Internal Components of Computer

 

Internal Components of Computer

• Power Supply/PSU – power supply unit, converts outlet power, which is alternating current (AC), to direct current (DC), which is what the internal components require, as well as providing appropriate voltages and currents for the various internal components.

• Motherboard/mainboard – As the name indicates, this is the electronic centerpiece of the computer; everything else connects to the motherboard.

• Processor/CPU – central processing unit, the "brain" of the computer, most actual computation takes places here.
• Heat Sink /CPU Fan - is an environment or object that absorbs and dissipates heat from another object using thermal contact (either direct or radiant).

• RAM/Memory – random access memory, the "short-term memory" of a computer, used by the CPU to store program instructions and data upon which it is currently operating. Data in RAM is lost when the computer is powered off, thus necessitating a hard drive.

• Hard Drive/Hard Disk – the "long-term memory" of the computer, used for persistent storage – i.e. the things stored on it remain even when the computer is powered down. The operating system, and all your programs and data are stored here.

• Optical Drive (CD-ROM) – device for reading/writing optical disks. May read CDs, DVDs, or other optical media, depending on the type. It is essential for installing many operating systems and programs. It may be able to write some of these discs, as well. Some people like to have two such drives for copying disks.

• Video Card/Graphics Card– does processing relating to video output. Some motherboards have an "onboard" GPU built in so you don’t need (but may add) a separate video card.