COMPUTER FUNDAMENTALS AND BASICS OF

PC HARDWARE

MODULE 3

Amrutha N

Assistant Professor

Department of Computer Science

St. Albert’s College(Autonomous)

 BUSES
 A bus is a high-speed internal connection. Buses are used to

send control signals and data between the processor and other
components.

 Three types of bus are used.

 Address bus

 Data bus

 Control bus
Cont..
• Address bus: Carries memory addresses from the processor to

other components such as primary storage and input/output

devices. The address bus is unidirectional.

• Data bus: Carries the data between the processor and other

components. The data bus is bidirectional.

• Control bus: Carries control signals from the processor to other

components. The control bus also carries the clock's pulses. The
control bus is unidirectional.
Different Buses
 Local buses

 Local buses are internal data pathways that connect the

CPU (Central Processing Unit) to the main memory

(RAM) and other components on the motherboard.

 These buses facilitate the quick transfer of data between

the CPU and the memory.

Cont..
 Expansion buses

 Expansion buses are pathways that allow additional

hardware components to be connected to the

motherboard. These components might include expansion
cards like graphics cards, sound cards, and networking
cards.

 Expansion buses enable the expansion of a computer

system by providing a standardized interface for adding

new hardware.
 EXPANSION SLOT
 An expansion slot is a socket on the motherboard that is used

to insert an expansion card, which provides additional features

to a computer such as video, sound, advanced graphics etc.

 Also known as a bus slot or expansion port.

 A bus is a data communications connection between two or

more communicating devices.

 A bus is a common pathway through which information flows

from one computer component to another.

Cont..
 This pathway is used for communication purpose and it is

established between two or more computer components.

 What does a bus carry?

1. Electrical Power

2. Control Signals

3. Memory Address

4. Data
 Functions of Buses in Computers

 Power

 A bus supplies power to various peripherals connected to it.

 Timing

 The bus provides a system clock signal to synchronize the

peripherals attached to it with the rest of the system.

Cont..
 Addressing

 A bus has address lines, which match those of the

processor. This allows data to be sent to or from specific

memory locations.

 Data sharing

 All types of buses found in a computer transfer data

between the computer peripherals connected to it.

 Expansion Bus (Expansion slots) Types
 ISA - Industry Standard Architecture

 EISA - Extended Industry Standard Architecture

 MCA - Micro Channel Architecture

 VESA - Video Electronics Standards Association

 PCI - Peripheral Component Interconnect

 Industry Standard Architecture(ISA) Bus
 ISA (8 Bit) Buses

 This is the most common type of early expansion bus, which

was designed for use in the original IBM PC.

 It uses an 8-bit bus design. This means that the data transfers

take place in 8-bit chunks (one byte at a time) across the bus.
 The ISA(8 bit) bus ran at a clock speed of 4.77 MHz.

 20 address lines (1 Mbytes of addressing ).

 Cont..
 ISA (16 Bit) Buses

 It could transfer 16-bits of data at a time.

 The 16-bit version of the ISA bus is sometimes known as

the AT (AT-Advanced Technology) bus.

 The ISA(16 bit) bus ran at a clock speed of 8 MHz.

 The improved AT bus provide a total of 24 address lines

(allowing 16 Mbytes of addressing).

Micro Channel Architecture(MCA) Buses
• MCA which is a proprietary 32-bit bus design introduced by

IBM (International Business Machines) in 1987.

• MCA was developed as a successor to the ISA (Industry

Standard Architecture) bus.

• The bus offered a number of technical improvements over the

ISA bus.

• MCA was a 32-bit bus, which means it could transfer 32 bits

of data at a time, providing higher bandwidth compared to the

16-bit ISA bus.
Cont..
• MCA was proprietary to IBM. This meant that other

computer manufacturers had to obtain a license from IBM to

use MCA in their systems.

• MCA ran at a faster speed of 10MHz and supported either

16-bit or 32-bit data.

• MCA expansion slots were used for various peripheral cards,

such as graphics cards, network cards, and storage

controllers.

