Hard Drive
The hard drive stores everything. When the CPU asks for data, the hard drive spins a disk called a platter, while a reading lens that’s on an arm reads or writes data onto the platter. The faster the platter spins, the faster reading and writing are. On the back of the drive is the interface. This is where all the cables connect to.
Motherboard
The motherboard is a big printed circuit board. The motherboard is the most important part in the computer. The motherboard decides what kind of CPU, hard drive, memory, and video card you can use. Some computers have integrated video and sound cards. Everything in your computer connects to your motherboard. On the motherboard there are data pathways that do all the sending of information called busses. The faster the busses the faster the computer. Some of the parts on the motherboard are: the power connector, which give power to all the parts in the computer. The processor socket which you place your CPU into. The north and south bridge, these are just two chipsets. Memory sockets for your RAM. An IDE connector, where you connect stuff like optical drives into. Another important part is the back panel, where you plug the microphone, mouse, headphones, and keyboard into. Those are most but not all the parts in a PC. There are three types of motherboards. ATX which is pretty standard in most computers. A smaller version, the micro-ATX, which is more common in laptops. And least but not last the mini-ATX, this motherboard is very small.
Case
The case holds everything inside. The main types of cases are full towers, they are the largest. Mid towers, they are still big, but as much room for upgrading as the full tower. Then the micro tower, this is very small; it’s for fitting into small spaces.
Fans
In most of today’s computers there are two fans; the intake fan, and the exhaust fan. The intake fan, it brings cool air into the case. The exhaust fan blows the hot air out of the computer.
The processor
The processor is a very important part in the computer. The central processing unit or CPU helps everything happen in the computer. Each CPU has its own clock speed. The clocks speed tells you how fast your processor is. All CPUs how one core, but some have two or four. The advantage of having more than one core is that it can work on more programs at once. There are two big CPU making companies. One is an Intel. The other AMD. You can’t really compare the two different companies because the clock speeds are not measure in the same. Another part on the processor is the socket. This is where you put the CPU on the motherboard. An important part to know about your CPU use its bus speed. The bus speed is how fast your CPU can send information. Busses are data pathways that are on the motherboard that connects to the Northridge. So the faster your busses are the faster you can send information. Another part of the CPU is the memory cache. All CPUs have to open them. The caches transfer dated two in from storage areas.
Heat sink
Heat sinks are raised fans made out of copper and aluminum. They are glued on top of the CPU. Their job is to pull this evil ways from the CPU, because if the CPU over heats it will be ruined.
Memory
The random access memory or RAM is an important part in the computer. Its job is to make retrieving data faster. Programs that get used a lot are stored in the RAM for faster access. RAM also has a clock speed.
Optical drive
An all optical drive is a drive that plays disks like C D’s DVD’s HD DVD’s and blu ray. All drives have for reading and writing speed.
Computer parts
Comparison
Comparison
After buying, building and now using my computer and knowing the quality of my computer. I was going to compare it to a pre-assembled computer.
My Computer:
My computer cost $508.41. It has quad core processor, 4GB of Ram, card reader, 120 mm blue LED fan, mid tower case with clear side, Asus pro motherboard, and 680 watt SLI ready SATA ready power supply.
Pre-Built Computer
This pre-assembled computer costs $1,399.99. For $891.58 you get the same processor I have, same amount of memory, an optical drive, 250 GB hard drive, card reader, Windows Vista Ultimate, mouse and keyboard, and gaming mid tower, and a 550 watt power supply. Also a very nice graphics card.
Conclusion
I think that my computer is a better buy because it has the same and better features. But the pre-assembled does come with keyboard and mouse. But if you have already owned a computer you will probably have a keyboard and mouse. The only better thing is the really awesome graphics card that comes with it. The graphics card is a NVIDIA 9800GTX 512MB PCI-Express Video Card. It can play the highest end games. So I think that building a computer is less expensive then buying pre made ones. You will have to know a bit about computers though. That’s why it’s cheaper to build over buy. Also because of the labor of building it.
Reflection 6
Reflection 6
Right now I have decided for my display to have old computer parts laid out on a table. An on each part I am going to have labels for the parts. Along with a detailed description of the part. I made the labels, but I just started on doing all of the description. I was having a really hard time trying to think of someone to interview, because the only person I could think of was Bill Gates. I had no idea how to get a hold of him, so I had to think of someone else. Then my mom told me my uncle’s brother works, or worked with computers, so I decided to interview him. So I made up my questions and called up my uncle and asked for his brother’s number. I few days later I was interviewing Shane. I was very surprised about how much he knew. The interview was really helpful. He and I mostly talked about being in the computer business. Shane lives up in Salt Lake and I was surprised to learn that he had worked up in the Seattle are. He was working for a company called Hewitt rand. I learned that the company went out of business because of poor management. I’m really happy that I interview Shane because I don’t think that anyone else would have been as helpful.
