What is included in the computer device. The main components of a computer. Any computer contains
Acquaintance with operating system Windows XP.
Chapter 1. GENERAL DEVICE OF THE PERSONAL COMPUTER.
Purpose: Acquaintance with the architecture and basic nodes of a personal computer.
Presentation of information in a personal computer. Bits and Bytes. Number systems.
The purpose of the computer is to receive, process, store and issue information following the commands coming from the person. When performing any actions on a computer, the user sends commands to the computer, which are converted into the simplest computational instructions (addition, multiplication, shift). Performing millions of elementary operations per second, the computer allows you to work with texts, graphics, listen to music, watch videos, work on the Internet.
To teach computing electronic device, at the dawn of the computer era, a very simple number system was created. The natural electronic way of counting is a numbering system based on two digits. 0 and 1 ("on / off"), which is called binary. In the binary system, one binary digit is called a bit. Bit is a term that is short for binary digit (bit).
There are 256 integers in eight binary digits - quite enough to give a unique 8-bit designation to each uppercase and lowercase letter of two alphabets (Russian and English), punctuation marks, numbers, some other symbols, as well as control codes. Thus, 8 bits are needed to encode and transmit any character or control code. There is a code table in which each character is assigned a binary number from 00000000 to 11111111 (in decimal notation from 0 to 255). Naturally, an eight-bit number - a byte - was chosen as a unit of computer information. Byte - the amount of information required to place one character. About 4000 characters or bytes fit on one page. Each command that a PC understands (machine instruction) consists of one or more bytes. There are large pieces of information.
Kilobyte 1 Kb \u003d 2 10 bytes \u003d 1024 bytes.
Megabyte 1 Mb \u003d 1024 Kb \u003d 2 20 bytes \u003d 1048576 bytes.
Gigabyte 1 GB \u003d 1024 MB \u003d 2 30 bytes.
Terabyte 1 TB \u003d 1024 GB \u003d 2 40 bytes.
Numbers can be written in other number systems as well. The most familiar to us is the decimal number system, in which counting in tens is accepted and 10 basic digits are used (0,1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9). By placing these numbers in different positions, any number can be expressed.
Components of a personal computer.
Visually, a personal computer (PC) consists (see Fig. 1.1) of a system unit, keyboard, mouse and monitor. A computer can be connected to speakers (see Fig. 1.1), printer (Fig. 1.2) or scanner (Fig. 1.3).
The motherboard contains:
1. Processor (see Fig. 1.5) performs calculations and provides general computer control.
The processor consists of: an arithmetic logic unit designed to perform arithmetic operations; control device providing control of the computing process.
The processor is characterized by:
Clock frequency;
Bit depth;
Architecture.
Clock frequency is determined by the maximum execution time of an elementary action (addition or multiplication) in the processor. The clock frequency of a modern personal computer reaches 3.4 GHz (i.e. 3.4 billion elementary operations per second).
Bit depth - the maximum number of binary digits that can be processed simultaneously. The concept of bit depth includes:
The bit depth of the internal registers of the processor;
Data bus width;
Width of the address bus.
Bit depth of internal registers determines the size of the data that the processor can handle. The bit width of the data bus determines the transfer rate (the size of data that can be transferred per unit of time) between the processor and other devices. The width of the address bus determines the address space of the computer.
Thus, if the clock frequency determines the speed of computations, then the bit depth determines the size of data that can be processed by the processor or transferred from one computer node to another per unit of time.
2. Computer memory - a storage device directly connected to the processor and intended for storing programs and data during the execution of the program. Main memory consists of random access memory (RAM or RAM) and read-only memory (ROM or ROM). RAM is energy dependent. It is in RAM that programs and data are stored while the PC is running. Modern personal computers are equipped with 256 (or more) MB of RAM.
ROM - an energy independent device that ensures reliable storage and delivery of information. The contents of the ROM cannot be changed. Sometimes the contents of a ROM are called BIOS (Basic Input Output System - base system input-output). The ROM stores programs that implement the basic I / O functions, as well as a PC test program and a number of other programs
There is another type of memory - CMOS, it is a semi-permanent memory designed to store the parameters of a computer. CMOS stores the characteristics of a number of devices (for example, a hard disk).
3 ... Inside the system unit there are devices designed for long-term storage of information. These devices are called drives on magnetic media.
Hard disk drive (or the ingrained slang term "hard drive") is a huge data store that stores programs and user data. "Winchester" consists of a package of hard magnetic disks enclosed together with the read-write heads in a sealed case (see Fig. 1.6).
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| Figure: 1.6 - Appearance modern "hard drive" |
Hard magnetic disks have a large volume (the volume of a modern hard drive 40 - 160 GB) and high performance.
The floppy disk drive reads and writes information to floppy disks enclosed in hard plastic envelopes. These discs are called floppy disks... The floppy disk consists of a round polymer backing (see Fig. 1.7) coated on both sides with a magnetic oxide and placed in a plastic bag with a cleaning coating applied to the inner surface. The package has radial slots on both sides through which the read / write heads of the drive access the disk.
To eject a floppy disk from the drive, press the floppy eject button (see Fig. 1.9).
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| Figure: 1.9 |
At first, floppy disks were the only information storage, however, due to their small size, they ceased to meet user requirements, and modern computers are almost always equipped with drives CD-ROM (Compact Disk Read Only Memory) or CD-RW (Compact Disk Read and Write) (see Figure 1.10). The CD-ROM drive is similar in design to a laser player, but allows reading both music discs and computer diskswritten in a special format. CD-RW drives allow not only reading information from a disc, but also writing it to a disc.
To eject a disc from a drive (drive), press the Eject button (see Fig. 1.10).
