- Bay
Before installing a new drive, such as a CD-ROM drive, remove the front drive bay cover from the front bezel to provide access to the drive. When installing a hard drive, the drive bay cover can remain in place because it does not need to be accessible like a disc drive.
- Case or Chassis
Alternatively referred to as the case and sometimes referred to as the system unit or base unit. The chassis is the housing that helps protect and organize all the components that make up a desktop computer. The picture is an empty computer chassis.
- Case fan
Alternatively referred to as a system fan, a case fan is located inside a computer, attached to the front or back of its case. Case fans help bring cool air into and blow hot air out of the case. They are available in a wide variety of sizes, but 80mm, 92mm, and 120mm (12cm) with a width of 25mm are the most common. Below is an example of how a computer case fan may look.
- DVD
Short for digital versatile disc or digital video disc, a DVD or DVD-ROM is a disc capable of storing a significant amount more data than a standard compact disc. DVDs are widely used for storing and viewing movies and other data. The picture of the Matrix DVD movie disc is an example of a DVD movie. CD/DVD drives that utilize both of these discs were first sold in 1997.
- CPU
Alternately referred to as a processor, central processor, or microprocessor, the CPU (pronounced sea-pea-you) is the central processing unit of the computer. A computer's CPU handles all instructions it receives from hardware and software running on the computer.
- FDD
A floppy disk drive, also called FDD or FD for short, is a computer disk drive that enables a user to save data to removable diskettes. Although 8" disk drives were first made available in 1971, the first real disk drives used were the 5 1/4" floppy disk drives, which were later replaced with the 3 1/2" floppy disk drives.
A 5 1/4" floppy disk was capable of storing between 360 KB and 1.2 MB of data, and the 3 1/2" floppy disk was capable of storing between 360 KB and 1.44 MB of data. For both floppy disk sizes, the data storage limit was dependent on two factors.
- Single or double-sided disk
- Regular or high-density disk
An example of each of the different floppy drives is pictured below. As can be seen, the size of the floppy drive and the diskettes they use have decreased over time.
- Hard drive
A hard disk drive (sometimes abbreviated as a hard drive, HD, or HDD) is a non-volatile data storage device. It is usually installed internally in a computer, attached directly to the disk controller of the computer's motherboard. It contains one or more platters, housed inside of an air-sealed casing. Data is written to the platters using a magnetic head, which moves rapidly over them as they spin.
Internal hard disks reside in a drive bay, connected to the motherboard using an ATA, SCSI, or SATA cable. They are powered by a connection to the computer's PSU (power supply unit).
Examples of data that may be stored on a computer's hard drive include the operating system, installed software, and the user's personal files.
- Keyboard
A computer keyboard is one of the primary input devices used with a computer. Similar to an electric typewriter, a keyboard is composed of buttons that create letters, numbers, and symbols, as well as perform other functions. The following sections provide more in-depth information and answers to some of the more frequently asked questions about the keyboard.
- RAM
Alternatively referred to as main memory, primary memory, or system memory, RAM (random-access memory) is a hardware device that allows information to be stored and retrieved on a computer. RAM is usually associated with DRAM, which is a type of memory module. Because information is accessed randomly instead of sequentially like it is on a CD or hard drive, access times are much faster. However, unlike ROM, RAM is a volatile memory and requires power to keep the data accessible. If the computer is turned off, all data contained in RAM is lost.
- Microphone
Sometimes abbreviated as mic, a microphone is a hardware peripheral and input device originally invented by Emile Berliner in 1877. A microphone allows computer users to input audio into their computers. The picture is an example of Blue Microphone's Yeti USB microphone - silver edition and an example of a high-quality computer microphone.
- A monitor may refer to any of the following:
Alternatively referred to as a VDT (video display terminal) and VDU (video display unit), a monitor is an output device that displays video images and text. A monitor is made up of circuitry, a screen, a power supply, buttons to adjust screen settings, and casing that holds all of these components.
- Motherboard
Alternatively referred to as the mb, mainboard, mboard, mobo, mobd, backplane board, base board, main circuit board, planar board, system board, or a logic board on Apple computers. The motherboard is a printed circuit board and foundation of a computer that is the biggest board in a computer chassis. It allocates power and allows communication to and between the CPU, RAM, and all other computer hardware components.
Motherboard overview
A motherboard provides connectivity between the hardware components of a computer, like the processor (CPU), memory (RAM), hard drive, and video card. There are multiple types of motherboards, designed to fit different types and sizes of computers.
Below is a picture of the ASUS P5AD2-E motherboard with labels next to each of its major components. Clicking on the image directs you to a larger and more detailed version.
- Computer mouse
A computer mouse is a handheld hardware input device that controls a cursor in a GUI (graphical user interface) and can move and select text, icons, files, and folders on your computer.
Who invented the mouse?
The mouse was originally known as the X-Y Position Indicator for a Display System and was invented by Douglas Engelbart in 1963 while working at Xerox PARC. But, due to Alto's lack of success, the first widely used application of the mouse was with the Apple Lisa computer. Today, this pointing device is on virtually every computer.- NIC
Short for network interface card, the NIC is also referred to as an Ethernet card and network adapter. A NIC is a computer expansion card for connecting to a network (e.g., home network or Internet) using an Ethernet cable with an RJ-45 connector.
Due to the popularity and low cost of the Ethernet standard, nearly all new computers have a network interface build directly into the motherboard. The top image shows the SMC EZ Card 10/100 PCI network card, one of the more common examples.
The bottom picture shows a PC Card. More specifically, the SMC EZ Card 10/100 wireless network card, which is found in laptop computers that do not have onboard wireless capabilities.
- Video card
Alternatively known as a display adapter, graphics card, video adapter, video board, or video controller, a video card is an expansion card that connects to a computer motherboard. It is used to create a picture on a display; without a video card, you would not be able to see this page. More plainly, it's a piece of hardware inside your computer that processes images and video, some of the tasks normally handled by the CPU. Video cards are used by gamers in place of integrated graphics due to their extra processing power and video ram.
- Speaker
A speaker is a term used to describe the user who is giving vocal commands to a software program.
- Power supply
Abbreviated as PS or P/S, a power supply or PSU (power supply unit) is a hardware component of a computer that supplies all other components with power. The power supply converts a 110-115 or 220-230 volt AC (alternating current) into a steady low-voltage DC (direct current) usable by the computer and rated by the number of watts it generates. The image shows an Antec True 330, a 330 Watt power supply.
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