This document provides information about assembling a computer system, including its basic components and classification of computers. It discusses the hardware components of a typical computer such as the motherboard, CPU, RAM, power supply, storage devices, and input/output components. It also covers computer software, data, and communication components. The document explains how to assemble some of the core hardware components like installing the motherboard, CPU, RAM, and power supply. It concludes by classifying computers into categories like mainframes, supercomputers, minicomputers, and personal computers based on their size, power and other characteristics.

1. KL / KJ 1034
Mechanical & Electrical Basics
Computer Assembly
by:
Kamarulzaman Mat
JKEES, May 2009

2. Subtopics
• Introduction
• Basic components of computer
system
• The classification of computers
• Assembling the computer hardware
• Software and drivers installation

3. Introduction
Computer Architecture is:
• the arrangement of computer
components and their relationships
• the theory behind the design of a
computer.
Requirement of a computer includes:
• process data, store data, move data
between the computer and the outside
world and control the operation of the
above.

4. Introduction – cont.
1. Types of the computer?
2. Why the computer is very useful?
3. Names component of the
computer that you know.
4. Names the operating systems that
you know/use.

5. Introduction –cont.
• Dell Inspiron 530s
Amazing 256MB graphic card for crystal
clear display in a space saving slim design
 Intel® Core™2 Duo Processor E4500 (2MB L2 cache,
2.20 GHz)
 Genuine Windows Vista™ Operating System
 Memory: 2GB DDR2 SDRAM
 Hard Drive: 250GB Hard Drive
 Optical Drive: DVD Burner
 Graphic Card: 256MB ATI Radeon™ HD 2400 Pro

6. G Example
Machines
HW SW Performance
1st ENIAC
UNIVAC I
UNIVAC II
IBM 700
Vacuum tubes,
magnetic
drums,
electrostatic
tubes memory
Machine code,
stored
programs
2-4 KB
memory,
40 KIPS
2nd IBM 7094
PDP-1
Transistors,
core memory,
ZSI
High level
languages
4-32 KB
memory, 200
KIPS
3rd IBM 360 370,
PDP-2
ICs,
semiconductor
memory,
microprocessors
,
SSI, MSI
Timesharing,
graphics,
structure
programming
2-8 MB
memory, 1
MIPS
History of Computers
*G – Generation *HW – Hardware *SW - Software

7. 4th IBM 3090 Cray
XMP IBM PC
Intel 4004-Intel
8088
LSI, VLSI,
networks,
optical disks
Packaged
programs,
object-oriented
languages,
expert systems
8-64 MB
memory, 10
MIPS,
108 KHz-5
MHz clock
speeds
5th Sun Sparc
Intel Paragon
(80286-Itanium)
PowerPC 601-
PowerPC G4
VLSI, ULSI,
parallel systems
Parallel
languages
symbolic
processing,
Artificial
Intelligence
64 MB- 1 GB
(yr 2006)
memory, 100
MIPS, 6 MHz-
1.8 GHz (yr
2006) clock
speeds
History of Computers – cont.

8. Input-Process-Output Model (IPO)
• Input: keyboard, mouse, scanner, punch cards
• Processing: CPU executes the computer program
• Output: monitor, printer, fax machine
• Storage: hard drive, optical media, diskettes, magnetic tape

9. Architecture Components
• Hardware (HW)
– Processes data by executing instructions
– Provides input and output
• Software (SW)
– Instructions executed by the system
• Data
– Fundamental representation of facts and
observations
• Communications
– Sharing data and processing among
different systems

10. Personal Computer System

11. Basic Component of computer
Hardware (HW)
• The most visible part and all physical
components.
• Provides the physical mechanisms to input and
output data.
• Input devices : keyboard, mouse etc.
• Output devices : printer, display screen etc.
• Others components : central processing unit
(CPU), memory, disk, tape.

12. Basic Component of computer
• A typical personal computer consists
of a case or chasis in desktop or
tower shape and the following parts:

14. Basic component of computer
1) Motherboard or system board (also known
as main board) with slots for expansion
cards and holding parts :
– Central processing unit (CPU)
• Computer fan - used to cool down the CPU
– Random Access Memory (RAM)
- for program execution & short term data
storage
- More RAM will normally contribute to a faster
PC.
- RAM is almost always removable as it sits in
slots in the motherboard, attached with small
clips.

15. Basic component of computer -cont.
• Basic Input-Output System (BIOS) or
Extensible Firmware Interface (EFI) in
some newer computers
• Buses
– PCI
– PCI-E
– USB
– HyperTransport
What is ROM? For what? ROM vs RAM?