The storage medium in these drives is a compact disc (CD-ROM) - a transparent polymer disc with a diameter of 12 cm and a thickness of 1.2 mm, on one side of which a light-reflecting aluminum layer is sprayed, protected from damage by a layer of transparent varnish. The deposition thickness is several ten thousandths of a millimeter. Information on the disc is presented in the form of a sequence of depressions (depressions in the disc) and protrusions (their level corresponds to the surface of the disc) located on a spiral track that emerges from the area near the disc axis. Each inch (2.54 cm) along the radius of the disk contains 16 thousand turns of the spiral track. The CD capacity is up to 780 MB.
The technology of digital video discs DVD is rapidly replacing CD-ROM technology. These discs are the same size as regular CDs, but can hold up to 17GB of data, i.e. replaces 20 standard CD-ROMs in volume. These discs produce excellent quality multimedia games and interactive videos.
4 ... A video card is located inside the system unit. Video card - the device that connects the monitor to the motherboard. Modern video cards have a fairly large internal memory (64-128MB) and allow them to independently process video information without loading the computer processor. On modern PCs, there are video cards built into the motherboard or made as a separate card (see Fig. 1.11), which are inserted into a special connector on the motherboard (AGP connector).
5 . Sound card serves to convert a digital signal to sound. Speakers or headphones are connected to the sound card. There are sound cards built into the motherboard or made as a separate card and connected via a PCI slot.
7. Modem - a device for connecting a computer to a telephone network in order to transmit and receive information. There are internal modems, which are made as a separate board and are inserted into the PCI slot of the motherboard, and external (see Fig. 1.13), which are connected as an external device to the system unit.
The modem today remains one of the main ways to connect to the World Wide Web from a home computer.
8. Network card - a device with which computers are combined into a local area network. Each computer on the network has its own network card. With cables, computers are connected to a network.
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| Figure: 1.13 - External modem |
The following are connected to the system unit external devices:
1. Keyboard - a device for entering symbolic information into a computer.
2. Mouse - is a device that converts movement on the table into movement of the cursor on the screen and is used in addition to the keyboard as an input device.
3. a printer - a device for outputting information on paper. The most common types of printers are:
- dot matrix printers - printers with a needle print head form printable characters from dots. These dots are printed on the paper at the moment the ink ribbon is pressed against it by the needles of the print head as it moves along the line. These printers are very loud, produce low quality documents, and are quite expensive. Their advantages include cheapness. supplies and the ability to print on paper of not very high quality.
IN inkjet printers the image is created by spraying ink on the paper; the advantages of inkjet printers include high-quality color and black-and-white printing, relatively inexpensive cost; the disadvantages are the very high cost of consumables, the cost of a color and black cartridge in the printer is comparable to the cost of the printer itself.
- laser printers page-by-page printing have the same technology as copiers; the advantages of laser printers include high-quality printing, relatively inexpensive cost of consumables; the main disadvantage of laser printers is their rather high cost.
4. Scanner reads information from a document and generates an electronic copy that can be processed by various programs, including text recognition programs, with which you can enter information into a computer through a scanner, bypassing the keyboard.
Keyboard.
It can work in the mode of entering Russian letters or Latin (English). As a rule, Latin letters on the keys are depicted in black, Russian letters in red.
Mode switching russianó english produced by simultaneously pressing the [ Ctrl+Shift] or [ Alt+Shift]. Each computer is configured with a single keyboard shortcut.
Note: another way to switch keyboard mode.
The current operating mode of the keyboard is displayed on the monitor screen in the lower right corner. If there is reflected Ru , which means that the keyboard works in Russian mode; if a En- in English (Latin). To switch the mode, you need to click on this indicator with the mouse and switch to another mode.
All keyboard keys (usually 104) are divided into 5 groups (fields). Let's consider them.
1. Alphanumeric keys - the central, largest keyboard field. These keys have 2-3 characters each.
How do I enter a specific character? How do I enter a capital (uppercase) letter?
To enter capitalletter, press the key Shift and simultaneously press the key with the desired letter.
To enter the characters indicated on the keys from above(for example, characters @, #, $,%, &, etc.), you must also press Shift and at the same time - the key with the desired symbol. In this case, you should also take into account in which mode - Russian or English - you need to type the desired character: if the symbol is red, it means in the mode of Russian letters, if black - in the mode of English letters.
Example: to type a character @ , you need to set the English letters mode, press Shift and simultaneously the key @ .
We depicted the rules for entering characters in the figure on the right.
2. Function Keys (F1 – F12). Pressing such a key leads to the execution of a specific operation. These keys perform different operations in different programs, but the F1(key “ Help”) In any program calls up a guide for working with this program on the screen.
3. Control keys - clicking on them does not lead to a set of any character, but instructs the computer to perform a certain action:
ESC- stop, undoperforming the operation. So, when a dialog box appears on the screen (with buttons Yes, No, Cancel) pressing Esc means refusing to enter any command, i.e. similar to pressing " Cancellation".
Tab(tabulation) - in a text editor Tab moves the cursor to the right several positions at once - by the amount of paragraph indentation. In a table, pressing Tab will move the cursor to the next cell.
Caps lock- after pressing it, the entire printed test will be typed in capital (uppercase) letters. At the same time, the Caps Lock indicator on the keyboard, top right, will light up. To cancel this mode, press Caps Lock again.
Ctrland Altused together with other keys to set different commands.
So, in case of a malfunction, to restart the PC, press together Ctrl+ Alt+ Del
ÿ - opens the main menu of the Windows system; it is equivalent to clicking a button on the screen Start.
Pressing [ ÿ and E English] the program will open Conductor
Enter(enter) - gives an indication “ Execute”Command, after it is prepared on the screen. When typing, Enter moves the cursor to the next line to start a new paragraph or to insert a blank line.
