Exemplar for internal assessment resource Digital Technologies for Achievement Standard 91080

Exemplar for Internal Achievement Standard

Digital Technologies Level 1

This exemplar supports assessment against:

Achievement Standard 91080

Demonstrate understanding of the common components of basic digital infrastructures

An annotated exemplar is an extract of student evidence, with a commentary, to explain key aspects of the standard. These will assist teachers to make assessment judgements at the grade boundaries.

New Zealand Qualification Authority

To support internal assessment from 2014

© NZQA 2014

Exemplar for internal assessment resource Digital Technologies for Achievement Standard 91080

Grade Boundary: Low Excellence

1. For Excellence, the learner is required to demonstrate comprehensive understanding of the common components of basic digital infrastructures. This involves:

• discussing the characteristics and limitations of the connections that carry data between components

• discussing the key characteristics used to specify each kind of component, in terms of interoperability, tradeoffs, efficiencies, cost, and context of use.

The ‘common component’ that this student investigated was video interface devices. The student has demonstrated comprehensive understanding by discussing the characteristics and limitations of the connections that carry data between such components. The student has begun to compare the resolutions of each interface.

The student has discussed the key characteristics used to specify each kind of component in terms of interoperability, tradeoffs, efficiencies, cost, and context of use for three common types of interfaces used for video output from a video card. There is some comparison of the capabilities of each interface (1), the interoperability (2), the efficiencies (3), the cost (4), and context of use (5).

For a more secure Excellence, the student could have discussed with more detail the characteristics and limitations of the interfaces.

© NZQA 2014

Video Card output interfaces

Video Graphics Array (VGA) connector

This is a 3 row 15 pin connector The connector type is in DE15 format

A DE 15 VGA connector http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:SVGA_port.jpg

The VGA connectors and cables are for analog video (red, green, Blue Horizontal and vertical sync) The connector is not designed to be hot pluggable(with Power on). The interface will run with resolutions of 640X400px to 1280x1024PX

(SVGA) or higher (1) (5)

At higher resolutions there may be some video degradation or electrical noise. This interface is

still available on most video cards but is increasingly being replaced by HDMI and DVI interfaces. On

laptops this interface is generally being replaced by HDMI interfaces. (3)

DVI

http://pl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plik:Dvi_types.png

Digital Visual Interface (DVI) is a digital interface that is intended to connect Computers to LCD type monitors The interface is capable of passing High Definition Video. In some cases it is compatible with VGA in some of its formats. DVI-I is commonly used on PCs as this interface has some backwards compatibility with VGA using an adapter. DVD links

are resistant to electrical noise and distortion (1)

The interface is designed to transmit uncompressed digital video at up

to1920x1200 (WUXGA) (5)

HDMI (High-Definition Multimedia Interface)

Is an interface that can transmit uncompressed video data and both

compressed and uncompressed sound data (3). Converters are available to

convert the video signal for DVI and VGA (2). This interface is the standard used in TVs and DVD players now. Version 1.3 of the standard supports video at resolutions of 2560x1600 (WQXGA) and up to 8 channels of audio.

Student 1: Low Excellence

In the future there is development for resolutions up to 3,840×2,400 (WQUXGA) using type B

connectors. (1)(5)

In summary the best interface to use would seem to be the HDMI as this combines both sound and video and is rapidly becoming the de facto standard being used of course this depends on the capability of the video card and monitor that you use. Most modern monitors will support at least DVI and HDMI or VGA. There is little cost difference between the interfaces on new machines though you might have to purchase a HDMI cable as these are not commonly supplied with new

systems. (4)The tradeoff would be to use the DVI or VGA Interfaces however the use of the computer today would suggest that High definition is needed. If your monitor does not support sound you also may have to buy speakers.

Exemplar for internal assessment resource Digital Technologies for Achievement Standard 91080

Grade Boundary: High Merit

2. For Merit, the student is required to demonstrate in-depth understanding of the common components of basic digital infrastructures. This involves:

• explaining how the purpose of components determines the connections between components, and the typical flow of data along them

• explaining how the key characteristics of components limit their interoperability • explaining the importance of procedures and protocols when installing or

replacing a component or a program.

