Computer parts

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.