Task 1.1 Components of a Pc

Level 2 BTEC I.TJosh Lamb 1365940

CPU, (central proccesing unit) controls the computer and gives it the “brains” needed to proccess the services or tasks. The better the CPU the quicker the PC will run.

Motherboard – “Heart "of the PC , this is called the motherboard, the mother of the components, all of a PC’s components connect to the motherboard in one way or another. The peripherals go on the outside of the casing and the components go on the inside of the casing.

GPU (graphics processing unit) runs all the graphics along side the CPU and gives all the power for running high graphics games or for photo editing. Nvidia and ATI Radeon are a very common graphics processing company's.

HeatsinkHeat sink is used for removing heat from the CPU and GPU, it sits on top of the CPU however in-between the CPU and heat sink there is a thermal paste/compound which is a thin paste that also helps reduction of the heat a lot, you can buy thermal paste online from arctic silver if your laptop or pc gets too hot, this is a common problem in laptops and this usually solves the problem.

RAM (random access memory) is used for a paging file and for running a lot of background applications at the same time that will take a lot of memory, the memory can also be referred to as dump memory, this is because it is opposite of a hard drive, you cant install things on ram, and once the PC is turned off the temporary ram being used will be deleted. A good amount of memory is around 4gb + .

Bios – Basic input/ output system, this is used for storing system settings i.e clock speed, boot device order, master and slavery hard drives/solid state drives. It also keeps the time and date synced with the PC, you can also choose if the PC will allow integrated audio from the motherboard and also gives information of hardware attached to the motherboard or plugged into the PCI/AGP slots.

Cmos batteryCMOS batteries keep the memory of the BIOS settings and the synchronising time and date, if your CMOS battery runs out your BIOS setup will reset to factory settings every time you turn on your PCuntil you replace it, however they last around 5 years and are cheap and easy too replace.

Soundcard – a soundcard can offer higher quality and louder sound than your PC’s standard on board integrated headphones slot, a sound card plugs into a PCI or AGP slot depending on your motherboard, they have AUX output, mic input, and headphone/earphones jack. Some Offer surround sound. However if your Video card offers a HDMI slot, the sound will be produced from the video card into the hdmi output device (TV or HD pc monitor/ HD projector).

Graphics card – is used to give extra graphics/video memory and speed that the card can process the memory at also matters, ati and nvidia offer a reasonably priced 1gb dedicated graphics cards. Normal PC’s for everyday users normally have 256mb ram.

£89 2gb graphics card ATIRadeon

Hard drive / Solid State driveHard drives have two types. SATA / IDE , SATA are more common these days as cheaper and more space and speed, IDE are normally found in old PC’s. They read/write quicker and have more memory than IDE, however Solid state drives read quicker and write much quicker than standard hard drives however they don’t have as much disk space for the price.

1tb hard drive: £50 pound

1tb solid state drive: £508

Commonly used cables.

SCSI Cables used for IDE Hardware/ e.g IDE HDD + CD ROM

SATA cables used for SATA hard drives.

PSU (power supply unit) gives power to the motherboard to distribute to the components, without this the PC won’t turn on, they also include connections of SATA cables to run the hard drive or disk drive.

Task 1.2 different types of computers

Level 2 BTEC I.TJosh Lamb 1365940

Desktop PCGenuinely more power Space then a laptop for the price as the cost of the screen and physically smaller hardware to fit into the thinner and smaller casing, easier to upgrade and add extra parts, also extra usb slots and Ethernet is more used on desktop PCs and is quicker then Wi-Fi.

Typical user: FamilyPrice Average : £400

Software Typically found : Windows operating systemMicrosoft officeEmails

Laptop

Laptops are a less powerful portable less power consuming PC, they are used by teenagers for around the house or travelling. Also used by Important People who own businesses and have to carry the laptop from meetings too other places.

Typical user: BusinessmenPrice Average : £450

Software Typically found : Windows operating systemMicrosoft officeEmailsGames

File Server

A file server is used to control, hold information from multiple PCs often used in schools, work or college to hold employees or students files, these PCs normally have restrictions on what can be done compared to a personal computer, i.e. no administrator rights, control panel access System registry files or computer management access either. And normally have a firewall blocking social networking or personal use websites like YouTube or eBay.

