1. WHAT’S IN A PC, and How Does It Do What It Does

2. ON THE INSIDE… Power Supply CD/DVD Drive Hard Drive (ROM) Mother BoardMemory (RAM) Central Processing Unit Ribbon Cables Power Harness Auxiliary Boards (sound, graphics, USB interface)

3. TAKING A CLOSER LOOK…  PCs are generally configured (arranged) with certain basic hardware.  Some of the hardware, the PC cannot do without! For Example: the Motherboard! the Hard Drive (ROM) the Central Processing Unit, and the Random Access Memory (RAM)

4. ADDING ON TO THE BASIC PC  Then there are the items you need ONE of, but can add more if you wish Such as: Video Graphics Adapter Cards Digital Video Interface Cards Or a DUAL Video Adapters!

5. AND THE “NICE TO HAVE BITS”  Most PCs come with these already configured, but in reality, your PC doesn’t HAVE to have them to operate just fine! Such as: The sound card for mic and speaker input/output the Network interface port so you can get to the internet! and the ever-popular CD/DVD reader/writer!

6. WHAT BITS DO WHAT JOBS?  Each component serves a very specific purpose in the operation of the PC  The components can be broken into a few major categories:  Processor components  Auxiliary components  I/O components  Power components

7. THE MOTHERBOARD  The Motherboard is the foundation of the PC  Every other component connects through the motherboard  All the connectors for all the bits are on the motherboard

8. THE CENTRAL PROCESSING UNIT (CPU)  The CPU is the “brain” of the PC  Processes every request and directs all the input/output traffic.  The “faster” the CPU, the faster your PC responds to requests  Most of the viruses that destroy your PC target the CPU by sending multiple, repeating requests that tie up your CPU, preventing it from doing what YOU need it to do.

9. THE POWER SUPPLY AND HARNESS  The Power Supply, as its name suggests, supplies power to all the bits of the PC that need power  The 110v power from a standard U.S. convenience outlet must be converted to much lower voltage for the PC and its various component parts  The Power harness distributes the converted power to each component separately

10. THE HARD DRIVE  The hard drive is the primary storage device for the PC  The operating system as well as any programs or apps purchased for your use are stored on the hard drive  All files and folders created by you are stored on the hard drive  Loss of the hard drive is DEATH to a PC!

11. RANDOM ACCESS MEMORY (RAM)  The RAM is housed on one or more small printed circuit cards that are connected to the Motherboard  RAM is the temporary workspace where instructions are executed and data are processed.  Unlike the Hard Drive storage, items active in RAM become unavailable when the user exits an app or program

12. ADAPTER CARDS FOR PERIPHERALS  Adapter cards drive peripherals (things connected to the PC)  VGA = Video Graphics Adapter  DVI = Digital Video Adapter  VGA and DVI are for connecting to your monitor(s) or projector(s)  The Network Adapter provides the port for your internet connection  The Sound Card provides the interface to speakers & Microphones

13. PUTTING IT ALL TOGETHER  All of the components that make up the basic PC are housed inside either a “tower” or a laptop shell.  The components in a laptop are exactly the same as those in a tower, but the laptop bits are smaller  Components are either directly plugged into specialized receptacles in the motherboard, or connect to the motherboard via a ribbon cable.

14. A CLOSER LOOK  The interior of many PC “towers” is mostly empty space.  The main purpose of the large container is to accommodate the power supply, hard drive(s) and disc drive(s) Now you know What’s Inside!