Interview
Interviewees experience in field: Shane (my interviewee) has experience in the field because he has been building and working with computers for a long time. He’s even owned small computer businesses.
Q: So how did you first get into the computer business?
A: Around 1990, a good friend got me into computers. First we started out selling and building computers for big name companies, and then we got into a small company that built computers.
Q: Did you ever have a certain interest in computers?
A: No not really. I mean I used computers in school, and I kind of liked programming. But I’m not what you call a nerd about computers.
Q: Where did you work?
A: I first worked locally up here in salt lake for a small company, then I moved to a Seattle based company called Hewitt Rand. They managed there money poorly, so my friend and I bought the interest and started our own small company.
Q: What kind of jobs did you first start doing?
A: Primarily, it was to help build computers so I would know what I was doing. Also I had to do a lot of learning.
Q: Is the technology completely different then it is today?
A: Extremely different. I remember when people would get excited about getting a 4 gigabyte hard drive. They would be like, oh wow what am I going to do with 5 gigabytes. Now there are 500 gigabyte hard drives.
Q: What did you do from when you got to, and left work?
A: I was always calling companies. On the phone asking different companies what there computer needs were so we could supply them. I even built some computers form schools.
Q: Did you ever face any big problems in the computer business?
A: We had problems all the time when different companies had different needs. Like if one company was doing memory archiving, and anther working on increasing memory like RAM. We would always have to find a compromise for both companies.
Q: Do you think being in the computer business paid off?
A: Absolutely! I learned so much about computers which is especially helpful now days: just a real good industry. It’s also a great job to have because other guys are going to get laid off before the guy who keeps your network running will.
About Computer parts pt. 1
The hard drive stores everything. When the CPU asks for data, the hard drive spins a disk called a platter, while a reading lens that’s on an arm reads or writes data onto the platter. The faster the platter spins, the faster reading and writing are. On the back of the drive is the interface. This is where all the cables connect to.
Motherboard
The motherboard is a big printed circuit board. The motherboard is the most important part in the computer. The motherboard decides what kind of CPU, hard drive, memory, and video card you can use. Some computers have integrated video and sound cards. Everything in your computer connects to your motherboard. On the motherboard there are data pathways that do all the sending of information called busses. The faster the busses the faster the computer. Some of the parts on the motherboard are: the power connector, which give power to all the parts in the computer. The processor socket which you place your CPU into. The north and south bridge, these are just two chipsets. Memory sockets for your RAM. An IDE connector, where you connect stuff like optical drives into. Another important part is the back panel, where you plug the microphone, mouse, headphones, and keyboard into. Those are most but not all the parts in a PC. There are three types of motherboards. ATX which is pretty standard in most computers. A smaller version, the micro-ATX, which is more common in laptops. And least but not last the mini-ATX, this motherboard is very small.
Case
The case holds everything inside. The main types of cases are full towers, they are the largest. Mid towers, they are still big, but as much room for upgrading as the full tower. Then the micro tower, this is very small; it’s for fitting into small spaces.
Fans
In most of today’s computers there are two fans; the intake fan, and the exhaust fan. The intake fan, it brings cool air into the case. The exhaust fan blows the hot air out of the computer.
Reflection 5
Reflection 5
In this reflection I am going to compare my old computer to my new one I just built. I first start by comparing the CPU’s. (CPU is the central processing unit; it’s like the brain of the computer) In the old computer, the CPU was the very worst componet in the computer. It only had one core (which means it can’t work on multiple programs at high speeds) and it was only 1.6 GHz. (giga hertz is a way to measure the speed of a CPU) In the new computer, the CPU has 4 cores, so it can work on a lot of things at once. It’s also twice as fast as the old one. I can’t really compare the CPU’s because my old CPU was an Intel made processor, and my new one is an AMD processor. There measured in speed differently. The case of the new computer is way cooler than my old one. The hard drive in the old computer is the same as the one in my new computer. I also got new RAM (random access memory, it stores the most viewed programs and websites for faster viewing) that’s 4 GB big, when the old one was 650 MB big. My new computer also has a card reader, the old one did not. A card reader is just little slots on the outside of the computer that let you put cards in it like a SD card from a camera. The optical drive is the same. I got a built in graphics card on my new computer to start out with. (A built in graphics card is a chipset built into the motherboard.) I also got a more powerful power supply. The old one only put out 280 watts, the new one 680 watts. And the new one has more fans. I really like my new computer!