2.2

L E S S O N 2 : I N S T A L L E Q U I P M E N T / D E V I C E S & S Y S T E M S
SYSTEM SPECIFICATION
NUEVA ECIJA HIGH SCHOOL

SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS
1. Operating System (i.e. Windows XP, SP 2 or Mac
OS X 10.3.8)
2. Processor Speed (i.e. Pentium 4, 3.2 GHz or Power
PC G5, 2.0 GHz)
3. Memory, a.k.a. RAM (i.e. 512 MB)
4. Graphics Card (i.e. ATI Radeon 9800 w/ 256 MB
video memory)
5. Hard Disk Space (i.e. 80 GB available)
6. I/O Ports (i.e. USB, Firewire, Serial, Parallel, SCSI,
VGA, DVI ports)

COMPUTERHARDWARESERVICING
F R Y A L O R A H . J A V I E R
T L E D E P A R T M E N T
PROCESSOR
S P E E D & A R C H I T E C T UR E

S P E E D & A R C H I T E C T U R E
PROCESSOR

• Front side bus (FSB) speed is a measure of how fast
a microprocessor communicates with the
computer's main circuit board (or "motherboard")
into which it is physically connected. Again, the
higher the measure the better for overall
performance, with FSB speeds currently ranging
from 533MHz (still perfectly sufficient for the vast
majority of applications) up to 1600 MHz.

• Cache is a form of very fast memory integrated into
the processor chip, and used to store up instructions
(work for the processor) so that it has to slow down
as little as possible between tasks. Cache is
measured in megabytes (MB), with (for example)
low-end Celeron processors having as little as
0.25MB of cache (256KB), and high-end Itaniums
having up to 24MB. The simple message is, the more
cache the better- though high levels of cache still
come at a very significant price.

RAM
I N T E G R A T E D C I R C U I T S & M E M O R Y M O D U L E

How is RAM measured?
Just how much RAM a computer needs depends on
the software it is required to run effectively. A
computer running Windows XP will usually function
quite happily with 1GB of RAM, whereas twice this
amount (i.e. 2GB) is the realistic minimum for
computers running Windows 7.

GRAPHICS SYSTEM
G P U

GRAPHICS SYSTEM
• determines how well it can work with visual output.
• can either be integrated into a computer's
motherboard, or plugged into the motherboard as
a separate "video card".
• Graphics systems integrated into the motherboard
(also known as "onboard graphics") are now quite
powerful, and sufficient for handling the
requirements of most software applications aside
from games playing, 3D modeling, and some forms
of video editing.

GRAPHICS SYSTEM
• As a basic rule, unless a computer is going to be
used to handle 3D graphics or to undertake a
significant volume of video editing or recording,
today there is little point in opting for anything other
than onboard graphics (not least because
separate graphics cards consume quite a lot of
electricity and create quite a lot of heat and noise).
Adding a new graphics card to a computer with
onboard graphics is also a very easy upgrade if
required in the future.

HDD & CAPACITY
S T O R A G E

TWO KEY FACTORS THAT DETERMINE THE SPEED
OF TRADITIONAL, SPINNING HARD DISKS
• The first is the rotational velocity of the physical disk
itself. This can currently be 4200, 5400, 7200, 10000 or
15000 rpm (revolutions per minute). The faster the
disk spins,
• the quicker data can be read from or written to it,
hence the faster the disk the better (although faster
disks consumer more power, make more noise, and
generate more heat). Most desktop hard disks run
at either 5400 or 7200 rpm, whilst most laptop hard
disks run at 4200 or 5400.

TWO KEY FACTORS THAT DETERMINE THE SPEED
OF TRADITIONAL, SPINNING HARD DISKS
• The second key factor that determines
performance of a traditional, internal hard disk is
the interface used to connect it to the computer's
motherboard. Three types of interface exist: Serial
Advance Technology Attachment (SATA), which is
the most modern and now pretty much the norm
on new PCs; Integrated Device Electronics (IDE)
(also known as UDMA), which is a slower and older
form of interface, and finally SCSI, which happens
to be the oldest but in it most modern variant is still
the fastest disk interface standard.

HW_08252015
1. In your point of view, describe system
specification?
2. How does it affect the performance of the
computer?
3. What is the relevance of understanding system
specification in computer hardware servicing?
4. Why do you think that system specification is one
of the most important considerations during
installation?

SYSTEM SPECIFICATION
L E S S O N 2 : I N S T A L L E Q U I P M E N T / D E V I C E S & S Y S T E M S

2.2

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