Hardware Lesson 3

Inside your computer

HardwareMotherboardProcessor / CPUBusBios chipMemoryHard driveVideo CardSound CardMonitor/printerPorts

Computer memoryBIOS (flash memory)Read Only Memory (ROM)Random Access Memory (RAM)

chips on motherboardopen files

Virtual (part of your OS)pagefile.sys

Video graphics and games

Software = Computer Program = Instructions

Allow you to use your computerWithout software, the computer is

useful as a planter

Software

When you open an application, memory must be used to store the program that’s running and the file you have open.

Open files are stored in RAM chips.Physical chipsTemporary storage of files and

instructionsWhen files are too big to fit in RAM, the

excess goes to Virtual Memory (on the hard drive).

The video is stored in Video memory, often in special chips on the Video card.

Using Software

Memory factsStored in KB (kilobytes), MB (megabytes),

GB (gigabytes), TB (terabytes)One MB ~ 1 million memory locationsA memory location (byte) stores one

characterSo, 512 MB will store about 512 million

characters.One MB can store about 500 pages of text

information

Sometimes you don’t need to saveListing to musicPlaying gamesSurfing the Net

When you do need to save a file, you need to select a storage device.

Creating Files

Storage devicesCan be internal or externalMeasured in:

Size (MB, GB, TB)Speed (mHz)

http://www.coolest-gadgets.com/20090123/the-four-eyes-usb-drive/

Storage devicesHard drive (contains disk)Floppy CD/DVD

CD/DVD-R: recordableCD/DVD-RW : Re-Writable

Can be erasedFlash – static devices (no moving parts)

Hardware Lesson 3

Inside your computer