Central Processing Unit CPU Computer Science Essay

CPU is the abbreviation for Central Processing Unit. The CPU is known as brain of the computers. It is sometimes referred as the central processor but most commonly known as processor. CPU’s are typically differentiated based in their respective specification. The most relevant information to differentiate one processor from another is firstly its core architecture. The core architecture determines whether the CPU is a 32 bit or 64 bit variant. It will encompass specifications such as clock frequency, cache levels, respective sizes, stepping version and fabrication process size.

The two major superpowers in the market of computer CPU’s is Intel corporation which has led the market with powerful, cutting edge design and innovation, pushing faster clock speeds and integrating cutting- edge materials and its Hafnium- based silicon CPU. Thus equating to more powerful computing experiences and greater flexibility of design. Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) is the second largest global supplier of microprocessors. AMD is focusing more on producing powerful processors at low cost.

There are two typical components of CPU:

The Arithmetic Logic Unit (ALU) performs arithmetic and logical operations.

The Control Unit (CU) extracts instructions from memory, decodes and executes them.

There are set of steps a CPU performs to execute a command. Each command is individually handled and a CPU can process multiple commands in seconds. More powerful the CPU is the faster the commands are processed.

The functions performed by the CPU (Processor) are explained below:

Let’s assume when the system user issues a command using the input device such as a mouse or keyboard.

The command is received to the memory before it is actually processed. The unit uses the preloaded CPU memory to identify the command and sends it over to the command unit.

The command unit firmly decides what functions next. The data is passed over to the decode unit.

The decoded unit passes the data into binary code and sends it to ALU

ALU changes the raw data into a command.

The copy of the command is sent to the RAM (Random Access Memory) or ROM (Read Only Memory) by ALU.

The command unit sends the code to the part of the system where the actual actions are performed.

The result is sent back to user after the actions are executed.

Factors affecting the Processors Performance is listed below:

Math Coprocessors: The math coprocessors are used to improve the processors number crunching speed. These processors allow the computer to perform mathematical calculations more efficiently, faster and increase the overall speed of the computer

Front Side Bus (FSB) Speed: This is the interface between the processor and the system memory. The FSB limits the rate at which the data can get into the processor. This limits the rate at which the CPU can process the data. The CPU’s FSB speed causes the maximum speed at which the data will be transferred to rest of the system. There are other factors affecting the data transfer which includes system clock speed, motherboard chipset and the RAM speed.

Computer Internal Cache: This is the storage area which store the frequently used data and instructions. This processor contains internal cache controllers which integrates the cache with the Central Processing Unit. This controller stores frequently used RAM locations to provide faster execution of data and therefore a larger cache leads to the process of faster processor.

Computer BUS: This carry data words in parallel on multiple wires or serial buses which carry data in bit-serial form. This refers to system board underlying circuit. This processor has the ability to communicate with rest of the systems components. Computer data bus indicates how much data can be passed through the bus at once. This indicates how much memory chip can handle.

Computer Memory: The higher the capacity of the computer memory is installed the faster It will operate. This refers to the state information of the computing system. The term memory is used for the information in physical systems which are fast this refers to physical device which stores data or programs on the temporary or permanent basis for use in an electronic digital computer.

Clock Rate is the rate in bits per second which is measured in Hertz. The frequency of the clock is the CPU. A single clock cycle toggles between logical zero and a one state. The logical state zero of a clock cycle is prolonged than a logical one state due to thermal and electrical specification constraints. The clock rates are determined at the manufacturing process through the actual testing of each CPU. Processors which are tested as rule with given standards will be labelled with a higher clock rate e.g. 2.4GHz. While those that fail the standards of the higher clock rate will yet pass the standards of a lesser clock rate and will be labelled with the lesser clock rate e.g. 1.33GHz

TASK 2

According to Parklands Garden Supplies (PGS) which grows plants and supplies them to shops. Plants are grown in greenhouses. The administrative manager maintains records of orders and of stock. We are recommending a high end information system to help the administrative staff with the maintenance of order and stock control records. There are a lot of plant species which has a number of varieties. As this PGS has allocated each plant with a common name and details together with a description.

We recommend a HP Pavilion Elite HPE-480t customisable Desktop PC information system which is designed for high end performance.

It has an unbelievable performance and power of Intel Core quad core i7 processors which can maximize application speed with Intel Turbo Boost, which accelerates performance to match the PGS workload.

It has a Powerful 64 bit performance with 8GB DDR3 system memory, fast data transfer and reduced power consumption. An option to add up to 24GB DDR3 memory. The main advantage of DDR3 has an higher bandwidth which increased the performance at low power.

Massive storage with large hard drive options including RAID-enabled for data mirroring (backup and security) or high performance.

Optional USB wireless LAN for connecting a wireless printer and accessories.

Features and Benefits is listed down below.

Intel Turbo Boost Technology maximizes speed for all the demanding applications, dynamically accelerating performance to match the management workload.

Intel Hyper Threading Technology enables highly threaded applications to get more work done in parallel. With 8 threads available to the operating system, multitasking becomes easier.

Intel Smart Cache supplies a higher performance more efficient cache subsystems.

