Information Systems/Hardware

Hardware refers to the physical parts or components of a computer. Hardware includes components such as the monitor, keyboard, hard drive disk, mouse, printers, graphic cards, sound cards, memory, motherboard and chips, etc. This lesson covers internal computer components.

Objectives and Skills

Objectives and skills for the hardware portion of CLEP Information Systems include:

• Concepts of computer architectures (mainframe, client/server, operating systems)
• Devices (processing, storage, input and output, telecommunications, networking)
• Functions (computer, telecommunications, network hardware)

Readings

1. Read Wikibooks: Introduction to Computer Information Systems/The System Unit.
2. Read Wikipedia: Personal computer.
3. Read Wikipedia: Computer hardware.
4. Read Wikipedia: Computer architecture.

Multimedia

1. See HowStuffWorks: Computer Hardware Pictures.
2. Watch YouTube: Hardware Resources.
3. Watch YouTube: Basic Computer Hardware.
4. Watch YouTube: Inside Your Computer.
5. Watch YouTube: How a CPU Works.
6. Watch YouTube: Binary Numbers.
7. Watch YouTube: Conversion of Decimal Number to Binary/Hexadecimal/Octal Number and Vice Versa Using a Calculator.
8. Watch YouTube: What Kind of Computer Should I Get?.
9. Watch Youtube: How to swap hard drives.

Activities

1. Use Quia: Computer Basics to play an interactive game where you match key computer hardware terms with definitions.
2. Complete the Online-Passport.info: Hardware Identification Activity.
3. Run the System Information or List Hardware utility for your operating system:
   • Windows: Review Microsoft: What is System Information?. Run System Information on Windows and observe the System Summary, Hardware Resources, Components, and Software Environment available on the system.
   • OS X: Review Apple: OS X: About System Information. Run System Information on OS X and observe the hardware available on the system.
   • Linux: Review Linux Man Page: lshw. Search the Internet for how to run the lshw (List Hardware) utility on your Linux distribution. Run lshw and observe the hardware available on the system.
4. Create an inventory list of all internal hardware components in your system. Using your preferred hardware vendor, check the hardware specifications for a new system. How recent is your hardware? Is the same technology still in use on current systems?
5. Review the Consumer Reports "Computer Buying Guide". Visit your favorite computer retailer's website and go "shopping" for a new computer or familiarize yourself with the hardware of a computer at PCPartPicker and build your own system.
6. To understand how a CPU works, review MathsIsFun: Binary, Decimal and Hexadecimal Numbers and MathsIsFun: Binary to Decimal to Hexadecimal Converter. Experiment with converting decimal values to hexadecimal and binary, and then back to decimal again. Then use your operating system's calculator and change the view to programmer mode. Perform simple math calculations in binary and hexadecimal. Convert the values to decimal to check your work.

Lesson Summary

• Computer hardware is a collection of physical elements that make up a computer system.
• Computer hardware consists of the physical parts of a computer, such as the monitor, mouse, keyboard, computer data storage, hard disk drive, graphic cards, sound cards, memory, motherboard, and so on.
• The central processing unit, or CPU, is that part of a computer which executes software program instructions.
• The power supply unit, or PSU, converts general purpose electric current from the mains to direct current for the other components of the computer.
• A PC's main memory is a fast storage area that is directly accessible by the CPU, and is used to store the currently executing program and immediately needed data. PCs use semiconductor random access memory (RAM) of various kinds such as DRAM, SDRAM or SRAM as their main memory.
• Mass storage devices such as hard drives store programs and data even when the power is off; they do require power to perform read and write functions during usage.
• Optical drives, including CD, DVD, and Blu-ray Disc, are data storage devices using rapidly rotating discs coated with reflective material and read using a laser diode.
• Hard disk drives (HDD) are data storage devices used for storing and retrieving digital information using rapidly rotating disks (platters) coated with magnetic material.
• Solid state drives (SSD) are data storage devices using integrated circuit assemblies as memory to store data persistently.
• Video cards—otherwise called graphics cards, graphics adapters or video adapters—process the graphics output from the motherboard and transmit it to the display.
• A network interface controller (NIC, also known as a network interface card, network adapter, LAN adapter, and by similar terms) is a computer hardware component that connects a computer to a computer network.
• The motherboard, also referred to as system board or main board, is the primary circuit board within a personal computer, and other major system components plug directly onto or cable into the motherboard.
• Computer architecture consists of different computer designs used for specific tasks, including, but not limited to: smartphones, tablets, laptops, desktop computers, super computers, and mainframe computers.

