Computer hardware

computer system is composed of hardware and software. Computer hardware (Hardware) refers to the actual physical entity that is visible and tangible. It includes central processing unit, memory and peripheral equipment. They are composed of electronic, electromagnetic, optical, and mechanical components integrated chips, assembled circuit boards and various components and devices.

When users buy a desktop personal computer, in addition to the printer and plotter purchased separately as needed, other hardware is sold as a package. In the hardware sold as a set, according to different functions (is it for office or home use, word processing or graphics, image processing, 16-bit word length or 32-bit word length, monochrome or color, single task or multiple Task, whether it is single media or multimedia, etc.), capacity (generally refers to the storage capacity of internal and external memory-the number of megabytes), speed (generally refers to the operating speed of the computer-the number of mega instructions executed per second) and other requirements. Purchase different hardware configurations.

Generally speaking, the higher the configuration level of the hardware, the stronger the hardware features, indicating that it supports the software more strongly, its performance-price ratio is higher, and its availability, reliability, compatibility and maintainability are better.

Computer hardware and computer software are an inseparable whole in a computer system. A computer with only hardware but no software is a bare metal with no use; only software but no hardware support is just a meaningless paper program. The relationship between computer hardware and computer software is interdependence, mutual integration, mutual promotion and common development.

Computers possessing such powerful functions as today are the result of the rapid development of computer hardware. If the desktop personal computer is still taken as an example, the development of the microprocessor, the heart of the computer, has driven others. For example, Intel’s Pentium microprocessor chip integrates 3.1 million transistors on a chip less than 7 square centimeters, can process 64-bit data, and has a computing speed of more than 100 million operations per second. Secondly, the internal and external memory capacity of the computer has been increased by several tens of times. Then there are input and output devices, which are continuously high-speed, miniaturized, and multi-functional, coupled with the use of advanced local buses, which greatly improves the operating efficiency of computer peripherals. The comprehensive effect of continuous improvement and development of all computer hardware has brought the technical performance of computers to a new level.

The development of computers to today depends mainly on the rapid advancement of hardware led by VLSI, and also on the development of computer system architecture. For example, dual-pipeline, superscalar, compressed instruction set, branch prediction and on-chip cache memory technologies are commonly used on microprocessor chips, which makes the core microprocessor of computer hardware functions and speeds more rapid, and drives The entire computer hardware industry and software industry continue to thrive.