Personal Computer System Components

Personal Computer System Components

Can you imagine a world without computers? Computers have changed everyday life in infinite ways that we would have never imagined 50 years ago. Long ago, computers were primarily used to compute numbers and to do word processing. As times have changed, computers have also evolved to help us with our everyday tasks. Nowadays we even use our computers for personal enjoyment by using them for games and finding information on the Internet. One way computers play a vital role in everyday life is a computer that helps manage a nuclear power plant. One computer might take the place of numerous people by checking readings and calculating information. Having a thorough knowledge of how a computer operates and how the components interact is very important in understanding how a computer works.

When using computer terms, it is very confusing trying to refer to different parts. Computers are basically broken down into two groups so help organize parts. Hardware is the term used to refer to items that you can physically touch and move with your hands (Dais interview). Software is the term used when referring to items you cannot touch like programs and applications.

The motherboard is the main piece of circuitry inside your PC (personal computer). Like the downtown of a big city, it’s where everything happens. The motherboard is important because the most important things inside your PC cling to it (Dais interview). In fact, for the most part, the computer tower is simply a housing for the motherboard. Although the motherboard contains a lot of items, it is essentially one unit and is referred to as such (Gookin 114). As an example, a mall has many stores, but everyone calls it the mall.

At the heart of every computer beats the microprocessor. The microprocessor acts like a tiny, fast calculator (Ting interview). The microprocessor itself deals with other elements in the computer. These elements provide either input or output. Input is information flowing into microprocessor and output is information that it generates or splits up (Gookin 116). The overall performance of a computer of your PC depends in large measure of its microprocessor. Clock speed is measured in megahertz (MHz), or millions of pulses (cycles) per minute (Waters 61). You might think of a processor clock as a kind of metronome; with each beat of the clock -each cycle- the processor can execute an instruction from the software (Dais interview).