Explanations+Just+a+few

Explanations Just a few

MOTHERBOARD The Motherboard, also called the Mainboard, or Mobo for short, is the large thin rectangular plastic Printed Circuit Board (PCB) into which a large range of electronic components are connected in a PC.

The motherboard provides a network of pathways (or Buses) for the CPU to communicate to the various hardware components, and a range of ports for standard peripherals and devices to plug into the PC. The main pathway for information flow in the motherboard is the Front Side Bus (FSB). In human body terms, the motherboard is the nervous system and arterial system combined.

MEMORY RAM (Random Access Memory), also called System RAM or just Memory, is the most common form of memory hardware used by a PC.

RAM usually comes in long thin ʹsticksʹ of set sizes that plug into the motherboard and through it provide a place for the CPU and other components to temporarily store information. RAM only holds information while the PC is on; if a PC is rebooted or switched off, any information in RAM is instantly cleared.

Aside from System RAM, the graphics card usually has its own RAM called Video RAM, and the CPU and other hardware often have small memory chips called Caches to hold information temporarily. In all cases, memory is used to speed up data transfers because information can be written to and read from memory much faster than any other form of storage (such as the Hard Drive or CD ROM).

ROM (Read Only Memory) is a permanent form of memory, and works similar to RAM, however unlike RAM it can only be read from and not written to under normal circumstances, and it will not clear when the system is rebooted or switched off. ROM is primarily used to hold small amounts of important information, such as the BIOS (Basic Input Output System) – the program which tells the computer how to function when it is first switched on ‐ stored on the ROM chip in the motherboard.

Certain ROMs can be written to by use of a process called Flashing, such as when the BIOS is flashed with a new version. In human body terms, Memory is like our own memory with RAM being short term memory and ROM being long term memory.

HARD DRIVE The Hard Drive is a large, semi‐permanent storage area that acts like Memory, except it is slower and typically far larger.

The hard drive is a rectangular metallic box inside which is a stack of round platters and a read/write head.

The hard drive plugs into the motherboardʹs IDE (Integrated Drive Electronics) Controller, SATA (Serial Advanced Technology Attachment) Controller or SCSI (Small Computer System Interface) Controller depending on the drive type and the motherboard type. Whenever the PC requires information, it must first be read from the hard drive, usually into RAM, from where it is then accessed by the CPU and other devices. Data such as installed software will remain on the hard drive regardless of whether the system is rebooted or switched off. Because the hard drive involves physical components, such as the moving read/write head and a spinning disk, it cannot be as fast as RAM – which has no moving parts ‐ in providing information. Often a system may slow down or stutter while waiting for more information to be loaded up or written to the hard drive. The amount of information on the hard drive itself usually has no significant impact on its performance. In human body terms, the hard drive and the information it holds is like an external library of books, or a notepad that can be read from and written to. CD/DVD/CDRW/DVD‐R DRIVE Much like the Hard Drive, a CD, DVD, CDRW or DVD‐R drive is a storage device that reads from and sometimes writes information onto CDs or DVDs that permanently hold this information until overwritten or deleted. Such drives usually come in plastic rectangular boxes with a loading slot or extendable tray in the front. They usually plug into the motherboardʹs IDE Controller or SATA Controller depending on the drive and motherboard type. Specifically, CD and DVD ROM drives can read information from CDs or CDs & DVDs respectively, but cannot write anything onto them. CDRW and DVD‐R drives can both read from and write information to writeable CDs and CDs & DVDs respectively. All these drives are slower than a hard drive in reading and writing information due to physical limitations once again and also the way in which they are connected to the main system Bus. In human body terms, these drives are again much like an external library and the CDs and DVDs themselves are books or notepads. FLOPPY DRIVE Much like a Hard Drive or CD/DVD/CDRW/DVD‐R Drive, a Floppy Drive stores information on a recording medium, usually a thin plastic 3.5ʺ Floppy Disk. The floppy drive comes in a rectangular plastic box with a loading slot at the front and a large ejection button, and plugs into the floppy controller on the motherboard. Floppy drives can read from and write information to floppy disks, but are incredibly slow compared to any other form of drive, and also hold very little information (1.44MB) and hence are not commonly used anymore. Most PCs retain a floppy drive for emergency use when Windows wonʹt load up for example, or to flash the BIOS. Again, in human body terms a floppy drive is like a library, with the floppy disks a document or notepad for reading from and writing to. GRAPHICS CARD The Graphics Card, also called the Video Card, Graphics Adapter or VGA Adapter, is a miniature computer of its own dedicated to graphics‐related functions on the PC. It is a thin rectangular plastic PCB with a GPU (Graphics Processing Unit) ‐ similar to a CPU ‐ and Video RAM (or VRAM) ‐ similar to System RAM ‐ as well as Pipelines for transferring information internally, similar to the FSB. It plugs into the motherboard through the AGP (Accelerated Graphics Port) Port or a PCI (Peripheral Component Interconnect) slot, or more recently a PCI‐E (Peripheral Component Interconnect Express) slot. Most graphics cards have one or more heatsinks on the GPU and the VRAM, and often have a fan on the GPU or covering the entire card. The graphics card undertakes the majority of 2D and 3D graphics calculations and also sends information directly to the Display Device, which is usually a monitor. Some motherboards have built‐in graphics functionality that works in much the same way as a graphics card, but is referred to as Onboard Graphics or Integrated Graphics. PCs with such graphics functionality (if enabled) typically process graphics‐related information far less quickly than those with plug‐in graphics cards. In human body terms, the graphics card is like the portion of the Brain that relates to visual or artistic expression. DISPLAY DEVICE A Display Device, or more commonly referred to as the Monitor, is the device through which the PCʹs information is displayed graphically. This graphical information comes from the graphics card, and a display device must usually be plugged directly into the graphics card through the back of a PC to facilitate this. While most computers still have a CRT (Cathode Ray Tube) monitor as their primary display device, modern PCs can utilize Televisions, LCD displays and sometimes multiple types of displays at once to output the graphics information. Display devices have the ability to display graphics at various resolutions, typically expressed in number of Pixels wide by number of Pixels high. A Pixel is the smallest component of graphics, and the higher the resolution, the more pixels displayed on the display device and hence the clearer the image. At each resolution a display device can also redraw the image a number of times per second, referred to as the Refresh Rate. The higher the refresh rate the smoother your graphics will appear and the less flickering you will experience. In human body terms the display device is like a pen and a piece of paper, or a canvas used by a person to convey thoughts as images and text. SOUND CARD The Sound Card, also called the Audio Card or Audio Device, is a thin plastic PCB or sometimes an external attachment that acts as a dedicated CPU for calculation of audio information. A sound card typically plugs into the motherboard through a PCI slot, or in some cases as a peripheral, and usually has no heatsink or fan, as it does not require the same level of cooling as other major components. Some motherboards have built‐in audio functionality that works in much the same way as a sound card, but is referred to as Onboard Audio or Integrated Sound. PCs with such audio functionality typically (if enabled) process audio‐related information less quickly or less faithfully than those using plug‐in sound cards. In human body terms, the sound card is much like the portion of the Brain that relates to audio interpretation.

