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Video Cards

There are three main types of video card commonly in use.

• PCI Express
• AGP
• PCI

PCI Express is the most current, and fastest, of the video cards. If possible, you will likely want to install a PCI express video card. Figure 5.1 shows a PCI Express video card.

PCI Express Video Card

Before PCI express the most common type of video card was the AGP card. AGP cards still give great performance. If you have only one video card in your system you will want to make sure it is either AGP or PCI Express. Figure 5.2 shows an AGP video card.

AGP Video Card

The oldest style for video cards that I will discuss is PCI. You can see a PCI video card in Figure 5.3.

PCI Video Card

You should not use a PCI card as your primary video display card. PCI cards are to slow to play any of the more advanced video games, or to show video. Besides, the price difference between PCI and AGI/PCI-Express is minimal.

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Types of Storage Media

Hard disks
Hard disks are the most used data storage media to store data. Every computer has a hard disk to store the data. There are several different types of hard disks. Not every hard disk works on the same speed. Also the technique can be different and therefore also the connectors can be different.
As I said before there are several speeds and several types. Below there is a list op types and speeds.

Types of hard disks
There are several types of hard disks available on the market. There are IDE, SATA, SCSI, USB and FIREWIRE hard disks. I will describe each type below.

IDE hard disk
The IDE hard disk is until know the most used hard disk in computers but in the future the SATA hard disks will be used more and more. A IDE hard disk is also called ATA or PATA hard disk. This means Parallel ATA and can transmit data on a normal speed and is a bit slower then the SATA hard disks.
You can recognize a IDE hard disk at the connector. It has a 40 pins connector and it has quite a big power connector.

SATA hard disk
A SATA hard disk works the same as an IDE hard drive but this type has a higher speed than the IDE hard disk. SATA means Serial ATA. Also the connectors are a bit different then the IDE hard disk.
You can recognize a SATA hard disk at the connector and it has a smaller power connector then the IDE hard disk. This hard disk is more and more used and probably it will replace the IDE hard disks.



SCSI hard disk
SCSI hard disks are much faster then the IDE or SATA hard disks. SCSI hard disks are mostly used for professional systems which need fast data access. These types of hard disks are often not used in home situations because they are more expensive then a IDE or SATA hard disk and in a home situation you don’t need that high speed. Mostly these hard disks are used in servers.You can recognize a SCSI hard disk at the connector and it has the same power connector then the IDE hard disk.



USB hard disk
This type of data storage medium is not installed in the computer but it can be attached to it using the USB interface. This is an external hard disk, also called a portable data storage device. This type of hard disk can be useful if you have

a laptop with a small hard disk inside, you can use a USB hard disk to store your data on. These hard disks are a bit slower then the IDE or SATA hard disks. The speed also depends on the type of USB interface you attach it to. There are USB 1.1 interfaces and USB 2.0. Be sure you attach it to a USB 2.0 interface to let the hard disk work faster.

FireWire hard disk
A FireWire hard disk works the same as a USB hard disk and is also an external hard disk. The only difference is that a USB hard disk is attached to the computer using the USB interface and a FireWire hard disk uses the FireWire interface. A FireWire hard disk is also a bit faster than a USB hard disk. But your computer has to have a FireWire interface and not every computer has such interface where a USB interface is almost on every computer.

DVD's



DVD’s are data storage media where you can store your data on using a DVD writer. If you want to move much data around this could be a perfect solution. On a single DVD you can store up to 4,7 GB of data. On a CD you can store up to 700 MB so a DVD has much more capacity then a CD. On the market there are several different DVD writers available. There are DVD+R, DVD-R, DVD +R and DVD-R, DVD-DL, DVD-RW.
For example:
You have a DVD+R writer in your computer and you have an empty DVD+R disc. You burn the data to the disc. This is possible because your DVD writer supports DVD+R.
After the disc is burned you go to your friend to copy the disc but your friend has only a DVD-R writer so this is not possible because this DVD writer doesn’t support DVD+R.
Fortunately, most newer DVD writers support both.
The DVD-DL means Dual Layer and it has a capacity of 8.5 GB. So on such a disc you can store even more data then on a normal DVD. Using a DVD writer or a dual layer dvd drive you can also burn CD’s.
Near a DVD drives and CD drives there are also drives which is called a CD DVD combo drive. Such drive is a drive which can write and read CD's and can only read DVD's and can not write DVD's.

Below there is a list of what functions most DVD writers support at the moment.

Example of what a single DVD writer supports.

