COMPUTER COMPONENTS WHAT DOES WHAT?
It goes without saying, that we are now, more than ever, reliant on technology for our day to day activities. We use them to communicate with friends, and to browse the limitless supply of information that is available to us online. But how often do we take a step back to try to understand how exactly these incredible feats of engineering, such as computers, actually work? While we don’t need to understand the ins and outs of how our PCs work, it’s interesting to have a vague idea of what each of the individual parts within the mechanism play in making the whole thing do it’s job; and for the most part it doesn’t even need to be rocket science! If your computer is running slowly, or encountering any number of issues that can occur naturally over time, understanding the components can help you diagnose the issue (although of course we thoroughly recommend taking it to someone who has a lot of experience in computing). If you’d like to know the basics of how computers work, then allow us to show you!
Motherboard
The motherboard is the central part of the machine which connects all the hardware. Every part of the PC goes through the motherboard in some way, whether directly or indirectly. It kind of works like the human central nervous system, in that it allows the different components such as the CPU, RAM and much more to communicate with each other (more on those later!) and react to everything else.Â
RAM - Random Access Memory
Random access memory or RAM is a physical bit of hardware inside a computer, it temporarily stores data on it to serve as a computers working memory. Most often computers come with a small amount of RAM which most users often upgrade to suit their personal needs, RAM can be a great way to boost your systems performance. RAM allows the computer to quickly store data and retrieve it very quickly when it is needed, it allows for quick access to stored data.Â
CPU (or Central Processing Unit)Â If the motherboard is the nervous
Sometimes referred to as a
system, then the CPU is the brain!
microprocessor, it is actually a
This is the bit that does all the
surprisingly small selection of chips
complicated math that is difficult for
for the job it does. It takes care of
us as humans to comprehend. This
moving data from one memory
is also the part that determines the
location to another, whilst
speed at which the computer can do
simultaneously making decisions
various tasks, with most modern
about everything else that is going
domestic CPUs ranging in speeds
on in the rest of the computer.Â
between 2.0 and 3.0 GHz. This correlates with the number of calculations that the processor can make in just one second, which is incomprehensible considering it takes about that just to blink.Â
Power supply
This is the bit that provides the juice. As with all electrical appliances, there needs to be a source of power for it to even turn on before it can do all this amazing stuff. It goes without saying the desktops and laptops require slightly different amounts of power; laptops tend to work from a charging battery pack with a kettle lead and input into the laptop itself, but have a battery built into the computer so that it can last a while without a constant source of electricity which is what makes them so portable. Desktops however do need a constant source of energy, which usually comes in the form of the large towers that have complex wiring systems inside that work as the battery.Â
Hard drive The long term memory of the computer is the job of the hard drive, sometimes known as HDD or HD. It keeps hold of all of your documents, games, music and precious holiday snaps, whilst also maintaining the computers main operating system. For example, it can hold the operating system for Windows, alongside all of your personal effects- it is one hard working piece of kit! While you buy your computer with a certain sized hard-drive, it really is a personal matter and can depend on what you use the computer for. Say for example, if you’re a professional photographer by trade, the likelihood is that you are going to need to store an enormous volume of images on the computer, both before and after the editing process. In cases like this, external hard drives are easy to get hold of, and is a small investment which can really save the stress of deciding which files need to go in the digital rubbish bin! Just to put into perspective how quickly this kind of technology advances; Mac released a computer in the mid 90s with a 160 Mb hard drive, which laughably held around 50 songs! Which is unbelievable when you think that most of us carry around a  phone of sorts that can store well over 20 times that.Â
Video Card The video card (or sometimes
Due to the amount of work that the
graphics card) takes care of what
video card puts in, with regards to
you actually see on the monitor by
placement within the computer they
generating output images. The
are normally located under a fan to
images comprise of many tiny dots
help keep them cool. It’s the bit that
known as pixels, that the computer
burns your lap after watching
has to piece together to create the
Netflix for too long!
image that makes the computer
The video card is, like a few of the
usable- this translation takes place
other components mentioned in this
in the video card. The CPU sends the
list, reasonably easy to replace once
binary information to the
you know what you’re doing. Just as
video/graphics card via the
a warning, in case you do choose to
motherboard, which then is fed to
pop open your computer to see
the monitor via an internal cable.
what’s going on in there, be sure that the computer is off and has been disconnected to any power source before you do so!