• The MCA expansion bus did not support ISA cards.

Extended Industry Standard Architecture
(EISA)
 EISA supported both 16-bit and 32-bit data.

 The bus architecture was designed to use a 32-bit data path

and provided 32 address lines giving access to 4GB of

memory.

 The EISA bus had a higher bandwidth compared to ISA,

which contributed to improved performance and support for

more advanced peripherals.
Cont..
 EISA supported bus mastering, allowing peripherals to take

control of the bus for data transfers without involving the

CPU directly.

 The EISA bus ran at a clock speed of 8 MHz.

 EISA cards were relatively expensive and were normally

found on high-end workstations and network servers.

Video Electronics Standards Association
(VESA)
 The Video Electronics Standards Association (VESA) is an

organization that develops and promotes various technical

standards for the video and display industry.

 It was invented to help standardize PCs video specifications,

thus solving the problem of proprietary technology where

different manufacturers were attempting to develop their own
buses.

 The bus provided 32-bit data path and ran at 25 or 33 MHZ.

 Peripheral Component Interconnect
(PCI) Buses
 The Peripheral Component Interconnect (PCI) bus is a

standard interface used for connecting various hardware

devices to a computer's motherboard.

 It serves as a high-speed data path between the CPU (Central

Processing Unit) and attached peripherals, such as graphics

cards, sound cards, network adapters, and other expansion
cards.

 PCI is one of the latest developments in bus architecture and

is the current standard for PC expansion cards.

Cont..
 PCI supports both 32-bit and 64-bit data width.

 The bus data width is equal to the processor, such as a 32-

bit processor would have a 32 bit PCI bus, and operates at

33MHz and 64 bit PCI bus operates at 66MHz.
 Designed to support ISA and EISA buses.
 COMPUTER PORTS
 A port is a connection provided on a computer to connect

external or peripheral devices to the computer.

 For example, you will need a port on your device to connect a

keyboard, mouse, pen-drives, etc.

 So, it acts as an interface or a point of attachment

between computer and external devices.

 It is also called a communication port, as it is the point where

you plug in a peripheral device to allow data transfer or

communication between the device and computer.
Cont..
 Based on the type of protocol used for communication,

computer ports can be of two types:

 Serial Ports

 Parallel Ports
Cont..

Parallel port Serial port

Cont..
Serial Port Parallel Port

Serial port is used to achieve serial While parallel port is used to

transmission. achieve parallel transmission.

The transmission speed of serial

While transmission speed of
port is comparatively low as
parallel port is higher than serial
compared to parallel port
port transmission speed.
transmission speed.

A serial port is capable of delivering While a parallel port is capable of

the single stream of data. delivering multiple streams of data.
Cont..
Serial Port Parallel Port

Serial port send a bit after another While parallel ports send multiple
bite at a time. bits at once.

Serial ports are typically

Parallel ports are typically
implemented in modems,
implemented in zip-drives, printers,
connecting devices, security
hard drives, CD-ROM drives, etc.
cameras and controllers.
 MICROPROCESSOR
 A microprocessor is basically the brain of the computer.

 We can also call it simply a processor or CPU.

 Microprocessor is basically a computer processor that is

mounted on a single IC (Integrated Circuit).

 It means that all the functions of the processor are included on

a single chip.

 Furthermore, the basic task of a microprocessor is to input the

instructions from the memory, decode, and process them and

produce the output.
Cont..
 There are three types of microprocessors namely

 CISC (Complex Instruction Set Computer)

 RISC (Reduced Instruction Set Computer)
 EPIC (Explicitly Parallel Instruction Computing)

 CISC (Complex Instruction Set Computer)

 As the name suggests, the instructions are in a complex

form.
 It means that a single instruction can contain many low-

level instructions.
Cont..
 CISC (Complex Instruction Set Computer)

 For example loading data from memory, storing data to

the memory, performing basic operations, etc.

 Besides, we can say that a single instruction has multiple

addressing modes.
 Furthermore, as there are many operations in single

instruction they use very few registers.