The ‘common component’ that this student investigated was video interface devices. The student has demonstrated in-depth understanding by explaining why PCIe is needed for video cards. Their explanation gives reasons why and how the purpose of components determines the connections between components, and the typical flow of data along them (1).

The student has given reasons for why and how the key characteristics of components limit their interoperability (2) by explaining the lanes and types of PCIe Connectors.

The student has explained the importance of procedures and protocols when installing or replacing a component or a program (3), with examples of what could happen with components if these procedures and protocols were not followed.

To show the comprehensive understanding required for Excellence, the student would need to discuss the characteristics and limitations of the connections, and the key characteristics that are used to specify each type of component (as required by Explanatory Note 2).

© NZQA 2014

Video card Connections

Modern video cards use the PCIE connection on the mother board this connector has been developed so that there is fast communication between the video card and the CPU which is needed to play a lot of today’s high end games where user require fast Frames per second rates The interface is available in a number of formats

The interface has some good interoperability as the largest interface PCIe x16 will fit all of the cards from the other types of PCIe . This also occurs for most of the other slot formats as long as the interface card connector is smaller or the same size as the slot. As long as the slot has an open back end larger cards will also work in a smaller slot just not as fast.

• ‘PCIe x1′ connections have one data lane ‘ • PCIe x4′ connections have four data lanes ‘ • PCIe x8′ connections have eight data lanes ‘ • PCIe x16′ connections have sixteen data

lanes

Each lane has a pair of connection one input and 1 output so it can be seen from this that there would be a higher bandwidth with the larger interface. There is a cost increase with the higher number of lanes. The lanes are connected to and share

parallel data lines to and from the processor. Differences in card types and speed will affect the performance. PCie is a point tp point connection The older PCI slot was connected to a bus which resulted in much slower speeds

PCIe slots are used for other types of interface cards as well though not of these are that common yet.

Figure 1 from http://blog.savel.org/2005/05/31/pci-express-cards/#sthash.0FARpJdR.dpuf

Figure 2 from http://www.hardwaresecrets.com/

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Student 2: High Merit

Importance of Following procedures or protocols

Procedures and protocols are written by business or manufacturers to provide standard and correct ways of adding or replacing items in a computer

A procedure will usually give the process in a format that gives a list of steps to follow but may not be specific to a particular product. A procedure is often written by a company to ensure that all the employees follow a similar way of doing an operation.

A protocol will usually be related to a particular product and gives a set of steps that must be followed

On the internet there are a number of websites that provide a process for replacing a video card that could be applied to a number of different video cards

The manufacturer of a product will generally provide an instruction that explains the way the manufacturer expects you to install their product

The dangers of not following these processes are that you could damage the video card. For instance if you don’t follow normal anti-static procedures a small static discharge can damage the chips on the card. Forcing a card into a slot may damage the card or slot. Forcing connecters may bend pins.

If you don’t follow the procedures you may void the warranty on the cards and with some videos card this could be quite expensive.

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Exemplar for internal assessment resource Digital Technologies for Achievement Standard 91080

Grade Boundary: Low Merit

3. For Merit, the student is required to demonstrate in-depth understanding of the common components of basic digital infrastructures. This involves:

• explaining how the purpose of components determines the connections between components and the typical flow of data along them

• explaining how the key characteristics of components limit their interoperability • explaining the importance of procedures and protocols when installing or

replacing a component or a program.

The ‘common component’ that this student investigated was video interface devices. The student has demonstrated in-depth understanding, giving reasons why and how the purpose of components determines the connections between components, and the typical flow of data along them (1). Some explanation is given for how data flows in the PCIe lanes.

The student has explained how the key characteristics of components limit their interoperability, giving some examples of the types of video card interfaces, slot sizes and power requirements (2).

The student has explained the importance of procedures and protocols when installing or replacing a component or program, including reasons why the procedures need to be followed (3).

For a more secure Merit, the student should provide more in-depth information, and could explain with examples some of the dangers of not following protocols and processes.

