 The motherboard is the

computer's main circuit

board. It's a thin plate that
holds the CPU, memory,
connectors for the hard
drive and optical drives,
expansion cards to control
the video and audio, and
connections to your
computer's ports (such as
USB ports). The motherboard
connects directly or
indirectly to every part of the
computer.
 The central processing unit
(CPU), also called
a processor, is located
inside the computer
case on the motherboard.
It is sometimes called the
brain of the computer, and
its job is to carry out
commands. Whenever you
press a key, click the
mouse, or start an
application, you're sending
instructions to the CPU.
 RAM is your system's short-term
memory. This short-term memory
disappears when the computer is
turned off. If you're working on a
document, spreadsheet, or other
type of file, you'll need to save it to
avoid losing it. When you save a file,
the data is written to the hard drive,
which acts as long-term storage.
The more RAM you have, the more
things your computer can do at the
same time. If you don't have enough
RAM, you may notice that your
computer is sluggish when you have
several programs open.
 As the name suggests, read-only memory, or ROM, stores
information that can only be read. Modifying it is either
impossible or very difficult. ROM is also a type of non-
volatile storage, which means that the information is
maintained even if the component loses power. It
contains the basic instructions for what needs to happen
when a computer is powered on. This is typically referred
to as the firmware of a computer. The firmware
represents the basic code to get the computer started.
Once the computer is up and running, the CPU takes
over.
 The hard drive is where your
software, documents, and other
files are stored. The hard drive
is long-term storage, which
means the data is still saved
even if you turn the computer
off or unplug it. The hard drive is
meant for storage and is the
one device that will house all
the software that is installed
including the operating system.
In other words, every piece of
software that you see in a
computer is installed and stored
in the hard drive.
 An optical drive uses light to read and write
data. It is the drive you use to burn CDs,
DVDs and Blu-Ray discs. Optical drives can
be either slot loading, or tray loading and
come in many different configurations.
Optical drives connect directly to the
motherboard of the computer.These drives
are called optical because of lasers that can
read data on disks like CDs, DVDs, and now
Blu-Ray discs. The different optical drives
available are CD, CDR, CDRW, DVD, DVDR,
DVDRW, and also the new Blu-Ray players.
 It supplies the power that the
computer needs. It is always
located in the back and
separate from all the other
components inside the
computer case and it
connects to everything inside
that is not directly connected
to the motherboard. The
motherboard also connects
to the power supply and
that’s how it powers the
components that directly
connect to it.
 Every computer has a cooling fan inside the
case, designed primarily to prevent the CPU
from overheating. Cooling fans may bring cool
air into the computer, draw hot air out of the
computer, or as part of a heat sink, which is a
special product designed to draw heat away
from a particular computer component.
 A graphics processing unit (GPU) is a specialized electronic
circuit designed to rapidly manipulate and
alter memory to accelerate the creation of images in
a frame buffer intended for output to a display device.
GPUs are used in embedded systems, mobile
phones, personal computers, workstations, and game
consoles. Modern GPUs are very efficient at
manipulating computer graphics and image processing. In
a personal computer, a GPU can be present on a video
card.
 A memory slot, memory socket, or RAM slot is
what allows computer memory (RAM) to be
inserted into the computer. Depending on
the motherboard, there may be two to
four memory slots (sometimes more on high-
end motherboards) and are what determine
the type of RAM used with the computer. In the
picture above, is an example of what memory
slots may look like inside a desktop computer.
In this picture, there are three open available
slots for three memory sticks.
 Motherboards are subcategorized by the type
of processor socket they have. The processor
socket (also called a CPU socket) is the connector
on the motherboard that houses a CPU and forms
the electrical interface and contact with the CPU.
Processor sockets use a pin grid array (PGA) where
pins on the underside of the processor connect to
holes in the processor socket. Computers based on
the Intel x86 architecture include socket processors.
 To boost the performance of your
computer or update the capabilities of
an older computer, you can always add
one or more cards. Below are some of
the most common types of expansion
cards.
 A video card (also called a display
card, graphics card, display
adapter or graphics adapter) is
an expansion card which generates
a feed of output images to a display
(such as a computer monitor).
The video card is responsible
for what you see on the monitor.
Most computers have a GPU
(graphics processing unit) built into
the motherboard instead of having
a separate video card. If you like
playing graphics-intensive games,
you can add a faster video card to
one of the expansion slots to get
better performance.
 The sound card—also called an audio
card—is responsible for what you
hear in the speakers or headphones.
Most motherboards have integrated
sound, but you can upgrade to a
dedicated sound card for higher-
quality sound.
 The network card allows your
computer to communicate
over a network and access
the Internet. It can either
connect with
an Ethernet cable or through
a wireless connection (often
called Wi-Fi). Many
motherboards have built-in
network connections, and a
network card can also be
added to an expansion slot.