The Workings of a Computer

The Workings of a Computer

7 Major Components

Motherboard CPU RAM Video Card Power Supply Hard Disk Optical Drive

The MotherboardA motherboard  is the

main printed circuit board (PCB) found in computers and other

expandable systems. It holds many of the crucial electronic components of

the system, such as the central processing

unit (CPU) and memory, and provides connectors for

other peripherals.A motherboard provides the

electrical connections by which the other

components of the system communicate (talk with

each other).

CPU (Central Processing Unit)

A central processing unit (CPU) is the hardware within

a computer that carries out the instructions of a computer

program by performing the basic arithmetical, logical,

and input/output operations of the system. The term has been in use in the computer industry at least since the early 1960s. The form, design, and implementation of CPUs have changed over the course of their

history, but their fundamental operation remains much the same.The fundamental operation of most

CPUs, regardless of the physical form they take, is to execute a

sequence of stored instructions called a

program. The instructions are kept in some kind of computer memory.

RAM (Random Access Memory)Random-access memory (RAM ) is a form of computer data storage. A random-access memory device allows data items to be read and

written in roughly the same amount of time regardless of the

order in which data items are accessed. In contrast, with other direct-access data storage media

such as hard disks, CD-RW’s, DVD-RW’s and the older drum memory, the time required to read and write

data items varies significantly depending on their physical

locations on the recording medium, due to mechanical limitations such as media rotation speeds and arm

movement delays.

Video CardA video card (also called a video adapter, display card, graphics card, graphics board, display

adapter,graphics adapter or frame buffer and sometimes preceded by the

word discrete or dedicated to emphasize the distinction between this

implementation and integrated graphics) is an expansion card which generates a feed of output images to a display (such

as a computer monitor). Within the industry, video cards are sometimes

called graphics add-in-boards, abbreviated as AIBs, with the word

"graphics" usually omitted.Historically, video cards developed from

the need to display graphics with growing higher resolutions and color

depths on IBM PC compatible computers.Virtually all current video cards are built

with either AMD-sourced or Nvidia-sourced graphics chips. Most video cards

offer various functions such as accelerated rendering of 3D scenes and 2D graphics, MPEG-2/MPEG-4

decoding, TV output, or the ability to connect multiple monitors.

Power Supply

A power supply unit (PSU) converts mains AC to low-voltage

regulated DC Power for the internal components of a computer. Modern personal computers universally use

a switched-mode power supply. Some power supplies have a manual

selector for input voltage, while others automatically adapt to the

supply voltage.

Hard DiskA hard disk drive (HDD) is a data storage device used for

storing and retrieving digital information using rapidly rotating disks

(platters) coated with magnetic material. An HDD retains its data even when powered off. Data is read in a random-access manner,

meaning individual blocks of data can be stored or

retrieved in any order rather than sequentially. An HDD

consists of one or more rigid ("hard") rapidly rotating disks

(platters) with magnetic heads arranged on a

moving actuator arm to read and write data to the

surfaces.

Optical DriveIn computing, an optical disc

drive (ODD) is a disk drive that uses laser light or electromagnetic

waves within or near the visible light spectrum as part of the process of reading or writing data to or from

optical discs. Some drives can only read from discs, but recent drives are

commonly both readers and recorders, also called burners or

writers. Compact discs, DVDs, and Blu-ray discs are common types of

optical media which can be read and recorded by such drives. Optical

drive is the generic name; drives are usually described as "CD" "DVD", or

"Blu-ray", followed by "drive", "writer", etc.