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6.1.3

Identify the limitations of a range of resources in a specified computer system.

 

Teaching Note:

For example, single processor computers may not be able to render 3D graphics effectively.

Overworked Computer
(http://thumbs.dreamstime.com/z/computer-overworked-23973824.jpg)

 

Sample Question:

sdfsdfsf

All you really need to focus on:

What are the LIMITS that cache, storage etc. can reach, in specific systems?

 

-----------> Remember that these things are not necessarily obvious to students.

JSR Notes:

Refer also to 6.1.4 for this. For each device there is a Limits & Problems Resulting from those Limits section.

 


For each of these, make sure you understand what they are and what they do, from Assessment Statement 6.1.1.

And try to link each of these limitations to various systems, as is done in Assessment Statement 6.1.4.

Primary Memory (RAM) Limitations

Limited RAM generally results in the following limitations:

Various RAM Requirements:

1 GB RAM SIMM

(By László Szalai (Beyond silence) - Own work, Public Domain)

RAM reaching limits present issues mainly with:
mainframes, servers, PCs, sub-laptops, as well as personal digital devices such as cell phones, PDAs and digital cameras.
*** For these "...reaching limits presents issues mainly with:" sections, they should match up pretty well with "...key resources:..." sections, as seen in the last assessment statement. And a main takeaway point here is how the limitations of different resources do affect different systems to varying degrees.

 

 

Secondary Storage/Disk Storage Limitations

Limited storage capacity, both internal and external generally results in the following limitations:

Various Hard Drive Storage Requirements:

Inside of Hard Drive
(Public Domain, wikimedia.org)

Hard Drive
(By Darkone - Own work, CC BY-SA 2.5)

Secondary storage reaching limits present issues mainly with:
mainframes, servers, PCs, sub-laptops, as well as personal digital devices such as cell phones, PDAs and digital cameras.

 

Processor Speed (CPU) Limitations

Limited CPU power generally results in the following limitations:

AMD CPU

(By Kai Hendry - Flickr: CPU, CC BY 2.0)

Processor speeds reaching limits present issues mainly with:
mainframes, servers, PCs, sub-laptops, as well as personal digital devices such as cell phones, PDAs and digital cameras.

 

 

Bandwidth/Bus Speed Limitations

Limited bandwidth within a system, i.e. slow bus speed, generally results in the following limitations:

Note that all it takes is one slow "bottleneck" in which the speed of a particular bus is too slow, or there is a mis-match between a component and (one of) its bus(es) to slow down the entire device/system.

Motherboard (through which various busses travel

(By J-P Kärnä, CC BY-SA 3.0)

Bandwidth reaching limits present issues mainly with:
mainframes, servers, PCs, sub-laptops, as well as personal digital devices such as cell phones, PDAs and digital cameras.

 

 

Cache Limitations

Limited cache size generally results in the following limitations:

CPU (on which, and beside are be L1 and L2 cache)

(By Bundesstefan, Public Domain)

Cache reaching limits present issues mainly with:
mainframes, servers, PCs, sub-laptops, as well as personal digital devices such as cell phones, PDAs and digital cameras.

 

Screen Size/Resolution Limitations

Limited screen size and/or screen resolution generally results in the following limitations:

Main Advantages of Various Monitor Kinds:

The Relative Sizes of Various Screen Resolutions

(By Kevin Foo (Foo Zhen Ning) - Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0)

Screen resolution reaching limits present issues mainly with:
mainframes, servers, PCs, sub-laptops, as well as personal digital devices such as cell phones, PDAs and digital cameras.

 

 

Graphics Card Limitations

Though a common monitor can technically display over a million pixels, it needs something to coordinate the placement of these pixels. It is the graphics card which acts as a translator between the CPU and the screen. The heart of the graphics card is the GPU (Graphics Processor Unit o). It controls both the resolution of the screen and the rendering of the images on the screen.


Limited graphics card capacity generally results in the following limitations:

 

NVIDIA GeForce 7300 LE graphics card
(By Joydeep - Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0)
The ATI Radeon™ HD 4890 Graphics Card
(By Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. (AMD), Attribution, commons.wikimedia.org)

Graphics cards reaching limits present issues mainly with:
mainframes, servers, PCs, sub-laptops, as well as personal digital devices such as cell phones, PDAs and digital cameras.

 

 

Sound Processor Limitations

Limited sound processor power generally results in the following limitations:

USB sound card Soundblaster Live! 24-bit external
(By Woookie CC BY-SA 3.0)
Soundblaster Audigy2 ZS PCI Soundcard
(By afrank99 - Own work, CC BY-SA 2.0)

Sound processor reaching limits present issues mainly with:
mainframes, servers, PCs, sub-laptops, as well as personal digital devices such as cell phones, PDAs and digital cameras.

 

 

Network Connectivity / Network Interface Card (NIC) or WiFi Limitations

Limited bandwidth and/or network card capacity generally results in the following limitations:


Relative Advantages/Disadvantages of Wired (Ethernet) over Wireless (WiFi) Network Access

 

Network Card with both Coaxial & Ethernet Ports

(CC BY-SA 3.0)

Network connectivity reaching limits present issues mainly with:
mainframes, servers, PCs, sub-laptops, as well as personal digital devices such as cell phones, PDAs and digital cameras.