Key Terms

architecture

A set of rules and methods that describe the functionality, organization and implementation of computer systems.

ASCII (American Standard Code for Information Interchange)

An eight-bit character encoding scheme used on personal computing devices.

backward compatible

Products designed for a new standard that can also receive, read, view or play older standards or formats.

bay

A standard-sized area for adding hardware to a computer.

binary

A system of representing letters, numbers or other characters using the digits 0 and 1.

bit (binary digit)

The basic unit of information in computing and digital communications which can have only one of two values, most commonly represented as either a 0 or 1.

bus

A communication system that transfers data between components inside a computer, or between computers.

byte

A unit of digital information in computing and telecommunications that consists of eight bits, permitting the values 0 through 255 and used to encode a single character of text.

cache

A component that stores data so future requests for that data can be served faster.

cluster

A set of loosely or tightly connected computers that work together so that, in many respects, they may be viewed as a single system.

computer

A general-purpose device that can be programmed to carry out a set of arithmetic or logical operations automatically.

CPU (Central Processing Unit)

The electronic circuitry within a computer that carries out the instructions of a computer program by performing the basic arithmetic, logical, control and input/output (I/O) operations specified by the instructions.

data

A set of values of qualitative or quantitative variables identified as individual pieces of information.

digital

Data that is represented using discrete (discontinuous) values.

EBCDIC (Extended Binary Coded Decimal Interchange Code)

An 8-bit character encoding scheme used mainly on IBM mainframe and IBM midrange computer operating systems.

expansion card

An interface to connect peripheral devices to a computer, usually a laptop computer, created in 2003.

file

A resource for storing information, which is available to a computer program and is usually based on some kind of durable storage.

FireWire

An interface standard for a serial bus for high-speed communications and isochronous real-time data transfer developed by Apple and replaced with Thunderbolt.

firmware

The combination of a hardware device, e.g. an integrated circuit, and computer instructions and data that reside as read-only software on that device.

GB (Gigabyte)

A unit of digital information equal to 10⁹ (1 billion) bytes.

GHz (Gigahertz)

A unit of frequency defined as 10⁹ (1 billion) cycles per second.

GPU (graphics processor unit)

A specialized electronic circuit designed to rapidly manipulate and alter memory to accelerate the creation of images in a frame buffer intended for output to a display.

hardware

The collection of physical elements that constitutes a computer system.

Hertz (Hz)

A unit of frequency defined as one cycle per second.

information

That which may be derived from data and knowledge.

input

Signals or data received by a computing system.

KB (Kilobyte)

A unit of digital information equal to 10³ (1 thousand) bytes.

MB (Megabyte)

A unit of digital information equal to 10⁶ (1 million) bytes.

memory

Primary storage devices used to store information for immediate use in a computer.

MHz (Megahertz)

A unit of frequency defined as 10⁶ (1 million) cycles per second.

microprocessor

A multipurpose, programmable device that accepts digital data as input, processes it according to instructions stored in its memory, and provides results as output

motherboard

The main printed circuit board (PCB) found in computers and other expandable systems.

multicore processor

A single computing component with two or more independent processing units.

multiprocessing

The use of two or more central processing units (CPUs) within a single computer system.

multitasking

A concept of performing multiple processes by executing them concurrently.

nanotechnology

The manipulation of matter on an atomic, molecular, and supramolecular scale.

optical computer

A computing device that uses photons rather than electrons for computation.

output

Signals or data sent from a computing system.

parallel processing

The simultaneous use of more than one CPU or processor core to execute a program or multiple computational threads.