ç or Back space- for deleting character to the left of the cursor.
Print Screen - copies the entire screen view into memory. After the command Paste you can insert this view as a picture in the text or other place, or print on paper.
Pause - when the PC boots up, when system information flashes on the screen, Pause stops this process, allowing you to slowly read the information you need.
4. Cursor keys .
ß , à , á , â - keys to move the cursor one position left / right, one line up / down.
Page Up, Page Down- scrolling the document up / down in whole pages.
Home,End- when typing Home moves the cursor to the beginning of the line, End moves the cursor to the end of the line. [ Ctrl+ Home] - go to the beginning of the document,
[Ctrl+ End] - go to the end of the document.
Delete- key deletingcharacter to the right of the cursor or delete the selected text, file, etc. of the selected objects.
Insert- key to change modes insertsand replacementscharacters. Insert mode prints new characters. In overwrite mode, some characters are replaced (erased) with others - those that are entered from the keyboard.
5. Additional keyboard (located on the right) can operate in one of 2 modes: 1) dialing mode, 2) cursor control mode. These modes are switched by pressing Num lock... In this case, the indicator of the same name will light up on the keyboard, on the top right.
So, what does our ordinary personal computer (PC), which we use at home or at work, consist of?
Consider its hardware ("hardware"):
- system unit (the big box that is on your desk or under the desk, on the side of it, etc.). It contains all the main components of the computer.
- peripherals (such as a monitor, keyboard, mouse, modem, scanner, etc.).
The system unit in the computer is the "master" one. If you carefully unscrew the screws from its back wall, remove the side panel and look inside, then only in appearance its structure will seem complicated. Now I will briefly describe its structure, and then I will characterize the main elements in the most understandable language.
The system unit contains the following elements (not necessarily all at once):
- Power Supply
- Hard disk drive (HDD)
- Floppy disk drive (FDD)
- CD or DVD drive (CD / DVD ROM)
- Connectors for additional devices (ports) on the back (sometimes on the front) panel, etc.
- The motherboard (it is more often called the motherboard), which, in turn, contains:
- microprocessor;
- mathematical coprocessor;
- clock pulse generator;
- memory chips (RAM, ROM, cache memory, CMOS memory)
- controllers (adapters) of devices: keyboards, disks, etc.
- sound, video and network cards;
- timer, etc.
All of them are connected to the motherboard using connectors (slots). We will consider its elements in bold below.
And now, in order about the system unit:
one . With the power supply, everything is clear: it powers the computer. Let me just say that the higher its power rating, the steeper.
2. A hard disk drive (HDD - hard disk drive) is called a hard disk drive by the common people.
This nickname arose from the slang name for the first 16KB hard disk drive (IBM, 1973), which had 30 tracks of 30 sectors, coincidentally coinciding with the 30/30 caliber of the famous Winchester hunting rifle. The capacity of this drive is usually measured in gigabytes: from 20 GB (on older computers) to several terabytes (1TB \u003d 1024 GB). The most common hard drive capacity is 250-500 GB. The speed of operations depends on the rotational speed (5400-10000 rpm). Depending on the type of connection between the hard drive and the motherboard, ATA and IDE are distinguished.
3. A floppy disk drive (FDD) is nothing more than floppy disk drive... Their standard capacity is 1.44 MB with a diameter of 3.5 "(89 mm). Magnetic materials with special properties are used as a storage medium for magnetic disks, which allow fixing two magnetic states, each of which is assigned binary digits: 0 and one.
4 . Optical disc drives (CD-ROM) come in different diameters (3.5 "and 5.25") and capacities. The most common of them are 700 MB. It happens that CDs can be used for recording only 1 time (then they are called R), and it is more profitable to use rewritable RW discs.
DVD originally stood for Digital Video Disk. Despite the name, DVDs can burn anything from music to data. Therefore, in recent years, another decoding of this name is increasingly common - Digital Versatile Disk, loosely translated as “digital versatile disk”. The main difference between DVDs and CDs is the amount of information that can be recorded on such a medium. DVD-disc can be recorded from 4.7 to 13, and even up to 17 Gb. This is achieved in several ways. First, a laser with a shorter wavelength is used to read DVDs than to read CDs, which has significantly increased the recording density. Secondly, the standard provides for the so-called double-layer discs, in which on one side the data is recorded in two layers, while one layer is translucent, and the second layer is read "through" the first. This allowed data to be written to both sides of DVDs and thus double the storage capacity, which is sometimes done.
five . Other additional devices ( mouse, printer, scanner andother). Connection is made through ports - special connectors on the rear panel.
The ports are parallel (LPT), serial (COM), and universal serial (USB). The serial port transfers information bit by bit (more slowly) over a small number of wires. A mouse and modem are connected to the serial port. The parallel port transfers information simultaneously over a large number of wires corresponding to the number of bits. A printer and an external hard drive are connected to the parallel port. The USB port is used to connect a wide variety of peripherals, from mouse to printer. It is also possible to exchange data between computers.
6. The main computer devices (processor, RAM, etc.) are located on motherboard.
Microprocessor (easier - processor) - the central unit of the PC, designed to control the operation of all units of the machine and to perform arithmetic and logical operations on information.
Its main characteristics are bit depth (the higher it is, the higher the performance of the computer) and clock frequency (largely determines the speed of the computer). The clock frequency indicates how many elementary operations (cycles) the processor performs in one second.
The market respects Intel Pentium processors and its economy version Celeron, and also values \u200b\u200btheir competitors - AMD Athlon with the economy version Duron. Intel processors are characterized by high reliability in operation, low heat generation and compatibility with all software and hardware. And AMD shows faster graphics and gaming performance, but less reliable.
