is a computer for you to play with. Can you?: –Connect up the external cables on the back panel. –Open the case. –Ground yourself on the power supply. Discharge dangerous static. Computer should be off, and plugged in to a socket that is switched off. –Identify: The motherboard CPU Internal storage Memory Power supply –Reseat the RAM –Remove and replace the internal storage cabling on both ends.

32. OUTRODUCTION 03.5

33. Measures CPU: MHz, GHz, FlOps Memory: kB, MB, GB, TB Network: kb/s, Mb/s Screen Resolution: px Hard drive: rpm Optical drive: YYx

34. Summary Extreme complexity Understandable by most Grasp what you are buying Basic knowledge of problems Understanding of that mysterious magical stuff

35. Thank You

36. Licensing All original work used here is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license. For more details please look at http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/. This license has been chosen to permit a high degree of sharing, whilst protecting the author’s control as to how the content is used. Please respect this license and use accordingly! Recycled and borrowed works from other sources are used under appropriate licenses, which are not affected by this license. The original source is always given. All original work created by Ross Parker (Sha Tin College, English Schools Foundation, Hong Kong), except where specified.