Parts & Functions of a Computer

A computer system is a complex machine composed of several different parts and components, which we will discuss each part in more detail below. Computers have been around for many years, however, only in the past 25 years or so have they been more advanced for personal and business use. Computers have many many different applications and can be found in almost every aspect of our lives. For instance, when you turn on the light when you first wake up, a computer inside the electric meter is keeping track of how much electricity is being used. When you warm up that first cup of coffee, the computer inside the microwave manages the warming of your cup of coffee. Cars have computers to keep track of any problems, fuel level, speed, and performance of the car. These are only a few functions that computers perform as they are found in many different forms in almost everything around us in one form or another. Let's examine now each part of the computer and discuss each of their functions:

CPU - Central Processing Unit - The actual processing part of the system that performs all of the computer's thought processes. Depending on what type of CPU you have in your computer it may have the capacity to process billions of instructions per second, which that unit of time is referred to as a clock cycle. The CPU is the single most important piece of hardware, the computer cannot function without it.

Motherboard - The name implies its function as the 'mother of all boards' inside your computer. The motherboard contains delicate circuitry that is vital to the transportation of information throughout your computer. The motherboard is much like Grand Central Station, where information arrives and departs for different parts of the computer billions of times per second. Interface cards are plugged into the motherboard for add-ons to the computer such as: network card, sound card, SCSI card, USB Card, Modem, and almost limitless other uses.

Memory - Memory comes in many different types and forms that correspond with the type of motherboard you have inside your computer. Memory can come in the form of DIMM, SIMM, DDR, DD2, Dual-Channel, RAMBUS, and SO-DIMM, only to name a few. The computer's memory or RAM  (Random Accesss Memory) is the temporary storage for information, much like the information that can fit on your desk. The more memory you have or the larger size desk you may have, the more information you can process at one time. The higher the amount of memory you have in your computer, the more efficient your computer will operate. The CPU, Motherboard, and Memory are the three single most vital pieces of hardware in order to make your computer function.

Hard Drive - The hard drive is the master permanant storage facility on your computer. It stores the operating system, applications, and all data files on your computer. Think of the hard drive as a huge file cabinet and each directory is a drawer, then within that drawer you have subdirectories or subfolders inside your file cabinet. The hard drive works much of the same way a file cabinet does, except its entirely electronic and can locate documents very quickly. Operating systems come with search features, so you can find documents and files on your hard drive quickly.

Monitor - The monitor is what displays the information the computer provides. Monitors can take many different forms including:  LCD, CRT, LCD Widescreen, and touch screens. However, the most common form monitors take are LCD. The LCD (Liquid Crystal Display) monitors have be come more popular and more affordable over the past few years to lead them to be one of the most popular form of displays. CRT monitors are the old heavy style monitors that uses a tube much like that is found inside your television. They are increasingly losing their popularity to smaller and higher quality to LCD monitors mostly due to the fact of being smaller, which do not require as much desk space.

Video Card - The video card goes hand-in-hand with the monitor, plugging into the back of the computer. It is the function of the video card to output to the screen what you see while working on your computer. Video cards come in a wide range of size and complexity, for instance you can use a standard 8MB card if you just have Windows 98 and use it for word processing or solitaire. However, if you're interested in playing games or using intense graphical applications you may want to consider a video card 64 or 128MB. For the high-end video editors, you may want to go all out for a 256MB card, which has advanced video capabilities.

Keyboard - Keyboards are the computer's most basic input device and is probably more common than any other input device used on personal computers, next to the mouse. The keyboard is used for typing text and information into the computer, such as typing this article the keyboard is used rather intensely. Keyboards can take a number of different forms from ergonomic, natural, or standard forms.

Mouse - Mice have become increasingly popular with the introduction of the GUI (Graphical User Interface) in the mid-80s and have been designed to make using a computer much easier with fewer keystrokes. The mouse typically include two or more buttons and either a red-laser or conventional ball on the bottom to track its movement, then sends each movement to the computer, which then moves the mouse pointer on your screen.

Computers may have other optional add-ons, such as network cards, sound cards, SCSI cards, other controller cards for specialized hardware, and limitless other add-ons for your computer. The article presented here simply covers the main components of the computer and basically describes the function of each. We encourage you to browse our website and see how many different computer components we offer, as well as read some of the product information about each to gain a better understanding of the function of each product.

Jason Ziarko
Star Computer Parts