© NZQA 2014

The Peripheral Component Interconnect Express (PCIe) interfaces for video cards was developed to replace the slower PCI and AGP interfaces. The interface has a higher throughput (bandwidth) and fewer In/out pins and is smaller in size. There are a number of physical sizes of interface ×1, ×2, ×4, ×8, or ×16 being common. PCIe has a number lanes each lane has 2 wires one to send data and one to receive data depending on the number of links there will be a number of lanes available eg a x16 will have 32lanes. For video cards this means that the interface can communicate at high speeds which are needed to get high frame rates for gaming

From http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:PCIExpress.jpg

Various PCI slots. From top to bottom:

• PCI Express ×4 • PCI Express ×16 • PCI Express ×1 • PCI Express ×16 • Legacy PCI (32-bit)

The PCIe interface is currently being used mainly for video it is intended that this interface will become the default interface for any add in cards much the same as the more basic PCI Slot was a few years ago.

A PCIe card will fit into a slot of its size or a larger one. PCIe allows data transfer rates of up to 32 gigabyte per second. The x4 and x8 slots can also provide up to 25 watts of power to the card and the x16 up to 75 watts . This means for some cards that additional power may be required which needs to be provided from the power supply.

Importance of Following procedures or protocols

Procedures and protocols are written to help people to know the correct way of doing some thing

A procedure will give the process in general terms whereas a protocol will usually be more precise. An example is that you may find on the internet a process for replacing a video card that is general to a number of different video cards where as if you go to the manufacturer’s website you may find a protocol that explains the way the manufacturer expects you to install their product

It is important that procedures and protocols are followed as this will minimise the risk of damage to the video card when installing a new card. If the correct process is followed the card should also work correctly the first time it is used.

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Student 3: Low Merit

Exemplar for internal assessment resource Digital Technologies for Achievement Standard 91080

Grade Boundary: High Achieved

4. For Achieved, the student is required to demonstrate understanding of the common components of basic digital infrastructures. This involves:

• describing and identifying the purpose of the components of basic digital infrastructures

• describing the typical connections and data flow between components of a basic digital infrastructure

• describing key characteristics of components of a basic digital infrastructure that limit their interoperability

• describing a procedure or protocol for installing or replacing a physical component or a program.

The ‘common component’ that this student investigated was video interface devices. The student has demonstrated understanding by describing and identifying the purpose of the video card (1).

The typical connections (2) and data flow (4) for a video card were described. The student has described key characteristics that limit the interoperability of the output interfaces of the video card (3).

The student has described a procedure or protocol for installing or replacing a physical component or a program. The procedure described would easily enable a card to be successfully installed, and the student has used some images to aid someone in following this process (5).

To reach Merit, the student needs to explain how the purpose of components determines the connections, and to clearly show the flow of data between them, how the key characteristics limits their interoperability, and the importance of procedures and protocols (as required by Explanatory Note 2 for in-depth understanding).

© NZQA 2014

Graphics Adapters (Videocards)

The graphics adapter is an extension card that is used in a computer to enable the user to view graphical information that has been sent from the computer to a display device such as a monitor.

Graphics cards are found in 2 formats in computers

Dedicated video card which has its own memory and Graphics processor on the card. These types of card now generally require extra power to be supplied from the power supply On modern computers they generally will fit into a PCIe slot on the mother board. This slot has a number of different formats so you need to ensure that you buy the correct video card. The video card can be brought with different amounts of ram and Processors. What you get depends on how much you are prepared to pay!

The second type of video card is one that is built into the motherboard. This type generally uses a portion of the systems ram. This type is being phased out with the Graphic processing unit beginning to be included in the Central processing Unit (CPU)using an accelerated processing unit(APU). On board video is generally used in cheaper or more basic computers. As these 2 types of on-board video use system resources such as ram or processing capacity from the CPU they may slow down the computer.

Modern Video cards will normally have a number of different output ports on the back these may include DVI VGA HDMI Digital Port SVideo and on some cards more than one interface can be used to run multiple monitors. On modern computers they generally will fit into a PCIe slot on the mother board

Image from http://www.rakuten.com/th/pny-graphic-video-card.html

This card has VGA HDMI and DVI and has a PCIe x 16 interface

• VGA stands for Video Graphics array which is analog based and is design mainly for CRT monitors there may be some issues with electrical noise and image distortion at higher resolutions

• DVI stands for Digital Visual Interface is digital based and is intended for LCD displays It avoids electrical noise and image distortion and can pay High Definition video.