16. Basic component of computer –cont.
2) Power supply - a case that holds a
transformer, voltage control, and
(usually) a cooling fan
3) Storage controllers of IDE, SATA, SCSI
or other type, that control hard disk,
floppy disk, CD-ROM and other drives;
the controllers sit directly on the
motherboard (on-board) or on
expansion cards
4) Video display controller that produces
the output for the computer display.

17. Basic component of computer –cont.
5) Computer bus controllers (parallel, serial,
USB, FireWire) to connect the computer to
external peripheral devices such as
printers or scanners
6) Internal storage - keeps data inside the
computer for later use.
7) Hard disk - for medium-term storage of
data.
8) Disk array controller – or RAID controller
9) Sound card - translates signals from the
system board into analog voltage levels,
and has terminals to plug in speakers.

18. 10) Networking - to connect the computer
to the Internet and/or other computers
11) Modem - for dial-up connections
12) Network card - for DSL/Cable internet,
and/or connecting to other computers.
13) Other peripherals
Basic component of computer –cont.

19. Basic component of computer –cont.
Input Devices
scanner
joystick
keyboard
mouse
stylus
Web
camera
PC gamming device
trackball

20. Basic component of computer –cont.
Output Devices
LCD
monitor
cathode ray tube monitor
impact
printer
ink jet printer
flatbed
plotter

21. Basic component of computer –cont.
Central Processing Units (CPU)
CPU Cooler

22. Typical Motherboard

23. Basic component of computer
Typical Personal Computer System

24. Basic component of computer –cont.
Software (SW)
• Consists of programs that tell the computer
what to do.
• Two major categories of SW - System SW and
Application SW.
• System SW - helps user to manage files, to
load and execute programs, and to accept
commands from the mouse and keyboard.
Collectively known as an operating system
(OS).
• Examples of an OS : Windows 2000, Windows
XP, Vista, UNIX, and LINUX.

25. Basic component of computer –cont.
• Application SW – programs which tend to
users specific needs.
• Application SW – can be obtained by
developing it (on our own) or purchase it
from the vendor.
• Examples of Application SW – Word
processing (MS Words), spreadsheets (MS
Excel), presentation and graphical software
(MS Power Point) etc …

26. Basic component of computer –cont.
Data
• Data is the component, which is being
manipulated.
• It may be numeric or alphanumeric or
graphic or in some other form.
• It must be presentable to be manipulated
by the computer

27. Basic component of computer –cont.
Communication Components
• Normally modern computers are tied to
other computers directly via a network
(LAN/MAN/WAN) and requires both HW
and SW.
• A communication channel provides the
connection between computers.
• The channel may be a wire cable, a fiber
optic cable, a telephone line, or a wireless
technology.

28. Basic component of computer –cont.
Communication Components
• A modulator demodulator (modem) or
network interface card (NIC) - as an interface
between the computer and the communication
channel.
• A common set of ground rules known as
protocols that make it possible for each
computer to understand what other computers.
• The Internet is a measure of the success to
which protocols have been standardized.

29. Computer Classification
Personal Computer Minicomputer
Mainframes Super computer

30. Computer Classification
• Normally computers are classified
based on its sizes - in both
appearance and power.
• The classifications – mainframes,
supercomputers, minicomputers and
personal computers, microcomputers
and workstations.

31. Computer Classification
The characteristics used for computer classification
(differentiate the computers) are:
– speed
– number of CPU registers
– word length
– main memory size
– complexity of I/O modules
– OS complexity
– physical size, cost
– virtual address space
– secondary memory size
– degree of multiprogramming.

32. Computer Classification
Mainframes
• Capable of processing data at very fast
speeds at MIPS and have access to billions
of data characters.
• Principal use is for processing vast
amounts of data quickly, thus, obvious
customers are ISPs, banks, insurance
companies and manufacturers.

33. Computer Classification
• Supercomputers: Process data at a speed
of BIPS. They are used for mammoth jobs,
such as worldwide weather forecasting,
earthquake center, oil exploration and military
uses.
• Minicomputers: Smaller computers which
are slower and less costly than mainframes.
Became known as superminis as their
popularity, power and speed grew until the
top of the line.

34. Computer Classification
• Personal Computers (PCs):
The smallest computers also known as
microcomputers.
Became known as supermicros or
referred as workstations.

35. Assembling the Computer Hardware
Before begin building or refitting a
computer, some basic tools:
– Phillips-head (cross-shaped)
screwdriver
– A flathead screwdriver
– Needle nose pliers
– Anti-static Wrist Strap

36. Assembling the Computer Hardware –
cont.
Construction Process:
1) Install the motherboard
- fasten a screw through
each of the motherboard
screw holes
2) Installing the processor,
and the CPU’s heatsink
and fan

37. Assembling the Computer Hardware
-cont.
Two things that go wrong the most often
and most expensively are both related to
the CPU and its cooler:
• Switching the computer on before adding
any CPU cooling unit.
Without cooling, CPUs heat up at extreme
rates between 10X and a 1000X (as fast as a
cooking area). By the time the first display on
the screen, CPU will already be severely
overheating and might be damaged beyond
repair.
• Mounting the CPU cooler improperly.

