Introduction
The components of all information systems such as hardware devices, software, people, procedures, and organizational goals are interdependent. Because the performance of one system affects the others, all of these systems should be measured according to the same standards of effectiveness and efficiency, given issues of benefits, cost, control, and complexity. When selecting computer subsystem devices, you also must consider the current and future uses to which these systems will be put. Your choice of a particular computer system should always allow for later improvements in the overall information system such as the following devices.
Storage devices hold data, information, and programs permanently. These devices supplement memory (also called primary storage) that can hold data and programs only temporarily. Common storage devices include a hard disk drive, floppy disk drive, a CD-ROM drive and DVD-ROM drive. A drive is a device that reads from and writes onto a storage medium. A storage medium is the physical material on which data, information, and programs are stored and retrieved.
Input devices accept data or commands in a form that the computer can use; they send the data or commands to the processing unit. Commonly-used input devices include keyboard, mouse, microphone, scanner, digital camera, and PC cameras.
Output devices show people the processed data information in understandable and useful form. Three commonly used output devices are a printer, a monitor, and speakers.
The hard drive is a critical element in system performance, influencing how fast windows or quickly applications launch, and the speed of loading large data or graphics files. Any operation that involves moving large amounts of information on or off the disk will reveal the importance of a high-performance hard drive. The transfer rate is great.
By keeping up with the standard needs of the industry we can be assured that our personal computers will have all the necessary space and the ability to access and save the data as required and in an efficient manner when considering the hard disk. They are an ideal choice for consumers working with large files, including audio and video applications. Any operation that involves moving large amounts of information on or off the disk will reveal the importance of a high-performance hard drive.
The plastic floppy disk was considered to be revolutionary during its time. Not only was it considered to be a nice small size, but you could pretty much take it anywhere with you and put it in another computer to read the same data stored on that disk. Each floppy disk can store approximately one million characters. This disk was not sealed so it would be subject to being easily damaged. Because of faster data transfer and physical size, there is no use of magnetic diskettes and cassettes in today’s digital devices.
You must also consider the temporary memory which is referred to as RAM, or random-access memory. Every time you start your operating system, launch a program, or open a file, the relevant program code and/or data is loaded into RAM. That's why you see RAM listed in the system requirements for the software you buy. If you have more RAM, you can open more files or programs at once and load bigger files or programs onto your system. Ram chips require power to maintain their content, which is why you must save your data onto disk before you turn the computer off. Turn off your computer, and the data in memory vanishes. Ram has the highest access speeds of any media and is purely electronic.
Just as each Post Office box has a number, each byte in RAM has an address. Addresses permit program instructions and data to be located, accessed, and processed. The content of each address changes frequently as different programs are executed and new data are processed. RAM is volatile memory.
ROM drives come in many styles. They are both external and internal. They also come in different speeds. The speed is denoted in terms of how much faster it is than a standard audio CD player. Therefore a 2X drive is twice the speed of your stereo's CD player, and so on (2000). Data is stored on the medium through the use of pits and landings. "Pits" refer to the tiny holes that are burned into the CD using a laser. Landing reflects to unburned portions of the disc. (pp.3)
ROM retains its contents even when the computer is turned off. ROM is referred to as being nonvolatile, whereas RAM is volatile. Most personal computers contain a small amount of ROM which stores critical programs such as the program which boots the computer.
Reel to reel is another process. This process was before laser disk was created. It is a magnetic media with mass storage. This is very slow and takes up too much space.
You must also keep in mind you can not always determine the computers speed by the clock speed, because some processors are designed more efficiently than others. Every task carried out is in logical sequence. So even though a computer may have a fast clock speed, it doesn’t necessarily mean the computer will be faster than others.
In conclusion, many different hardware factors are involved in determining the actual speed of a computer. The speed and size of your RAM, front side bus speed, clock speed of the CPU, cache memory, and access time for hard disks are all very important factors in determining the speed and performance of any computer. Ultimately, the type of processor and the amount of RAM placed on the motherboard define the computer’s speed and capacity. Knowing how each of these different parts work and perform will help in determining the overall speed of a computer.
References
Computer Organization and Architecture, Fifth Edition, by William Stallings, ISBN 0-13-081294- pp.3
Mark Minasi, et al. Windows 2000 second edition Server SYBEX inc., Alameda, CA 2000.
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