COMPUTER HARDWARE

A central processing unit (CPU) is the electronic

circuitry within
a computerthat
carries
out
1. Central
the instructions of a computer program by performing
Processing
the
basic
arithmetic,
logical,
control
Unit/Processor and input/output (I/O) operations specified by the
instructions. The term has been used in the computer
industry at least since the early 1960s.Traditionally,
the term "CPU" refers to a processor and its control
unit (CU), distinguishing these core elements of a
computer from external components such as main
memory and peripherals.
A CPU socket or CPU slot is a mechanical
2. CPU
component(s) that provides mechanical and electrical
socket/Processor connections between a microprocessor and aprinted
Slot
circuit board (PCB). This allows the CPU to be
replaced without soldering.
3.
A motherboard (sometimes alternatively known as
Motherboard the mainboard, system
board, planar
board or logic board,or colloquially, a mobo) is the
mainprinted
circuit
board (PCB)
found
in computers and other expandable systems. It holds
many of the crucial electronic components of the
system, such as thecentral processing unit (CPU)
and memory,
and
provides
connectors
for
otherperipherals. Unlike a backplane, a motherboard
contains significant sub-systems such as the processor
and other components.
4. Heat Sink A heat sink is designed to maximize its surface area
in contact with the cooling medium surrounding it,
such as the air. Air velocity, choice of material,
protrusion design and surface treatment are factors
that affect the performance of a heat sink. Heat sink
attachment methods and thermal interface materials
also affect thedie temperature of the integrated
circuit. Thermal adhesive or thermal greaseimprove
the heat sink's performance by filling air gaps
between the heat sink and the heat spreader on the
device.
5. Cooler
A cooler fan is any fan inside, or attached to,
Fan
a computer case used for active cooling, and may
refer to fans that draw cooler air into the case from
the outside, expel warm air from inside, or move air
across a heat sink to cool a particular component.
6. Memory A memory slot, memory socket, or RAM slot is
Slot
what allows computer memory (RAM) to be inserted
into the computer. Depending on the motherboard,
there may be 2 to 4memory slots (sometimes more
on high-end motherboards) and are what determine
the type of RAM used with the computer. The most
common types of RAM are SDRAM and DDR for
desktop
computers

and SODIMM for laptop computers, each having

various types and speeds. In the picture below, is an
example of what memory slots may look like inside a
desktop computer. In this picture, there are three open
available slots for three memory sticks.
7. Memory A memory module is another name for a RAM chip.
Card/Memor It is often used as a general term used to
y Module
describe SIMM,DIMM,
and SO-DIMM memory.
While there are several different types of memory
modules available, they all serve the same purpose,
which is to store temporary data while the computer
is running.
8. Bridges A northbridge or host bridge is a microchip on
some PCmotherboards and is connected directly to
the CPU (unlike thesouthbridge) and thus responsible
for tasks that require the highest performance.[1] The
northbridge is usually paired with a southbridge, also
known as I/O controller hub. In systems where they
are
included,
these
two
chips
manage
communications between the CPU and other parts of
the motherboard, and constitute the core
logic chipset of the PC motherboard.

9. AGP slot

10. PCI slot

11. IDE slot

The southbridge can usually be distinguished from

the northbridge by not being directly connected to
the CPU. Rather, the northbridge ties the southbridge
to the CPU. Through the use of controller integrated
channel circuitry, the northbridge can directly link
signals from the I/O units to the CPU for data control
and access.
The Accelerated Graphics Port (often shortened
to AGP) is a high-speed point-to-point channel for
attaching a video card to a computer'smotherboard,
primarily to assist in the acceleration of 3D computer
graphics.
The Peripheral Component Interconnect
slots,
commonly known as the PCI slots, refers to a
computer bus. The computer bus is used by the
computer to connect to peripheral add-on devices,
such as a pci video card, network cards, sound cards,
tv tuners, firewire cards, graphics cards and many
other types of extension cards.
Short for Integrated Drive Electronics or IBM Disc
Electronics, IDE is
more
commonly
known
as ATA or Parallel ATA (PATA) and is a standard
interface for IBM compatible hard drives. IDE is
different from the Small Computer Systems Interface
(SCSI) and Enhanced Small Device Interface (ESDI)
because its controllers are on each drive, meaning the
drive can connect directly to the motherboard or
controller. IDE and its updated successor, Enhanced
IDE (EIDE), are the most common drive interfaces
found in IBM compatible computers today. Below, is

12. SATA
port/slot

13. CMOS
Battery
14.
VGA/Video
Card

15. LAN
Card

16. Optical
Drive/CD/D
VD/ODD

a picture of the IDE connector on the back of a hard

drive, a picture of what an IDE cable looks like, and
the IDE channels it connects to on the motherboard.
Serial ATA (SATA) is a computer bus interface that
connects host
bus
adapters to mass
storage
devices such as hard disk drives and optical drives.
Serial ATA succeeded the older Parallel ATA (PATA)
standard,[a]offering several advantages over the older
interface: reduced cable size and cost (seven
conductors instead of 40 or 80), native hot swapping,
fasterdata transfer through higher signalling rates, and
more
efficient
transfer
through
an
(optional) I/O queuing protocol.
CMOS battery serves two purposes: to feed the
configuration memory (also called CMOS) and to
feed the real time clock of the computer (the one that
show the date and the time).
A video card (also called a video adapter, display
card, graphics
card,graphics
board, display
adapter, graphics adapter or frame buffer[1]and
sometimes
preceded
by
the
word discrete or dedicated to
emphasize
the
distinction
between
this
implementation
and integrated graphics) is anexpansion 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,[2] with the word "graphics"
usually omitted.
The LAN (Local Area Network) card is a 'door' to
the network from a computer. Any type of network
activity requires a LAN card: the Internet, network
printer, connecting computers together, and so on.
Today many devices contain a network card,
including televisions for their Internet apps, Blu-ray
players, mobile phones, VoIP, desk phones, and even
refrigerators. LAN cards are hardware devices that
can be added to a computer, or they can be integrated
into the main hardware of the computer.
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.

17. Hard
Disk Drive

18. Floppy
Disk Drive

A hard disk drive (HDD)[b] is a data storage

device used
for
storing
and
retrieving digital information using rapidly rotating
disks (platters) coated with magnetic material.[2] 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.
A Floppy Disk Drive, or FDD or FD for short, is a
computer disk drive that enables a user to save data to
removable diskettes. Although 8" disk drives were
first made available in1971, the first real disk drives
used were the 5 1/4" floppy disk drives, which were
later replaced with 3 1/2" floppy disk drives. Today,
because of the limited capacity and reliability of
floppy diskettes many computers no longer come
equipped with floppy disk drives and are being
replaced with CD-R, other writable discs, and flash
drives.

19.
Computer
Case

A computer case also known as a computer

chassis, tower, system unit,cabinet, base unit or
simply case and sometimes incorrectly referred to as
the "CPU" or "hard drive",[1][2] is the enclosure that
contains
most
of
the
components
of
a computer (usually excluding the display, keyboard
and mouse).

20. 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.