How Computers Work #1

Before we get into the complicated software of a computer, let us examine the basic hardware components of the computer. The computer needs a power supply, a motherboard, a central processing unit (CPU), a fan, a hard drive, RAM, and an I/O port. It can also have floppy disk drives, DVD drives, and CD drives. The power supply obviously gives the computer power. The motherboard is the main circuit board of the computer connected to the CPU, ROM, RAM, PCI slots, USB ports,etc. If anything happens to the motherboard, your entire system will be busted. The CPU receives input from the computer and provide the appropriate output, it is analogous to the brain of the computer. The fan cools the computer because it can get pretty hot in there. The hard drive is where all the data and memory is stored including the operating system. RAM or random access memory is what any data the hard drive brings up is loaded into. The more RAM your computer has, the more data can be loaded from the hard drive into the RAM, which can effectively speed up your computer. The I/O port is part of the motherboard which you can connect USB, keyboards, mice, monitors, etc. Next time, we will examine the basic software components of the computer ! (Sources used: http://www.techterms.com/)