• HDMI stands for High-Definition Multimedia Interface It is similar to DVI but allows also a sound signal to be sent as well

Data generally flows mainly from the CPU through the graphics card to the monitor, little is sent back the other way unless there is a touch screen.

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Student 4: High Achieved

Upgrading the graphics card

1. Before you buy a graphics card, make sure that your computers 's power supply is up to the task.. Check the manufacturer's specs for minimum power requirements before you take the plunge. Modern video cards may require and extra power from the power supply.

2. Check that the card will fit into your computer. Graphics boards have become longer over the years, and the space in older cases may be a little tight. Also check that the motherboard has the right interface for your new graphics card

Hint use the manuals that came with your computer and the internet to help find the information needed in 1 and 2

3. It is suggested that you download the latest driver for the new graphics card. Don't install it yet. This will ensure that when you install the device drivers that are the most recent

4. Uninstall the older graphics drivers. Even if you're installing a GPU of the same brand as before, removing the older drivers prior to installing the new card is a good idea.

5. Power down the system.

6. Carefully remove any power connectors from the old graphics card If fitted . Also remove the screws that attach the connector bracket to the case.

7. Make sure that any cables or wiring that surrounds the card is out of the way. Sometimes , large CPU heat sinks can interfere with physical card removal or installation, if so you may need to remove the heat sink. Make sure to detach the monitor cable from the old graphics card's outside connector, too.

.8. Some motherboards have a little latch that locks the graphics card into its slot. You may have to hold this latch

down (or aside) while removing the card with your other hand.

9. If the new card requires power connectors you may want to attach these first if the space inside the case is too tight

10. Install the new graphics board, making sure that no small wires or other things are overhanging the PCI Express slot. If the card seems difficult to push down, check to see whether the connector bracket is sliding in

properly. The card should slide in without using excessive force.

11. Once the card is firmly in place, replace the connector-bracket screws.

12. Reattach the monitor cable. If you've been using a VGA cable, and your monitor has a digital input (DVI, HDMI), now is a good time to switch to digital inputs with the right cable.

13. Double-check to confirm that the graphics card's power connectors (If needed) are in place. Additionally, verify that no small wires or cables will interfere with any of the cooling fans.

14. Power up the PC. Check that all the fans are spinning. If you hear any rattling, it indicates that something is rubbing against the fans; power down and check to make sure that no fans have become blocked.

15. Once the system is powered up and running normally, install the latest drivers for the graphics card. One more reboot, and if necessary change the settings for the graphics drivers so that you have a display that you like.

16. Close up the case.

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Exemplar for internal assessment resource Digital Technologies for Achievement Standard 91080

Grade Boundary: Low Achieved

5. For Achieved, the student is required to demonstrate understanding of the common components of basic digital infrastructures. This involves:

• describing and identifying the purpose of the components of basic digital infrastructures

• describing the typical connections and data flow between components of a basic digital infrastructure

• describing key characteristics of components of a basic digital infrastructure that limit their interoperability

• describing a procedure or protocol for installing or replacing a physical component or a program.

The ‘common component’ that this student investigated was video interface devices. The student has demonstrated understanding by describing and identifying the purpose of the video card (1).

The typical connections (2) and data flow (4) for a video card were described. The student has described key characteristics that limit the interoperability of the output interfaces of the video card (3).

The student has described a procedure or protocol for installing or replacing a physical component or a program. The procedure described would easily enable a card to be successfully installed, and the student has used some images to aid someone in following this process (5).

To reach Merit, the student needs to explain how the purpose of components determines the connections, and to clearly show the flow of data between them, how the key characteristics limits their interoperability, and the importance of procedures and protocols (as required by Explanatory Note 2 for in-depth understanding).

© NZQA 2014

Video Cards

Video cards are used in computers to allow the computer to convert the output from the CPU into data that can be viewed on the screen(1). There are two main types of video cards, A dedicated video card and some mother boards have the video card built in.

Video cards have a number of possible interfaces: VGA, HDMI and DVI are common examples. The internal port inside the computer where a dedicated video card is use is usually a PCIe Slot which is on the motherboard.

Data generally flows from the CPU through the video card to the monitor generally the data does not flow in the other direction unless the monitor is touch capable.

