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Department of Computer Science & Applications Panjab University

1. Information technology is transforming life sciences
and 21st Century biology will be based on
bioinformatics.
2. Bioinformatics is an exciting discipline which uses
computers to manage and analyse the exponential
growth of information in the life sciences.
3. The potential of bioinformatics is enormous. It can help
unravel the mysteries of the human genome, identify
better drug targets, speed drug development, reap the
benefits of biodiversity, and much more.
This session will provide a basic foundation for
participants to carry out analysis of biological information.

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COMPUTERS IN YOUR FUTURE 2009
Lesson 1
What You Will Learn Chapter 2
Inside the System Unit

Inside the System Unit

 Description of the data computers transfer or store

 Components found inside the system unit
 Components found on the motherboard
 How the CPU processes data
 Characteristics of a microprocessor’s performance
 Types of memory
 Purpose and types of expansion buses
 Differences between analog and digital electrical impulses

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 Describing Hardware Performance
OFF ON

OR = 1 bit
0 1
= 1 Byte
OR 0 0 1 1 0 1 0 0
= 1 Byte
0 1 0 0 0 0 0 1

 Hardware performance refers to the amount of data a computer can

store and how fast it can process the data.
 Bit (Binary digit)– On or off state of electric current; considered the
basic unit of information; represented by 1s and 0s (binary numbers).
 Byte– Eight bits grouped together to represent a character (an
alphabetical letter, a number, or a punctuation symbol); 256 different
combinations.

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 Millions, Billions, and More

8 bits = 1 Byte
1024 Bytes = 1 Kilobyte (KB)
1,048,576 Bytes = 1 Megabyte (MB)
1,043,741,824 Bytes = 1 Gigabyte (GB)
1,099,511,627,776 Bytes = 1 Terabyte (TB)

 Kilobyte, megabyte, gigabyte, and terabyte are terms

that describe large units of data.
 Data storage is measured using these terms.
Example: 20 GB hard drive

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 Millions, Billions, and More

1000 bits = 1 kilobit (kb)

1,000,000 bits = 1 megabit (mb)
1,000,000,000 bits = 1 gigabit (gb)

 Kilobits, megabits, and gigabits are terms that

describe units of data.
 Used for measuring data transfer rate (bits per
second). Example: 56 kbps

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 The System Unit

 The system unit is boxlike case that houses the

computer’s main hardware components.
 Space taken up on the desk is called a footprint.
 Form factor refers to how the internal components
are mounted in the unit.
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 Types of System Units
Notebook
Desktop

Personal Digital
Assistant

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 Inside the System Unit

 Motherboard (mainboard)– Large printed circuit

board with thousands of electrical circuits
 Power supply– Transforms alternating current (AC)
from wall outlets to direct current (DC) needed by the
computer
 Cooling fan– Keeps the system unit cool
 Internal Speaker– Used for beeps when error is
encountered
 Drive bays– Housing for the computer’s hard drive,
floppy drive, and CD-ROM / DVD-ROM drives

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9
 The Motherboard
Click on terms to
Microprocessor view larger images
Keyboard / and information
Mouse Ports

Printer Port Memory

Slots

Video Port

AGP Slot

PCI Slots Chipset

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 Components of the CPU

 Control unit– Coordinates and controls all

parts of the computer system.
 Arithmetic-Logic unit– Performs arithmetic or
logical operations.
 Registers– Store the most frequently used
instructions and data.

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11
 CPUs at Work
 Control Unit– Manages four basic operations (fetch,
decode, execute, and write-back).
 The machine cycle or processing cycle:
• Instruction Cycle
 Fetch- Gets next program instruction from the
computer’s memory.
 Decode- Figures out what the program is telling the
computer to do.
• Execution Cycle
 Execute- Performs the requested action.
 Write-back (Store)- Writes (stores) the results to a
register or to memory.
 Arithmetic-Logic Unit (ALU)– Performs basic
arithmetic or logic operations.
 Adds, subtracts, multiplies, and divides
 Compares data to determine which one is larger or smaller.

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12
 The Processing Cycle Click to
animate.
Click one
time only

Control unit ALU

Memory

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 Microprocessor Performance

 Data bus width– The number of pathways within the CPU that
transfer data (8, 16, 32, or 64)
 Word size– The maximum number of bits of data that the CPU
can process at a time (8 bits, 16 bits, 32 bits, or 64 bits)
 Operations per cycle (clock speed)– The number of clock
cycles per second measured in Megahertz (MHz) or Gigahertz
(GHz).
 Superscalar– Carrying out more than one instruction per
clock cycle.
 Pipelining– Feeding a new instruction into the CPU at every
step of the processing cycle.

