Your computer is a complicated piece of machinery, designed to give you all the tools you need for a wide variety of activities, including clerical, mathematical, video and audio editing and playback, image editing, data storage and lookup, networking, video gaming, and much more. But how does it all work? What parts comprise your computer, and what do they do? In this guide, I will reveal to you everything that lives inside your PC, and their overall purpose. So let’s crack open the chassis and examine the internals.
MOTHERBOARD – The backbone
The motherboard is the large circuit board that connects everything else together using various cables, wires, and slots. A motherboard is where every computer begins, so the choice of motherboard will affect what everything else can be installed. Certain motherboards are designed for workspaces, gaming, households, virtual emulation, legacy support, and more, so it is very important to pick the right motherboard for your needs.
The motherboard houses the BIOS, and won’t be able to do much without a processor and memory.
CENTRAL PROCESSING UNIT (CPU) – The brains
The processor does exactly what its name implies; it processes data. All the data your computer generates and stores. To use an analogy for a minute, if your computer were a car, then the processor would be the driver. Processors are measured by their processing speed, using a measurement called hertz. For example, a processor that has 2GHz computes data at roughly two billion hertz a second. Some processors also have multiple cores, which determines how many “jobs” they can perform at once. Processors with lots of cores are perfect for more intensive computing work such as video editing.
Your computer lives and dies by its CPU. Make sure you get a CPU that is designed to fit in your motherboard’s CPU socket. Because a CPU runs extremely hot when it is active, it is usually found underneath a heat sink, a device designed to prevent the CPU from burning itself out.
RANDOM ACCESS MEMORY (RAM) – The memory
Somewhere on your motherboard, there will be a set of slots lined up and filled with small circuit board “sticks.” These are your RAM sticks, and these provide your computer with a memory cache. As the CPU processes data, it uses this memory cache to temporarily store some data for easy access. The effect of memory is more noticeable during times when your computer is loading data, like when it is starting up from a cold boot, for example. Memory is measured in bytes, and generally, the more memory your computer has, the better it will perform, although the motherboard will have a cap on how much memory it can support.
Just like the CPU, you will need to make sure your memory sticks will fit in your motherboard’s memory slots. You also want to make sure that each stick shares the same byte amount as every other stick installed (so each stick should be 1GB each, or 2GB each, and so on).
HARD DRIVE – The data storage
The hard drive is where the Operating System is installed, and where the data for all your programs and documents live. The BIOS will boot to your primary hard drive if it has an OS installed, and it is possible to have multiple OSes installed to a single hard drive, and to have multiple hard drives in your PC. Hard drives are also measured in bytes, and just like RAM, the more bytes your hard drive has, the more storage space you have to work with. There are three types of hard drives a PC can have:
HDD – Cheap and spacious, but loading speed tends to be slow.
SDD – More expensive, but loading speed is fast.
M.2 – The most expensive, but loads extremely fast. Resembles a memory stick at first glance, and slots directly on to the motherboard.
POWER SUPPLY UNIT (PSU) – The power
This device resembles a metal box with thick cables poking out and a built-in fan. The PSU provides electric power to your computer’s various components. The cables will plug into nearly every component inside your computer, and multiple places on the motherboard alone. The PSU is always placed specifically in the chassis so that a power lead can be plugged into it from the outside. The PSU is measured in watts, as is usual for a power supply. The amount of watts a PSU provides should be determined by how much power your motherboard and/or graphics card requires.
EXPANSION CARDS – Graphics, sound, etc.
There might also be expansion cards installed, which can be for a variety of uses, the most common being a video/graphics card, designed to improve your computer’s graphical capabilities. A graphics card is vital for making a gaming machine. Other expansion cards might include:
- A sound card, for improving your computer’s audio capabilities
- A network card, for adding ethernet or wireless to your computer
- Video capture card, for recording the video feed off another device
- Controller card, for adding things like more USB ports, or an SD card reader
- And many more
Everybody’s computer is slightly different, but most computers will include these components. What’s inside your PC? ADVOTEC can fill you in on what’s lurking inside, and we can also upgrade and replace parts for you.
