ICT

System Unit
Components of System Unit
System Unit
• System Unit is a case that contains electronic components of
the computer used to process data.

• System unit of a desktop computer stands vertically (tower

model).

• In laptop computers, keyboard and pointing devices are

built on the top of the system unit.

• System unit of a tablet is behind the screen.

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 System Unit

System
unit
System
unit System unit

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 Components of System
Unit
• Mother Board

• Central Processing Unit (CPU)

• Memory

• Ports

• Buses

• Bays (Empty area, space, slot or compartment inside CPU case where
you can install hardware devices)

• Power Supply and Battery

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 Motherboard
• Motherboard Is also known as system board or main board.

• Motherboard is a communication medium for the entire computer system

• All components of the computer are connected to the motherboard.

• It also enables the user to attach different devices to it such as

keyboard, printer and scanner.

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Motherboard

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 Central Processing Unit
(CPU)
• CPU also known as processor/microprocessor.
• Performs all operations on data according to the given instructions.

• Executes instructions and tells other parts of computer what to do.

• All functions of processor usually are on a single chip in personal computers.

• A single-core processor is a processor with a single core on a chip.

• A multi-core processor has two or more cores on a single chip. Two most common

multi-core processors are

• Dual-core Processor: two separate cores on a single chip

• Quad-core Processor: four separate cores on a single chip

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Central Processing Unit
(CPU)
• CPU consists of two main units
• Arithmetic and Logic Unit (ALU)

• Control Unit

• These components work together to perform processing operations.

• ALU is the part of CPU where actual execution of instructions takes

place.

• All arithmetic and logical operations are performed in ALU.

ALU consists of two units

• Arithmetic Unit

• Logic Unit

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 Central Processing Unit
(CPU)
• Arithmetic unit of ALU performs basic arithmetic functions such as
addition, subtraction, multiplication and division.

• Logic Unit of ALU performs logical operations like comparing two data
items to find which data item is greater to, equal to or less than the other.

• Control unit is the component of CPU that acts like a supervisor of the
computer.

• It controls and coordinates all activities of a computer system by issuing

necessary commands to different components of computer.

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Central Processing Unit
(CPU)
• Important operations performed by control unit are
• It fetches instructions from the main memory.

• It interprets the instructions to find what operation is to be performed.

• It controls the execution of instructions.

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 CPU: Machine Cycle
• CPU uses the machine cycle to process each instruction. Four steps of
machine cycle are
• Fetch: Instruction fetch is a process of getting an instruction from the memory to
execute it. It is performed by the control unit.
• Decode: The control unit decodes the instruction. This process examines the
nature of instruction to determine what further operations should be taken. CU
directs to move the required data from memory to ALU.
• Execute: After decoding the instruction and getting the required data, CPU finally
executes that instruction. The instructions are executed by ALU.
• Storing: the process of writing the result to the memory is called storing.

• These four operations collectively called a machine cycle or instruction

cycle. 11
 CPU: Registers
• A processor contains small, high-speed storage locations, called registers, which
temporarily hold data and instructions.

• Registers are part of the processor, not part of memory or a permanent storage
device.

• Processors have many different types of registers, each with a specific storage
function.

Register functions include

• storing the location from where an instruction was fetched
• storing an instruction while the control unit decodes it
• storing data while the ALU computes it
• storing the results of a calculation.
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 CPU: Registers
• Some registers are
• Instruction register is used to store the fetched instruction.
• Address Register is used to store the memory address of data being used by
the CPU.
• Storage register store data retrieved from main memory prior to
processing.
• Accumulative Register store the results of arithmetic & logic operations
• Program Counter is used to store the address of next instruction to be
fetched for execution.

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 CPU: Pipelining
• Pipelining is a technique in which CPU fetches the next instruction before it
completes the machine cycle for the first instruction.

• Modern computers use pipelining to process multiple instructions at the

same time.

• It results in the faster processing and increases the performance of

computer.

• Without pipelining, the processor fetches, decodes, executes and stores

only one instruction at a time.

• CPU waits until an instruction completes its all four stages and then
executes the next instruction. 14
CPU: Pipelining

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 Memory
• A memory is just like a human brain.

• It is used to store data and instructions.

• Computer memory is the storage space in the computer, where data ( that
is to be processed) and instructions (required for processing) are stored.

