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Computer Hardware Design
Introduction to Hardware Design
Key Topics
System Processors
CISC and RISC
System Clock
Over clocking
System Buses
System Memory
System ROM
System RAM
Cache Memory
CMOS Memory
External Ports
External bus expansion slots
Math Co-Processor
System Peripherals and Devices
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-
This
module
was
designed to introduce you to the typical computer regardless of vendor and
present you with an overview of all the aspect of the system design.
-
In
order to have the big picture one must recognize all of the individual
components of the computer and be visualize where it fits in to the whole
computer. We will be
discussing in detail each of components introduced in this module
in
future modules.
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System
Processor
-
CISC
and
RISC
-
System
clock
-
Over
clocking
-
System
Busses
-
System
Memory
-
ROM
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RAM
-
Cache
-
CMOS
-
External
Ports
-
External
Busses
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Math
Co-processor
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System
Peripherals
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Processors
can understand, organize the commands- instructions
and
perform them in which is referred to as processing
-
Processors
are often referred to as CPU
(Central
Processing Unit), which is not strictly correct.
-
CPU
is
the major component of a processor.
-
The
abilities of your processor define your system capabilities, e.g. data bus,
clock speed.
-
Processors
are integrated circuits (IC
’s) full of transistors
ranging
from 30 thousand transistors in the 8088 to 45 million transistors in the
Pentium
4.
-
There
are many different manufacturers of processors including Intel
, AMD
, Cyrix
, and Motorola
, but the PC gold standards is
Intel.
CISC
and
RISC
-
The
performance
of
the system is a complex mixture of system clock speed, the data bus size and
the instruction load on the system called instruction set.
-
There
are 2 separate instruction load systems, CISC
and
RISC
.
-
CISC
stands
for Complex Instruction Set Computer.
-
CISC
performs
a large number of complex instructions
, which increases the system load on
each instruction therefore reducing the system speed.
-
CISC
processors are usually used in
standard IBM
compatible
PC’s
-
RISC
stands
for Reduced Instruction Set Computer.
-
RISC
speeds
up its overall progress and performance
by
performing small instructions
, reducing the systems load on each
instruction therefore increasing the system speed.
-
Motorola
RISC
processors
are also used in Apples computer systems.
-
RISC
Processors are usually the high
end Pc such as Servers e.g. Digital Alpha machines and MIPS SGI machines.
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The
system clock is like the heartbeat of your system is measured in MHz.
-
The
whole system is synchronized
on
the clock beat, the faster it beats the faster your processor will work and
if it doesn’t pulsate, your system will halt.
-
There
are two separate clock speeds, internal clock
speed,
and external clock
speed.
-
The internal clock
speed is the speed at which the
components inside the processor communicate with each other including CPU
, cache
, and registers, ALU
.
-
The external clock
speed is the speed at which the
processor communicates with the other devices
on the system including the RAM
.
-
The general system clock speed in
multiplied or divided by certain factors to meet the requirement of certain
sub-busses
on the system board
as shown in the table.
-
Over
clocking
gives
you the ability of improving the performance
of
your processor by increasing its clock speed beyond its design
specifications.
-
Since
the processor is doing more work it will generate more heat and need to have
good cooling.
-
You
can usually over clock the processor by changing a setting on your system
board
.
-
It
can cause the destruction of the CPU
if
the right precautions are not taken.
-
Celeron
processors are especially over
clocked up to twice their normal speeds.
1.
Data bus
2.
Address bus
3.
Control bus
.
-
The
data bus is responsible for transferring data from the processor when
communicating. The bigger the data bus, the more data that can be
transferred on each clock beat.
-
The
address bus defines the total amount of memory
that
can be addressed by the processor.
-
The bigger the address bus, the
more data that can be addressed, 8088 has 20 pin address bus which handles
1MB of RAM
, and the 386
has 32 pin which handles 4GB of
RAM.
-
The control bus
is designed to control the
overall progress and control of the system, the system clock is part of the
control bus
-
Memory is distributed throughout
the computer system and cannot be compartmentalized
.
-
Memory comes in all sizes speeds
and prices reflecting its utilization within our system.
-
It comes in two main types RAM
(Random Access Memory) and ROM
(Read
Only Memory).
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