Hardware configuration is one of two components of a computing system. The other component is software. When choosing computer software or hardware, it is important to pay attention to their efficiency and performance. As a rule, the average cost of hardware is higher.The implementation of software solutions requires the attention of highly qualified specialists. Modern computers and computing systems usually have a block-modular design. Hardware configuration allows users to perform certain types of work. It can be assembled from blocks and nodes.
Main Components
The main hardware components include the central processing unit, memory, and peripherals.They are connected by a system highway.Main memory allows the computer to store programs and data in binary form.It is organized in cells. Each cell has an individual digital address. The size of one cell is one byte. All memory operations are standard in nature, they include reading the contents and recording.
The central processing unit is the main component of the computer. It processes data and controls peripheral devices. The components of the central processing unit include:
- control unit;
- arithmetic logic unit;
- storage device;
- clock generator.
The central processor performs various data operations.To do this, it uses special cells to store temporary and variable results called internal registers. There are two types of registers:
- general purpose register;
- special purpose register.
Programmers can use data registers to temporarily store data from different objects and perform certain operations with them.
The address of each cell consists of words. The first word indicates the way the segment is located in memory. The second word indicates the offset within the given segment. The size of each segment depends on the amount of data it contains, but cannot exceed 64 KB. This is the maximum possible offset. The segment address is always stored in a special register.The offset to the address byte is located in the instruction pointer register.
The computer processes information by transferring data from memory cells to general purpose registers.This is the task of the central processor. The results are then transferred to the main memory. All programs are stored as sequential machine instructions.They are executed by the central processor.Commands consist of operand fields and an operation field. A machine language is a set of such operations. Central processing units usually operate in two modes: kernel mode and user mode.
There are external and internal devices, depending on their location relative to the processor.External devices include most of the data input and output devices.People also call them peripherals.Hardware-logic devices provide coordination between blocks and nodes. These are hardware interfaces. The standards for them are protocols. This set of conditions must be provided for the successful organization of coordinated work between devices.
Another major hardware component is memory. Its system consists of layers.The upper one consists of CPU registers. The next layer is hardware-controlled cache memory. Then there is RAM, which is the main workspace in the system structure. If the user works in several programs, it is better to place complex programs in RAM.The next component of the memory structure is the hard drive. It consists of several plates on which information is recorded. The hardware configuration of computing systems is rather complicated.