Computer memory can be internal and external. External memory devices include the already discussed HDD, FDD, CD-ROM, DVD-ROM. Internal memory includes permanent memory (ROM, ROM English), operational memory (RAM, RAM English), cache.
ROM is intended for storing permanent program and reference information (BIOS - Basic Input-Output System - basic input-output system).
RAM is fast and is used by the processor for short-term storage of information while the computer is running.
When the power supply is turned off, the information is not saved in RAM. For the normal functioning of a computer these days, it is desirable to have from 1 GB to 3 GB of RAM.
CACHE memory is a super-fast random access memory.
CMOS memory - CMOS RAM (Complementary Metall-Oxide Semiconductor RAM). It stores computer configuration settings that are checked each time the system is turned on. To change the computer configuration parameters, the BIOS contains the computer configuration program - SETUP.
Sound, video and network cards can be both built into the motherboard and external. External boards can always be replaced, whereas if the integrated video card fails, the entire motherboard will have to be replaced. For video cards, I trust ATI Radeon and Nvidia. The higher the amount of video card memory, the better.
Peripherals
The computer consists of 6 groups of keys:
- Alphanumeric;
- Controls (Enter, Backspace, Ctrl, Alt, Shift, Tab, Esc, Caps Lock, Num Lock, Scroll Lock, Pause, Print Screen);
- Functional (F1-F12);
- Numeric keypad;
- Cursor control (-\u003e,<-, Page Up, Page Down, Home, End, Delete, Insert);
- Function indicator lights (Caps Lock, Num Lock, Scroll Lock).
Mouse (mechanical, optical). Most programs use two of the three mouse buttons. The left key is the main one, it is controlled by the computer. It plays the role of the Enter key. The functions of the right key depend on the program. In the middle there is a scroll wheel, which you quickly get used to.
Modem is a network adapter. It can be both external and internal.
The scanner automatically reads from paper carriers and enters into the PC any printed texts and images.
The microphone is used to input sound into the computer.
(display) is for displaying information on the screen. Most often, modern PCs use SVGA monitors with a resolution (the number of dots located horizontally and vertically on the monitor screen) 800 * 600, 1024 * 768, 1280 * 1024, 1600 * 1200 with up to 16.8 million colors.
Monitor screen sizes range from 15 to 22 inches diagonally, but most commonly 17 inches (35.5 cm). Dot (grain) size - from 0.32 mm to 0.21 mm. The smaller it is, the better.
PCs that are equipped with television monitors (CRTs) are no longer as popular. Of these, preference should be given to monitors with low radiation (Low Radiation). Liquid crystal displays (LCDs) are safer and most computers have such a monitor.
Designed for printing text and graphics. Printers are dot matrix, inkjet and laser. In dot matrix printers, the image is formed from dots in an impact manner. Inkjet printers in the print head instead of needles have thin tubes - nozzles through which the smallest droplets of ink are thrown onto the paper. Inkjet printers can also print color by mixing base colors. The advantage is high print quality, the disadvantage is the danger of ink drying, the high cost of consumables.
Electrographic imaging is used in laser printers. The laser is used to create an ultra-thin light beam that traces the contours of an invisible dotted electronic image on the surface of a pre-charged photosensitive drum. After the development of the electronic image with the powder of dye (toner) adhering to the discharged areas, printing is performed - the transfer of toner from the drum to the paper and the image is fixed on the paper by heating the toner until it melts. Laser printers provide the highest quality printing at high speed. Color laser printers are widely used.
Sound speakers output sound. The sound quality depends - again - on the power of the speakers and the material from which the enclosures are made (preferably wood) and its volume. An important role is played by the presence of a bass reflex (hole on the front panel) and the number of frequency bands (high, middle and low speakers on each speaker).
In my opinion, USB flash drives have become the most versatile means of transferring information. It is a miniature device in size and weight less than a lighter. It has high mechanical strength, is not afraid of electromagnetic radiation, heat and cold, dust and dirt.
The most sensitive part of the drive is the connector covered with a cap. The sizes of these devices range from 256 MB to 32 GB, which allows you to choose the right storage capacity, in accordance with the needs. Thanks to the interface, the USB drive can be connected to any modern computer. It works with Windows 98SE / Me / 2000 / XP / Vista / 7, Mac OS 8.6 ~ 10.1, Linux 2.4 operating systems. In Windows, you don't even need to install any drivers: plug it into a USB port and go.
It is needed to enter a dynamic image into a computer and sound (for communication and the possibility of creating teleconferences).
Uninterrupted power supply unit needed in case of an emergency power outage.
Fuff, well, in my opinion, this is all the main thing that I wanted to tell you about the hardware of the computer, the so-called hardware.
The article "Computer device" was written a long time ago. Therefore, if you find an error or find some inaccuracy, please write about it using the comment form. We will be very grateful to you!
Purpose, composition and basic characteristics of the computer. Is a personal computer a complex technical device that it is better not to get into, or is it a completely accessible apparatus for understanding and evaluation, which everyone can understand?
Let's consider a personal computer from the point of view of an average person who is interested in certain functions performed by a computer. To do this, we will try to understand what the computer consists of and which components are required, which are desirable (in connection with the intended use of the device), and which may not be included when purchasing (or upgrading) your electronic assistant.
So, any personal one consists of a system unit, monitor, keyboard, mouse and speakers. This is what most computer owners can see. There are also printers, modems, camcorders, gamepads and other similar devices connected to personal computers.
Let us explain right away that we are trying to show a certain minimum of devices that will allow you to fully use an expensive device for your personal or home interests. For this, a monitor, system unit, keyboard, mouse and speakers are enough for you.
Monitor Is a visualization tool for information exchange between you (as a user) and a computing system - a computer. Monitors vary in size, matrix performance, colors, etc. Basically, a monitor can be compared to a TV.
