Basic Computer Parts

The two most important basic computer parts are the motherboard and the CPU. Of all the basic computer parts the motherboard is the most important.

The motherboard has been an integral part of most personal computers for more than 20 years. The motherboard contains various circuit cards performing various functions all plug into many similar sockets on a common circuit board. The motherboard is the largest circuit board in most computers and is held on by several screws. The hard drive often connects to the motherboard with an IDE cable, which often comes with the drive. The cable will have places for two drives, so you can have two hard drives if wanted.The motherboard contains the circuitry and connections that allow the various components to communicate with each other.

Another basic computer part is the hard drive. The hard drive stores all the data that you create and its where your application software and files reside. It most standard configurations a hard drive will vary in size between entry level 250gb to high end 1.5 tb. When you really think about it, protecting personal data, as well as that favorite family digital photo or video or work file, should be just as important as creating it. A computer hard drive is fine for temporary storage, and great for accessing your pictures quickly, but your favorite pictures should always be saved somewhere additional to the ones on your hard drive.

RAM {read access memory} another basic computer part is installed in the system on little circuit boards called modules that plug into the motherboard. This makes it very convenient to add more memory by plugging in another module. It depends on the circuit board that the chip is housed in, or the motherboard, as to whether you are able to upgrade to a faster chip. The motherboard contains the circuitry and connections that allow the various components to communicate with each other.

A video card, also known as a graphics accelerator card, display adapter, or graphics card, is a PC hardware component whose function is to generate and output images to a display. Video cards are also now being placed onto the computer motherboard to help bring the cost down on computers. Video cards have their own advanced processing chips that make all kinds of calcuations to make scenes look more realistic.

Video cards are pretty reliable, though some of the newer ones run so hot that they have their own cooling systems, and if the fan fails, the video processor can't be too far behind. Video cards have their own processors and RAM memory, which liberates a computer'sprocessor and memory from having to help power the display. Video cards and their performance and compatibility aspects generate a huge body of questions and discussions in the Windows XP user groups, newsgroups, chats, and other online community forums.

You cannot avoid having a Cooling fan in your computer, if you do not have one, your computer will simply burn out. The heat sink is mostly an integral part of the cooling fan, it is a metal block with fins which is closely integrated in the cPU.

Most computer displays nowdays are LCD. Currently, the most popular display sizes are 17 and 19 inches; the measure is taken from the diagonal of the display. LCDs are not made of glass and will have special coating on them for anti-glare.

Floppy drives are used less and less on todays computers. This is where floppy disks are put in. You can save your image in the file of your choice, either on the hard drive or on your disk.

Of all the basic computer parts don't forget the operating system. Basic computer parts are your PC’s bones, but an operating system is its brain. It is the OS's job to translate the signal from a keyboard or mouse into a letter and then to present the letter on the screen if that is appropriate. It is the interface between the user and computer.