Computer Hardware

• Motherboard -

  A computer's primary circuit board. All of a computer's other component connect to and communicate through the motherboard. Motherboards also host your computer's BIOS (basic input/output system) as well as various connectors (such as USB and Fire wire ports, Parallel and Serial ports, and even network interfaces). Internet slang for motherboard is "mobo".

• CPU (Processor) -

  CPU is the component in a computer that interprets instructions and processes data. CPU's are often simply referred to as "Processor". Processor speed is measured in cycles. MHz (millions of cycles per second) and GHz (billions of cycles per second).

• RAM (Memory) -

  RAM is used as a computer's temporary storage. When you open programs and/or files, they are typically stored in your computer's RAM. This is why all that work you've done is lost when the power goes out (unless you've saved it recently). RAM is measured in MB (megabytes, or millions of bytes) and GB (gigabytes, or billions of bytes). Usually, the more RAM a computer has the faster the computer will operate.

  RAM is often referred to as "sticks" or DIMM's (dual inline memory module).

• Hard Drive (HDD) -

  A hard drive is a means of "permanently" storing information. Your operating system, word documents, and pirated music, etc. are all stored on a hard drive. Hard drives are measured in GB (gigabytes, or billions or bytes) and TB (terabytes, or trillions of bytes). An 80GB hard drive holds twice as many files as a 40GB hard drive. Hard drives are also measured by data access speed (the lower the better), as well as how fast the platters spin (the faster the better, in rpm's).

  The three popular types of hard drive interfaces are IDE, SATA, and SCSI.

• CD and DVD Drives -

  CD (compact disc) and DVD (digital versatile disc) drives are optical devices that read data from a (CD or DVD) disc using a laser. There are two different types of drives, ROM's(read only memory) and RW's (rewritable). ROM drives will only allow you to read data from a disc. A RW drive will allow you to read as well as write data to a disc. The speed at which the reading and writing takes place can vary and is usually indicated by a "x" and a number (ex. x52).

  CD-R's (CD's that you can write to) hold approximately 700MB of data. Single-layered DVD-R's (DVD's that you can write to) hold approximately 4.3GB of data. The discs are the same size, but a much greater amount of data can be placed onto DVD's because the "pits" that the drive burns into the disc are much smaller and closer together.

• Video Cards -

  A video card is a component of computer hardware that is dedicated to processing graphic. Not all computers require a video card (the video output could be located on the mother board). However, graphics-intense programs (games, 3D-rendering programs) require a lot of processing power. A good video card helps take the load off of the CPU so that the computer runs more smoothly and efficiently.

  There are a lot of different video card manufacturers, but there are two main types of video cards: nVidia based and ATI based. The reasons why one may be better than the other is subject to too many different opinions and speculation. I prefer nVidia based cards, but only because that's all I've ever used...and never really had any problems.

  Another thing to mention is that all good video cards have their own RAM located right on the card. This RAM is dedicated to graphics processing purposes only. At the time of this writing, the very least amount of RAM you should have on a video card is 128MB. 256MB of RAM is common on all the high-end cards. RAM amounts higher than 256MB can be achieved by pairing up two video cards in a SLI set up.

  One last thing about video cards is how they connect to a motherboard. AGP (now considered outdated) cards need a mother board that has an AGP slot. The newer PCI-Express cards need a motherboard with a PCI-Express slot. AGP and PCI-Express are not interchangeable.

• Sound Cards -

  Sound cards are much like video cards in that they are a hardware component that is dedicated to a specific task. As you might have guessed, sound cards are dedicated to processing sound for your computer. The most basic audio cards allow you to connect speakers and a microphone to your computer. The more expensive sounds cards support surround sound to different degrees (Dolby, THX) and an assortment of audio interfaces for recording (rca, midi).

• Power Supply -

  A computer's power supply (also referred to as the PSU) converts the alternating current (AC) coming from your outlet to direct current (DC). The power supply also distributes the power to each of your computer's components with standardized molex connectors. Higher wattage PSU's are needed for high-end computers. Most computer geeks would agree that a 400 watt PSU is the minimum. Additionally, the more expensive PSU's have features like over-load protection.

  When connecting a power connector to any computer component, always be certain that the computer is off and unplugged. Also, the plastic molex connector should only fit one way. When plugged in correctly, the red wire on the power connector **usually** will run along side the red pin-1 indicator on a IDE or floppy cable.