2 Information Sheet 1.1-2
2 Information Sheet 1.1-2
2 Information Sheet 1.1-2
1-2
Basic Terms, Concepts, Functions and Characteristics of PC Hardware
Components
Types of Computer
Workstation
A workstation is a high-end personal computer designed for
technical or scientific applications. Intended primarily to be used
by one person at a time, they are commonly connected to a
local area network and run multi-user operating systems.
Workstations are used for tasks such as computer-aided design,
drafting and modelling, computation-intensive scientific and
engineering calculations, image processing, architectural
modelling, and computer graphics for animation and motion
picture visual effects.
Desktop computer
Home theater PC
Antec Fusion V2 home theater PC with keyboard on top.
1. Scanner
2. CPU (Microprocessor)
3. Primary storage (RAM)
4. Expansion cards (graphics cards, etc.)
5. Power supply
6. Optical disc drive
7. Secondary storage (Hard disk)
8. Motherboard
9. Speakers
10. Monitor
11. System software
12. Application software
13. Keyboard
14. Mouse
15. External hard disk
16. Printer
Processor
Motherboard
Asus motherboard
The motherboard, also referred to as systemboard or
mainboard, is the primary circuit board within a
personal computer. Many other components connect
directly or indirectly to the motherboard.
Motherboards usually contain one or more CPUs,
supporting circuitry - usually integrated circuits (ICs)
- providing the interface between the CPU memory
and input/output peripheral circuits, main memory,
and facilities for initial setup of the computer immediately after power-on (often called
boot firmware or, in IBM PC compatible computers, a BIOS). In many portable and
embedded personal computers, the motherboard houses nearly all of the PC's core
components. Often a motherboard will also contain one or more peripheral buses and
physical connectors for expansion purposes. Sometimes a secondary daughter board is
connected to the motherboard to provide further expandability or to satisfy space
constraints.
Main memory
A PC's main memory is fast storage that is directly accessible by the CPU, and is
used to store the currently executing program and immediately needed data. PCs use
semiconductor random access memory (RAM) of various kinds such as DRAM, SDRAM
or SRAM as their primary storage. Which exact kind depends on cost/performance
issues at any particular time. Main memory is much faster than mass storage devices
like hard disks or optical discs, but is usually volatile, meaning it does not retain its
contents (instructions or data) in the absence of power, and is much more expensive for
a given capacity than is most mass storage. Main memory is generally not suitable for
long-term or archival data storage.
Video card
ATI Radeon video card
The video card - otherwise called a graphics card, graphics adapter or video
adapter - processes and renders the graphics output from the computer to the computer
display, and is an essential part of the modern computer. On older models, and today
on budget models, graphics circuitry tended to be integrated with the motherboard but,
for modern flexible machines, they are supplied in PCI, AGP, or PCI Express format.
When the IBM PC was introduced, most existing business-oriented personal computers
used text-only display adapters and had no graphics capability. Home computers at that
time had graphics compatible with television signals, but with low resolution by modern
standards owing to the limited memory available to the eight-bit processors available at
the time.
Monitor
Mouse
Apple Mighty Mouse that detects the right and left clicks
through what appears to be one large button.
A Mouse on a computer is a small, slidable device that users
hold and slide around to point at, click on, and sometimes
drag objects on screen in a graphical user interface using a
pointer on screen. Almost all Personal Computers have mice.
It may be plugged into a computer's rear mouse socket, or as a USB device, or, more
recently, may be connected wirelessly via a USB antenna or Bluetooth antenna. In the
past, they had a single button that users could press down on the device to "click" on
whatever the pointer on the screen was hovering over. Now, however, many Mice have
two or three buttons(possibly more) ; a "right click" function button on the mouse, which
performs a secondary action on a selected object, and a scroll wheel, which users can
rotate using their fingers to "scroll" up or down. The scroll wheel can also be pressed
down, and therefore be used as a third button. Some mouse wheels may be tilted from
side to side to allow sideways scrolling. Different programs make use of these functions
differently, and may scroll horizontally by default with the scroll wheel, open different
menus with different buttons, among others. These functions may be user defined
through software utilities.
Other components
Mass storage
All computers require either fixed or removable storage for their operating
system, programs and user generated material.
Formerly the 5¼ inch and 3½ inch floppy drive were the principal forms of removable
storage for backup of user files and distribution of software.
As memory sizes increased, the capacity of the floppy did not keep pace; the Zip
drive and other higher-capacity removable media were introduced but never became as
prevalent as the floppy drive.
By the late 1990s the optical drive, in CD and later DVD and Blu-ray Disc,
became the main method for software distribution, and writeable media provided
backup and file interchange. Floppy drives have become uncommon in desktop
personal computers since about 2000, and were dropped from many laptop systems
even earlier.
Early home computers used compact audio cassettes for file storage; these were
at the time a very low cost storage solution, but were displaced by floppy disk drives
when manufacturing costs dropped, by the mid 1980s.
A second generation of tape recorders was provided when Videocassette
recorders were pressed into service as backup media for larger disk drives. All these
systems were less reliable and slower than purpose-built magnetic tape drives. Such
tape drives were uncommon in consumer-type personal computers but were a necessity
in business or industrial use.
Interchange of data such as photographs from digital cameras is greatly
expedited by installation of a card reader, which often is compatible with several forms
of flash memory. It is usually faster and more convenient to move large amounts of data
by removing the card from the mobile device, instead of communicating with the mobile
device through a USB interface.
A USB flash drive today performs much of the data transfer and backup functions
formerly done with floppy drives, Zip disks and other devices. Main-stream current
operating systems for personal computers provide standard support for flash drives,
allowing interchange even between computers using different processors and operating
systems. The compact size and lack of moving parts or dirt-sensitive media, combined
with low cost for high capacity, have made flash drives a popular and useful accessory
for any personal computer user.
The operating system (e.g.: Microsoft Windows, Mac OS, Linux or many others)
can be located on any storage, but typically it is on a hard disks. A Live CD is the
running of a OS directly from a CD. While this is slow compared to storing the OS on a
hard drive, it is typically used for installation of operating systems, demonstrations,
system recovery, or other special purposes. Large flash memory is currently more
expensive than hard drives of similar size (as of mid-2008) but are starting to appear in
laptop computers because of their low weight, small size and low power requirements.
9. It processes and renders the graphics output from the computer to the computer
display.
A. Memory C. Videos Card
B. CPU D. Hard Disk
10. It is a piece of electrical equipment, usually separate from the computer case, which
displays viewable images generated by a computer without producing a permanent
record.
A. Memory C. Printer
B. CPU D. Monitor
B. Identification
1.
2. 9.
3. 4.
10.
5. 6.
7. 8.