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[h1] THE PC CASE [/h1] [b]-[/b] The computer case is the container that houses and protects the PC motherboard, power supply, and other components. [b]-[/b]A computer case is constructed of metal, plastic, and even acrylic [b]-[/b]Come in a variety of sizes [em] 1.Full Tower [/em] [em] 2.Mid-Tower [/em] [em] 3.Mini-Tower [/em] [em] 4.Desktop [/em] [em] 5.Low Profile [/em] [b]-[/b]A case fits a certain motherboard FORM FACTOR and comes with a power supply!!!

CHAPTER 1 - PC Cases

-All components, including external peripheral, connect directly or indirectly to the motherboard. -The most common type of motherboard in current computers is the ATX form factor. -The BTX standard, provides cooling efficiency and quieter operation because of the position of components on the motherboard requiring less fan power. Also the board is slightly bigger. [b]-Most common types of bus architecture:[/b] 1.[em]PCI - Peripheral component interconnect[/em] - transfers data in a parallel over a data bus 2.[em]PCIe - Peripheral component interconnect express[/em] - uses serial communications (not a true bus, but a group of serial channels. Is newer of the standards 3.[em]AGP - Accelerated graphics port[/em] - local bus designed for video ONLY The above bus architecture are all local because they connect more directly with the processor -[b]Chipset[/b] is one to three separate chips on the mobo that handle very low-level functions relating to the interactions between the CPU and other components. 2 parts of the chipset Northbridge Southbridge -[b]BIOS - Basic Input/Output System[/b] - Firmware that informs the processor of the hardware that is present and contains low-level software routines for communicating with and controlling the hardware -[b]CMOS - complementary metal-oxide semiconductor[/b] - Supported by a battery, CMOS stores basic hardware config. settings, such as those for drives, keyboards, boot sequence, and resources used by a particular component. The CMOS chip is NON-Volatile RAM.

Chapter 1 - Motherboards

Types of Drives and Connectors: 1- These are the drives: [b]-IDE - Integrated Drive Electronics[/b]-has the controller circuitry mounted on the hard drive itself [b]-EIDE - Enhanced Integrated drive electronics[/b]- New Term For IDE These are the interfaces: [b]-ATA - Advanced Technology Attachment[/b]- The actual connector [b]-PATA - Parallel Advanced Technology Attachment[/b]- New Term for ATA [em]What you need to remember about the above[/em] [u] IDE, EIDE, ATA, & PATA are all used interchangeably[/u] [u] IDE & EIDE should refer to the drive[/u] [u] ATA & PATA should refer to the interface[/u] [u] Connected with WIDE RIBBON cables[/u] [u] Does not support hot swapping[/u] __________________________________________________________________________________ [b]-SATA - Serial Advanced Technology Attachment[/b]- Newer and faster interface for EIDE drives [/b] Newer boards come with both SATA and PATA interfaces on the mobo Uses slender cables Supports hot swapping [b]-ATAPI - ATA packet interface[/b]-This is just a standard used to connect drives with removable media to the PATA interface CD drives & DVD drives are examples

Driver Interface Standards

-The CPU is a chip that is the primary control device for a PC. -The CPU connects connects to all the components, such as memory, storage, and Input/Output through communications channels called busses -CPU Components include: 1.Control Unit 2.busses 3.ALU (arithmetic logic unit) 4.memory 5.controllers 6.cache (L1 & L2) -Hyperthreading-technology that allows the CPU to execute two threads at the same time within a single execution. (1st-Pentium 4) Dual Core processors: 2 processing cores which can produce 2 threads at the same time! Throttling (thermal) - Feature that causes the processor to lower its speed, in order to reduce the temp of the CPU to protect from damage 2 Top Manufacturers of PC CPUs: 1. INTEL 2. AMD (Advanced Micro Devices, Inc)

Processor/CPU