PB (Petabyte)

A unit of digital information equal to 10¹⁵ (1 quadrillion) bytes.

PC Card

A parallel communication peripheral interface designed for laptop computers in 1990.

port

An interface between the computer and other computers or peripheral devices.

quantum computer

A computing device that uses subatomic particles rather than electrons for computation.

RAM (Random-Access Memory)

Volatile data storage directly accessible by the processor.

ROM (Read-Only Memory)

A class of computer data storage which cannot be modified.

secondary storage

Non-volatile data storage not directly accessible by the processor.

TB (Terabyte)

A unit of digital information equal to 10¹² (1 trillion) bytes.

Unicode

An encoding scheme that uses 8, 16, or 32 bits to represent text expressed in most of the world's writing systems.

Review Questions

1. Computer hardware is _____.

   Computer hardware is a collection of physical elements that make up a computer system.
2. Computer hardware consists of _____.

   Computer hardware consists of the physical parts of a computer, such as the monitor, mouse, keyboard, computer data storage, hard disk drive, graphic cards, sound cards, memory, motherboard, etc.
3. The central processing unit, or CPU, is that part of a computer which _____.

   The central processing unit, or CPU, is that part of a computer which executes software program instructions.
4. The power supply unit, or PSU, converts _____ to _____.

   The power supply unit, or PSU, converts general purpose electric current from the mains to direct current for the other components of the computer.
5. A PC's main memory is _____, and is used to _____.

   A PC's main memory is a fast storage area that is directly accessible by the CPU, and is used to store the currently executing program and immediately needed data.
6. Mass storage devices such as _____ store _____.

   Mass storage devices such as hard drives store programs and data even when the power is off; they do require power to perform read and write functions during usage.
7. Optical drives, including _____, are _____.

   Optical drives, including CD, DVD, and Blu-ray Disc, are data storage devices using rapidly rotating discs coated with reflective material and read using a laser diode.
8. Hard disk drives (HDD) are _____.

   Hard disk drives (HDD) are data storage devices used for storing and retrieving digital information using rapidly rotating disks (platters) coated with magnetic material.
9. Solid state drives (SSD) are _____.

   Solid state drives (SSD) are data storage devices using integrated circuit assemblies as memory to store data persistently.
10. Video cards—otherwise called _____—process _____ and transmit it to _____.

    Video cards—otherwise called graphics cards, graphics adapters or video adapters—process the graphics output from the motherboard and transmit it to the display.
11. A network interface controller (NIC, also known as _____) is a _____.

    A network interface controller (NIC, also known as a network interface card, network adapter, LAN adapter, and by similar terms) is a computer hardware component that connects a computer to a computer network.
12. The motherboard, also referred to as _____, is the _____.

    The motherboard, also referred to as system board or main board, is the primary circuit board within a personal computer, and other major system components plug directly onto or cable into the motherboard.

Assessments

• Flashcards: Quizlet: Information Systems - Hardware
• Quiz: Quizlet: Information Systems - Hardware
• Flashcards: Quizlet: Basic Computer Concepts

See Also

• Computer Hardware
• Wikibooks: Introduction to Computer Information Systems
• [[1]]

Additional Resources

• Crucial: How to install an SSD in your desktop
• Gookin, Dan. (2011). Troubleshooting and Maintaining Your PC All-in-One For Dummies. ISBN 9780470878675
• HowStuffWorks.com: What's inside my computer?
• PC World: How to Build a PC
• White, Ron. (2014). How Computers Work: The Evolution of Technology, 10th Edition. ISBN 9780789749840

References

Type classification: this is a lesson resource.

Completion status: this resource is considered to be complete.