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 Parallel Processing

 Parallel processing involves using more than

one CPU to improve performance.
 Complex instruction set computer (CISC)– A
chip that includes special-purpose circuits
that carry out instructions at high speeds.
 Reduced instruction set computer (RISC)– A
chip with a bare-bones instruction set that
results in a faster processing speed than
CISC chips.

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 Popular CPUs
Intel Advanced
Micro Devices
Pentium IV
Pentium III (AMD)

Pentium MMX

Cyrix Motorola (Apple)

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 Memory
Flash

RAM ROM

 Memory is a term for a device that enables the

computer to retain (store) information.

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 Memory Modules
 Memory modules are narrow printed circuit boards
that hold memory chips.
 Three types of modules:
 Single Inline Memory Module (SIMM)– 30- or 72-pin
connectors. Available in 1 MB, 4 MB, 16 MB, and 32 MB
versions.
 Dual Inline Memory Module (DIMM)– 168- or 184-pin
connector. Available in 8 MB, 16 MB, 32 MB, 64 MB, 128 MB,
256 MB, and 512 MB versions.
 Rambus Inline Memory Module (RIMM)–Look like DIMMs
but are not interchangeable with DIMMs.

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18
 Memory Modules

DIMM

RIMM

NOTEBOOK
DIMM

SIMM

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 Memory Categories
 Volatile memory– Contents of memory are erased
when power supply is turned off. It is temporary
storage.
 RAM– Random access memory holds data in locations
called memory addresses.
 Cache memory– Memory that the processor uses to store
frequently used instructions and data.
 Virtual memory– The computer uses the hard disk as an
extension of RAM.

 Nonvolatile memory– Contents of memory are not

erased when power is turned off .
 ROM– Read-only memory provides the instructions to start
the computer.
 Flash memory– Memory that can be rewritten.

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 Random Access Memory / RAM

 RAM is a type of volatile memory that stores

information temporarily so that it’s available to the
CPU.

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 Types of RAM

 Dynamic RAM– A memory chip that needs to be

refreshed periodically, or it will lose its data.
 Synchronous DRAM (SDRAM)– Synchronized with the
computer’s system clock.
 Rambus DRAM (RDRAM)– Uses fast bus to send and
receive data within one clock cycle. Faster than SDRAM.
 Double Data Rate SDRAM (DDR SDRAM)– A type of SDRAM
that can send and receive data within one clock cycle.

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22
 HOW RAM WORKS
CLICK TO BEGIN
MONITOR WEB
ANIMATION

KEYBOARD RAM

CPU
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Department
of Computer
of Computer
Science
Science 23
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 Virtual Memory

FULL

 Virtual memory involves:

 Part of the hard disk is reserved as RAM.
 When RAM modules become full, the CPU accesses the
hard disk to store and retrieve data.
 Slower than RAM.

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 BIOS and CMOS
 BIOS– Basic input/output system is stored in ROM.
 Its instructions provide the boot sequence when starting the
computer.
 The boot sequence includes:
• POST– Power-on self-test checks memory and configures
video and other hardware.
• Locating the disk drive with the boot sector which contains the
operating system.

 CMOS– Complementary metal-oxide semiconductor

is a type of memory which stores essential startup
options.
 It stores the amount of memory installed and tracks date
and time.
 It is volatile.

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 Cache Memory
 Primary cache (Level 1 or L1)– Located within the
CPU chip, it is the memory the microprocessor uses
to store frequently used instructions and data.
 Secondary cache (Level 2 or L2; Backside Cache)–
Located near the CPU, it is the memory between the
CPU and RAM.
 It is faster than RAM.

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 Chipset

 A chipset is a collection of chips that work together.

 It provides circuitry to move data to and from the
rest of the computer.

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 Input/Output (I/O) Buses
Expansion slots
Expansion card

 I/O buses are pathways that enable the CPU to

communicate with input/output devices.
 Typically the buses contain slots, called expansion
slots, in which expansion cards are inserted.

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 Types of I/O Buses

 Industry Standard Architecture (ISA)– Is the slowest type of

bus.
 Personal Computer Interface (PCI)– Is faster than ISA and
supports plug and play.
 Accelerated Graphics Port (AGP)– Are designed for video
adapters.
 Universal Serial Bus (USB)– Allows up to 127 devices to be
connected to the computer at one time. It supports plug and
play.
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 Outside the System Unit

Drive bays

On/off switch

Reset button
BACK
Indicator lights

FRONT
 Power switch– Is located on the back. It turns power on/off to the
computer.
 Receptacles– Also called connectors or ports, are located on the back to
plug in peripheral devices, keyboard, mouse, and monitor.
 Front panel– Contains drive bays, various buttons, and lights.

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 Types of Ports
Click on a port below to view information about it.
Click again to remove the text.

