A complete and comprehensive guide to the hardware components inside personal computers. Provides a foundation for understanding current and future PC systems and how the specification of each component affects the entire system. Key bus, and topics include motherboards, memory, PCI and other fundamentals. Softcover.
From the Inside Flap
The internal architecture of the PC is changing for many reasons, including:
* Phasing-out of old legacy busses and devices. PCs have, in the past, been difficult to configure and to add new equipment to, as they are still very much based on legacy systems. The worst offender of this is the ISA bus which requires the use of interrupt lines (IRQs) and special memory address (I/O ports). These have always been difficult to configure and normally require some degree of expertise before they can be correctly configured. New interfaces, such as the USB, allow for the automatic identification and configuration of a device and for addition and deletion of a device while the PC is still powered on.
* Increase in the system data rate. Over the years, the processor has increased its speed, but the system board has struggled to keep up with these increases. New architectures are now being developed which more closely match system memory and the graphics controller to the processor, while moving other devices and interfaces, such as the hard disk and communication ports, away from the processor. This allows high-speed devices to have direct access to the processor, allowing for increased data transfer to and from memory, and for enhanced 3D photorealisitic graphics.
* New memory devices. Traditional memory (DRAM) can be slow when compared with the processor speed. New memory devices, such as RDRAM, have now been developed which allows ultra-high data transfers between the processor and the memory.
* New plug-and-play architectures. USB provides a great deal of enhancements over traditional connections, and will be used extensively over the next few years to connect devices to the PC.
* Increased usage of electronic bridges. These segment the PCs into segments which are more closely matched to the speed of the device. A typical device is the PCI bridge.This book provides a foundation on the understanding of previous, current and future PC systems. These principles will allow undergraduates and professionals to fully understand how the specification of each component of a PC affects overall system performance.
It outlines each of the main PC processors and contrasts their performance. It also examines each of the main interface devices and shows how they integrate into the complete system. In the motherboard material, previous, current and future motherboards are shown in some detail to allow undergraduates and professionals to understand how data is passed around the PC. The main objectives are to:
* Provide a complete understand of all PC systems, current or future. This helps in understanding the specifications of a computer so that users can purchase the required specification for their application.
* Provide an insight in how PC systems will involve in the future. This will allow hardware and software developers to properly understand how they design and develop their products to encapsulate new systems.
* Show how systems have evolved from the original PC to current and future systems. This shows how the PC has kept compatibility with previous systems, but increased its power.
One of the main aims of this book is to provide a foundation on the understanding of previous, current and future PC systems, and how the specification of each component of a PC affects the overall system performance. It shows where PCs have been in the past, where they are now, and how new architectures and interfaces devices will change the PC from a difficult-to-use, difficult-to-configure and difficult to add-to system into an easy-to-use supercomputer.
* Phasing-out of old legacy busses and devices. PCs have, in the past, been difficult to configure and to add new equipment to, as they are still very much based on legacy systems. The worst offender of this is the ISA bus which requires the use of interrupt lines (IRQs) and special memory address (I/O ports). These have always been difficult to configure and normally require some degree of expertise before they can be correctly configured. New interfaces, such as the USB, allow for the automatic identification and configuration of a device and for addition and deletion of a device while the PC is still powered on.
* Increase in the system data rate. Over the years, the processor has increased its speed, but the system board has struggled to keep up with these increases. New architectures are now being developed which more closely match system memory and the graphics controller to the processor, while moving other devices and interfaces, such as the hard disk and communication ports, away from the processor. This allows high-speed devices to have direct access to the processor, allowing for increased data transfer to and from memory, and for enhanced 3D photorealisitic graphics.
* New memory devices. Traditional memory (DRAM) can be slow when compared with the processor speed. New memory devices, such as RDRAM, have now been developed which allows ultra-high data transfers between the processor and the memory.
* New plug-and-play architectures. USB provides a great deal of enhancements over traditional connections, and will be used extensively over the next few years to connect devices to the PC.
* Increased usage of electronic bridges. These segment the PCs into segments which are more closely matched to the speed of the device. A typical device is the PCI bridge.This book provides a foundation on the understanding of previous, current and future PC systems. These principles will allow undergraduates and professionals to fully understand how the specification of each component of a PC affects overall system performance.
It outlines each of the main PC processors and contrasts their performance. It also examines each of the main interface devices and shows how they integrate into the complete system. In the motherboard material, previous, current and future motherboards are shown in some detail to allow undergraduates and professionals to understand how data is passed around the PC. The main objectives are to:
* Provide a complete understand of all PC systems, current or future. This helps in understanding the specifications of a computer so that users can purchase the required specification for their application.
* Provide an insight in how PC systems will involve in the future. This will allow hardware and software developers to properly understand how they design and develop their products to encapsulate new systems.
* Show how systems have evolved from the original PC to current and future systems. This shows how the PC has kept compatibility with previous systems, but increased its power.
One of the main aims of this book is to provide a foundation on the understanding of previous, current and future PC systems, and how the specification of each component of a PC affects the overall system performance. It shows where PCs have been in the past, where they are now, and how new architectures and interfaces devices will change the PC from a difficult-to-use, difficult-to-configure and difficult to add-to system into an easy-to-use supercomputer.
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