38. Assembling the Computer Hardware
-cont.
3) Install RAM.
Find the RAM slots on the motherboard;
Do not force them, they should move
fairly easily.
• Put the RAM module in the socket.

39. Assembling the Computer Hardware -
cont.
4) Power supply (PS)
Installing PS is straightforward, if it
came with your case it was preinstalled.
Otherwise a few moments of screwdriver
work will get the job done.
5) Video card
• If your motherboard has a built-in video
skip this section.
• If you have an AGP video card: Install
the video card into the AGP socket. This
is always the top expansion slot near the
back of the computer.

40. Assembling the Computer Hardware -
cont.
6) Drive jumpers
• If you are using SATA drives --skip this
section.
• Before install IDE/ATA drives, will need
to set the drives jumpers. Each IDE/ATA
channel can handle two drives, a master
and a slave.
7) Drives
Install the hard drive and optical drives.
8) Other connection
Power button and while you're at it, you
might as well do the reset buttons

41. Assembling the Computer Hardware -
cont.
9) Prepare to power up.
Monitors will either
have a VGA or a newer
DVI plug

42. Software and Drivers Installation
After the assembling process is over,
then do:
1. BIOS Setup
2. Partition & format the hard disk
(if necessary)
3. Operating system installation

43. Software and Drivers Installation –
cont.
1. BIOS Setup
- built in setup utility that lets us
configure several basic system
characteristics.
- enter the setup utility; restart the
system and press F1 (or sometimes,
other key) when prompted on
screen during the startup process.

44. Software and Drivers Installation –
cont.
Example of BIOS system (diagram)

45. Software and Drivers Installation –
cont.
2. Partition the hard disk
Hard disk drive partitioning is the creation of
logical divisions upon a hard disk that allows
one to apply operating system - specific
logical formatting.
Appear to be more than one hard drive,
especially in how each partition is formatted
for different operating systems, and in how
files are copied from one partition to another.

46. Software and Drivers Installation – cont.
Partitioning allows the creation of several file
systems on one hard disk. This has many
benefits:
– Allowing for dual boot setups (for example,
to boot Microsoft Windows and Linux),.
– Sharing swap partitions between multiple
Linux distributions, so such partitions use
less hard drive space.
– Protecting or isolating files
– Raising overall computer performance.
– Higher levels of data organization, raising the
user efficiency of the system

47. Software and Drivers Installation – cont.
2. Formatting the hard disk:
– to prepare a disk, for reading and
writing.
– the operating system erases all
bookkeeping information on the disk,
tests the disk to make sure all sectors
are reliable, marks bad sectors and
creates internal address tables that it
later uses to locate information.

48. Software and Drivers Installation –
cont.
3. Operating system
installation:
- UNIX
- LINUX
- Windows OS:
- Windows 95
- Windows 98
- Windows 2000
(ME)
- Windows NT
- Windows XP
- Windows Vista
*Use Win XP for the
lab purposes

49. Software and Drivers Installation – cont.
Requirements for Windows XP
Keyboard, mouse
Keyboard, mouse
Devices
CD-ROM or higher
CD-ROM/DVD ROM
Drives
1.5 GB or higher
1.5 GB
Hard drive disk
free space
Super VGA or higher
resolution
Super VGA
Video adapter and
monitor
128 MB RAM or higher
64 MB RAM
Memory
300 MHz or higher
233 MHz
Processor
Recommended
Minimum

50. Exercise:
Find the information for SDRAM type:
DDR vs DDR2 vs DDR3
in terms of:
i. data transfer rate (range),
ii. I/O clock (range) and
iii. the supply voltage

51. Motherboard Connectors

52. Processor Socket

53. IDE Connectors

54. TERM
• IDE - Integrated Drive Electronics
• ATA - Advanced Technology Attachment, or PATA
• SATA - Serial ATA
• PCI - Peripheral Component Interconnect
• AGP - Accelerated Graphics Port
• PCIe - PCI Express, also known as 3GIO
• SDRAM - Synchronous Dynamic RAM
• SCSI - Small Computer System Interface, faster than
standard serial or parallel port
• USB - Universal Serial Bus, USB 1.1 (12 Mbps) & USB 2.0
(480 Mbps)
• FireWire – IEEE 1394, 400Mbps (in 1394a) and 800Mbps (in
1394b).
• VGA - Video Graphics Array
• DVI - Digital Visual Interface

55. ~THE END~
Note: please read before attending
your lab session.