In addition, modern TVs and monitors are completely interchangeable.
Keyboard and Mouse - a means of entering information and commands into a computer. They do not require special explanation. Note that keyboards can be full-format and short-cut, and mice differ in the form and number of function keys.
Loudspeakers - devices for playing sounds. They differ in appearance and power of the reproduced sounds. Currently, monitors can be equipped with speakers.
The main counting device (for the user the most important is the function of executing programs) device of a personal computer is the system unit. The system unit itself is a metal-plastic box with a number of buttons and connectors.
The buttons include: power and reset buttons, as well as open / close buttons for various devices. The connectors are designed to connect headphones, microphones, external storage devices. Of greatest interest are the internal components of the system unit.
System unit composition:
1) motherboard;
2) processor;
3) hard drive;
4) power supply;
5) random access memory;
6) input devices from external media (CD, DVD, BD drives, USB connectors, old models may also have floppy drives);
7) in addition, an audio card, a video card, a TV tuner, a network card, a card reader, etc. can be included.
Motherboard - the largest and most visible part of the system unit (after the unit itself, of course). The main purpose of the motherboard is to unite all the components of the computer into a single whole, into a workable device. The motherboard contains all the devices included in the system unit (with the exception of the power supply), which are connected to each other through special input connectors, called loops and slots, and electronic conductive tracks.
The computer's brain is cPU Is the most important and essential element of your device. The main purpose of the processor is to solve the tasks assigned to the computer. In this regard, solving problems becomes the main task of the processor.
Many, having seen the word "solve", assume the solution of mathematical problems. But the processor, solving just mathematical problems, helps to realize any kind of activity: writing texts, playing games, communicating on social networks, creating drawings, processing photographs, listening to music, etc.
The peculiarity of the processor is its architecture and Socket type. The architecture determines the size of the processor, the order in which it processes commands, and the way in which tasks are performed. Socket is the type of socket to which the processor connects. Note that the Socket of the processor and the motherboard must match.
HDD or permanent memory... Sometimes you can still see the name "Winchester", after the name of the first company that created a long-term memory device built into a computer. The main purpose of a hard disk is long-term storage of information.
Information here means everything: a program (in fact, any program is a list of commands that a processor needs to execute), a photograph, and a text file. In addition, the operating system and programs are installed on the hard disk (and actually permanently stored). It is the hard drive that creates the appearance of the best organizer for a computer person.
RAM - a special device designed for temporary storage of information in the process of computing. On the one hand, one can assume that RAM is an optional element of the computer, but this is not the case. In fact, any calculations assume intermediate results.
It is for storing these intermediate results that RAM is intended. The peculiarity of random access memory or "RAM", as they say in computer slang, is its frequency. The frequency of the RAM must match the frequency of the motherboard connector.
Power Supply - the main source of electricity for all elements of the computer system unit. Nowadays, the power supply is included in the system unit, but sometimes you have to purchase it separately.
This feature can be useful when purchasing a specialized computer, for example, for audio processing or a server. External electricity is supplied to the power supply, which is distributed through the motherboard to the rest of the consumers.
External information input devices ... The main purpose of these devices is self-explanatory. It can only be noted that you need to understand what external devices you will use. Currently, the most popular are DVD and USB drives.
However, CDs have not lost their relevance either. In addition, the bulk of audio files are recorded on CDs. Note that DVD drives read CDs quite easily. The same can be said about BluRay (BD) drives. They can read both DVDs and CDs. Besides, of course, BD discs.
USB or flash drives are now the most widespread. It is easy to explain from the point of view of logic, since they have small sizes, large amounts of memory and a sufficiently high speed of information exchange with a computer.
Let's note one peculiarity: the presence of a USB input on the case of the system unit does not mean at all that you can use it. To do this, it is necessary that the motherboard inserted into your system unit has a corresponding connector connected to these USB inputs.
All major devices required to operate a personal computer have been listed. Now let's dwell on additional components, such as audio and video card, network card, card reader and TV tuner.
Audio and video card is usually built into the motherboard now. But, in order to save both the resources of the motherboard itself and the buyer's funds, they have weak characteristics. Of course, to play games or listen to an album of your favorite artist, they are enough.
But, if you are going to process music, photos or videos, play resource-intensive games with high quality, watch movies in HD or 3D quality, then the built-in capabilities will not be enough. In this case, you need to install an audio and (or) video card, which have higher performance, their own RAM and often their own processor. Note that the motherboard always has connectors for additional audio and video cards.
Network Cardlike an audio (video) card is also built into the motherboard. Modern motherboards are quite powerful in terms of networking equipment, so there is no particular need to purchase an additional network card. However, if you feel (or know) that the built-in capabilities will not be enough, you can always install additional hardware.
However, do not forget that each additional equipment requires its own power supply. Therefore, when buying each new board, do not forget to evaluate the adequacy of the power that your power supply produces.
Card reader - a special device for reading information from removable media such as SD, microSD, etc. These mini and micro-carriers of information are usually used in portable devices (photo, video cameras, telephones, players, etc.).
In order to exchange information between your computer and these devices without connecting the devices themselves, card readers were invented. As already clear, the card reader is connected to the rest of the computer through the motherboard through a special connector.
TV tuner designed to receive a television or radio signal. It connects to the motherboard. Sometimes a TV tuner is built into the video card (as well as into the motherboard itself).
In conclusion, we note that we have considered the main components of a personal computer. It is very common to see many other devices plugged into or inserted into the computer. But, in order to fully use your device at home, these devices are quite enough.
Successful online business requires two conditions, a computer and the Internet. To work successfully on a computer, you need to have an idea about the basic elements of a computer and their interaction with each other.
