Internal Components of the Computer

By Daniel Atkinson

CPU

A CPU (Central Processing Unit), or processor as it is sometimes called, is the main chip in the computer and is located on the Motherboard.

The CPU processes the computer’s data and exchanges it with the other components and peripherals.

CPU’s come in different speeds, the most of common of which are between 500MHz - 800MHz. The speeds are measured in Mega Hertz (MHz) and even Giga Hertz (GHz). Most modern computers have two processors (Intel Dual Core Processor).

The CPU is often referred to as the brain of the computer.

Motherboard

The Motherboard, or logic board as it is known in Macintosh computers, is the main circuit board in the computer. The Motherboard contains many components like the RAM, CPU, expansion slots and the heat sink. The motherboard connects all these peripherals together.

RAM

RAM or Random Accessing Memory is the main memory that stores data on the computer.

RAM is a type of volatile memory which means it requires electricity to store data, so when the computer is powered down all the memory is wiped.

There are many types of RAM including SRAM (Static Random Accessing Memory), DRAM (Dynamic Random Accessing Memory) and SO-DIMM RAM. All these do similar jobs to the RAM.

Power Supply

The Power Supply Unit supplies all the computer components which power (electricity). The Power Supply Unit changes AC (Alternating Current) from the mains supply into DC ( Direct Current) which is used by the components.

Fans

One of the main problems with computers, especially laptops, are that they can overheat easily. To stop this problem fans are added to cool the computer down.

The main fan is positioned on the CPU because the CPU is prone to overheating. Firstly a thermal compound is put on top of the CPU followed by the heat sink, and the fan is placed on top of this.

Adapter Cards

On the motherboard there are a couple of expansion slots. In these expansion slots go several printed circuit boards, or adapter cards as they are more commonly known.

The sound card is an adapter card that allows the computer to have extended sound capabilities, and for sound components to be used, for example, headphones.

The Video or Graphics card is an adapter card that allows the computer to show graphics on the monitor.

NIC Card

The NIC, or Network Interface Card, is an adapter card that allows the computer to connect to a network.

The Wireless Network Interface Card allows the computer to access the network wirelessly. It uses radio signals to do so.

FDD

A FDD (Floppy Disk Drive) is a drive that can read and write on a removable magnetically coated floppy disk. The rectangular disk is quite flexible so it has been give the name ‘floppy’.

The Floppy Disk is a type of storage medium and back up device.

HDD

The HDD (Hard disk Drive) is a drive that can read and write on a magnetically coated platter, that spins at a high speed. There can be more than one patter (disk) in the hard drive.

While the platter is rotating the magnetic head reads the data stored on it.

A computer can have more than one hard drive. In these circumstances the main hard drive is called the ‘master’ while the others are called ‘slaves’ these can be alternated by the a switch know as a ‘jumper’.

Optical Drives

There are two types of optical drives.

The DVD drive is a DVD player built in to the base unit. The DVD drive allows the computer to run DVD’s.

The other optical drive is the CD-ROM drive, which allows the computer to run CD-ROMs . These have, however, mostly been replaced by DVD drives.

Connectors

A connector is a cable that connects a peripheral device to a hardware component. There are many types of connectors but the main ones used today are USB, Firewire, and PS/2.

USB (Universal Serial Bus) is hot swappable, meaning that it can be put in or pulled out without the system having to be rebooted, it can support 127 devices. There are 3 standards of USB, USB 3.0 is the latest and has transfer speeds of up to 625MBs per second.

Firewire or IEEE 1394 is another high speed connector that is used predominantly by Apple. IEEE 1394 can support up to 63 devices and has speeds of up to 800MBs per second

An older, and less common connector, is PS/2. PS/2 is used to connect keyboards and mice to the computer. These have mostly been replaced by USB.

Other Connectors include Ethernet, SCSI, Parallel and Serial.

Computer Case

Here is a labelled diagram of the inside of a computer….