The Components of a Computer Systems Free Essay Example

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Processors

It Stands for the Central Processing Unit it is located on the motherboard, it is the part of the computer that controls the other devices like the CPU is made up of a number of items like register it is a place to store data and for a short while when they are being processed there are two types of registers the MDR and MAR. The accumulator holds the results from the Arithmetic Logic Unit and it will accumulate the results of the calculation.

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The ALU stands for the arithmetic and logic unit which performs all of the logical and arithmetic operations like addition, subtraction, multiplication, division etc.

GPU - Stands for Graphical Processing Unit/video card. It takes digital information from the OS which will specifies what should be put on the monitor the GPU via the video cable is also located on the motherboard.

Motherboard - It holds all of the import components in the computer like the CPU or the RAM and it is printed on a circuit board, it has other connectors like usb ports, power connector, heat sinks, PCI slots, ROM, Hard Drive and usb slots are on the back of the board also it can allow other circuit board to be able slotted in to e.

g. daughterboard.

Power supply - Is the part of the computer that supplies power to start the PC there are two types of current Alternative and Direct current to supply power to all of the component in the PC if you don't have a power supply the computer will not start.

It is located on the back of the computer.

Cooling system - Could be either a heat sink or a processor cooling fan is a small size fan which is put on the processor chip/heat sink to avoid the computer from overheating and a Heat Sink is a device which is joined to the processor chip it has lots of fins because the more thins mean greater surface area which means that more heat is transferred from the chip which will keep it cool and not from overheating it is found on top of the processor.

Ports

USB - USB is short for Universal Serial Bus port it is used to connect input output device/hardware to a PC or laptop by plugging straight into a USB port like a printer, mouse, keyboard and etc. this allows data to be transferred between devices.

Parallel - Parallel port is used for parallel communication between a computer and a peripheral device it is also called Parallel interface.

Serial port - Is a port that allows a computer to transmit or receive data at one bit at a time over a single file the data transfer rate of a serial port is slower than parallel port.

PS/2 - The PS/2 port was developed by a company called International Business Machine it is used to connect a keyboard and a mouse to a computer that is IBM compatible it is an old connector

Memory

RAM - It stands for Random Access Memory it is where all the programs and data that are currently in use are stored. The contents are stored in the Ram because Ram allows quicks access them because Ram is quicker to read and write to than any storage in the computer. Ram is volatile meaning when the computer is turned off all of the data and programs that were stored in the Ram are lost. If you wanted to save the contents in the Ram you will use a storage device like a Pen drive or a floppy disk, Ram is located on the motherboard.

ROM - Read Only Memory is where the computer is only allow to read the contents of whatever is stored from this memory and it doesn't write to it also it contains the programs that allow your computer to boot up called the BIOS, it is like the opposite of RAM, Rom is non-volatile meaning that the contents which are in the Ram are not lost when the computer is turned off, it is located on the motherboard.

Cache - Is a section of memory which is built inside the CPU it stores the most frequently used instructions and data which provide quick and easy access to the instructions and data for the users to access, it is located inside the CPU there are three levels of cache memory each level is further away from the CPU

BIOS - Is the Basic Input Output System it boots up the PC every time it is turned on also it checks if everything is running properly like the hardware configuration opposed to the configuration data lastly the BIOS controls all of the input and output of the computer it is stored on the RAM.

Specialised Cards

Graphics - Graphics cards it is also called a video card takes digital information from the OS/operating system and it which will authorize what should be put on the screen it will do it by sending a signal to the monitor by a video cable that will the display the picture on the screen it is located near the CPU.

Modems - Stands for modulator/demodulator it is used for data communication for devices to send and receive data between computers via telephone paths it is precisely plugged into a telephone socket.

Peripherals - They can fall into two categories output devices and input devices which are connected to the CPU it is used to let output and input devices to communicate to the computer system to provide the function they was intended to for example an input device can be a keyboard, camera etc. an output device can be a monitor, printer etc. they can be directly plugged in the USB port/SD slot or the CD Drive.

