A personal computer(PC) is nothing but a single complex piece of machinery which is made up of several individual components.In simple words we can define the computer's hardware components as the parts that we can touch as these are the physical parts of the computer.
In this artile let us discuss about the various hardware components in a PC.The various hardware components can be mainly classified into two types namely Chassis components and Peripheral components.The various hardware components that comes under these two catoegaries are given below.
I - CHASSIS COMPONENTS:
1)The Motherboard
2)The CPU
3)Computer Memory
4)The Monitor
5)The Keyboard and Mouse
6)Disk Drives
7)The Computer Case
II - PERIPHERAL COMPONENTS:
1)Cards
2)Printer
3)Modems
CHASSIS COMPONENTS
1)The Motherboard
Motherboard, in simple word,is the main circuit board in a computer and it is the most important hardware component which is very vital for all PC . Basically the motherboard is nothing but a glue which brings all the different PC components together, i.e, a motherboard is a nothing but an ordinary printed circuit board which connects the various elements on it with the use of traces, or using electrical pathways.Before chosing any motherboards we must keep in mind about several factors that includes
i)The form factor (usually ATX)
ii)Supported CPU
iii)Bus speed
iv)Supported RAM
v)Built-in sound/video/LAN
2)The CPU
The Central Processing Unit is usually regarded as the "Brain of the computer" as it is microscopic circuit or chips which serves as the main "information processor" in a computer.As every body knew currenly we use Pentium processor which was made by the Intel and very fast development is taking place
The CPU directs the logical and arithmetical functions and also plays a vital rle in executing the computer programs and the CPU is located on a motherboard with other chips . Out of several hardware components present in a PC, the smallest hardware companent which can still perform vast operation is this computer chip and a computer chip is usually made up of the semi-conductors and also the tiny wires which are laid out on top of thin wafers of silicon.
A computer chip is formed by sandwiching the layers of wire and semi-conductors between layers of silicon. The semi-conductors are configured in such a way to represent either a 0 or a 1 during the suply of electricity to them.Usually most kinds of hardware are said to 'hard-wired', because once they are made, the configuration of the computer chips cannot be changed
3)Computer Memory
Usually we say the computer memory RAM, known as the Random Access Memory and this act as the storage area in the computer's brain.The term RAM can be usually defined as the memory which the computer uses so as to temporarily store the information as it is being processed and this implies that more the information being processed, we need to go for higher RAM.
Originally the ram size was very low in the range of 64/128 MB but gradually the RAM sizes varied thereafter to 256/512 and then to 1 GB , 2 GB and 4 GB.Usually the computers which are run as full servers have a minimm of 4 GB RAM of more.
4)The Monitor
Usually the term Monitor is defined as the device that is connected to a computer which displays information on the screen.Cathode Ray Tube(CRT) monitors were the type of monitors used until the introduction of LCD monitors.
The most expensive component in the PC is the monitor and the LCD monitors forms the latest trend and it is available in 17-inch or 19-inch and they are easy on the eyes, but the price is somewhat costlier than that o CRT.The CRT monitors are bulkier but cost much less.
5)The Keyboard and Mouse
A keybord is nothing but a keypad device which contains buttons or keys and if the user presses to enter data characters and it commands into a computer.There are many types of keyboards available at present but the most commonly used one contains 101 keys and QWERTY layout is the most commonly used for Latin languages.The name QWERTY is the first 6 keys in the keyboard.
But the keyboard which is very easy for typing is the Ergonomically designed keyboards.The Mouse in a computer,is nothing but a common pointing device which is used with personal computers and generally the mouse
is commonly attached to a PC by a cord which connects to a universal serial bus (USB) port.The mouse is typically used by a user with one hand in order to move a cursor over the folder or image or icons in the monitor
Naturally these two devices are default in a PC,and if not the interaction with the Computer system will be difficult.The price of these components are also low and they can be purchased at cheap prices.
6)Disk Drives
Disk Drives are the basic component of most PCs and it commonly in the form of a hard disk or hard drive, where the hard disk is usually the magnetic storage device in the form of disks which rotates.
A device which reads and writes data, or perform any of these function, on a disk medium is called as the disk drive.This disk medium may be either of Magnetic tape (eg.,Floppy disks or hard Disks) or Optical in the cse of CD ROM
7)The Computer Case
The computer case is nothing but the computer's housing and the reason why we use this is that this helps in storing all the components, and the motherboard is the largest component that the computer case holds.
PC cases are also available in ATX form so as to accomidate the ATX motherboard.These cases are in a such a way that it provides room for any further components to be adde later.
PERIPHERAL COMPONENTS
1)Cards
The printed circuit boards which can be usually plugged into a PC so as to provide additional functions which includes recording or playing video or audio, or enhancing graphics(for which we must use the Graphics card), sound cards, video cards, network cards etc.The image below is the graphic card
2)Printer
The printer is used to take the information on the screen in th emonitor into the hard copy usually in a paper and usually the types of printer includes dot matrix, inkjet, and laser.
3)Modems
A Modem is which connects the PCto the Internet or local networks via cable attachment or through a phone line.The main purpose of modem is to covert the digital data into analo when it goes form computer and also analog to digital when the information goes into the computer.