PSU The PSU (Power Supply Unit) is a square metal box, usually with a fan at the back, which is cabled to all the major components of a PC, particularly the motherboard, and provides the power for the PC to function. The power cord from the wall usually plugs straight into the back of the PSU directly, as it draws the appropriate power and regulates the precise voltages that certain devices need to function correctly. The PSU usually has a wattage rating which indicates the maximum power output of the PSU under load, with the more devices connected to a PC the higher the wattage required to maintain ample smooth power to each and hence keep the system stable under stress. In human body terms, the PSU is like the heart which pumps blood through the arteries and organs. HEATSINKS AND FANS A Heatsink is a square or rectangular solid metal object typically with a perfectly flat surface on one side, and many long square ʹspinesʹ on the opposite surface. The role of a heatsink is to sit on top of a chip like the CPU or GPU, or even RAM, and draw out the heat these components are producing through conduction. This heat then travels along the length of the heatsink to the top of the individual metal spines where cooler air and a large surface area help in accelerating the dissipation of the heat. Typically a fan is bolted on top of the heatsink to aid in blowing more cool air over the heatsinkʹs spines and hence dissipate the heat more quickly. In some cases where just a heatsink is sufficient for the job, no fan is used – such as the heatsinks on the motherboard or heatsinks placed onto VRAM. Often Fans are placed inside and around a PC case by themselves to draw in cool air and blow out hot air from the enclosed space around the hardware components on the motherboard. Given the way heatsinks work, the air around components will heat up quickly as heatsink(s) radiate the heat drawn from hardware components. Fans of varying sizes and speeds aid in cooling the air in the entire case. Other forms of cooling such as refrigerator‐like VapoChill units, Peltiers, Heatpipes and Watercooling blocks can assist or replace heatsinks and fans in the role of cooling system components, but are less common due to their cost and complexity. In human body terms these cooling devices are like the respiratory and perspiration functions.

PERIPHERAL A Peripheral generally refers to any external device attached to a PC, such as a mouse, keyboard, printer or digital camera for example.

The term ʹperipheralʹ is used specifically to indicate that the device lies outside the periphery of the PC case. The only thing peripherals have in common with each other is that they provide additional input to the PC, and often capture some of the PCʹs output too. In human body terms peripherals are like the eyes, ears, nose, hands and feet of the PC.

Please post your comments in :- [|Queries and Comments]

To print off for your Crib Sheet:- Copy and Paste to Word.doc then Print  