A few questions

[aestudiar]

Hi,
I have a few questions to solve:
1.- What's the difference between RISC and CISC?
(OK, this one is easy).

2.- What's the difference between CMOS and BIOS?

3.- What's the difference between SIMM and DIMM?

Cheers. I'm back to my books. Will check later.

[simonp83]

1. It's the instruction sets, Reduced Instruction and Complex Instruction - going back to 2000 for that. Standard desktop chips today are CISC.

2. They're the same thing.

3. Single Inline Memory Module and Dual Inline Memory Module. The difference is, the connections on each side of the DIMM are different where as the SIMM, the connections are exactly the same, so opposite connector points do the same job and are connected to the same pin, extra level of redundancy.

edit:

Just googled CMOS vs BIOS as it's the only one i wanted to make sure of. BIOS contains the instructions on how to boot the computer and the CMOS contains the system settings like cpu multiplier, boot sequence, etc. How embarressing

[JonnyMX]

Originally Posted by simonp83

edit:

Just googled CMOS vs BIOS as it's the only one i wanted to make sure of. BIOS contains the instructions on how to boot the computer and the CMOS contains the system settings like cpu multiplier, boot sequence, etc. How embarressing

Trick is to edit out the bit that was wrong, rather than draw attention to it...

[simonp83]

Originally Posted by JonnyMX

Trick is to edit out the bit that was wrong, rather than draw attention to it...

Oh no, that would have been dishonest . If i'd have said that RISC was a board game based on world domination, then i might have been tempted

[Sparky]

Originally Posted by simonp83

2. They're the same thing.

Just googled CMOS vs BIOS as it's the only one i wanted to make sure of. BIOS contains the instructions on how to boot the computer and the CMOS contains the system settings like cpu multiplier, boot sequence, etc. How embarressing

Eh? Glad you googled it

[JonnyMX]

Originally Posted by simonp83

Oh no, that would have been dishonest . If i'd have said that RISC was a board game based on world domination, then i might have been tempted

"If at first you don't succeed, remove all evidence that you ever tried."

[Revolate]

Originally Posted by JonnyMX

"If at first you don't succeed, remove all evidence that you ever tried."

That is an awesome quote, can I ask who said it?


If i'm not mistaken, CMOS and BIOS one is Read only the other you can edit, but in theory you can edit both, if that is totally wrong then i misheard/read what i was reading/listening too, and no I dont think it was RAM.

[Revolate]

Originally Posted by JonnyMX

"If at first you don't succeed, remove all evidence that you ever tried."

That is an awesome quote, can I ask who said it?


If i'm not mistaken, CMOS and BIOS one is Read only the other you can edit, but in theory you can edit both, if that is totally wrong then i misheard/read what i was reading/listening too, and no I dont think it was RAM.

[simonp83]

Originally Posted by Revolate

That is an awesome quote, can I ask who said it?


If i'm not mistaken, CMOS and BIOS one is Read only the other you can edit, but in theory you can edit both, if that is totally wrong then i misheard/read what i was reading/listening too, and no I dont think it was RAM.

CMOS is updatable as it's on a form of RAM chip, which is why it needs the CMOS battery to keep it from resetting itself. This is where you do your overclocking, changing system time, setting which device to boot from first.

[dmarsh]

1.- What's the difference between RISC and CISC?

CISC - Complex Instruction Set Computer
RISC - Reduced Instruction Set Computer

RISC tends to have less intructions, they tend to be simpler, often use very long instruction word, register renaming etc. Idea is simpler faster processor. Results in bigger programs as need more instructions on average.

CISC - Tried to make more and more complex instructions to accelrate stuff in hardware, made sense for a while as there was a lot of spare silicon, not in favour anymore, modern processors are hybrid, they have CISC instruction sets that run on a RISC style core.

2.- What's the difference between CMOS and BIOS?

CMOS - Complimentary Metal Oxide Semiconductor, its the type of silicon chip manufacturing process, there are different ways of making semiconductors. CMOS chips are lower powered than what went before. Most of the chips in your computer will probably be CMOS.

BIOS - Basic Input / Output System, its basically the traditional ROM chip that stores the basic system code to allow the system to boot and read the keyboard etc. The BIOS is now stored in flash RAM or battery backed RAM as opposed to the old style EPROMS.

People appear to be confusing Flash RAM / Battery Backed RAM with the above terms, computer books often use these terms in the wrong context.

The entire Flash RAM chip can be altered not just the settings, you can patch your BIOS for example, the only thing controlling which parts of the Flash RAM get changed is software.

3.- What's the difference between SIMM and DIMM?

SIMM - Single In Line Memory Module, a type of memory stick.
DIMM - Dual In Line Memory Module, different type of memory stick, allows for faster access than SIMM's.

[BosonMichael]

Originally Posted by aestudiar

Hi,
I have a few questions to solve:
1.- What's the difference between RISC and CISC?

The first letter.

Originally Posted by aestudiar

2.- What's the difference between CMOS and BIOS?

The first two letters.

Originally Posted by aestudiar

3.- What's the difference between SIMM and DIMM?

The first letter.

Gotta have a sharp eye (and Google skills) to be a tech.

[aestudiar]

That was awesome!! I see your visual faculties are top-notch!

Now seriosly, in Scott Mueller's 'Upgrading and repairing PCs', I found that RISC instructions are such as (literal example, page 71):

To screw in a light bulb:
1. Lower hand.
2. Grasp bulb.
3. Raise hand.
4. Insert bulb into socket.
5. Rotate clockwise oneturn.
6. Is bulb tight? If not, repeat step 5.
7. End.

And for a CISC example:
1. Pick up the bulb.
2. Insert it into the socket.
3. Rotate clockwise until tight.

So it follows that RISC doesn't mean less instruction, BUT that the level of complexity per instruction is lower.

As for the difference between CMOS and BIOS, I thought they correlate, but whereas BIOS cannot be changed, the CMOS is where the settings are stored, and can be changed. Is this correct?

SIMM/DIMM: I think simonp83's answer is the most accurate: 'Single Inline Memory Module and Dual Inline Memory Module. The difference is, the connections on each side of the DIMM are different where as the SIMM, the connections are exactly the same, so opposite connector points do the same job and are connected to the same pin, extra level of redundancy.'

Any further explanations?