Brandon Halleran

The power supply for
your personal computer
gives your machine all
the different voltages it
needs to operate
properly. It is able to
take the AC (alternating
current) voltage from
your home electrical
outlet and convert it to
the lower DC (direct
current) voltage that
your computer needs.

The main purpose of
the motherboard is to
allow other apparatus
to communicate to
each other via the
motherboard. It also
houses or stores all
the components and
eventually turns them
into one element or
unit.

daughter boards are
expansion boards that
commonly connect
directly to the
motherboard and give
the computer an added
feature such as modem
capability. Today, these
boards are not found or
used in desktop
computers and have
been replaced with ISA
or PCI boards.
However, some laptops
still use these boards.

a port serves as an
interface between the
computer and other
computers or peripheral
devices. Physically, a
port is a specialized
outlet on a piece of
equipment to which a
plug or cable connects.
Electronically, the
several conductors
making up the outlet
provide a signal transfer
between devices.

one of a set of small
on-off switches
mounted in computer
hardware; used in
place of jumpers to
configure the machine
for a user

Allows a plug for the
dip switch to plug in
and complete its task.

hard disk drive
(HDD)is a data
storage device used
for storing and
retrieving digital
information using
rapidly rotating disks
(platters) coated with
magnetic material.

a disk storage
medium composed of
a disk of thin and
flexible magnetic
storage medium,
sealed in a rectangular
plastic carrier lined
with fabric that
removes dust
particles.

The purpose of a
video card is to
generate a feed of
output images to a
display. Most video
cards also accelerate
the rendering of 3D
scenes and 2D
graphics and TV
output.

The disk controller is
the circuit which
enables the CPU to
communicate with a
hard disk, floppy disk
or other kind of disk
drive.

a thin plate on which
chips and other
electronic components
are placed.
Computers consist of
one or more boards,
often called cards or
adapters.

incorporates the functions
of a computer's central
processing unit (CPU) on
a single integrated circuit
(IC),or at most a few
integrated circuits.
Microprocessor is a
multipurpose,
programmable device that
accepts digital data as
input, processes it
according to instructions
stored in its memory, and
provides results as output.

A chip that holds
programs and data
either temporarily or
permanently.

A bus, in computing,
is a set of physical
connections (cables,
printed circuits, etc.)
which can be shared
by multiple hardware
components in order
to communicate with
one another.