Function	Drive Speed
Read (CD)	48 x (7,200 KB/s)
Read (DVD)	16 x (21,600 KB/s)
Write (CD-R)	48 x (7,200 KB/s)
Write (CD-RW)	32 x (4,800 KB/s)
Write (DVD-R)	18 x (24,300 KB/s)
Write (DVD-RW)	6 x (8,100 KB/s)
Write (DVD+R)	18 x (24,300 KB/s)
Write (DVD+RW)	8 x (10,800 KB/s)
Write (DVD-R) Double layer	8 x (10,800 KB/s)
Write (DVD+R) Double layer	8 x (10,800 KB/s)
Write (DVD-RAM)	12 x (16,200 KB/s)

CD's

A CD is also a data storage medium where you can store your data on using a CD writer or DVD writer. On a normal CD you can store up to 700 MB. The capacity of a CD is not that much but it is ideal for moving data like documents and a photos on it. So if you want to move smaller files you can burn your data to a CD. Also for CD writers there are several functions and speeds available on the market like a CD-R (recordable) or a CD-RW (rewritable).
On a floppy you can store just a small amount of data on. It has a capacity of 1.44 MB. To move around small documents like a Word document or Excel document this type of data storage medium can be used without a problem. Several years ago the floppy was the medium to store your data on but now it is mostly used for boot disks or DOS programs.

Tapes



This type of data storage medium is not much used in a home situation but is used in larger companies for data storage and backup their data. These data storage tapes must be put into a tape unit to store data on. You can call tape units also a data storage drives.
Also tapes have different capacities but common tapes have a much larger capacity then CD’s or DVD’s. There are tapes with a capacity like 10 GB up to 300 GB and more. So that’s why many companies use tapes to store or backup their data.

USB Sticks
This type of data storage medium is often used to move data around. Most of the time it is being used to copy files, photo’s, music etc from one computer to another. The USB sticks have a capacity from a few MB like 8 or 16 MB up to 1 GB or 2GB. You simply put the USB stick into a free USB port and the computer recognizes this as a ‘Device with removable storage’. You can simply drag the files to it.

Memory Sticks
This type of data storage medium is used in devices like digital camera’s and PDA’s. They will be used to store pictures or other data from a PDA for example. These memory sticks can also be read in a computer by putting them in a card reader which can be connected to the computer or by connecting your digital camera or PDA directly to the computer.

SD Cards (Secure Digital)
This type of storage medium is also used in devices like digital camera’s, Smartphone’s and PDA’s. They will be used to store pictures or other data from a PDA for example. These SD cards can also be read in a computer by putting them in a card reader which can be connected to the computer or by connecting your digital camera, Smartphone’s or PDA directly to the computer.

MMC Cards (Multi Media Card)
This type of storage medium is used in devices like digital camera’s, mobile phones, Smartphone’s and PDA’s. They will be used to store pictures or other data from a PDA for example. These MMC cards can also be read in a computer by putting them in a card reader which can be connected to the computer or by connecting your digital camera, Smartphone’s or PDA directly to the computer.This type of card is a small card.

XD Picture Cards
This type of storage medium is used in devices like digital camera’s from Olympus. They will be used to store pictures and movies made with the camera. These XD Picture cards can also be read in a computer by putting them in a card reader which can be connected to the computer or by connecting your digital camera, Smartphone’s or PDA directly to the computer.This type of card is a small card which fits in a Olympus camera.

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Types of Motherboards

A motherboard form factor just describes the dimensions or size of the motherboard and what the layout of the motherboard components are. It is important to understand the different motherboard form factors, because you cannot take any motherboard and place it in a computer case. You must put an ATX board in an ATX case.

Full AT

The first type of motherboard that we want to talk about is the full AT motherboard. The full AT motherboard is 12 inches wide and 11 inches long. The full AT suffered from a problem with accessing some of the items on the motherboard because the drive bays hung over the motherboard. This situation made installation and troubleshooting of the components on the motherboard very difficult.

Another problem with the layout of the full AT board is that the expansion cards, once inserted into the systems, would cover the processor. This situation led to cooling problems due to the fact that ventilation was insufficient to keep the chip from overheating.

Baby AT

The baby AT system board form factor has been one of the most popular motherboard types until recent years. The baby AT board is 8.5 inches wide and 10 inches long. This motherboard can be easily recognized because it usually has a DIN keyboard connector in the top-right corner of the board.

The baby AT board was about two-thirds the size of the full AT board and incorporated a socket 7 ZIF slot for classic Pentium processors. The baby AT board usually had a mixture of ISA/EISA and PCI slots located on the system board and included a plug and play BIOS.

Take a minute to consider some of the key components on the baby AT motherboard The socket 7 ZIF slot is usually situated at the bottom of the motherboard where the processor is to be installed. Also notice the SIMM and DIMM sockets on the right side of the motherboard, which are used to house RAM memory. To the left of the SIMM and DIMM slots, are the primary and secondary EIDE controllers for connecting the hard drives to the board. To the left of the EIDE controllers, notice the types of expansion slots that are used: There are four PCI slots and three EISA slots. Above the PCI slots, there is a silver circle, which is the CMOS battery.

ATX

In 1995, Intel wanted a system board that would be used to support the Pentium II processor and the new AGP slot, so the ATX form factor was built. The ATX board is 7.5 inches wide and 12 inches long and has all the IO ports integrated directly into the board, including USB ports. The ATX board introduced a 100 MHz system bus, whereas older Pentium boards ran at 60/66 MHz and had one AGP slot for video cards. The ATX board also had soft power support, which meant that the system could be shut down by the operating system. The ATX form factor rotated the baby AT components by 90 degrees so that any cards inserted into the bus architectures would not cover the processor and prevent proper cooling.

