PC Hardware Contents 1 Computer hardware 1 1.1 Von Neumann architecture ...................................... 1 1.2 Sales .................................................. 1 1.3 Different systems ........................................... 2 1.3.1 Personal computer ...................................... 2 1.3.2 Mainframe computer ..................................... 3 1.3.3 Departmental computing ................................... 4 1.3.4 Supercomputer ........................................ 4 1.4 See also ................................................ 4 1.5 References ............................................... 4 1.6 External links ............................................. 4 2 Central processing unit 5 2.1 History ................................................. 5 2.1.1 Transistor and integrated circuit CPUs ............................ 6 2.1.2 Microprocessors ....................................... 7 2.2 Operation ............................................... 8 2.2.1 Fetch ............................................. 8 2.2.2 Decode ............................................ 8 2.2.3 Execute ............................................ 9 2.3 Design and implementation ...................................... 9 2.3.1 Control unit .......................................... 9 2.3.2 Arithmetic logic unit ..................................... 9 2.3.3 Integer range ......................................... 10 2.3.4 Clock rate ........................................... 10 2.3.5 Parallelism .......................................... 11 2.4 Performance ............................................. 13 2.5 See also ................................................ 14 2.6 Notes ................................................. 14 2.7 References .............................................. 15 2.8 External links ............................................. 15 3 Chipset 16 i ii CONTENTS 3.1 Computers .............................................. 16 3.2 Move toward processor integration in PCs .............................. 17 3.3 See also ................................................ 17 3.4 Notes ................................................. 17 4 Graphics processing unit 18 4.1 History ................................................. 18 4.1.1 1980s ............................................. 18 4.1.2 1990s ............................................. 19 4.1.3 2000 to 2006 ......................................... 20 4.1.4 2006 to present ........................................ 20 4.1.5 GPU companies ........................................ 20 4.2 Computational functions ........................................ 21 4.2.1 GPU accelerated video decoding ............................... 21 4.3 GPU forms .............................................. 21 4.3.1 Dedicated graphics cards ................................... 21 4.3.2 Integrated graphics solutions ................................. 22 4.3.3 Hybrid solutions ........................................ 22 4.3.4 Stream Processing and General Purpose GPUs (GPGPU) .................. 23 4.3.5 External GPU (eGPU) .................................... 23 4.4 Sales .................................................. 23 4.5 See also ................................................ 24 4.5.1 Hardware ........................................... 24 4.5.2 APIs .............................................. 24 4.5.3 Applications .......................................... 24 4.6 References ............................................... 24 4.7 External links ............................................. 25 5 Random-access memory 26 5.1 History ................................................. 26 5.2 Types of RAM ............................................ 27 5.3 Memory hierarchy ........................................... 28 5.4 Other uses of RAM .......................................... 28 5.4.1 Virtual memory ........................................ 28 5.4.2 RAM disk ........................................... 28 5.4.3 Shadow RAM ......................................... 28 5.5 Recent developments ......................................... 28 5.6 Memory wall ............................................. 29 5.7 See also ................................................ 29 5.8 Notes and references ......................................... 29 5.9 External links ............................................. 30 CONTENTS iii 6 Read-only memory 31 6.1 History ................................................ 31 6.1.1 Use for storing programs ................................... 32 6.1.2 Use for storing data ..................................... 33 6.2 Types ................................................. 33 6.2.1 Semiconductor based ..................................... 33 6.2.2 Other technologies ...................................... 34 6.3 Speed ................................................. 34 6.3.1 Reading ............................................ 34 6.3.2 Writing ............................................ 34 6.4 Endurance and data retention ..................................... 35 6.5 Content images ............................................ 35 6.6 See also ................................................ 35 6.7 Terminology ............................................. 35 6.8 References .............................................. 35 7 BIOS 36 7.1 History ................................................ 36 7.2 User interface ............................................. 36 7.3 Operation ............................................... 37 7.3.1 System startup ........................................ 37 7.3.2 Boot process ......................................... 37 7.3.3 Boot environment ...................................... 38 7.4 Extensions (option ROMs) ...................................... 39 7.4.1 Boot procedure ........................................ 39 7.4.2 Initialization ......................................... 40 7.4.3 Physical placement ...................................... 40 7.5 Operating system services ...................................... 40 7.5.1 Processor microcode updates ................................. 41 7.5.2 Identification ......................................... 41 7.5.3 Overclocking ......................................... 41 7.5.4 Modern use .......................................... 41 7.6 Configuration ............................................. 41 7.6.1 Setup utility ......................................... 41 7.6.2 Reprogramming ....................................... 42 7.7 Hardware ............................................... 42 7.8 Vendors and products ......................................... 43 7.9 Security ................................................ 43 7.10 Alternatives and successors ...................................... 45 7.11 See also ................................................ 45 7.12 Notes ................................................. 45 7.13 References .............................................. 45 iv CONTENTS 7.14 Further reading ............................................ 46 7.15 External links ............................................. 46 8 Bootstrapping 47 8.1 Etymology .............................................. 47 8.2 Applications .............................................. 47 8.2.1 Computing .......................................... 47 8.2.2 Research ........................................... 49 8.2.3 Statistics ............................................ 49 8.2.4 Business ............................................ 49 8.2.5 Biology ............................................ 49 8.2.6 Law .............................................. 49 8.2.7 Linguistics .......................................... 49 8.2.8 Physics ............................................ 49 8.2.9 Electronics .......................................... 49 8.2.10 Electric power grid ...................................... 50 8.2.11 Cellular networks ....................................... 50 8.2.12 Media ............................................. 50 8.3 See also ................................................ 50 8.4 References ............................................... 50 8.5 External links ............................................. 51 9 Firmware 52 9.1 Origin of the term ........................................... 52 9.2 Personal computers .......................................... 52 9.3 Consumer products .......................................... 53 9.4 Automobiles .............................................. 53 9.5 Examples ............................................... 53 9.6 Flashing ................................................ 54 9.7 Firmware hacking ........................................... 54 9.7.1 HDD firmware hacks ..................................... 54 9.8 Security risks ............................................. 54 9.9 See also ................................................ 55 9.10 References .............................................. 55 9.11 External links ............................................. 55 10 Unified Extensible Firmware Interface 56 10.1 History ................................................ 56 10.2 Advantages .............................................. 56 10.3 Compatibility ............................................. 57 10.3.1 Processor compatibility ................................... 57 10.3.2 Disk device compatibility .................................. 57 CONTENTS v 10.4 Features ...............................................