 Examples of CISC are Intel 386, Intel 486, Pentium,

Pentium Pro, Pentium II, etc.

Cont..
 Characteristic of CISC

 Complex Instruction Set Computer

 Complex instruction, hence complex instruction

decoding.
 Instructions are larger than one-word size.

 Instruction may take more than a single clock cycle to get

executed.
 Less number of general-purpose registers as operation get

performed in memory itself.

Cont..
 Characteristic of CISC

 Complex addressing modes

 More data types

Cont..
 RISC (Reduced Instruction Set Computer)

 As per the name, in this, the instructions are quite simple,

and hence, they execute quickly.

 Moreover, the instructions get complete in one clock

cycle and also use a few addressing modes only.

 Besides, it makes use of multiple registers so that

interaction with memory is less.

 Examples are IBM RS6000, DEC Alpha 21064, DEC

Alpha 2
Cont..
 Characteristic of RISC

 Reduced Instruction Set Computer

 Simpler instruction, hence simple instruction decoding.

 Instruction comes undersize of one word.

 Instruction takes a single clock cycle to get executed.

 More general-purpose registers.

 Simple addressing modes

 Less data types

Cont..
 Characteristic of RISC

 Pipeline can be achieved (Using a pipeline speeds up

execution by fetching the next instruction while other

instructions are being decoded and executed )
Cont..
 EPIC (Explicitly Parallel Instruction Computing)

 It allows the instructions to compute parallelly by making

use of compilers.
 Moreover, the complex instructions also process in fewer

clock frequencies.
 Furthermore, it encodes the instructions in 128-bit

bundles.
 Where each bundle contains three instructions encoded in

41 bits each and a 5-bit template.

Cont..
 EPIC (Explicitly Parallel Instruction Computing)

 This 5-bit template contains information about the type

of instructions and that which instructions can be

executed in parallel.
 Examples are IA-64 (Intel Architecture-64), etc.
Terms used in Microprocessor
• Instruction Set − It is the set of instructions that the

microprocessor can understand.

• Bandwidth − It is the number of bits processed in a single

instruction.

• Clock Speed − It determines the number of operations per

second the processor can perform. It is expressed in

megahertz (MHz) or gigahertz (GHz).It is also known as
Clock Rate.
Cont..
• Word Length − It depends upon the width of internal data

bus, registers, ALU, etc. A 8-bit microprocessor can process

8-bit data at a time. The word length ranges from 4 bits to 64
bits depending upon the type of the microcomputer.

• Data Types − The microprocessor has multiple data type

formats like binary, BCD, ASCII, signed and unsigned

numbers.
Features of Microprocessor
 Low Cost

 Due to integrated circuit technology microprocessors are

available at very low cost. It will reduce the cost of a

computer system.

 High Speed

 Due to the technology involved in it, the microprocessor

can work at very high speed. It can execute millions of

instructions per second.
Cont..
 Small Size

 A microprocessor is fabricated in a very less footprint

due to very large scale and ultra large scale integration

technology. Because of this, the size of the computer
system is reduced.

 Versatile

 The same chip can be used for several applications,

therefore, microprocessors are versatile.

Cont..
 Low Power Consumption

 Microprocessors are using metal oxide semiconductor

technology, which consumes less power.

 Less Heat Generation

 Microprocessors uses semiconductor technology which

will not emit much heat as compared to vacuum tube

devices.
Cont..
 Reliable

 Since microprocessors use semiconductor technology,

therefore, the failure rate is very less. Hence it is very

reliable.

 Portable

 Due to the small size and low power consumption

microprocessors are portable.

 CONNECTORS
 Computer cables are not some random pieces of electrical

wire.

 A computer cable connector is the part of a cable that plugs

into a port or interface to connect a device to the motherboard

or another device.

 A number of different connector types are used to connect

various external devices to the computer.

Cont..
 VIDEO GRAPHICS ARRAY (VGA)

 This is one of the older display connectors, also called

an “analog video connector”.