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Types of Memory

Memory Types
Memory Types

In order to enable computers to work faster, there are several types of memory available today. Within a single computer there is no longer just one type of memory. Because the types of memory relate to speed, it is important to understand the differences when comparing the components of a computer.

SIMM (Single In-line Memory Modules)
SIMMs are used to store a single row of DRAM, EDO or BEDO chips where the module is soldered onto a PCB. One SIMM can contain several chips. When you add more memory to a computer, most likely you are adding a SIMM.

The first SIMMs transferred 8 bits of data at a time and contained 30 pins. When CPU's began to read 32-bit chunks, a wider SIMM was developed and contained 72 pins.

72 pin SIMMS are 3/4" longer than 30 pin SIMMs and have a notch in the lower middle of the PCB. 72 pin SIMMs install at a slight angle.

DIMM (Dual In-line Memory Modules)
DIMMs allow the ability to have two rows of DRAM, EDO or BEDO chips. They are able to contain twice as much memory on the same size circuit board. DIMMs contain 168 pins and transfer data in 64 bit chunks.

DIMMs install straight up and down and have two notches on the bottom of the PCB.

SODIMM (Small Outline DIMM)
SO DIMMs are commonly used in notebooks and are smaller than normal DIMMs. There are two types of SO DIMMs. Either 72 pins and a transfer rate of 32 bits or 144 pins with a transfer rate of 64 bits.

RDRAM - RIMM
Rambus, Inc, in conjunction with Intel has created new technology, Direct RDRAM, to increase the access speed for memory. RIMMs appeared on motherboards sometime during 1999. The in-line memory modules are called RIMMs. They have 184 pins and provide 1.6 GB per second of peak bandwidth in 16 bit chunks. As chip speed gets faster, so does the access to memory and the amount of heat produced. An aluminum sheath, called a heat spreader, covers the module to protect the chips from overheating.

SO RIMM
Similar in appearance to a SODIMM and uses Rambus technology.

Technology

DRAM (Dynamic Random Access Memory)
One of the most common types of computer memory (RAM). It can only hold data for a short period of time and must be refreshed periodically. DRAMs are measured by storage capability and access time.

Storage is rated in megabytes (8 MB, 16 MB, etc).

Access time is rated in nanoseconds (60ns, 70ns, 80ns, etc) and represents the amount of time to save or return information. With a 60ns DRAM, it would require 60 billionths of a second to save or return information. The lower the nanospeed, the faster the memory operates.

DRAM chips require two CPU wait states for each execution.

Can only execute either a read or write operation at one time.

FPM (Fast Page Mode)
At one time, this was the most common and was often just referred to as DRAM. It offered faster access to data located within the same row.

EDO (Extended Data Out)
Newer than DRAM (1995) and requires only one CPU wait state. You can gain a 10 to 15% improvement in performance with EDO memory.

BEDO (Burst Extended Data Out)
A step up from the EDO chips. It requires zero wait states and provides at least another 13 percent increase in performance.

SDRAM (Static RAM)
Introduced in late 1996, retains memory and does not require refreshing. It synchronizes itself with the timing of the CPU. It also takes advantage of interleaving and burst mode functions. SDRAM is faster and more expensive than DRAM. It comes in speeds of 66, 100, 133, 200, and 266MHz.

DDR SDRAM (Double Data Rate Synchronous DRAM)
Allows transactions on both the rising and falling edges of the clock cycle. It has a bus clock speed of 100MHz and will yield an effective data transfer rate of 200MHz.

Direct Rambus
Extraordinarily fast. By using doubled clocked provides a transfer rate up to 1.6GBs yielding a 800MHz speed over a narrow 16 bit bus.

Cache RAM
This is where SRAM is used for storing information required by the CPU. It is in kilobyte sizes of 128KB, 256KB, etc.

Other Memory Types
VRAM (Video RAM)
VRAM is a video version of FPM and is most often used in video accelerator cards. Because it has two ports, It provides the extra benefit over DRAM of being able to execute simultaneous read/write operations at the same time. One channel is used to refresh the screen and the other manages image changes. VRAM tends to be more expensive.

Flash Memory
This is a solid-state, nonvolatile, rewritable memory that functions like RAM and a hard disk combined. If power is lost, all data remains in memory. Because of its high speed, durability, and low voltage requirements, it is ideal for digital cameras, cell phones, printers, handheld computers, pagers and audio recorders.

Shadow RAM
When your computer starts up (boots), minimal instructions for performing the startup procedures and video controls are stored in ROM (Read Only Memory) in what is commonly called BIOS. ROM executes slowly. Shadow RAM allows for the capability of moving selected parts of the BIOS code from ROM to the faster RAM memory.

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