Hardware

Hard Drive

Description
Its Hardware to save data even when you turn OFF your computer. C/ Drive. Contains a Disk. You can hear it spinning whenever you save data. 80-360 Gb. A chip that saves the information youre using; all the information is deleted when you turn OFF the computer. 512-2Gb A chip that has a Read-Only Memory. It contains the information to turn ON the computer. The brain of the computer it controls how the system works. The bigger the CPU the faster the computer. Speed is measured in Hz. The average CPU = 1-3 GHz. Eg. Intel Pentium IV. Central Processing Unit. (Input and Output Ports) At the back of the computer, you can input and output information of the computer. Hardware that transfers information via telephone line to the computers language. In Binary Codes. Its a card that allows you to connect to a network and other computers, into which you can share information with other computers. Main circuit board onto which the chips are placed. It has slots, sockets and headers to attach other computer components. A card which allows you to view images, the better, the better images you can see. It allows you to play certain games.

RAM Chip

ROM Chip CPU

I/O Ports (USB Serial Ports) Modem Network Card

Motherboard

Graphics Card

1. Why do you need a graphics card?

To see images and play games which require or have good graphics. 2. What can you do with a modem? Transfer information as Binary Codes via Telephone. 3. What hardware do you need to connect to network? What plugs into it? A Network Card a Network Cable plugs into it. 4. What is a Pentium 4? What does it do? It is a CPU, it increases the computers speed. 5. Why is and input/ output port so called? Because you can input data into the computer, or take it from the computer to somewhere else. 6. What does a motherboard do? What colour is it and how big is it? It is the main circuit board, where all chips are placed. It is Green or Blue. 7. What unit is used to measure a. the speed of a processor? Hz. b. The size of hard drive Gb. c. The size of RAM Mb/Gb

Components of a computer system

Memory Memory is measured in bytes. 1 byte = 1 letter in MS word 1 Kilobyte (Kb) = 1000 bytes 1 Megabyte (Mb) = 1000 Kb 1 Gigabyte (Gb) = 1000 Mb 1 terabyte (Tb) = 1000 Gb ROM (Read Only Memory) When a computer is made basic operating instructions are put on a ROM chip. These control how the computer turns on. They can be read but not changed and are available even after the computer is turned off. RAM (Random Access Memory) The RAM chip inside the computer holds its operating instructions and allows programs to work e.g. MS Word. The more RAM a computer has, the faster the programs can be used. PCs today come with 512 Mb or 1Gb of RAM. When you work with big files e.g. editing pictures or films you need a lot of RAM. All data held in RAM is lost when the computer is turned off. Storing data internally Data is stored on the hard drive. Hard drives can be 1-1000Gb large.

Back-up
To back up means to make a safety copy of any documents so that if something happens to it, you still have another copy to use. People back up data because other people can accidentally, or purposely delete it. Another reason can be that your computer may break, or that your hard-drive burns. I could back up a word document in a pen drive. I could back up all the information on a computer, in another hard-drive.