Sound
PS/2
Universal
Serial
Parallel
VGA
Game port
connector–
port–
card
port–
(mouse
(keyboard
Serial
Data
connectors–
A Data
connector
Bus
Aflows
port)–
flows
15
port)–
(USB)–
pin
inSpecial
through
for
Also
aconnector
Special
series
high
Allows
called
serial
eight
speed
of
serial
up
used
pulses,
jacks,
port
to
wires
access
port
127
for
to
they
one
allowing
monitors
connect
to
devices
for
connect
accept
after
graphics-
another
to
the
mouse.
stereo
be
transfer
one
keyboard.
connected
bit
of
intensive
mini-plugs.
eight
at a time;
bits
interaction.
at
Microphone,
of
slow
a data
time.
data
simultaneously;
transfer
line-in,rate.
line-out,
faster
andthan
speaker
serial connectors
ports.
are used.

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The difference between serial and parallel ports
SERIAL PARALLEL

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 How a Computer Represents Data
Analog Digital

OFF
ON

 Computers represent data through electronic signals

or impulses.
 Two types of signals:
 Analog– Continuous waveform. Examples: talking and
computerized gas pumps
 Digital– On/off electrical states (bit). Examples: light
switches and transistors

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 Character Codes
 Numerical data, that computers use;
translated into characters readable by
humans.
 American Standard Code for Information
Interchange (ASCII)– Eight bits; used by
minicomputers and personal computers
 Extended Binary Coded Decimal Interchange
Code (EBCDIC)– Eight bits; used by
mainframe computers
 Unicode– Uses 16 bits; over 65,000
combinations

=4
0 0 1 1 0 1 0 0

=A
0 1 0 0 0 0 0 1
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Microprocessor (CPU)- Central processing
unit interprets and carries out instructions
given by software.

CPU socket

CPU

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RETURN
 Memory- Enables the computer to retain
information.

RAM slots

RAM module

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RETURN
 Chipset- A collection of chips that provide
the switching circuitry needed to move data.

Department of Computer Science 37

RETURN
 Input/Output buses- Pathways that allow
the microprocessor to communicate with
input and output devices.

Department of Computer Science 38

RETURN
 Lesson 1 Summary
1.1. The
Thebasic
basicunit
unitofofinformation
informationisisthe
thebit.
bit.
2.2. Large
Largeunits
unitsofofdata
dataare
arekilobyte
kilobyte(KB),
(KB),megabyte
megabyte(MB),
(MB),
gigabyte (GB), and terabyte (TB).
gigabyte (GB), and terabyte (TB).
3.3. The
Themotherboard
motherboardisisaacircuit
circuitboard
boardthat
thatprovides
provides
receptacles for chips and input/output buses.
receptacles for chips and input/output buses.
4.4. The
Thecentral
centralprocessing
processingunit
unit(CPU)
(CPU)contains
containsthethecontrol
control
unit (CU) and the arithmetic-logic unit (ALU). It manages
unit (CU) and the arithmetic-logic unit (ALU). It manages
the
thefour
fourbasic
basicoperations
operations(fetch,
(fetch,decode,
decode,execute,
execute,andand
write-back).
write-back).
5.5. The
TheCPU’s
CPU’sperformance
performanceisismeasured
measuredbybythe
thedata
databus
bus
width, operations per second, speed, and cache memory.
width, operations per second, speed, and cache memory.
6.6. Random
Randomaccess
accessmemory
memory(RAM)
(RAM)isisthe
thecomputer’s
computer’smain
main
memory. It is volatile.
memory. It is volatile.

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 Lesson 1 Summary contd…
7.7. There
Thereare
arevarious
varioustypes
typesofofRAM.
RAM.They
Theyinclude
includedynamic
dynamicRAM
RAM
(DRAM),
(DRAM),synchronous
synchronousDRAM
DRAM(SDRAM),
(SDRAM),Rambus
RambusDRAM
DRAM
(RDRAM), and double data rate (DDR)SDRAM.
(RDRAM), and double data rate (DDR)SDRAM.

8.8. Peripheral
Peripheraldevices
devicesconnect
connecttotothe
thecomputer
computeron
onthe
theoutside
outside
ofofthe
thecase.
case.

9.9. Computers
Computershave
haveports
portssuch
suchasasserial
serialports,
ports,parallel
parallelports,
ports,
SCSI
SCSIports,
ports,USB
USBports,
ports,FireWire
FireWireports,
ports,and
andIrDA
IrDAports
portstoto
connect
connectinput/output
input/outputdevices.
devices.

10.
10.Analog
Analogcomputers
computersmeasure
measureand
anddigital
digitalcomputers
computerscount.
count.

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 We are done!!

Department of Computer Science 41