Hardware Summary and Supplemental

Processors

  • The processor (CPU) performs the fundamental arithmetic, logic, controlling, and input/output (I/O) operations.
  • 64-bit vs 32-bit. The key difference between 32-bit and 64-bit processors is the amount of memory they can address. A 32-bit processor can address up to 4GB (2^32) of RAM, while a 64-bit processor can address up to 18.4 million TB (2^64).
  • GPUs (Graphics Processing Units) are specialized for rendering graphics and image processing.

Memory

Read Only Memory (ROM)

Non-volatile: power loss will not affect data

Basic Input/Output System (BIOS): Traditionally stored in ROM. Modern systems use UEFI (Unified Extensible Firmware Interface), which provides more features and a graphical interface.

Random Access Memory (RAM)

Volatile: power loss will lose data

Storage location for data the CPU uses and allows for easy manipulation quickly

Hard Drive

  • Stores data.
  • Slower but cheaper than RAM.
  • Holds applications when not in use.
  • Holds files/important documents/music/pictures/etc..
  • Makeup:
    • Platter, Read/Write Head for traditional Hard Disk Drives (HDDs).
  • Solid State Drive (SSD)
    • No moving parts.
      • SSD is a solid-state device, so it is truly random access memory (RAM).
    • More durable.
    • More expensive, although prices have been decreasing.
  • Interfaces:
    • IDE, SCSI, ATA: Older interfaces.
    • RAID (configuration): Refers to a configuration for multiple drives for redundancy and performance.

Hard Drive Storage

Tracks: concentric sectors that go around the platter

Disk Sectors: Pie shaped wedges

Tracks and Sectors. Tracks and Sectors denote the location of the information. Modern drives also use advanced formats like 4K sectors.

Removable Storage

  • External Hard Drives.
  • CD/DVD/Blu-Ray Drives, though optical media are less common for data storage today.
  • USB flash drives.

Expansion Slots

  • Phased Out:
    • AGP (Introduced in 1996) and PCI (Introduced in 1992).
  • Current:
    • PCI Express (Introduced in 2002), with versions evolving (e.g., PCIe 4.0, PCIe 5.0, and the PCIe 6.0).

System Bus

Data Bus: data flows back-and-forth between devices

Address Bus: tells devices where data should go or is coming from

Control Bus: coordinates activity between devices to prevent collisions (corruption of data from simultaneous use of data/address bus)

Updates and Additional Information:

  1. Processors: Modern CPUs also feature multiple cores, hyper-threading, integrated graphics (in some models), and advanced instruction sets.
  2. Memory: DDR (Double Data Rate) RAM technology continues to evolve (e.g., DDR4, DDR5).
  3. Storage:
    • NVMe (Non-Volatile Memory Express) SSDs provide significantly faster performance compared to traditional SATA SSDs.
    • Interfaces: NVMe and SATA are common for SSDs; IDE and SCSI are largely obsolete for new devices.
  4. Removable Storage: USB Type-C and Thunderbolt interfaces provide high-speed data transfer for external storage.
  5. Expansion Slots: PCIe 4.0 and PCIe 5.0 offer greater bandwidth and speed for modern components like GPUs and SSDs.