personal computer hardware, component devices, building blocks, personal computer, install, computer case, cable, port, peripherals, monitor, motherboard, CPU, RAM (Random-Access Memory), ROM(Read-Only Memory), expansion cards, expansion slots, expansion board, expansion bus, power supply, optical disc drive, hard disk drive, keyboard,mouse, display, unit, internal components of the computer, automatic sensors, a switch, voltage, witch mode power supplies, direct current power, accessories, disk drives, cooling fans, rectangular board with integrated circuitry, disk drives, CD, DVD, hard disk, calculations, heat sink, fan, cool, Graphics Processing Unit, chipset, north bridge, mediate communication, components of the system, main memory, code, data, BIOS (Basic Input Output System), boot firmware, power management firmware, Unified Extensible Firmware Interface, buses, graphics, sound, adapter card, accessory card, printed circuit board, expansion slot, computer motherboard, computer system, sound card, audio devices, microphone, hardware support, motherboard chipset, to upgrade, storage, memory, computer components, recording media, digital data, data storage, core function, fundamental component of computers, hard disk drive, solid-state drive, solid-state memory, persistent data, traditional block I/O hard disk drive, magnetic disks, hard disk drives, floppy disk, electromechanical devices, spinning disks, movable read/write heads, removable media,optical disc drives, optical media, floppy disk drives, Zip drives, floppy disks, flexible magnetic storage medium, outdated medium-capacity removable disk storage system, Zip disks, USB flash drive, USB port, separate drive, typically small, memory card, mobile devices, USB flash drives, tape drives, magnetic tape, long term storage, backups, lightweight, removable, and rewritable flash memory data storage device, USB interface, input devices, text input devices, buttons, pointing devices,optical mouse, trackball, touchscreen, joystick, game pad, game controller, image scanner, analysing images, printed text, handwriting, object, Web cam, microphone, output devices, program-controlled pilot lamp, full-screen point-addressable graphic displays, printing device, paper copies, documents and images, laser, inkjet, dot matrix, thermal printer, printer, computer monitors, speakers
Exercise 3. What do you know about these notions?
Exercise 4. Read the text and answer the questions following it.
Text PERSONAL COMPUTER HARDWARE
Personal computer hardware are the component devices that are the building blocks of personal computers. These are typically installed into a computer case, or attached to it by a cable or through a port. In the latter case, they are also referred to as peripherals.
Hardware of a modern personal computer includes: 1. Monitor 2. Motherboard 3. CPU 4. RAM 5. Expansion cards 6. Power supply 7. Optical disc drive 8. Hard disk drive 9. Keyboard 10. Mouse
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Case
A computer case is a box that has bits of computer in it (excluding the display, keyboard and mouse).
Power supply
A power supply unit (PSU) converts alternating current (AC) electric power to low-voltage DC power for the internal components of the computer. Some power supplies have a switch to change between 230 V and 115 V. Other models have automatic sensors that switch input voltage automatically, or are able to accept any voltage between those limits. Power supply units used in computers are nearly always switch mode power supplies (SMPS). The SMPS provides regulated direct current power at the several voltages required by the motherboard and accessories such as disk drives and cooling fans.
Motherboard
The motherboard is the main component inside the case. It is a large rectangular board with integrated circuitry that connects the other parts of the computer including the CPU, the RAM, the disk drives (CD, DVD, hard disk, or any others) as well as any peripherals connected via the ports or the expansion slots.
Components directly attached to the motherboard include:
The CPU (Central Processing Unit) performs most of the calculations which enable a computer to function, and is sometimes referred to as the "brain" of the computer. It is usually cooled by a heat sink and fan. Most newer CPUs include an on-die Graphics Processing Unit (GPU).
The Chipset, which includes the north bridge, mediates communication between the CPU and the other components of the system, including main memory.
The Random-Access Memory (RAM) stores the code and data that are being actively accessed by the CPU.
The Read-Only Memory (ROM) stores the BIOS that runs when the computer is powered on or otherwise begins execution, a process known as Bootstrapping, or "booting" or "booting up". The BIOS (Basic Input Output System) includes boot firmware and power management firmware. Newer motherboards use Unified Extensible Firmware Interface (UEFI) instead of BIOS.
Buses connect the CPU to various internal components and to expansion cards for graphics and sound.
Expansion cards
The expansion card (also expansion board, adapter card or accessory card) in computing is a printed circuit board that can be inserted into an expansion slot of a computer motherboard or backplane to add functionality to a computer system via the expansion bus.
An example of an expansion card is a sound card that enables the computer to output sound to audio devices, as well as accept input from a microphone. Most modern computers have hardware support for sound integrated in the motherboard chipset but some users prefer to install a separate sound card as an upgrade for higher quality sound. Most sound cards, either built-in or added, have surround sound capabilities and 3-D sound effects.
Secondary storage devices
Computer data storage, often called storage or memory, refers to computer components and recording media that retain digital data. Data storage is a core function and fundamental component of computers.
Fixedmedia
Hard disk driveis a device for storing and retrieving digital information, primarily computer data.
Solid- state drive is a data storage device that uses solid-state memory to store persistent data with the intention of providing access in the same manner of a traditional block I/O hard disk drive. SSDs are distinguished from traditional magnetic disks such as hard disk drives (HDDs) or floppy disk, which are electromechanical devices containing spinning disks and movable read/write heads.
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RAID array controller - a device to manage several internal or external hard disks and optionally some peripherals in order to achieve performance or reliability improvement in what is called a RAID array.
Removablemedia
Optical Disc Drives for reading from and writing to various kinds of optical media, including Compact Discs such as CD-ROMs, DVDs, DVD-RAMs and Blu-ray Discs. Optical discs are the most common way of transferring digital video, and are popular for data storage as well.
Floppy disk drives for reading and writing to floppy disks, an outdated storage media consisting of a thin disk of a flexible magnetic storage medium.
Zip drives, an outdated medium-capacity removable disk storage system, for reading from and writing to Zip disks, was first introduced by Iomega in 1994.
USB flash drive plug into a USB port and do not require a separate drive. USB flash drive is a typically small, lightweight, removable, and rewritable flash memory data storage device integrated with a USB interface.
Memory card readers for reading from and writing to Memory cards, a flash memory data storage device used to store digital information. Memory cards are typically used on mobile devices. They are thinner, smaller and lighter than USB flash drives.
Tape drives read and write data on a magnetic tape, and are used for long term storage and backups.