Output Devices

Monitor - Is a device that displays information using a display screen all displays are made up of illuminated dots on the screen also they can be two types of monitors a colour or a monochrome monitor will give a display of different intensity of a single colour and a colour monitor give a display with a range of colours or different have a different colour depth you can connect a monitor to a computer by a video port.

Printer plotter - It is a high-resolution printer which is able to copy a plotter which can produce low resolution plots.

Network cards -Also known as a Network interface controller (NIC) it is a small card that is installed into a computer to allow the computer to be connected to a network the NIC card is located close to the USB ports.

Cabling

Coaxial - Is a cable that is used to connect a T.V aerial to a T.V set it has two conductors one is a wire which goes down the centre of the cable which will be insulated from the second wire which is a conductor which has many stands braided around the insulation for the inner wire.

Optical twisted pair - Is used for data transmission between a computer and a router. It is a pair of copper wires which are insulated and twisted together and they are surrounded by a copper braid and external insulation it is also known as the ethernet cable the ethernet cable goes directly into the ethernet port to allow quicker connections to the device and transfers speeds.

Input devices

Camera - It consists of a solid-state device that can removed and can be plugged in a reader or a slot you input the solid-state device to a computer or directly into a printer without the use of a computer most cameras use removable storage device.

Scanner - Is where the object is placed face downwards over a flat surface which is made up of glass, light sensors and sensors move backwards and forwards across it when it is finish being scanned it will send an image of it to the computer Via a USB port.

Keyboard - Is an input device that is plugged in a usb port or which has all the letters, numbers, signs, symbols and special keys it is used to enter information into a computer the keyboard layout is called qwerty it can also be connected via Bluetooth and keyboard can come in different shapes and sizes.

Mouse - Is also plugged in by a usb port by a thin cable or by wireless underneath the mouse is an optical sensor which is used to detect motion the moment of the mouse by a user is then copied on the monitor by a cursor on the mouse it has 2 buttons which will have different outcomes when pressed on the screen.

Backing Storage

Hard Disks - Are magnetic storage which use magnets to record data by spinning metal plates they are useful for backups and storing large amounts of data it is hard to carry around and the data could get corrupt because the head might hit the disk and damage it which then cause the file to get corrupt which means the users cant access the file and lose all of the data also they are non-volatile they are the main memory of the computer and laptop and has a large storage capacity.

Magnetic SSD - It is a circular spinning plate which is usually made out of plastic/thin metal they are laminated by a layer of magnetic material which allows data to be stored magnetically by the read and write heads the heads will set the arrangement of the magnetic material they as are placed in the CD disk drive to store or transfer data between devices.

Pen drives - Are small devices which has a large capacity than CD-ROMs they don't need any batteries to function them. They can transfer files between USB systems and these are directly plugged into the USB port.

Optical media - Uses a lens and a light beam/pits and lands to read and write data onto a disk for example CD, DVDs and blu-ray a CD can hold around 700 MB of data, DVDs can hold up to 4.7 GB of data and blu-rays can hold up to 50GB of data they are also placed in the CD Disk drive.

Flash memory cards - Are used in digitals cameras they hold all your pictures or videos until you upload them to a computer in the SD card slot or output it to a photo printer.

Data transfer rates - The speed of an amount of data from one place to another place it is usually measured in bits per second also the more bandwidth of that place which means the higher the transfer rate which also means the quicker the data transfer.

Capacity - The larger the capacity the device can store means the more data you can store on your computer or secondary storage device like.

Controllers

IDE - Is an integrated Drive Electronics. It is used to control hard disks, it is built into the hard disk that it is controlling, it allows data transfer rates up to 4.1MBps and can support 2 hard disks drives which is on each controller.

EIDE - Is an Enhanced integrated drive electronics it is the same thing as the IDE but it allows more adaptability and faster speeds.

Ports for input and output for peripherals devices like pen drives, mouse, printers

PCI Slots for specialised cards like graphics card, Network interface card

Heat Sink or cooler fans which cools down the pc down

Ram in placed in the Ram slot

Power Connector it powers the computer to turn on

Hard Drive connected by sata cable