Intel QuickPath Interconnect is designed to increase bandwidth and low latency. It can achieve data transfer speeds as high as 25.6 GB/sec with the extreme edition processor.

Integrated Memory Controller enables three channels of DDR3 1066 MHz memory, resulting in up to 25.6 GB/sec memory bandwidth. This memory controller’s lower latency and higher memory bandwidth delivers amazing performance for data- intensive applications.

Intel HD Boost significantly improves a broad range of multimedia and compute- intensive applications. The 128-bit Streaming SIMD Extensions (SSE) instructions are issued at a throughput rate of one per clock cycle, allowing a new label of processing efficiency with SSE4 optimized applications.

Task 3

An operating system is software which consists of programs and data that runs on computers. It’s used to manage the computer’s hardware and provides common services for execution of other application software’s. After operating system is initially installed on the computer by a boot program. The application programmes uses the operating system it requests the services through an application program interface. The users will be able to interact with the operating system through a user interface such as a graphical user interface. Operating system performs services for applications. The major computer platforms requires and include an operating systems like GNU/Linux, Mac OS, and Microsoft Windows (NT, 2000, 2003, XP, Vista and 7) are used commonly.

Multitasking operating system supports multiple programs to run at the same time. It determines which applications should be executed first.

Internal memory is managed to share among multiple applications.

Inputs and outputs from hard disks, printers and dial-up ports are managed

The errors and status of each application will be sent to the interactive user.

Functions of Operating System (OS):

Linux: It’s designed for servers and desktops it is used for computer architecture support, embedded systems, stability, security, localization to a specific use. It supports real times applications to a given desktop environment. It uses widely ported operating system kernel. The Linux kernel runs on highly diverse range of computer architectures. It has an good networking facilities it allows to share CPU’s. This has an ideal environment to run servers like web server or FTP server. It has an ability to execute more than program at a time. It supports multiple processors as standard.

Mac OS: It is the trademark of graphical user interface based operating systems it is developed by Apple for their Macintosh line of computer systems. This OS is more user friendly and is different from other operating systems. The advanced technologies in OS has the full advantage of the 64-bit. Multi core processors and GPU’s to deliver the greatest possible performance. The most striking feature of Mac OS is it has an elegant user interface. It has an variety of sophisticated technologies that helps keeps us safe from online threats. It has an versatility and power of Mac OS x makes it compactable in almost all the environment including windows networks.

Microsoft Windows: It is a series of software operating systems and graphical user interfaces, TBA

TASK 4

Proprietary operating systems are which a company designs, develops and markets the products as their own system. Windows OS is one example and Mac OS is another. If we want to use windows OS or Mac OS we have to purchase it through them or resellers. We have Linux is one of the open source OS which can be downloaded through internet and can be used to do things what we want to do. Proprietary OS are developed by a specific company for a specific purpose.

Comparisons between the Microsoft Windows and Linux computer operating systems. Windows has kept an large retail sales majority among OS for personal desktop. Linux has sustained its status as the most noticed free software OS. Both OS has user base of the personal computer market and share on a variety of other devices with offering for the servers, embedded systems and mobile internet access. Linux and Microsoft differ in philosophy, cost, versatility and stability with each seeking to improve on their weakness. Comparisons on the two OS tend to reflect their origins, historic user bases and distribution models. Weakness regularly cited has included poor consumer familiarity with Linux and Microsoft windows susceptibility to viruses and malware. The default windows file system NTFS works causes files to defragment, degrading the performance of the system significantly overtime and require regular defragmenting. Whereas Linux file systems do not require defragmenting.

A Bus Architecture is a subsystem which transfers data between computer components in a computer or between computers. It handles data transmission in a computer system or network in which components are all linked to a common bus. It can be parallel buses which carries data words in parallel on multiple wire or serial buses which carries data in bit serial form.

Secondary storage devices are which can store data permanently. This is used to store programs and data that are not in current use its contents must not be erased when the power supply is disconnected from the computer. Secondary storage typically consists of storage on the hard disk and on any other removable media such as CD, DVD, Magnetic tapes and USB flash drive.

Compact Disc (CD) and Digital Versitile Disc (DVD) comes in different types. Read only Memory ROM’s can never be written or erased. It is used to store software or files that never want to be changed. Software’s are normally brought on ROM discs. Recordable discs can be written once and ReWritable disk can be written and erased multiple times.

External Hard disk are replacing DAT tapes is mostly used for backing up computer systems this is due to direct access and larger capacity.

Magnetic Tape is used for data storage tape formulation; packaging and data density have been made. The device performs actual writing or reading of data is a tape drive. When storing large amount of data tape can be substantially less expensive than disk or other data storage options.

USB Flash Drive consists of flash memory data storage device integrate with Universal Serial Bus (USB). USB flash drives are typically removable and rewritable and physically smaller than a floppy disk.

The most appropriate device for the scenario is external hard disk and CD or DVD. The reason for the selection is because we can store backups on the external hard disk and on the CD or DVD we can burn the backup files and the most important assets like software’s and data. The reason we have recommended two devices is because in case of any disaster in business place all the assets will be lost or corrupted. If we the second backup device we can restore the assets and resume the business.

