The Components of a PC

(By Lewis Barrett)

Choose a component

CPU Fa

n

Case

BIOS

Expansion Slot’s

PCI

PCI-EAG

P

Optical Drive

HDD

IDE

Sata

SCSI

Motherboard

Northbridge

SouthbridgeRAM

ROM

PSU

Audio

NIC

GPU

CPU

The central processing unit (CPU) Is one of the key parts of hardware as it acts as the brain of the computer processing all the computers functions, Anything needing to be computed always gets sent to the CPU first

Fan Just like a standard desk fan you would buy in a shop, the fan in the computer acts the same, as the CPU in a computer can become very hot after running for a while, the motor driven fan cools this down through spinning and circulating air around the computer case, depending on how big the computer is some people may use more then one fan to cool down their computer

Case

This is thing which stores all of the computer hardware such as power supply, motherboard, disk drives, other names included cabinet, box, tower enclosure or housing.

Expansion Slot’s

This is a type of port or plug located on the motherboard which allows extra devices or expansion cards to be attached to the computer and new functions to the PC. There are three different types of Expansion Slots PCI, AGP and PCI-E

BIOS

Located in the ROM of the computer, The basic input/output systems (BIOS) is a program which is pre-installed on to every windows PC and is used when starting up. Once the computer begins to turn on the CPU will access the BIOS even before the operating system is loaded, the BIOS will check all hardware connections are working ok and locate any devices. If everything is working fine the BIOS will load the operating system into the computers memory thus finishing the boot-up process. However it still is used after start up as it acts immediacy between the CPU and the I/O (input/output) devices as the BIOS is the reason the programs and operating system don't have to know exact details, the BIOS just needs to be updated when anything changes

PCI

Peripheral Component Interconnect (PCI) is used to connect all kinds of devices including network cards, modems, sound cards and older video cards

PCI-E

This expansion slot is usually used more often nowadays as is will typically connect more advanced video cards

AGP

Used to connect AGP video cards but is a much older type of graphics card and is usually replaced in today's PC's with a PCI-E

Optical Drive

Sees and reads data on any optical discs inserted into the PC, The disks have millions of small bumps and dips and when inserted into optical drives is read through using lasers and marking each bump as a 1 or a 0 which the computer can then understand

HDD Hard Disk Drive (HDD) is the component that stores all your computers data, this is where all your files and folders are located. The data is stored on a stack of mounted disks which spin extremely fast at about 5400 or 7200 RPM so that any data can be accessed immediately from anywhere on the PC's drive. Data on the disks is stored on the hard drive magnetically this is because even when the computer is off the data will still remain on the hard drive

IDE

Integrated Device Electronics (IDE) refers to technology that integrates the electronics controller into the drive itself and whilst older IDE's can only support hard drives up to 40 MB of data, the new standard, EIDE (Enhanced-IDE) can support hard drives with over 250 GB of data. The new enhanced-IDE's also allow for data transfer rates that are over twice as fast as the original IDE

Sata

Can be found in newer computers, it improves speed and power consumption over both SCSI and IDE

SCSI

Small Computer System interface (SCSI) is usually used for high speed hard drives as it can support faster data transfer rates than IDE storage interface, but will usually cost more per megabyte

Motherboard This is what makes all the things in your computer work together, it is the main circuit board and has many key components located on it such as the CPU, ROM, RAM expansion slots, PCI slots and USB ports. It also includes controllers for devices like the hard drive, DVD drive, keyboard and mouse

Northbridge

The Northbridge is the main processor and directs data to and from the CPU, it is a chip in the computer which connects the CPU to other primary components in the system such as RAM , FSB, PCI Express cards, and the AGP card. The Northbridge also connects to the Southbridge and sometimes called the Memory Controller Hub (MCH) on Intel systems

Southbridge

The Southbridge is a chip which sends and receives data from the CPU through the Northbridge which is connected directly to the computer's processor. Even though it does not have to run as fast as the Northbridge it does process data from more components

RAM

Made of small memory chips that form a memory module which are installed in the RAM slots of the computers motherboard. Any program opened on your computer is loaded from the hard rive into the RAM. Running programs from the RAM allows them to function without any lag time. This means the more RAM your computer has, the more data can be loaded from the hard drive into the RAM which can effectively speed up your computer

ROM

This is memory containing hardwired instructions that the computer uses when it boots up and before the system software loads

PSU

This is what supplies power for a computer so it can turn on and all the functions can run efficiently, It receives power from an electrical outlet and converts the current from AC to DC giving the computer the power it requires. The PSU also regulates a voltage amount so the computer can run smoothly without overheating as some actions and commands will require the computer to supply more power to it

Audio Audio is produced from a computer through the soundcard usually located the motherboard, which provides audio input and output capabilities. Most sound cards have at least one analog line input and one stereo line output connection They will usually also support digital audio input and output. Audi can be heard through a number of devices such as speakers and headphones through plugging them into the 3.5mm minijack's

NIC

Network interface card (NIC) is the card which physically makes the connection between a network and a computer and comes in ISA and PCI versions, The NIC typically use an Ethernet connection and are available in 10, 100, and 1000 Base-T configurations with a 100 Base-T card being able to transfer data at 100 Mbps

GPU The Graphic Processing Unit (GPU) is a single-chip processor and acts like the CPU but this is used primarily for computing 3D functions such as lighting effects, object transformations, and 3D motion. This is because these calculations can be to complex for the CPU and with the GPU the computer can run more efficiently