Architecture of modern computer

The steel component of a modern computer is a complex electrical circuit consisting of a huge number of transistors, capacitors, resistors and other radio elements. One Pentium 4 microprocessor chip consists of 42 million transistors, and memory banks can number 4 billion. transistors and about 8 billion capacitors. Everything that happens inside these radio circuits is reduced to everyday electronic processes, known to everyone from a school physics course.

Fortunately, the principle of block construction is used in computers. Each device (or unit) is a completely complete and self-contained unit. All connections between blocks are brought to certain standards. As a result, to describe the operation of a computer, it is only necessary to outline the interaction of these nodes with each other, without going into the details of the operation of individual transistors.
До того як розглядати архітектуру комп’ютера, уточнимо головні визначення.

Bus – група провідників, призначена, для зв’язування різних компонент комп’ютера. Внутрішні шини з’єднують устрою в межах однієї плати або навіть усередині мікросхеми.

Port – роз’єм, для приєднання будь або периферійного пристрою.

Microprocessor – мікросхема, обробна цифрові сигнали. Порядок обробки даних знаходиться в залежності від вступників команд.

Controller – пристрій, що управляє іншим пристроєм. Простіше кажучи, пов’язує різні пристрої.

Interface - a universal term denoting the method of interaction of something with something or. The hardware interface refers to the purpose of connecting devices of contacts or conductors and the characteristics of the signals transmitted through them. A program interface is a standard that describes the method of data exchange between different programs. User interface is a method of communication between users and applications. In most cases, a graphical interface is used.

Motherboard is an integrated circuit on which a number of devices are located. In fact, it is the connecting link between all devices. The motherboard is built on the basis of a chipset (a set of microcircuits). One of the chips is called the north bridge. The task of this node is to ensure interaction between the central microprocessor, RAM, video card and the 2nd chip of the chipset - the south bridge. The second chip contains input-output controllers. The south bridge is used to connect all expansion boards, CD drives and peripheral device ports.
The PCI bus connects most peripheral devices. Sound cards, modems, network adapters, tuners, USB port controllers are connected to its external connectors. An integrated sound controller and a network card can be located on the motherboard. Practically, these devices are connected to the same PCI bus. SATA and IDE bus controllers, to which hard drives and CD drives are connected, are also connected to the PCI bus.
A mandatory component of the motherboard is the BIOS chip, which is designed to boot the computer. BIOS is a flash-type memory in which the firmware is stored. The motherboard also includes a CMOS memory device (stores the main BIOS options) and a real-time clock. All these components receive separate power from the battery.

The central microprocessor – головний компонент плати. Конкретно тут відбувається головні обчислення. Мікропроцесор розсіює потужність порядку кількох 10-ов ват, внаслідок чого в обов’язковому порядку містить систему охолодження.
Оперативка служить для тимчасового зберігання даних, що застосовуються під час роботи комп’ютера. Інформація накопичується в оперативки і вже звідти розподіляється в інші пристрої і мікропроцесор.

The graphics adapter is designed to output information from the central microprocessor to the monitor. Modern video cards are difficult to compare with a whole computer - there is a microprocessor, RAM. Built-in video systems can be used in economical systems - the chip in the north bridge is responsible for video output.
The sound card is designed to output sound. The process of digitizing an analog audio signal is also likely to be reversible. In most cases, the sound card is made as a separate crystal specifically on the motherboard. For more "advanced" solutions, separate PCI boards are used.
Приводи створені для програвання і запису інформації. У цьому випадку вживається оптичний принцип запису (на відміну від вінчестерів, де вживається магнітні характеристики поверхні).
Блок живлення служить для перетворення змінної напруги в зниження незмінне.