Mersisop : Perangkat Keras dan Struktur Komputer

Perangkat Keras Komputer

Perangkat keras komputer adalah semua bagian fisik komputer, dan dibedakan dengan data yang berada di dalamnya atau yang beroperasi di dalamnya, dan dibedakan dengan perangkat lunak (software) yang menyediakan instruksi untuk perangkat keras dalam menyelesaikan tugasnya.

Batasan antara perangkat keras dan perangkat lunak akan sedikit buram kalau kita berbicara mengenai firmware, karena firmware ini adalah perangkat lunak yang "dibuat" ke dalam perangkat keras. Firmware ini merupakan wilayah dari bidang ilmu komputer dan teknik komputer, yang jarang dikenal oleh pengguna umum.

Komputer pada umumnya adalah komputer pribadi, (PC) dalam bentuk desktop atau menara kotak yang terdiri dari bagian berikut:

1.     Papan sistem/papan induk yang merupakan tempat CPU, memori , slot vga, dan memiliki slot untuk kartu tambahan.

a)     RAM - tempat penyimpanan data sementara / jangka pendek,sehingga perangkat lunak yang kita jalankan akan tersimpan sementara, sehingga komputer tidak perlu selalu mengakses hard disk untuk mencari data. Jumlah RAM yang lebih besar akan membantu kecepatan PC

b)    Buses:

·         Bus PCI

·         Bus ISA

·         USB

·         AGP

c)     ROM (Read Only Memory) di mana firmware diletakkan

d)    CPU (Central Processing Unit) sebagai otak dan bagian utama komputer

2.     Power supply - sebuah kotak yang menyalurkan daya ke papan induk transformer, kontrol voltase dan kipas

3.     Pengontrol penyimpanan, dari jenis IDE, SCSI atau SATA atau lainnya, yang mengontrol hard disk, Floppy disk, CD-ROM, DVD-ROM dan drive lainnya; kontroler ini terletak di papan induk (atas-papan) atau di kartu tambahan

4.     Pengontrol penampilan video yang memproduksi output untuk komputer display

5.     Pengontrol komputer bus (paralel, serial, USB, Firewire) untuk menyambung komputer dengan alat tambahan luar lainnya seperti printer atau scanner

6.     Beberapa jenis penyimpanan komputer:

a)     CD - tipe paling umum media yang dapat dilepas, murah tapi mudah rusak.

·         CD-ROM

·         CD-RW

·         CD-R

b)    DVD

·         DVD-ROM

·         DVD-RW

·         DVD-R

c)     Floppy disk

7.     Penyimpanan dalam - menyimpan data dalam komputer untuk penggunaan jangka panjang.

a)     Hard disk - untuk penyimpanan data jangka panjang

b)    Disk array controller

8.     Kartu suara - menerjemahkan signal dari papan sistem ke bahasa yang dapat dimengerti oleh speaker, dan memiliki terminal untuk mencolok kabel suara speaker.

9.     Jaringan komputer - untuk menghubungkan komputer ke internet dan/atau komputer lainnya.

a)     Modem - media penyambung ke koneksi internet.

b)    Kartu network - untuk internet DSL/kabel, dan/atau menghubungkan ke komputer lain.

10.  Alat lainnya.

Sebagai tambahan, perangkat keras dapat memasukan komponen luar lainnya. Di bawah ini merupakan komponen standar atau yang umum digunakan.

a)     Input

·         Keyboard

·         Alat penunjuk

·         Mouse

·         Trackball

·         Joystick

·         Gamepad

·         Scanner gambar

·         Webcam

·         Tablet Grafis

b)    Output

·         Printer

·         Speaker

·         Monitor

c)     Jaringan/Networking

·         Modem

Struktur Komputer

     Basic Personal Computer System

·     A computer system consist of hardware and software components.

• ·     Hardware is the physical equipment such as the case, storage drives, keyboards, monitors, cables, speakers and printers.
• ·     Software is the operating system and program.
•       The operating system instruct the computer how to operate.
•       Programs or applications perform different function.

Computer Cases and Power Supply

• Provides protection and support for internal components.
• Should be durable, easy to service, and have enough room for expansion.
• The size and layout of a case is called a form factor.
• Must provide enough power for the installed components and future additions.

Power Supply

• Converts AC power from the wall socket into DC.
• Must provide enough power for the installed components and future additions.

Four Basic Untis of Electricity

• Voltage (V) is a measuring of the force required to push electrons throughs a circuit. Voltage is measured in volts. A computer power supply produces several different voltages.
• Current (I) is a measure of the amount of electrons going through a circuit. Current is measured in amperes, or amps (A). Computer power supplies deliver different amperages for each output voltage.
• Power (P) is voltage multiplied by current. The measurement is called watts (W). Computer power supplies are rated in watts.
• Resistance (R) is the opposition to the flow of current in a circuit. Resistance is measured in ohms. Lower resistance allows more current to flow through a circuit.