Basic computer elements — this is a system unit, keyboard, monitor, mouse, audio speakers and other parts. Regarding the monitor, speakers, keyboard and computer mouse, I think everything is already clear. Let's talk about the system unit.
System unit Is the main part of the PC. We can say that this is a computer. The rest of the computer is primarily designed to deliver data to the user and manage this data. For example, when a more modern monitor, keyboard and mouse are connected to the system unit, it will be more convenient for the user to watch movies, edit text and participate in games, while the functionality of the PC will remain the same. All actions, the data of which we see on the screen, first take place in the system unit. The functionality of the PC is precisely their consequence.
Basic computer elements
- housing,
- motherboard,
- processor,
- cooler,
- rAM,
- hDD,
- video card,
- power Supply
- DVD drive
Housing - it is like an external skeleton of a computer, all important parts of the system unit are attached to it, it is the case that we most often call the system unit.
Motherboard (motherboard) - the main microcircuit of the computer. The main elements of the computer are connected to it. There are also USB and other connectors where the main elements of the computer are connected (shown in the figure). The main task of the motherboard is to unite these nodes into an integral organism - a computer. When opening the lid of the system unit, our eyes first fall on it.
Central processing unit, CPU (CPU) – computer brain (seen in the figure). The processor fulfills all the instructions of a person and under his guidance are other elements of the computer. From the speed of its work comes the speed of work of other elements of the computer. It processes the incoming data. The most popular processor manufacturers are Intel and AMD. Central processors have the following differences between themselves: - model and frequency. It is attached to the motherboard using a special connector called the central connector - a socket.
Cooler (fan) - installs directly onto the processor, which is attached to the motherboard. Its main function is to cool the processor. Coolers are categorized by physical data: many have copper base, aluminum base, aluminum copper base, and heat pipes. The cooler looks like a radiator and a fan for cooling the processor. The processor needs cooling, otherwise it will overheat and the computer will malfunction. If the temperature threshold for heating the processor is exceeded, the PC will simply turn off, so a cooler is simply necessary for the normal operation of the computer. The PC will not be able to work until the processor temperature drops to normal. The processor can also overheat if the cooler heatsink gets clogged with dust. To prevent this from happening, you need to clean the cooler radiator with an ordinary vacuum cleaner or compressor, blowing out, not blowing in air. It is advisable to clean dust once every 4-6 months.
Random access memory - RAM - a board for temporary storage of information that the CPU needs to perform the specified operations. When these tasks are completed (for example, shutting down the application), the information from the RAM is erased. When we launch new data, information that is needed by the CPU at a given time goes into the RAM from the railway. Information goes to RAM many times faster than it goes to the hard disk. This property helps the CPU to manage the data it needs with tremendous speed, almost instantly.
There are several types of it. DDR III RAM is considered to be one of the most modern and fastest, DDR II is slightly slower. DDR II maintains a fairly high rating and popularity. In addition, the speed of the PC depends on the amount of RAM. To perform many tasks, the CPU often runs out of memory from the RAM and it takes some of this memory from the local disk (this is called the paging file, or stop file). Considering that the data in the hard drive is much slower than the data from the RAM, the PC will start to work slowly. For more functional operation, RAM boards are installed in pairs, or in two pairs (depending on the type of motherboard), preferably produced by the same manufacturer. This is done to obtain two channel mode. As mentioned in the previous article, a 64-bit system requires at least 4 GB of RAM.
Hard disk (HDD) - refers to the main elements of a computer. It plays an important role in storing and storing information. It contains all the operating system data (various videos, SOFT, pictures, etc.). Hard drives differ from each other in capacity. Larger hard drives can store more information. The most common hard drives are 500 GB, 1 TB and 2 TB. The size of information that can be stored in a given disk directly depends on its volume. In most cases, hard drives are connected to the motherboard using the SATA and IDE interfaces. For some hard drives, additional coolers are installed (in case of severe overheating).
Video card (graphics adapter, video adapter) - an element of a computer that is responsible for the speed at which video data is processed. Video cards are currently connected to the motherboard using the PCI-Express connector found on this motherboard. Thanks to this, we can immediately use from 2 to 4 video cards. Which improves PC graphics.
Most motherboards have an integrated graphics card. Its functions are quite enough for office work, you can play simple games and watch movies with it. For complex volume games with complex graphics and professional work with Photoshop, you need a separate video card.
Power Supply - is needed for the operation of all computer parts. Different power supplies have different wattage. More powerful computer elements are connected.
In addition, the motherboard has a built-in network card as well as a built-in sound card. It also contains optical connectors and connectors for other computer elements. CD and DVD drives are connected to optical connectors. To expand the capabilities of a PC, PCI connectors are made universal so that various elements of a computer can be connected to them (for example, a tuner, adapter, sound card, etc.).
Here is a brief summary of the basic elements of a computer, which will help novice users get an idea of \u200b\u200bthe PC and how it works.
Among other things, if you are interested in assembling a computer with your own hands, you can study a video course on this topic. It's pretty handy! I myself often study various courses, including courses on building a PC. Of the courses presented on the Runet, I would recommend Maxim Negodov's course "Assembling a computer from A to Z".
In this course, the author examines in some detail all the stages of assembling a computer, from A to Z. After studying the course, you will be able to assemble a PC yourself according to the main elements, and do it exactly the way you want it, and not the way the seller in the store will suggest you ...
You can also inspect and repair your computer on your own. You will no longer need to call the master and unnecessary costs, which in our times plays an important role! More information on the maxim website. To enter his website, just click on the image!
Friends, I suggest that you install not an ordinary HDD, but an SSD solid-state drive, as I did. You can buy it on Aliexpress. Disks on the page are from 120 to 960 GB, i.e., in fact, 1TB. You can buy it here ...... Judging by the description, the disk is suitable for both Computers and (laptops).
