The Internal Parts Of The Computer Read through the following slides and become familiar with the internal parts of the computer. This information will be used later in your activity assignment.

The motherboard The main electronics board in the computer. It holds or is connected to all the processors, memory and other important components.

Central Processing Unit (CPU) The spot where instructions are processed, data is manipulated, and calculations are made. It is known as the brains of the computer.

BUS The electrical connections that take signals back and forth, to and from the different parts of the computer. Like a school bus, it picks things up and drops them off at different stops in the computer.

Sound Card – Video Card These cards handle the audio and video data the computer is processing. Sound cards can record or playback sounds. Some are very basic while others can have inputs for guitars and microphones. Video cards manipulate the graphics of the computer, some have inputs so that you can watch cable television on your computer.

Random Access Memory (RAM) Temporary storage of programs and data that are being used by the computer. It is wiped clean when the computer is turned off.

Read Only Memory (ROM) Permanent storage of important instructions that the computer needs to operate. Nothing can be written to ROM, you can only read from it.

Cache Cache is very fast memory. Data that is frequently used is often stored in cache. Sometimes websites are stored in cache so that when you re-visit them they will load up very quickly.

Hard Drive Main storage of the computer. This is where your files and programs are all stored. You can read and write from the hard drive.

Power Supply Receives the power needed to run the various parts of the computer. The power cable of your computer usually goes from the wall plug into the power supply of the computer.