How Computers Work Slide 1

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Overview
input devices

Mouse

Keyboard

output devices

Monitor

Speakers

primary storage

Mother Board
CPU

RAM

secondary storage

Hardrive

CD Rom

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d i g i ta l m e d i a l a n d s c a p e s

primary storage

CPU

The CPU is the brain of the computer. It consists of:

The Control Unit does not execute functions, but

routes information.
The ALU executes functions. It has two functions:
perform arithmetic functions (addition,
multiplication, subtraction, and division) and test
for relationships between data (equal to, less than,
greater than, less than or equal to, greater than or
equal to, and not equal). The ALU processes these
conditions and returns this information to the
Control Unit, which routes that information to the
memory.
The Registers are the CPUs internal memory. It
is the fastest form of memory but lacks capacity so
the bulk of the storage is housed in main memory.

input

The CPU

Control Unit

ALU

Registers

output

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Clock
primary storage

Clock Speed
Clock speed is the rate at which a microprocessor
executes instructions. This also refers to the speed
of the processor.

3.2GHz Quad-core Intel Core i5

input

The CPU

Control Unit

ALU

Registers

clock speed
output

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Clock
input

primary storage

Cache Memory
Within the CPU some readily used information
is stored in the cache memory. It has much more
capacity than the Register memory so it exists to
speed up the interchange of information from the
main memory to the register memory.

The CPU

Control Unit

ALU

Registers

Cache Memory

output

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Clock
primary storage

Main Memory (RAM)

Memory stores program instructions or data
for only as long as the program they pertain to
is in operation. The memory stores information
temporarily, as long as its needed.
That information is stored permanently on
secondary storage (hardrives, floppy disk, cd rom,
thumb drives, external hardrives) and sent there by
the CPU.
RAM is sold in powers of 2, 128mb, 256mb,
512 mb...8gb because it runs in sync with
the register memory which is managed with
binary code.

input

The CPU

Control Unit

ALU

Registers

Cache Memory

Main Memory

output

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primary storage

Multi - Core
Engineers have joined multi CPUs into single
processors so now have processors multi-cores

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How Computers Work Slide 7

secondary storage

Magnetic Storage
Data is represented as 1s and 0sa magnetized
spot equals a 1, while a non-magnetized spot = 0

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floppy disk

secondary storage. magnetic storage

Diskettes

There were two forms of portable storage: Floppy

Disk and its smaller companion 3.5 Disk. They
had an plastic casing surrounding magnetic disk.
Floppy drives read / wrote the information.

3.5 disk

How Computers Work Slide 9

secondary storage

Optical Storage
A tiny laser hits a layer of metallic filmthe heat
from the laser produces tiny spot. The data is read
by a lens that picks up different reflections of light
from the spots

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secondary storage

Solid State or
Electronic Disk
A data storage device using integrated circuit
assemblies as memory to store data persistently. It
basically is a permanent version of memory. This
type of storage is available in some computers, but
is most used in Smartphones and jump drives.

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How Computers Work Slide 11

secondary storage

Capacity
Size on computers is measured in bytes:

1 byte is called a bit - it is a value of 1 or 0 (on or off )

Byte = 8 bits
Kilobyte (kb) = 1,024 bytes
Megabyte (mb) = 1,024 kb
Gigabyte (gb) = 1,024 mb
Terabyte (tb) = 1,024 gb

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How Computers Work Slide 12

Input / Output
Devices (I / O)
Input devices inlcude keyboard, mouse, external
hard-drives, digital cameras, etc...
Output Devices include printers, monitors,
projectors, speakers. Certain output devices require
their own cards, which contain their own protocols
and logic.

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d i g i ta l m e d i a l a n d s c a p e s

input / output

Data Connections

USB was created to standardize the

connection of peripherals. As with
everything, over time the transfer rate of
data has gotten faster.

Firewire was created by Apple

to facilitate data transfer like the
USB. Its mostly defunct now.

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input / output

Monitors
Most monitors have a density of 72ppi, which
means 72 pixels per inch. Apple has now released
high density monitors that have twice the density.
The resolution of a monitor generally refers the
width and height of the monitor in pixels. The
greater the resolution the larger the output. The
quality of the image on a monitor is determined in
part by the connection type:
VGA (Video Graphics Array) serves analog video
DVI (Digital VIsual Interface ) allows for digital
video transmission. The connection port was
minimized for laptopsmini and than micro

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How Computers Work Slide 15

i n p u t / o u t p u t. m o n i t o r

Thunderbolt
It was built by Intel. It is almost twice as fast
USB, and unlike USB digital video can be sent
through it. It has allows for the transfer of power.
Lastly it allows for daisy chainsif I only have
one thunderbolt drive, but want to connect two
hardrives I can connect one to the computer and
plug the remaining hardrive into the first hardrive.

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Motherboard
This is the hub where everything connects.
The CPU and main memory are plugged into the
motherboard. The secondary memory (hardrive)
is connected via a bus (wires). I / O devices are
connected via their respective cards, which are
plugged into the hardrive.
While a motherboard doesnt actually do any
computing it helps determine the amount of
RAM and hardrives contained in a computer. Its
one part physical spaceyou need connection
points and one part the amount of voltage that the
motherboard can handle at once. One of the most
common computer problems is an overheated
motherboard.

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How Computers Work Slide 17

Other things of note

Main memory is sold as a stickmemory sticks are installed
in pairs. It is recommended that the pairs match in capacity
Some more advanced programs allow you to allocate the
amount of memory they have access too. They also allow you
to turn unused space on your hardrive into faux memory. This
is referred to as a scratch disk.
RAID devices - Its a piece of hardware that connects two
hardrives, writing the same information to both
The best way to increase the speed of your computer is to buy
a solid state hardrive and increase RAM

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