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Computer Hardware

Course developer

Replaced course

InfT2045 [GINT2052] Computer Hardware

Course abstract

The aim of the study course is to learn the structure and principles of operation of computer technologies and the physical processes related to them, the mutual interaction between the elements and components used in computer technologies, as well as the operation and structure of individual components.
Students acquire theoretical knowledge of the main up-to-date computer technologies used today, their components and external devices (peripheral devices), as well as their development over time.
Students acquire practical knowledge of the structure of computer technology, the most typical problems of computer technology, their diagnosis and solution.

Learning outcomes and their assessment

•Students know about computer technologies, its architecture and conceptual parts, the interdependence between these conceptual parts, and operation principles of peripheral devices (lecture tests, laboratory works, individual discussions with the teaching staff).
•Students have skills to repair and upgrade computer and peripheral equipment, swap the elements of computer and make a simple computer diagnostics (laboratory works).
•Students are able to use hardware parts in the specified computer, to justify the purchase needs of a computer for personal and business sector, to justify the purchase of external equipment and the replacement computer element (individual discussions with the teaching staff, final test).

Course Content(Calendar)

In full-time face-to-face studies:
1. Introduction. Computer construction concept. Von Neumann's architecture.
Basic principles of information processing information processing system.
(2 hour)
2. Computer motherboard and its functional significance. The main components of the system board. System board input and output interfaces. (1 hour)
3. Providing the computer with energy. Characteristics of electric current. Volts, amperes. Work and power. Efficiency. Alternating current and direct current.
Construction of the power supply unit, primary and secondary circuit. Power supply unit standards. (2 hour)
4. Heat and temperature. The origins of heat in computer technology.
Joule-Lenz law. Effects of heat on the computer and its components.
Heat risks. (1 hour)
5. Heat transfer. Cooling systems and their types. Materials used to ensure heat transfer. Physical factors in the heat transfer process. Fans, coolers, thermal pastes, bearings. (1 hour)
6. CPU and GPU processor. Physical and logical processor core. SoC.
Primary memory in the processor - buffer memory and cache memory. (2 hour)
7. Information exchange between different computer components. Buses.
Chips. Data transmission protocols. (2 hour)
8. Primary memory, RAM, VRAM. RAM characteristics.
Delays and timings. Types of RAM modules. Page File (2h)
9. Secondary memory. Types of SSD, HDD, M.2 drives. NVM, SATA (AHCI) and PATA
(IDE) information transfer methods. NVM, RAID and NAS technologies. (2 hours)
10.BIOS, UEFI, CMOS, chipsets, P.O.S.T., BIOS settings and its recovery. (1 hour)
11. Video information, its transmission and display. Video signals. RGB.
VGA, DVI, HDMI. Colors. Color depth. (2 hours)
12. Peripheral equipment. The working principle of an optical mouse. The importance of sound and light in the transmission of information. Basic physical principles of WiFi and Ethernet networks. (2 hours)

Practical classes:

1. Safety regulations working in a classroom. The description of a personal computer based on its visual appearance and different software results (without computer hardware disassembly). (3h)
2. The description of a personal computer based on its hardware disassembling the computer. Assembly of the personal computer. (3h)
3.The comparison of the IDE and AHCI controller speed in virtual machine using VirtualBox. (3h)
4.The diagnostics of a CPU and its swapping. (3h)
5.The diagnostics of RAM using Memtest86+, the analysis of the results and module swapping. (3h)
6.Hard drive diagnostics using HDAT2, low level size limitations, partition creation and data recovery. (3h)
7.Work with a boot sector. Programmable boot sector writing on virtual hard drive and its testing in a virtual machine PCem. (3h) 8.Colloquium. Defending a practical. A discussion about one random practical lab work. (3h)

Requirements for awarding credit points

• Full attendance of the laboratory works and finished and handed in the results of each laboratory work in the e-studies.
• Positive grade obtained in the individual conversation about random laboratory work topics
• Positive grade obtained in the final test published in the e-studies (positive results are equal or higher than 40%).

Description of the organization and tasks of students’ independent work

Lectures:
The study materials about each lecture topic is available for the student in the e-studies at any time. There are questions published about the each topic and general answers on them can be obtained within published study materials. The questions are built in such a way that students would want to seek an advanced level answers on these questions. Students can discuss the questions with other students and teacher in the e-studies, within the forum activity as well as during the practical classes.

Practical classes:
The information about each laboratory work is published in the e-studies and it consists of two main parts:
1. the description about the laboratory work which includes the aim and the tasks for laboratory work;
2. The quiz-type activity which students fill in during the laboratory work class with the observations, results and analysis.
Before the laboratory work, the student must familiarize himself with its description.

The final test is based on the content which can be found in the lecture study materials and on the information obtained during the practical class. The individual studies for the final test are done independently based on the answers the student handed in, discussions in the forum activity and the content handed in in the practical work activities. This information is fully available for the student during the whole semester in the e-studies.

Criteria for Evaluating Learning Outcomes

The final grade consists of the three equally weighted parts:
1.The grade of the answers on lecture related questions which are handed in e-studies:
a.The answers must be handed in before the deadline;
b.The answers must be given on all questions;
c.The answers must be fully written, high-quality and justified.
2.The grade about the individual conversation with the teaching staff. The conversation is about randomly chosen laboratory work.
3.The grade about the final test in the e-studies.

Compulsory reading

1. Mueller S. Upgrading and Repairing PCs. 22st revised edition. Indianapolis, IN: Que, 2015. 1162 p.
2. Wolf M. The Physics of Computing. Morgan Kaufmann, 2016.

Further reading

1. Rathbone A. Upgrading and Fixing Computers Do-it-Yourself For Dummies. 2010. 340 p.
2. Gookin D. Troubleshooting and Maintaining Your PC All-in-One For Dummies. 2017. 456 p.
3. Datortermini [tiešsaiste]. Pieejams: termini.lza.lv
4. Computer [tiešsaiste]. Pieejams: www.tomshardware.com/

Notes

IITF Bachelor Study Programs “Computer Control and Computer Science” and “Information Technologies for Sustainable Development”