Internal Devices of a Computer

There are several components that work together to run your computer. These descriptions are also in the "first time buyer's guide" and will give you an overall understanding of the computer hardware. 1. The Central Processing Unit chip is usually first on the list and considered the most important. It sits on a "motherboard". The CPU is the brain inside your computer where all the math happens. Processors execute the instructions necessary to run you PC. Manufacturers of comparable chips are Intel, which make Pentium processors, and Cyrix, which makes 6x86 processors. The speed of your CPU is measured in GHz (gigahertz) or MGz (megahertz). * Note: Front Side Bus is the speed at which your CPU can send the processing information to various components of you computer. L2 Cache is a special memory that handles frequently accessed information. CPU on a motherboard 2. RAM (Random Access Memory)is the most common type of computer memory that can be accessed randomly. RAM is volatile which means that they lose their contents when the computer is turned off. RAM allows applications and the Operating System (i.e.: Windows) to operate smoothly. More RAM means faster retrieval rates for applications. RAM is now measured by DDR (double data rate) or SDR (single data rate. RAM also has a bus speed at which it can send and receive information. RAM module 3. Hard Drives are where you store information like your Operating System, applications (i.e.: Word, PowerPoint), and documents. Hard drives have size amounts (60 Gigs), bus speeds (ATA-100), and spin rates which increase seek times for retrieval of information(7200rpm). Hard Drive 4. Monitors are devices which images generated by the video adapter are displayed through a cable connection from your computer. Most monitors are measured from corner to cross corner. TFT monitors found on laptops are measured from side to side. Monitor 5. Graphics Cards (aka video cards, or video adapters) allow for more complex math to be crunched for video display. These cards are usually measured in megabytes (MB) much like the RAM. People can start "gaming" on their computers from between 4MB and 8MB of video RAM and up. More video RAM also allows for complex video editing and better image manipulation in applications. TV-OUT means that the card will support a television cable allowing your screen to simulate a television display. Video Card 6. DVD-ROM are a type of CD players that also allow you to play DVD's as well as CDs. All CD drives have a spin rate, much like a hard drive. HOwever CD drives spin at a much lower rate than Hard Drives meaning the retrieval rate of information is slower than a hard drive. DVD drives play DVDs smoothly from about a spin rate of 6x. DVD-ROM Drive 7. CD-RW's are CD ReWritables. Also called CD Burners, these drives can play CDs and also record onto a special blank CD. They have several spin rates depending on the function; Write, Read, and ReWrite. A 48x/24x/48x CD-RW drive can record to a CD at a spin rate of 48x, read a CD at 24x, and Rewrite a ReWritable CD at 48x.If a CD-RW has a record rate of 1x it can record a 60 minute CD in 60 minutes. A record rate of 48x can record 48x faster, or about a minute and a half. CD-RW Drive 8. Sound Cards allow for different levels of sound input and output. (nb: "16bit sound in" is CD quality) Sound Blaster Live is one of the most trusted and versatile cards for sound information. The more sound RAM you have the better the conversion rates for turning the CD music into something digital so computer speakers can play them. Also the more sound RaM you have the more effects you can add to the sound. Sound Card 9. Speakers and Subwoofers are devices in which you can hear the playback of music. A subwoofer expands the bass of sounds and usually comes with atweeter which expands the higher notes and tones of music. Since the computer has software to act like a CD player, the speakers and subwoofer tend to be inexpensive since they are only used as an output device and not part of a "stereo system". Speakers and Subwoofer 10. Modems, short for modulator-demodulator is a device or program that turns analog signals (i.e.: telephone signals) into digital signals that your computer can read, and also converts the signal back for sending. Modems allow connections to other computers, Internet and so on. Modems are measured in "K", which is short for 1000 bits. A 556.6 K PCI modem can send and receive 56,600bytes of information a second. (not very fast by today's standards) PCIis the type of "card slot" connection to the computer. Modem 11. Ethernet Cards are used for networks and can also connect you to the internet. it acts like a modem but has much faster speeds. It doesn't have to convert any analog signals. All the information is already digital. The 10/100 means that it can support from 10 Mbps to 100 Mbps (Megabits per second) of a data transfer rate. There are 1000 K in a Megabit, which means that up to 100,000,000 bits of information can be transmitted and received. Ethernet Card

12. Peripheral I/O Peripherals are external devices that you connect to your PC. (Well, technically your hard drive and CD-ROM etc. are peripherals too, but often people use the term to refer to devices outside the main box). There are two main ways that you can connect peripherals to your machine: through a serial connection, or through a parallel connection: Serial Communications: A serial connection sends information over the line one bit at a time. It is a simple way to send information in or out of the computer, but is not as fast as other ways the computer can communicate. Serial connections are typically used for devices such as mice and modems. Parallel Communications: A parallel connection is faster than a serial one because it sends many bits in parallel. The advantage of this is that it is faster, but the disadvantage is that it is more complicated to do. Parallel connections are used most often for printers and removable storage drives, which need more speed than serial peripherals. Printers transfer the screen area or a document into a printed "hard copy" of your work onto paper. Other Input / Output devices include a microphone, keyboard and mouse which allow input from a computer user into an operating system or application.   Printer, Microphone, a Keyboard, and a Mouse