Internal System Unit Components
This is the largest of the three sections, covering the most amount of components which are contained inside the computer. The components we will cover in this section is internal matters and are extremely important in helping the computer to run. They all play a massive part in the grand scheme, and in this section we will look at some components.
Processors
The processor is arguably the most important part of the computer system, as it is theoretically the 'Brain' of your computer. It ensures that it tells your computer about what needs to be done and when it needs to be completed. Not only this, but it also can rank the tasks out of importance and prioritizes them as necessary to your specific computer. The speed of a processor is measured in Megahertz (MHz), 1 MHz is 1 million cycles per second, hence it is shortened to make it easier to say. The better processor will mean that your PC will run faster generally, this is because the tasks can be completed quicker however these come at a much bigger price tag.
Motherboard
The motherboard is there to simply connect all the parts of a computer together, The CPU, hard drives, memory, video card, optical drives, sound card and other ports and expansion cards all connect to the motherboard either directly or through other cables. Below you will see a labelled image of the motherboard, which should give you a great understanding as to how this is where they're all connected via this component.
BIOS
The BIOS which is extended to 'Basic Input/Output System' is a read-only memory chip which is located on the motherboard which gives you the permit to set up your computer system and access it at an extremely basic level. The BIOS has the instructions that are needed in order for you to load the basic computer hardware and runs a test which is known as the POST (Power On Self Test) which makes sure that the computer has met all of the requirements in order to boot up successfully. However, if the computer does indeed fail the POST, then the computer will make a beeping sound, notifying the user of what exactly is malfunctioning inside the computer. Below is a picture of what the BIOS typically looks like on most computers.
Power Supply
The power supply is generic, not only computers have power supplies, but also other electronics. A power supply is the component that gives power to the computer in order for it to run successfully. Most of the PCs that we have today are plugged into our standard wall electrical outlets. If you have no power supply, you simply will not be able to turn on the computer so it's extremely important that it is not tampered-with. Depending on the computer you have, the more watts you will need generated by the power supply, those with the more powerful and efficient processors and components will require more power to their components. Below is two pictures, one of the regular wall that you would use as the power supply, and the cable lead that is plugged into the computer.
Above is the main power unit that supplies the electricity to the computer via the cable that can be seen below. The one on the right is the one that is plugged into the computer.
Computer Cooling
The computer cooling system is a crucial component in the computer system, it ensures that the components inside the physical computer are kept at a certain temperature that keeps them able to operate efficiently, it removes waste heat from the computer. The computer cooling system is also crucial because, if any components inside the computer are overheated then it could lead to either temporary or permanent malfunction. Below is a picture of a typical computer cooler.
SATA (Hard Drive Configuration and Controllers)
SATA is known fully as the Serial ATA, which is a computing bus that allows the host adapters to connect to the storage devices, this can be either Optical Drives or Hard Disk Drives. The old system that was used was called the PATA, but this was replaced with SATA and soon became more popular as it had many more advantages than the older PATA. Some of the improvisations was that the cost of cables were significantly reduced and the size also decreased, not only this but it offers higher data transfer also.
IDE (Hard Drive Configuration and Controllers)
IDE is known as Integrated Drive Electronics. It is a standard interface that is used for hard drives that are compatible with IBM and DVD and also CD drives. The IDE is different to other similar components such as the SCSI and ESDI because it has controllers that are on each drive, and because of this, it allows the drive to be able to connect to the motherboard or controller directly. Under this text is an image of what IDE looks like.
EIDE (Hard Drive Configuration and Controllers)
EIDE is the enhanced and newer version of the IDE above. The difference between this component and the one above is that this EIDE is able to deal with data rates that are roughly four or three times higher than the older version, being able to run data rates ranging between 4 and 16.6 MBps. Not only this, but the old standard could only cope with mass storage devices of 528MB whereas the newer EIDE can cope with up to 8.4 GB which is a massive increase!
Master and Slave (Hard Drive Configuration and Controllers)
The master/slave is a model of communication, where the Master is in complete control of another separate entity, which is known as the slave. This process is a network architecture and protocols in a device or program, and controls the processes that are given to the slaves. Once the relationship between both the master and slaves is made completely, the control direction is always from the master to the slaves.
USB (Port)
The USB is known by many people, mainly because it's not only used in computing and is popular across the globe. The Universal Serial Bus is clearly the most-used computer port in today's computers. It can be used to connect many different peripherals to our computers, such as: Printers, Scanners, Removable Media Disks etc. The actual USB is used for connection, power supply and communication that occurs between the computer and other electronic devices. Below is a picture of a device that uses the USB port and a picture of the USB port itself.
Parallel (Port)
The parallel port is one of the many types of interface in which is used to connect peripherals. It is often used for peripherals such as printers, as it is also known as a 'Printer port'. As time moves on, we can start to see the decrease in usage of the parallel port because there has been a significant rise in the use of USB port, and other printing methods via Ethernet.
Serial (Port)
The serial port on a computer is the port that is used to connect serial devices, and is capable of transmitting only 1 bit at a time. The serial port can be used to connect almost any specific type of device, this ranges from Mice to Printers, also Modems - however (as said above), Printers are mainly connected to Parallel or USB ports. In the images below, you are able to see pictures that should clarify it all for you.
RAM (Internal Memory)
RAM stands for Random Access Memory which is the type of computer memory that can be accessed randomly. RAM allows for information to be both stored and retrieved on the computer. Since the data is random, this means that it is much easier to find and process data faster for the computer.
ROM (Internal Memory)
ROM stands for Read-Only Memory and it is a form of storage that is in computers and other electronics. As we can infer from the name, we are only able to read the data that is in the ROM. An example of ROM that we could use is the EEPROM which is a ROM that is programmed, which is used for computer BIOS. There is one major difference between RAM and ROM - this is that ROM is able to keep contents even if it has no power, whereas RAM cannot. In the picture, on the left we can see the RAM and on the right we can see the ROM.
Cache (Internal Memory)
Cache is temporary memory that is stored on a computer. We can get cache in different levels, it varies from 1 to 3. The difference between the lower number to the higher number is that level 1 cache is much faster to load, however holds less data - whereas level 3 is much slower, but can hold the most date. The cache is there to store regularly-used information in order to provide the user with potential ease and efficiency. In the picture below is a common method that users use to clear system cache on their computers at home.
Network (Specialized Cards)
The network interface card inside a computer is what we would commonly known as a network adapter, or alternatively an Ethernet card. It is an expansion card, and this allows the computer to connect to a specified network - this could either be a home network, or the internet which you would connect-to using an Ethernet cable. I have put a diagram underneath of how an Ethernet cable is connected to a modem, in order to grant internet access for the user of that computer.
Graphic Cards (Specialized Cards)
The graphic card is the main component which is responsible for presenting the image on your monitor. Getting a better graphic card purely depends on the user, to suit their needs. For example, someone who plays video games on high resolution who needs high quality video, they would get a better graphic card in order to enhance their experience. Not only this, but a graphic designer or someone who uses computer aid design would select a better graphic card. However those graphic cards that are better, come at a bigger price tag.