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Demystify Computer System Configuration/Upgrade

C. Edward Chow

Department of Computer Science

CU Colorado Springs

email: chow@cs.uccs.edu

http://www.cs.uccs.edu/~chow

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Outline of the Talk

• Overview of the computer system architecture

• Apply Amdal’s Law for system performance/cost trade-off

• Current trend in computer architecture

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Personal Computer System

DisplayChassis

Keyboard/Mouse

A container:Power SupplySound Card

CPUMemory

Hard DriveFloppy Drive

CD-ROM/DVDModem

Video Capture

Printer

Scanner

Speaker

Camcorder

Output Devices

Input Devices

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Laptop Portable Computer

Clamp-on Video Camera

Headset/Microphone

LCD Display (14.1-12.1”)

Select Bay:24xCD-ROM/DVD

FloppyBattery

2nd Hard Drive(2-8GB)

PC Card SlotsModem CardNetwork Card

PentiumII Mobile Processor (300-200MHz)

Twice expensive; Less speed; Mobile!

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Choices of Display Devices

CRT Monitor(Cathode Ray Tube)

Display

LCD Monitor(use less desk space, e.g. 6.7” depth compared with 15.9” for 15” CRT)(less radiation)(very expensive)

Screen Typical Resolution Diagonal Row * Column Cost Length (in pixels)

Monitor 15” (13.8”) 1024 * 758 $158 17” (15.7”) 1024 * 758 $219 19” (17.7”) 1600 * 1200 $445 21” (19.7”) 1600 * 1200 $999

LCD 15” 1024 * 758 $1150

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Choices of Color Printers

Inject Printer

Laser Printer(crisp sharp and will not diffuse as some of the inject printers when touched with water)

Print Speed Resolution Pages/min (PPM) Dots/in (DPI) Color Black Horizontal Vertical Cost

Inject 1.5 4 600 * 300 $148 2.5 6 1200 * 600 $168

Laser BW 6 600 * 600 $380

Color 3 12 600 * 600 $2000

4 16 1200 * 1200 $3550

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Choices of Color Scanners

The top three are Flatbed Scanners. There exist hand-held/card scanners.*: There are multifunction systems for Small Office Home office (SOHO) (including fax, color printing, color copying, and color scanning functions) that can perform color scan on individual sheet.

Color Maximum ResolutionDepth Document Size Dots/in (DPI)bits/pixel Accepted Horizontal Vertical Cost

30 letter 300 * 600 $7730 8.5x13” 600 * 1200 $26036 letter 600 * 600 $272

Multifunction System*24 legal 300 * 300 $37030 legal 300 * 300 $970

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What are in the “tower”?

tower

CPU Memory

DiskModem

I/O Bus (PCI/ISA Bus)

System Bus

Chassis

Motherboard

L2 cache

SoundCard

Graphic Accelerator

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Choices of CPU Compatible Processor In Package System Clock Rate L2 Cache Size Bus CostPentium II 450MHz 512KB 100MHz $740 400MHz 512KB 100MHz $535 350MHz 512KB 100MHz $340Celeron 300MHz 128KB 66MHz $172Overdrive 200MHz 32KB(L1) 66MHz $171

KinstonTurbo Chip 200MHz 64KB(L1) 66MHz $156

AMD K6-2 350MHz 64KB(L1) 100MHz $254 300MHz 64KB(L1) 100MHz $139

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Choices of Mother Boards System Bus Max DRAM Speed Size Pin Type Cost

SE440BX 100MHz 384MB 168Dimm $180

TITAN 66MHz 256MB 168Dimm $89TURBO 72SimmAT-2 PENTINTEL430TX

100 MHz Bus support Acelerated Graphic Port (AGP)

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AGP: Accelerated Graphics Port technology

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Choices of Memory

Main Memory (DRAM: Dynamic RAM)• 32MB Dimm 60ns $60• 32MB Simm 60ns $47

Cache Memory (SRAM: Static RAM)• 256KB $35• 512KB $60

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Amdal’s Law

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Let us play the computer system upgrade game

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Trend in Computer Architecture