Svideo DVI VGA

VGA DVi HDMI

Fig 1 common output interfaces on video cards (From Wikipedia)

Various PCI slots. From top to bottom:

• PCI Express ×4

• PCI Express ×16

• PCI Express ×1

• PCI Express ×16

• Legacy PCI (32-bit)

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Student 5: Low Achieved

The different ports have different uses

• VGA has only video and is suitable for up to 1080 DPI really designed for CRT monitors • DVI is used for HD Video and is designed for LCD displays • HDMI is HD video and includes the sound as well.

Procedure for installing a video card (Windows Computer)

1. Purchase a video card that will fit into your computer you may have to use the manuals that came with your computer or look on the internet or even open the case.

2. If you are replacing an existing video card you should uninstall the drivers first from Device manager

3. Shut down your computer and switch off at the wall but leave it plugged in so that the computer frame is earthed

4. Remove the side of the case (you might have to check the computer’s manual to do this)

5. Touch the case with your hands to dissipate any static charge you may also want to use an anti-static wrist strap.

6. 5.Locate the PCIe slot that the card is going into or remove the old card as appropriate.

7. Open up the plastic anti-static bag that contains the new and take care to only handle the card by it edges try not to touch any of the electronics and interfaces.

8. Check that the card will fit into the slot and gently push it in until it is firmly home. Excess force means something is wrong.

9. Put in the screw that holds in the card 10. You can close up the case but some people will boot the computer before doing this to

check that all works first 11. The screen will look horrible until you load the device drivers 12. Windows will detect the card and ask for the drivers 13. Locate the CD with the device driver and install the drivers following any on screen

instructions You may want to go to the manufacturers website and see if there are any updated drivers.

14. One the drivers are loaded then you may have to reboot and then adjust the screen settings. 15. Close up the case if you did not do so in 10.

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Exemplar for internal assessment resource Digital Technologies for Achievement Standard 91080

Grade Boundary: High Not Achieved

6. For Achieved, the student is required to demonstrate understanding of the common components of basic digital infrastructures. This involves:

• describing and identifying the purpose of the components of basic digital infrastructures

• describing the typical connections and data flow between components of a basic digital infrastructure

• describing key characteristics of components of a basic digital infrastructure that limit their interoperability

• describing a procedure or protocol for installing or replacing a physical component or a program.

The ‘common component’ that this student investigated was video interface devices. The student has identified the video card and provided some basic details about it (1).

The typical connections and the data flow between components have been identified (2).

The student has identified some key characteristics of the video card that limit its interoperability (3), for example in their mention of slot sizes.

The student has begun to describe a procedure or protocol for installing or replacing a physical component or program (4).

To reach Achieved, the student would need to move the work from ‘identify’ to ‘describe’, by describing what it is and what it does.

The process given (4) would need to be tidied up, and turned into a step by step procedure that would clearly explain to someone how to replace a video card.

© NZQA 2014

Videocards

•An extension card is a PCI or PCI-E card that plugs directly into the motherboard, Such as a video/display/graphics card adapter. It is a component which generates output images to a display. Most graphics cards offer various functions which include accelerated rendering of enhanced 3D scenes, MPEG-2/MPEG-4 decoding, TV output, or the ability to connect multiple monitors. The memory of most modern graphics cards or video RAM (VRAM) ranges from 128MB to 16GB.

•All expansion cards connect to PCI or PCI-E ports on the motherboard.

•The data that flows along the connection made is information necessary to render images on the screen. Other types of data transferred through connections such as USB ports would be binary data that the computer would read as whatever was necessary i.e. a word document.

•The technical specifications and limitations for an on-board component would be how long it is in relation with the PCI/PCIE slot and how many PCI/PCIE slots are actually available also for extra USB slots there would be the availability of the USB connectors on the motherboard itself.

•To install or replace a PCI/PCIE chip is very easy. You must simply make sure the computer is off then locate the cad you wish to reinstall/replace and if it is screwed in, unscrew it, otherwise make sure it is disconnected from the PSU (if it requires independent power) and if it is a graphics card it will most likely have a locking mechanism at the base to prevent it accidentally falling out. After these steps are completed simply pull the card out with light force, place the new card inside the desired PCI/PCIE slot (if it’s a graphics card make sure the locking mechanism clicks) and if it requires independent power plug that in and then you are complete.

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Student 6: High Not Achieved