 VGA is an analog video cable that has been widely

used for connecting computers to monitors, projectors,

and other display devices.
 It transmits video signals in an analog format.
Cont..
 VIDEO GRAPHICS ARRAY (VGA)

 This used to be everywhere in desktops and laptops, but

the VGA connector could no longer catch up with the

advanced video technologies.
 It was taken over by the DVI (Digital Visual Interface)

and HDMI connector.

Cont..
 VIDEO GRAPHICS ARRAY (VGA)
Cont..
 DIGITAL VISUAL INTERFACE (DVI)

 DVI is a interface which is used to transmit video signals,

both analog and digital signals, depending on the type of

DVI connector. DVI-I (integrated) supports both, while
DVI-D (digital) only supports digital.
 DVI is only used to transmit video signals and not audio

signals in your monitor.

 They have extraordinary component of improving the

photo or visual quality of any electronic device.

Cont..
 DIGITAL VISUAL INTERFACE (DVI)

 It is usually associated with the devices like LCD,

projectors and TV.

 These cables give clear and quality pictures which

obviously is a good user

 People quickly realized that the size of the DVI

connector is not good for mobile devices, and it is soon

taken over by HDMI connectors.
Cont..
 DIGITAL VISUAL INTERFACE (DVI)
 Comparison between VGI & DVI
VGI DVI

Video Graphics Array Digital Visual Interface

Being analog, VGA signals are Digital signals in DVI cables are
susceptible to interference, and the less prone to interference, providing
signal quality can degrade over a generally higher-quality signal,
longer cable lengths. especially over longer distances.

Requires separate audio cable. Requires separate audio cable.

Cont..
 HIGH DEFINITION MULTIMEDIA INTERFACE (HDMI)

 HDMI can transmit both audio and video signals through

a single cable.
 HDMI transmits audio and video signals in a purely
digital format, eliminating the need for analog
conversion. This helps maintain the highest possible
quality of the content.
 It comes in various different sizes to fulfill the needs of
various devices in the market.
Cont..
 HIGH DEFINITION MULTIMEDIA INTERFACE (HDMI)

 In particular, the 3 most common ones are:

 HDMI Type A
• The full-sized HDMI, used on desktops and some
laptops.
 Mini HDMI Type C
• For the smaller tablets and ultrabooks.
 Micro HDMI Type D
• For mobile devices
Cont..
 HIGH DEFINITION MULTIMEDIA INTERFACE (HDMI)
Cont..
 DISPLAYPORT

 The display port is specially built for mobile devices,

with a very small footprint.

 But this connector actually has an interesting idea behind

it. It is not meant to function as a “direct connection”, but

act as an interface to compliment the various kinds of
connectors out there.
 For example, DisplayPort to HDMI, DisplayPort to

VGA, and so on.

Cont..
 DISPLAYPORT
Cont..
 PERSONAL SYSTEM/2 (PS/2)

 These are invented by IBM for their line of computers

called personal system, for the purpose of connecting the

keyboard and mouse.
Cont..
 LIGHTNING

 Lightning is the latest generation of iPhone/iPad

connectors, and it is specific to Apple devices only.
Cont..
 USB (UNIVERSAL SERIAL BUS)

 USB is an industry standard, ‘user-friendly’ method of

transferring data between a host device (such as a computer)

and a peripheral device (for example, a mouse).
 When a peripheral device is attached via USB, the host

computer will detect what kind of device it is and

automatically load a driver that allows the device to
function.
 Data is transferred between the two devices in small

amounts known as ‘packets’.

Cont..
 USB (UNIVERSAL SERIAL BUS)

 There are multiple types of USB that have popped up

over the years, each with a unique design and use case.
 It includes

o USB-A
o USB-B
o Micro-USB
o Mini-USB
o USB-C
Cont…
 USB-A

 The standard, universal connector found on virtually every

desktop PC and older laptops, as well as TVs, game

consoles and media players.