Internal Components :

• Motherboards
• CPUs
• Cooling system
• ROM and RAM
• Adapter cards
• Storage drives
• Internal cables

Motherboards

• The motherboards is the mainted printed circuit board.
• Contains the buses, or electrical pathways found in a computer. Buses allow data to travel among the various components.
•  Accomodates CPU, RAM, expansion slots, heat sink/fan assembly, BIOS chip, chip set, sockets, internal and external connectors, various ports, and the embedded wires that interconnect the motherboard components.

Motherboard Form Factor

• The form factor of motherboards pertains to the size and shape of the board.
•  It also describes the physical layout of the different components and devices on the motherboard.
•  Various form factors exist for motherboard :
• AT – Advanced Technology
• ATX – Advanced Technology Extended
• Mini-ATX – Smaller footprint of ATX
• Micro-ATX – Smaller footprint of ATX
• LPX – Low-profile Extended
• NLX – New Low-profile Extended
• BTX – Balanced Technology Extended

Central Proccessing Unit (CPU)

•  The CPU is known as the brain of the computer. It is also referred to as the proccessor.
•  Some CPUs incorporate hyperthreading to enhance the performance of the CPU.
•  The CPU excutes a pprogram, which is a sequence of stored instruction.
•  Two major CPU architectures related to instruction sets :
•  Reduced Instruction Set Computer (RISC)
•  Complex Instruction Set Computer (CISC)  
• Some CPUs incorporate hyperthreading to enhance the performance of the CPU.
• The amount data that a CPU can proccess at the one time depends on the size of the proccessor data bus.
• Overclocking is a technique used to make a proccessor work at a faster speed than its original specification.
• MMX is set of multimedia instructions built into intel proccessor.
• The latest proccessor technology has resulted in CPU manufactures finding ways to incorporate more than one CPU core onto single chip.
• Dual core CPU, Triple core CPU and Quad core CPU.

Cooling Systems

•       Electronic components generate heat. Too much heat can damage components.
•       A case fan make the cooling proccess more efficient
•       A heat sink draws heat away from the core of the CPU. A fan on top of the heat sink moves the heat away from the CPU.
•       Fans can be dedicated to cool the Graphich-proccessing unit (GPU).

ROM and RAM

•       Read Only Memory ( ROM )
•       ROM contains the basic instructions for booting the computer and loading the operating system are stored in ROM.
•       Random Access Memory (RAM)
•       RAM is temporary storage for data and programs that are being accessed by the CPU.
•       RAM is volaitile memory, which means that the contents are erased when the computer is powered off.
•       More RAM means more capaciry to hold and proccess large programs and files, as well as enhance system performance.

Memory Modules

•       Memory modules are memory chips that have been soldered to a special circuit board for easy installation and removal.
•       Dual Inline Package (DIP) is an individual memory chip.
•       Single Inline Memory Modul (SIMM) is a small circuit board that holds several memory chips.
•       Dual Inline Memory Module (DIMM) is a circuit board that holds SDRAM, DDR SDRAM, and DDR2 SDRAM chips.
•       RAM Bus Inline Module (RIMM) is a circuit board that holds RDRAM chips.
•       Outline DIMM (SODIMM) is a smaller, more condesnded version of DIMM which provides random access data storage that is ideal for use in laptops, printers, and other devices where conserving space is desirable.
•        The speed of memory has a direct impact on how much data a processor can process because faster memory improves the perfomance of the processor. As processor speed increases, memory speed must also increase.

Cache and Error Checking

• Cache
• SRAM is used as cache memory to store the most frequently used data.
• SRAM provides the processor with faster access to the data than retrieving it from the slower DRAM, or main memory.
• Error Checking
• Memory errors occur when the data is not stored correctly in the RAM chips.
• The computer uses different methods to detect and correct data errors in memory.

Adapter Cards

• Adapter cards increase the functionality of a computer by adding controllers for specific devices or by replacing malfunctioning ports.
• Examples of adapter cards :
• Sound adapter and video adapter
• USB, prallel and serial ports
• Network interface card (NIC) wireless NIC and modem adapter
• Types of expansion slots :
• Perpheral Component Interconnect (PCI)
• Advanced Graphics Port (AGP)
• PCI-Express

Hard Drives and Floopy Drives

•      Hard drives and floppy drives read or write information to magnetic storage media.
•      The hard disk drive (HDD) is a magnetic storage device. The storage capacity is measured in gigabytes (GB).
•      Magnetic hard drives have drive motors designed to spin magnetic platters and move the drive heads.
•      Solid State Drives (SDDs) do not have moving parts, which results in faster access data, higher reliability, reduced power usage.
•      A floppy disk drive (FDD) is storage device that uses removable 3.5 inch floppy disk that can store up to 1.44 MB of data.