Exploring the inside of
Personal Computer
*James Breheney
Power Supply
Power Supply
The power supply unit (PSU) in a PC regulates and delivers the power to the
components in the case.
The more components (hard drives, CD/DVD drives, tape drives, ventilation fans,
etc) you have in your PC the greater the power required from the power supply.
There are 3 types of power supply in common use:
AT Power Supply - still in use in older PCs.
ATX Power Supply - commonly in use today.
ATX-2 Power Supply - recently new standard.
A power supply can be easily changed and are generally not expensive, so if
one fails (which is far from uncommon) then replacement is usually the most
economic solution.
Data Cable
Data Cable
Data cables (called ata cables or serial or SCSI) simply
transfer data from one device to the motherboard
inside or even to another device hooked up to the
same cable. An example would be a cdrom drive could
transfer data for listening to music via the data cable
and the motherboard would process it and produce
sound via speakers.
Microprocessor
An integrated circuit composed of layers of built-in
wiring and transistors. Through the use of laser light,
circuit outlines are etched onto a silicon surface
through a mask or stencil design. A simple chip can
have as many as 3,000 transistors, with as narrow a
spacing of 60 nanometers between each one.
A microprocessor is the central processing unit in a
computer. It receives, transmits and coordinates every
command and process carried out by the system.
Microprocessor
Computer Battery
The computer battery powers an integrated chip called an
RTC, or real-time clock. The RTC is basically a small, quartz
clock, and allows the main computer system to perform
time-critical tasks
A computer battery is typically a lithium-type battery that is
directly soldered to the motherboard, or primary circuit
board of a computer.
Computer Battery
Cooling Fan
Every computer has a cooling fan inside the case,
designed primarily to prevent the CPU from
overheating. Cooling fans may bring cool air into the
computer, draw hot air out of the computer, or as part
of a heat sink, which is a special product designed to
draw heat away from a particular computer
component.
Cooling Fan
RAM
Random Access Memory (RAM) provides space for your
computer to read and write data to be accessed by the CPU
(central processing unit). When people refer to a computer's
memory, they usually mean its RAM.
Several types of RAM are used in modern computers. Before
2002, most computers used single data rate (SDR) RAM.
Most computers made since then use either double data rate
(DDR), DDR2, or DDR3 RAM. DDR2 is able to achieve
faster transfer rates to prevent limitation of your CPU's
performance, and DDR3 technology takes these
advancements even further.
RAM
Motherboard
The motherboard is the hub of the computer.
The name "motherboard" was coined as a descriptive term
for the mainboard to describe how it serves as a sort of
"mother" to the computer. All transactions and processes
must pass through the motherboard. Motherboards are
designed and manufactured by many different companies.
Through connections and pathways, the various
components attached to the motherboard of a computer
communicate with one another and work together to form
one functioning machine. Incompatibility issues with parts
that were not intended for use with the motherboard often
cause instability and loss of functionality.
Motherboard
CD/DVD Drive
Short for Compact Disc-Read Only Memory, CDROM drives or optical drives are CD players inside
computers that can have speeds in the range from 1x
and beyond, and have the capability of playing audio
CDs and computer data CDs.
IDE / ATA - One of the most commonly used
interfaces used still today to connect disc drives to the
computer.
Panasonic - Older proprietary interface.
CD/DVD Drive
CPU Clock
The system clock determines how fast the computer
can process information. it is measured in operations
per second. i believe 1GHz is equal to 10,000 processes
per second? but im not sure. however, each thing you
do on a computer may take multiple lines of code. for
example, clicking the mouse may take 2 lines or so to
execute.
Overclocking is the process of increasing the clock to a
higher level so it can perform more operations per
second
CPU Clock
Internal Speaker
Back before sound cards, computers could only produce
sound from a tinny-sounding speaker embedded deep
within the computer’s case. However, they also served
another purpose, which is why most computers still come
with small speakers on the motherboard.
Before sound cards, most computers shipped with small
speakers either inside the case or connected directly to the
motherboard. Since those speakers also served as a
troubleshooting and diagnostic tool, they remain as
standard equipment even in contemporary computers.
Learn about what a motherboard speaker is used for in
modern computing.
Internal Speaker
Sources
http://www.helpwithpcs.com/courses/power-supply-basics-inc-pinouts.htm#psu-overview
http://wiki.answers.com/Q/What_is_the_function_of_a_data_cable_inside_a_computer_case#ixzz1lWE26GzC
http://www.ehow.com/how-does_4598462_a-microprocessor-work.html#ixzz1lKG2XkB7
http://www.ehow.com/facts_6922126_function-computer-battery_.html#ixzz1lWTlRywi
http://www.nmbtc.com/fans/computer-cooling-fan.html
http://kb.iu.edu/data/ahty.html
http://www.ehow.com/facts_5030250_motherboard-computer.html
http://www.computerhope.com/jargon/c/cdrom.html
http://wiki.answers.com/Q/What_is_a_system_clock_function_of_a_computer#ixzz1lWZptrzR
http://www.brighthub.com/computing/hardware/articles/67186.aspx