Computer Peripheral Devices is an external object that provides input and output for the computer. The common input and output peripheral devices are keyboard, mouse, scanner, monitor, projector, speaker.

The general description of the peripheral devices is as follows

Keyboard is a set of typewriter that enables you to enter data into a computer these are similar to electric typewriter keyboards and contains additional keys. Keys on computer keyboards are classified as alphanumeric keys, special keys and punctuation keys.

Mouse is a device used in computer by user’s on desk surface in order to point to a place on a display screen and to select one or more actions to take from that position.

Scanner is a device that optically scans images, printed text, handwritten or an object and converts it to a digital image.

Monitor displays the computer user interface and opens programs allowing the user to interact with the computer typically using keyboard and mouse

Projector is used for projecting an image onto a screen or other devices.

Speakers are an electro acoustic transducer which converts electrical signals into sounds loud enough to be heard a t a distance.

Printer which produces a text of documents stores in electronic form usually on physical print media such as paper or transparencies. Many printers are primarily used as local peripherals and are attached by a printer cable, Some printers are known as network printers.

Networking hardware Devices refers to equipment facilitating the use of computer network. It handles an interface to a computer network and allows a network cable devices to access the network .This includes network interface cards, networking cables, routers and switches.

Task 5

Designing Computer System

We are using Intel Core i7 processor as they are the high end Desktop Processors which produces faster, intelligent, multicourse technology this delivers an incredible breakthrough in PC performance.

We can multitask applications faster and unleash incredible creation. We can experience an maximum performance for all the management workloads. This has an combination of Intel Turbo Boost Technology and Intel Hyper Threading technology this helps to maximize the work load.

This includes 8GB memory with 2 TB hard disk storage devices. We strongly recommend 17 inch LCD monitor’s for display.

We include printers, keyboards, mouse, monitors, scanners, speakers and projectors to display the flowers.

ATI graphic card HD 5830 is used to bring the huge enthusiast-level performance.

PGM can be demonstrated Flowers by using video sound cards will be used.

PCI Bus architecture is an essential feature for today’s mobile computing.

Productivity and stock management software’s will be used for maintaining and stock controlling records

Task 6

As for the current computer system specifications designed for PGS estimated budget would approximately be around 10000 dollars. The productivity software will be used to track and maintain the order, stock records and the customers profile database. Some particular requirements should be provided to execute the current specified specifications such as power, internet connection, and furniture’s, internet connection, routers, modems, LAN cables and special needs like Uninterruptible power storage is needed to continue the production from power cuts.

Task 7

Computer System investigation will be done to provide stakeholders with the information about the quality of the product or the service under test. Hardware or Software testing provides an objective and independent view of the product to allow the business to appreciate and understand the risks at the implementation of the hardware and software. The process of executing a program or application with the intent of findings software bugs. Software testing will be stated as the process of validating and verifying that software meets the business and technical requirements, works as expected with the same characteristics. Test methods are used to verify hardware design requirements. Test responsibilities include what the organizations will perform this allows the organizations to plan, acquire or develop test equipment and other resources necessary to implant the test methods for which they are responsible. Testing process tasks are specified for different integrity levels for appropriate breadth and depth of test documentation. The scope of the testing encompasses software based systems, hardware and their interfaces the standard applies to both software and hardware which includes firmware, microcode and documentation it may also include inspection, analysis, demonstration, verification and validation. IEEE standard for software and system test documentation should be used to document the tests.

Task 8

User supporting planning needs training’s like using software’s, hardware’s. Printers and scanners. Training need a printed outlet and two individual basic system for trainers. We have to provide and Helpdesk for maintaining the systems, software and other peripherals. Proper user support should be documented and should be submitted to the administrators for their personal use. Remote access software should be installed to support the user systems remotely. This remote access software helps the users to solve the problem immediately.

Task 9

Logical Security should be installed to safeguard the organizations systems which includes passwords access, authentication, access rights and authority levels. These measures are implemented to ensure that only authorised users are able to perform actions or access information in a network or workstation. Elements of logical security includes User Ids, authentications, biometrics, token authentication, two way authentication, password authentication should be implemented.

Physical Security includes environments design, mechanical, electronic and procedural access control. Intrusion detection, firewall, honey pots, Intrusion prevention system, antivirus,CCTV, personnel identification should be installed. This helps us to know if any hackers are trying to enter the network. User rights should be limited so that they can’t install, delete or copy data from the office systems to their flash drives or other media.

Backup and recovery are primarily for two purposes it is used to restore from disaster and from accidentally deleted data. Data loss is very common. A full backup should be created and should be made multiple copies in different locations to restore the data in case of any disasters. As when the new full backup is created it should be replaced with the old back files. This helps us to save space in media.

Advanced Encryption should be used to for email, hard disk and data. All the outgoing data should be encrypted so that when the packets are sniffed by the hackers they should be able to decrypt the data. Encryptions like symmetric, asymmetric, secure encryption algorithms should be implemented. The entire files included backup file should be hashed and the hash value should be saved in a secure place so that no one can access it.