BUILDING A COMPUTER With increasing popularity of computer games, and
multimedia home PC users often need an unexpensive computer system upgrade. By
building a custom computer one is able to combine componenets, and operating
system to provide maximal gaming performance. Computers are often called number
manipulators, because of their ability to run millions of mathematical
operations per second (White 43). Computers use binary system of numbers, which
allows them to operate system of microscopic switches called transistors found
inside of computer chips. Binary system is defined as counting system that uses
two digits one and zero (Gookin 49). A transistor is a basic building block of
microchips; transistors are combined in formations called logic gates (White
39). “Transistor can only create binary information: one if current passes
through or zero if current does not, to work with transistors”(White 39).
Computer software uses Boolean logic, which is based on selecting true or false
values used in computer programming (White 39). All personal computers have
BIOS, which is an acronym for Basic Input Output System. The BIOS runs every
time the computer is started, and it basically tells the computer how to act
(White 19). The BIOS is a part of the boot up process, or a complex set of
operations checking hardware that components are working properly. Besides BIOS
and several other operations there is power–on self-test - POST being ran. POST
test runs at the start up, and if it finds an error, it sends a warning message
(White 5). Central processing unit – CPU is the most important part of the
personal computer, all other components work as a bridge to CPU (White 59). The
speed of the processor is usually defined by using units called megahertz (MHz,
also million frequency waves per second).
CPUs are generally divided into two categories- CISC and RISC. CISC – complex
instruction set computing, uses many small instructions to carry out a single
operations. CISC is a standard in today’s processors. RISC – reduced instruction
set computing, uses less complicated instructions with simpler design. RISC
microprocessors are cheaper, they produce less heat, and they are generally
smaller in size compared to CISC. With less heat and smaller size RISC
processors have great advantage in reaching higher frequencies with less danger
of overheating. The major disadvantage and also reason why RISC microprocessors
are not widely used, is less compatibility with available software. The earlier
programs were written for CISC chips. In order to reach maximal speed, and
compatibility the major manufacturers of microprocessors such as Intel, use some
advantages of RISC technology, to improve the performance of their CISC
compatible microprocessors (White 55). Computer microprocessor is the most
important part of the PC, but it can not work by it self. One of the few primary
components is BUS, also called a highway of the computer. BUS transports data
among the processor, random access memory, and hard disk. Speed of the BUS
depends on the type of motherboard where it is installed (White 119). Random
access memory- RAM is also attached to the motherboard- base of all the
components, but unlike BUS, RAM can be easily removed and changed. Random access
memory works as a staging area for the central processing unit (White
43).Capacity of random access memory is very important for the performance of a
computer. In case there is not enough RAM the software can create space on the
hard drive to be used as temporary operating memory (White 31). Random means
that any part of the memory can be accessed at any time, it is not necessary to
read all of the memory to find one location.