In the screenshot you can see the volumes of the disks. If you just need to install the system, you just need to purchase a 120 GB disk. If as a full-fledged hard drive, then, at your discretion, from 480 to 960 GB. Why do I recommend installing Windows on a solid state hard drive? Your system will boot in seconds! If you buy a 1TB disk, all your programs will fly!
In general, you can choose the one you like sSD drive on page ... For those who do not know what an SSD drive is, I advise you to read my article " What is an SSD drive».
Also, in this store you can buy a decent video card from the link ...... Good luck!
Another anecdote:
If the user has just sat down at the computer, then you can start working on it by going to the description of the operating system that is installed on the computer, for example, Windows 7. But some users, before starting work, would like to know from which blocks consists of a computer, what devices are available, standards of connectors for connecting external devices. We will consider these questions further.
Let's describe the main components of a personal computer. The figure below shows the following components:
System unit (in a laptop, this is a case),
Display or screen,
Keyboard,
Mouse with mat or touchpad,
Speakers or speaker output.
In laptop the display is mounted in the cover, the devices located in the system unit of the stationary computer, the keyboard, the touch panel (analogue of the mouse) and the speakers are located in the case (see the figure below).
Devices of a personal computer are divided into internal, located inside the system unit and external, connected to the system unit via data cables (or using the transfer of the necessary data using various radiation, in particular the infrared spectrum).
External devices can be connected to the computer: a printer (for printing documents), a scanner (for converting a visual image into digital form), external hard drives (for storing information), a USB flash drive or flash drive (for storing and transferring information to another computer) and others.
Internal devices.The main part of a stationary computer is a system unit, which has the following internal devices (see the figure above):
Power Supply;
The main (or motherboard) board, on which the main components of the computer are located and information communication between them is carried out;
Processor (main microcircuit) that performs data processing and device control operations;
RAM, where the data that the processor works with is located;
A video card that processes video data for a display;
Sound card that processes audio data and outputs it as sound using speakers and other devices, such as headphones or sound amplifiers;
A hard disk that stores user data even when the computer is turned off (if there is not enough RAM, the hard disk supplements its resources);
Floppy drives that work with floppy disks (rarely used in modern computers);
Optical drives for CD and DVD discs (recently, drives have been used to work with Blu Ray discs);
I / O ports for transferring data from / to external devices;
Speaker.
All these devices are also in the laptop case, except for the power supply. The power supply is external and is a box to which wires are connected, one is connected to the network, the other to the laptop.
The figure on the right shows the power supply with a wire connected to a laptop, and the figure on the left shows separately the wire connectors for connecting to the mains.
The figure on the left shows the power supply connector in a laptop.
The motherboard, processor, RAM, video card, sound card, hard drive and speaker are inside the system unit, are not visible to the user, or rather, do not have an exit to the front panel of the system unit.
The computer case is designed to install the main devices in it and protect them from dust and other external influences, as well as protect the user from the electromagnetic radiation of the components that are in it. The front panel contains indicators and buttons; some internal devices (optical drives) also face it.
The power supply unit of a stationary computer is designed to convert an alternating electric current with a voltage of 220 volts into a direct voltage of 5 and 12 volts and supply it to devices located inside the system unit. As a rule, it comes with a system unit, but you can buy it separately. The system unit has on the back side connectors for connecting to a power source (an electrical outlet or a surge protector), a connector for connecting power to a 220 volt monitor (on older models) and a switch for different input voltages - 110 or 220 volts. Inside the system case there are wires that exit the power supply and connect to internal devices.
The laptop power supply is designed to convert 220 volt alternating current into a constant voltage of different voltage, the value of which depends on the manufacturer of the laptop. The values \u200b\u200bcan be - 9.5, 15, 16, 18, 18.5, 19, 19.5
The motherboard serves to ensure the interconnection of information flows between the various components of the computer. It has a processor, RAM, cache memory, recently integrated video and audio subsystems, connectors for connecting serial and parallel ports, for expansion cards (sound, video cards) and other connectors.
CPU. The processor, which can be called the brain of a computer, performs basic operations. Processors can be : 86, 286, 386, 486, Pentium, PentiumMMX , Pentium Pro, Pentium II, Pentium III, Celeron, Pentium IV, Core 2 Quand, Core i3, Core i5, Core i7, Atomintel. There are also AMD processors, we will consider them in a separate article on computer hardware. The difference between the two is performance. The higher the clock speed of the processor, the better the performance of your computer. The clock speed determines how many operations per second the processor can perform. For earlier types of processors (for example, 286), one instruction was executed in several cycles. In more modern ones, several operations are performed in one cycle.
It is currently determined that the clock frequency has its limits and more than a certain limit is not possible. Therefore, processors began to develop along the path of increasing the number of threads in the core and the number of cores. However, the performance of a computer depends not only on the speed of the central processor, but also on the speeds of other components of the computer, in particular on the speed and amount of RAM.
HDD. The data in the computer is stored on the hard disk. When the power is turned off, the data on the hard disk is saved. One of the main parameters is disk capacity, which is measured in gigabytes (One gigabyte equals approximately one billion bytes. A byte stores one character). The disc can have a capacity of 2, 4, 8, 16, 30, 32, 40, 60, 64, 80, 96, 115, 120, 128, 160, 180, 250, 256, 320, 400, 500, 512, 640, 750 gigabytes and 1, 1.5, 2, 2.5, 3 terabytes (1 terabyte equals approximately 1,000 gigabytes). Older drives have capacities measured in megabytes (one megabyte equals approximately one million bytes).
