A Quick Look at the Major Components in Your Computer

Have you ever wondered what is inside the case of your computer? Maybe you peeked when the service technician was installing something for you. When you first open up the case and look inside, a computer is a very intimidating contraption. However, once you learn about the different parts that make up a computer it gets a lot more simple. Today's computers consist of around eight main components, although some of the more advanced computers might have a few more. What are these eight main components and what are they used for? Here's an entry level explanation to get you started.

First is the Power Supply. The power supply is used to provide electrical power to all of the components in your computer. It is usually a rectangular box and is usually located in one of the corners of the computer. To find it for sure, look to see where the power cord plugs into the back of the computer and you have found the power supply. Most power supplies today are measured in wattage and come in 50 watt increments (500 watt, 550, 600, etc). Most computers come with a power supply that is large enough for some expansion, but if you are adding to many new components to your computer, you might have to think about upsizing.

Second is the Motherboard. The motherboard is the where all of the other components plug into and run from. While everything plugs into the motherboard, it is important to remember that it is not the brain of the computer. It only holds the brain and helps it interact with all the other pieces of the puzzle. CPU's and RAM (see below to find out what these are) are usually matched to a motherboard, while hard disks, cd-rom drives, and other components do not rely as much on the motherboard.

The third component of a computer is the CPU, or Central Processing Unit. This is the brain of the computer, without it nothing else can happen. Very simply, computers work by doing calculations and setting switches. These switches then help determine what answers the computer gives. The faster the CPU can do these calculations and give the correct answers, the faster the computer runs for the user. Most CPUs are now measured in gigahertz (Ghz) and they are currently up to our 3.8GHz or faster. However, just to keep you on your toes, there are now CPU chips that come with the equivalent of two CPUs on the same chip. These CPUs work together to get more work done faster than the single CPU can, yet many times their speed ratings are less than the single CPUs. Its kind of like the old garden hose versus fire hose analogy. Although each CPU is slower than the single CPU, the combined total is more.

Fourth in our list of components is the Random Access Memory or RAM. RAM is used as temporary working storage for the computer. It is similar to your counter in the kitchen. While you are cooking, you put all of your ingredients on the counter and then you put them away when you are done cooking. The computer puts all kinds of information (ingredients) into the RAM (counter top) while the computer is running, but when you turn it off the memory is then cleaned up (like putting stuff back in cupboards). There are many different types and speed of RAM memory, but they must match your motherboard in order to work properly. For the most part, the more RAM you have in your computer, the better off you will be.

Our fifth component is the Hard drive. Sticking with our cooking analogy, the hard drive is like the cupboards in the kitchen. This is where your store everything until you need it. Our ingredients on the hard drive include the operating system (Windows XP, etc), games, word processing programs, etc. Hard drive technology is constantly improving and over the past 10 years, hard drives have gone from around 20MB to over 500GB and more. Uh oh. MB, GB, What are these? A byte is normally 1 character of text. A MB or megabyte is 1 million bytes (or characters). A GB or gigabyte is 1000 megabytes or 1 trillion bytes (1 trillion characters). So as you can see, going from 20 million characters to over 500 trillion is quite a jump. You can also see that you can store a lot more information on your computer. Information can include games, pictures, videos, applications, and more. Anything you put on the computer goes into this storage.

Our sixth component in your computer is the Video Board. The video board is what allows your computer to display things on the screen to you. Video boards are sometimes built right into the motherboard or they come as a separate component that you can plug into expansion slots. The better the video board, the better things will look on your computer. For those that might remember, it's similar to the old Atari 2600 video games (a bunch of squares arranged to make objects) and today's Sony Play Station where drawn characters almost look real.

Seventh on our list is Cooling fans. Your computer might only have one cooling fan or it might have several. All of the components in your computer generate heat and some of them generate more than others. The power supply, the CPU, and some high-end video cards are the worst offenders for generating heat. The job of all of your cooling fans is to get this heat out of the case so that nothing overheats and breaks. If a computer overheats, it can break the CPU and other components, making the computer an expensive piece of junk. While most of the noise you hear coming from a computer can be attributed to the cooling fans, remember to be tolerant. The cooling fan is your friend!

Our eight and final component could be a mixture of several different things. These are the extra drives that are in the computer. Generally all computers have cd-rom drives today, and some have DVD drives or drives that can read both. For a little extra money, you can also purchase drives that write DVDs and CDs. These drives are good if you like to make backups of your existing disks, they also make backing up your computer a lot easier.

There you have it, a list of all the basic components of your computer and a quick and easy description of what each does. For those that are interested, there are many sites on the Internet than can be accessed to learn more details about each of the components. Enjoy your new found knowledge and next time, take a peek when the case is off.