 USB Type-B

 Most commonly used to connect printers and external hard

drives to desktop computers, the Type-B port actually has

two different configurations.
 One is specific to USB 1.1 and 2.0 speed protocols, while

the other is for use with the USB 3.0 and later
specifications.
Cont…
 USB Mini-B

 The Mini-B connection is most often used by portable

electronics such as digital cameras, MP3 players and

some cell phones, and only with USB 1.1 and 2.0 speeds.
 There are both four-pin and five-pin versions of the Mini-

B connector.
Cont..
 USB Micro-B

 The Micro-B connector has one configuration for USB

2.0 and a different configuration for USB 3.0 and later.

 The Micro-B connector is found on many popular models

of Android smart phones and external hard drives.

 Type C

 A USB-C cable is a recent type of USB connector that's

easier to use and more powerful than older USB types.

Cont..
 Type C

 Also used for mobile devices, but this one is reversible.

 There is no direction, and you can plug this in upright or

reversed.
Cont…
 CMOS Memory
 CMOS stands for short for complementary metal-oxide-
semiconductor

 It is the term usually used to describe the small amount of

memory on a computer motherboard that stores

the BIOS settings.

 Some of these BIOS settings include the system time and

date, as well as hardware settings.

 BIOS Chip
 The basic input/output system (BIOS) on a computer is

typically stored on a non-volatile microchip called a BIOS

chip, which is placed on the motherboard of the computer.

 A BIOS chip uses non-volatile memory, which means that

even when power is not supplied to the system, the data on

the chip remains.

 When a computer first starts up, the chip runs the BIOS in

order to properly initialize the computer startup process.

Cont..
 The BIOS allows the hardware inside the computer to
properly communicate and work together during startup.
 This means that, when a computer is started, the BIOS allows
information to be displayed on the monitor, allows the
computer to recognize the keyboard for input or changes to
the BIOS settings, and properly communicates with the hard
drive in the computer.
 Once this happens, the program hands control of all these
systems over to the operating system (OS) on the hard drive
and full start up of the computer occurs.
Cont..
 If the BIOS chip on a computer’s motherboard is damaged or

corrupted, then this initial program cannot be run properly and

the computer will not be able to start.
Cont..
BIOS CMOS

Basic Input Output system Complementary Metal Oxide

Semiconductor

A non volatile firm that initializes Special memory chip in the

hardware during the booting motherboard that stores and holds
process and provides run time the BIOS configuration settings
services for operating systems and
programs

Non volatile Volatile

STEPS FOR ASSEMBLING A PC
 Step 1: Remove Side Panels on Case

 Step 2 : Mount Mother Board

 Step 3 : Mount Processor

 Step 4 : Install CPU Cooler

 Step 5 : Install Power Supply

 Step 6 : Mount Memory

 Step 7 : Install Graphics card

Cont..
 Step 8 : Mount Storage drives

 Step 9 : Mount Optical drives

 Step 10 : Connect case fans & Front end connectors

 Step 11 : Close case & Connect Peripherals

Step 1: Remove Side Panels on Case
 The foremost step is to open the case and lay it down on the

floor.

 Opening and preparing the case is the easiest step to be done.

 Remove the side panel of the case and also remove anything

which is creating noise or dangling inside the case.

Cont..
Cont..
Step 2 : Mount Mother Board
Step 3 : Mount Processor
Cont..
Step 4 : Install CPU Cooler
Step 5 : Install Power Supply
Cont..
Step 6 : Mount Memory
Cont..
Step 7 : Install Graphics card
Cont..
Step 8 : Mount Storage drives
Cont..
Step 9 : Mount Optical drives
Cont..
Step 10 : Connect case fans & Front end
connectors
 A typical case will have the following front panel features:

 Power switch: Switches your system on or off.

 Reset switch: Used when you need to return the PC to a known state if it

freezes.

 Power light: The light you see illuminated when your PC is turned on.

 Hard drive light: Indicates that one or more of your hard drives is active.

 Headphone jack: Where you plug in your headphones/headset.

 Mic jack: Where you plug in audio recording devices such as

microphones.

 USB ports
Cont..
Cont..
Cont..
Cont..
Step 11 : Close case & Connect Peripherals
Cont..