Typical user: SchoolPrice Average : £1500

Software Typically found : Limited OS with no administrator rightsSimple word processing and browsing

SupercomputerNASA Supercomputer, used by big companies to figure out hard equations and calculations that even a high end PC couldn’t figure out, very expensive and only big companies have them.

Typical user: NASA or BanksPrice Average : £500,000 – £1Billion

Games ConsoleGames console normally have dedicated CPU,GPU and graphics cards integrated too the motherboards. They also have dedicated cooling system i.e. a powerful fan too keep it cool. Some consoles such as the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 have SATA Hard drives built in too there system, however if removed the warranty would be void. Gaming consoles have all the same components of a PC apart from having the companies installed operating system ,normally Linux based and simple just too insert the discs and a few extra features sometime including the internet as the Xbox 360 and ps3 and also the Nintendo Wii have integrated Wi-Fi cards.

Typical user: ChildrenPrice Average : £200

PDA

Personal Digital Assistant: personal information manager, stores data and can access internet, not used as much now as smartphone can do everything a PDA can do.

Typical user: Postman/CourierPrice Average : £100

Smartphone

Typical user: EveryonePrice Average : £250

Smartphones are a type of PC because they also have a motherboard, Wi-Fi, CPU, sound, graphics and have the addition of making phone calls. Smartphones can do almost everything a PC can do, they are however more portable and used everyday by billions of users and allow you too download apps and play games or even pay for things wirelessly and have them delivered too your door the next day, smartphones are the most important piece of technology too the whole world in my opinion.

Gaming PCTypical user: GamersPrice Average : £500-25,000

Gaming PC’s are usually built by people who know a lot about computers and bought parts separately too there own specifications. Custom built are harder to build but if done correctly, they are high spec and generally have a really good graphics card,GPU and CPU.

Task 1.3Logical Computer System

Level 2 BTEC I.TJosh Lamb 1365940

CPU/control unit ALU

Backing Storage

Main memory

InputOutput

Pictures used as examples.

Task 1.4 Ways of connecting too a network

Level 2 BTEC I.TJosh Lamb 1365940

Different computers and networking

• PC’s connect to a network via Wireless or Wired LAN connection, it can access a wide different information including file sharing and connecting too the internet. Multiple PC’s can connect too the same network at the same time and use the same internet connection. The diagram explains how the Multiple PC’s can connect at once.

Ways of connecting to the internet;PCI WIFI Adapter 300mbs;This device can be plugged straight into the motherboard via a PCI slot, it will install a driver too run the device, and then connect to a wireless router provided by your IP provider.

This is another WIFI Adapter for a laptop that is stored inside of the Laptop casing and plugged into the motherboard and connected via 2 flex cables. This also connects too your wireless router.

Ways of connecting to the internet;This Is a LAN connection, connect via Ethernet cable, the Ethernet cable also known as a cat-5 or cat-5e cable. It plugs straight into your Ethernet slot on your laptop or PC, it will connect too your router/modem provided by your broadband provider.

Ways of connecting to the internet;This Is a Mobile Broadband connecting, this works by topping up your ‘Dongle’ this plugs into your USB slot on your PC or Laptop and can be used too connect toot he internet via 3G connection. Users may also put a SIM card from there mobile phone into this dongle too use the mobile data allowance via this dongle.

Devices that can connect to the internet;

Device Speed (MB/s)Mobile phone 100PCI WIFI Adapter 300Mobile Dongle 65Laptop WIFI 300Ethernet 10003G network(Avg.) 7.24G network(Avg.) 100

Download; Downloading Is receiving Mobile Data from a Server or even a website. Downloading takes up your capacity(internet allowance).

Capacity(internet allowance) ; This is the amount, )normally in Gigabytes) that the internet provider i.e. Sky or Virgin, allow you too use in a month, When you access a website it downloads a small amount of data however if you download extra movies of music, then it starts too use your data up quicker than normal browsing.

Upload; Uploading is used to share files with a server or other PCs this also uses your data, and whoever downloads whatever you upload uses there allowance as well.

Internet explanation;