FPT 101 A - IT Level 1: CPU and Motherboard Basics

CPU (Central Processing Unit)

• CPU full form is a Central Processing Unit.
• It is housed in a single chip called a microprocessor.
• It is also known as the brain of the computer.
• It runs the instructions of a computer program by performing arithmetic and logical operations.
• CPU clock speed is measured in units of cycles per second, which is called a Hertz (Hz).
• CPUs run at rates of millions and billions of Hertz, Mega Hertz (MHz), and generally in Giga Hertz (GHz).
• The main parts of a Processor are:
  • Control Unit (CU), which extracts, decodes, and executes instructions from memory.
  • Arithmetic Logic Unit (ALU), which performs all arithmetic computations and comparison operations.
  • Registers (Temporary storage space)

Memory

• Two types of primary storage are located in the computer namely RAM and ROM.
• RAM – Random Access Memory:
  • It is also known as Read-Write memory and main memory (Temporary memory).
  • RAM is a volatile memory.
  • Any information stored in RAM is lost when the computer is turned off.
  • The time it takes to read or write to it is measured in nanoseconds.
  • The capacity of the RAM is one of the factors that determine the power of the computer.
  • Its capacity is rated in megabytes.
• ROM – Read Only Memory:
  • ROM has programs that are inbuilt at the factory.
  • The information in this memory cannot be written on or erased by the computer user.

Input Devices

• Scanner: an input device that captures images from photographic prints, posters, magazine pages, and similar sources for computer editing and display.
• Touch Screen: the assembly of both an input ('touch panel') and output ('display') device.
• Microphone: an input device used in computers for recording voice and speech recognition.
• Joy Stick: an input device also called a game controller used with video games or entertainment systems to provide input for the video game.
• Electronic Pen or a digital Pen or a stylus: a small pen-shaped instrument whose tip position on a computer monitor can be detected.
• Trackball: a pointing input device consisting of a ball held by a socket containing sensors to detect a rotation of the ball.
• Barcode Reader: a hand-held or stationary input device used to capture and read the information contained in a barcode.
• Webcam: a digital video device commonly built into a computer.

Motherboard

• The motherboard is the main circuit board of a microcomputer that connects all system components to each other.
• It holds the CPU, RAM, ROM, and other components.

Storage Devices

• Hard Disks: range from 500GB to 2TB (Terabytes) or even more.
• Compact Disks (CDs):
  • Also known as an optical disk and is circular in shape.
  • A CD-ROM (read-only memory) is a compact disc that used the same laser technology as audio CDs for recording music.
  • The capacity of a CD-ROM is 700 MB of data.
  • CDs are used for storing music and large graphic files.
  • Three types of CDs: CD-ROM (Compact Disk – Read Only Memory), CD-R (Compact Disk – Recordable), and CD-RW (Compact Disk – Rewritable).
• Digital Versatile Disk (DVD):
  • Holds a much larger amount of information (such as movies).
  • Holds 4.7 GB (Gigabytes) of data.
  • Different types of DVDs: DVD-Video, DVD-ROM, DVD+R, DVD+RW, DVD-RAM, and HD-DVD.
• Flash Disk:
  • Also known as a USB drive (Universal Serial Bus) or Pen Drive or Memory Stick.
  • A portable storage system that holds a large amount of information.
  • Memory can be from 2 GB (Minimum) to 128 GB.
• Secure Digital (SD) cards:
  • Small, high-capacity flash memory storage devices.

Output Devices

• Monitor:
  • Also known as Visual Display Unit (VDU) and Computer Screen.
  • Produces softcopy output.
• Printer:
  • Produces hardcopy output.
  • Types of printers: Laser and Inkjet.

Ports

• USB port
• Audio port
• Parallel port
• VGA port: used to connect the monitor.