• Memory consists of millions of cells of storage locations.

• Each cell can store a bit.

• Bit stands for binary digit.

• One bit can represent 0 or 1.

• The memory cells are logically organized into groups of 8 bits known as
byte.

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Categories of memory
Categories of memory are used to measure the amount of data that
can be stored or processed by a computer.
• 1. Bit: A single binary digit (0 or 1)
• 2. Byte: A group of 8 bits (e.g., 10101010)
• 3. Kilobyte (KB): 1,024 bytes
• 4. Megabyte (MB): 1,024 kilobytes
• 5. Gigabyte (GB): 1,024 megabytes
• 6. Terabyte (TB): 1,024 gigabytes
• 7. Petabyte (PB): 1,024 terabytes
• 8. Exabyte (EB): 1,024 petabytes
• 9. Zettabyte (ZB): 1,024 exabytes
• 10. Yottabyte (YB): 1,024 zettabytes

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Memory

• Each byte in the memory has a unique number assigned to it.

• This number is known as the address of that byte.

• The main memory can be viewed as a collection of bytes arranged

in an order.

• CPU can access any byte from main memory.

• A particular byte in the memory can be accessed by specifying its

address.

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 Memory

• There are two types of memory

• Volatile memory: it looses its contents when the computer is turned

off. RAM is the most common type.

• Non-volatile memory: it does not lose its contents when the

computer is turned off. ROM, flash memory and CMOS are examples.

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 Memory: RAM
• RAM stands for random access memory, it is a volatile memory and is also called
primary or main memory.

• Random access means that each individual byte in entire memory can be accessed
directly.

• RAM is used to store data and instructions temporarily.

• A program must be loaded into RAM before execution.

• RAM plays very important role in the processing speed of a computer.

• A bigger RAM size provides larger amount of space for processing, thus increasing
processing speed.
• Types of RAM are: DRAM and SRAM

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 Memory: RAM
• DRAM stands for dynamic random access memory.

• It is used in most computers and is least expensive kind of RAM.

• It requires an electric current to maintain its electrical state.

• The electrical charge of DRAM decreases with time that may result in
loss of data, therefore it is recharged again and again to maintain its
data.

• Processor cannot access the data of DRAM when it is being refreshed,

that’s why it is slow.

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Memory: RAM

• SRAM stands for static random access memory.

• It can store data without any need of frequent recharging.

• CPU doesn’t need to wait to access data, that’s why it is faster than
DRAM.

• It utilizes less power than DRAM but is more expensive.

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Memory: ROM
• ROM stands for read-only memory, and the name stems from the fact that
while data can be read from this type of computer memory, data cannot
normally be written to it.

• It is a very fast type of computer memory which is usually installed close to

the CPU on the motherboard.

• ROM is a type of non-volatile memory, which means that the data stored in
ROM persists in the memory even when it receives no power – for example
when the computer is turned off.

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Memory: ROM
• Different types of ROM are
• PROM

• EPROM

• EEPROM

• PROM stands for programmable read only memory.

• It is initially blank and user or manufacturer can write data and

programs on it.

• The user can write data only once, if there is an error it can not
be removed and chip becomes unusable.

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Memory: ROM
• EPROM stands for Erasable Programmable Read Only Memory.

• It is initially blank and user or manufacturer can write data and

programs on it.

• The data written on it can be erased with special devices using

ultraviolet rays.

• EEPROM stands for Electronically Erasable Programmable Read

Only Memory.

• Here, user can erase or write data with the help of electrical pulses.

• The contents of EEPROM can be easily modified.

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Memory: Cache Memory
• A cache is a small and very fast memory, that is designed to speed
up the transfer of data and instructions.

• It is located inside or close to the CPU chip and is faster then RAM.

• The data and instructions that are most recently and frequently
used by CPU are stored in cache.

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 Memory: Cache Memory
• The data and instructions are retrieved from main memory when CPU
uses them for the first time.

• A copy of that data is stored in cache.

• Next time, when CPU needs that data, it first looks in cache.

• If the required data is found there, it is retrieved from cache memory

instead of main memory, thus speeding up the working of CPU.

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Memory: Cache Memory
• A computer can have several different levels of cache. Different
levels of cache memory are illustrated by figure.

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