Product Description

The first book ever to give a complete picture of the workings of a PC! A comprehensive guide to the component systems of the PC, this book provides a foundation to the understanding of previous, current and future PC systems, and how the specification of each component of a PC affects the overall system performance. The book outlines each of the main PC processors and contrasts their performance. It also examines each of the main interface devices and shows how they integrate into the main systems. If you are an undergraduate or professional looking for a complete understanding of the internal architecture of the PC, and how it is changing, this book is for you. It explains how systems have evolved from the original PC, keeping its compatibility with previous systems, whilst increasing its power. It also provides an insight into how the PC will evolve in the future. Key chapters: * Motherboards - Analyses typical motherboards and shows how each of the components interfaces together, and how the architecture affects the system performance. * Memory - Shows how chache memory and DRAM memory interface to the system and the processor. * PCI bus - Discusses the fundamentals of the PCI bus and shows its importance in the architecture of modern PCs. * On-line multiple choice tests for students * On-line PowerPoint/HTML slides of all the graphics from the book.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #965974 in Books
• Published on: 2000-12-14
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 592 pages

About the Author
William Buchanan is a Senior Lecturer at Napier University, Edinburgh. He acts as a consultant for British Gas, among other companies, and he is a founding partner of Real-Time Technologies, Ltd.  Austin Wilson is a computer hardware expert, working in the industry everyday with future computer hardware products. He has a wealth of theoretical and practical computer hardware knowledge. He provides a company consultant service and lectures at local colleges and universities; part of which includes course material updates and staff development classes.

Customer Reviews

Difficult area to cover but covered well
No where near as verbose as many books in this area. In places the book reads very well and I like the coverage of the PCI bus, with its usage of practical scope signals.

Disappointing
This is a very disappointing book. It seems to be a random collection of incomplete and irrelevant details wrapped up in tangle of muddled, poorly written prose. It is ill-judged, with no clear audience, being too superficial (not to mention riddled with mistakes) to be of use as a technical reference, and at the same time lacking the quality of explanation needed for a course text or tutorial work.

There is a real need for a good technical reference work that pulls together all the disparate information about PC systems into one place. This isn't that book. (Please let me know if you know of one!)