RAM. After turning on the computer, data from the hard disk is transferred to RAM, and the processor works with them. If it were not for this type of memory, the processor would work only with the hard disk, each data would have to be written to and read from it. This would drastically reduce the operating speed, as the system would often be waiting for I / O operations. If you have RAM that works at a speed close to the speed of data processing by the processor, the performance of the computer increases. The larger the memory, the fewer disk accesses and the faster the computer will run.
The main characteristic of memory is its size, which is measured in megabytes. It can be installed in old computers - 8, 16, 24, 32, 64, 128, 256, 512, in new ones 0.5, 1, 2, 3, 4 and more gigabytes. It is often cheaper to increase the size of the RAM to improve performance than to upgrade the processor to a higher frequency. Note that modern computers have a minimum RAM of 512 Megabytes, older computers have less memory.
In order to speed up computations and not wait for data to come from the RAM to the central processor or it will be possible to write them into it, the processor has a more efficient cache memory, which differs in size. The presence of cache memory can significantly increase the performance of your computer.
Sound. The system unit of a desktop computer also contains a speaker, which is usually supplied with the case. The main function of the speaker is to beep after turning on the computer and in the event of a malfunction. As a rule, in other cases it is rarely used. A sound card and speakers connected to them are designed to work with sound.
Sound card. This board processes audio data that comes from RAM. Data can also come from an optical disc reader when playing music. To do this, the board must be wired to the device containing the optical disc. Once processed, the data can be sent to speakers, a tape recorder, or other devices. In recent computers, the sound subsystem is integrated on many motherboards and does not require a separate board (although it may be required to obtain especially high-quality sound).
The laptop has a sound subsystem that is integrated on the motherboard. The housing contains speakers and a microphone. There are also side or front panel outputs for connecting external devices. The illustration to the right shows three connectors: two with a headphone icon for headphones or speakers, and one with a microphone icon.
Video card processes data for the display (monitor). For programs that work with 2D or 3D images, the processing of video data for the display can be taken over by a special processor located on the video card, which offloads the main processor. This can dramatically improve image quality.
The video card can be integrated into the motherboard, which is usually done in laptops. The disadvantage is that it cannot be changed. At the same time, the advantage of stationary ones is that you can install a new video card, even if there is a video card built into the motherboard. This is often used by lovers of new games and professionals who work with video and graphics. For ordinary users, as a rule, standard video subsystems are quite enough, especially if the user works with office programs.
Stationary computers have a display connector. Laptops can also have an external display connector, as shown in the figure to the right.
Floppy disks for stationary computers. Older computers face the front of the computer case with a 3.5-inch floppy disk drive. Such a device is no longer used in modern stationary computers. In laptops, it was practically not there. To use floppy disks, external drives were used, however, such devices have not been produced for several years.
Optical drive works with similar disks or, as they are also called, CDs.
(Notebooks may not have a recess.) The type of optical disk drive for desktop computers is shown above, for laptops below.
In order to open the drive, you need to press the button to open the tray. The button works only when the computer (laptop) is on. This will automatically pop out the tray on which to place the disc.
There are two indentations in the tray as there are two disc sizes. One of them, a smaller one, is now practically not used, although it is sometimes shown in science fiction films. Discs of this format fit into a small recess. The disc of the second type, the most common, is placed in the large recess, with the working surface facing down and the painted image on top. (Notebooks may not have a recess.)
The front of the disc contains its name or other information. The opposite, back side is working and it is undesirable to touch it with your hands. When cleaning optical discs from dust with a cloth, gently pass perpendicular to the recording tracks from the inner hole to the outer edge.
Optical discs are usually found in a plastic box or paper bag. Open the box. To remove a disc, move your index finger to the center of the disc and remove it with your thumb and middle fingers, then place the disc on the tray with the working surface down, respectively, the name will be at the top. Then press the drive button again.
Sometimes when you press the button to open the tray, it will not slide out. In this case, take a paperclip, unfold it and insert the end into the hole to open the tray. The tray will open (for desktops).
Optical discs can be roughly divided into two types. The first is discs with textual, graphic and other information, as a rule, with programs or text. The second type is music or video discs used in laser players, which can also be used to play on a computer's optical disc reader. The sound can be listened to through headphones or from speakers. The headphone plug can be inserted into a special hole on the front of the drive (for desktop computers). To increase / decrease the volume of the headphones, a control is used, which is located near the output (for stationary computers). The indicator light is on when reading information from the disc. Since the reading occurs in jumps, the lamp will blink (for stationary computers).
Buttons on the system unit... In addition to the above devices, the system unit contains Reset, Turbo, Power keys (on older computers) and indicators, as shown in Fig. higher. Currently there is one Power key, and it has several functions. If you press it while the power supply is on, the computer turns on. When pressed, an electric current is supplied to the main components inside the system unit, they are tested and the operating system programs are loaded, depending on which one is installed on the computer.
The computer is turned off using the operating system modes, which will be discussed in the description of theknown versions of Window. However, when the computer freezes, that is, does not respond to pressing the keyboard or mouse actions, then you need to press the button and hold it longer (15-20 seconds) until the computer turns off. Other modes by pressing the button will be discussed in the computer hardware section of this website.
The laptop has one button to turn on the computer, which can be round or rectangular and is usually located at the top of the keyboard assembly, as shown in the figure to the right (center of the figure).
Indicators. The number of indicators depends on the type of system unit. They can either be present in full, or in a truncated version, or completely absent.
The power-on light comes on when the computer is turned on. The indicator may contain the name Power, the icon or.
The hard disk drive indicator lights up during I / O to the hard drive. There is usually an icon next to it 
or .
Laptops have a battery status indicator that lights up when it is being charged (). The following indicators may also be present:
Wi-Fi connection indicator ().
Bluetooth system indicator ().
The indicators may be different, in addition, the icons may have a different appearance, depending on the manufacturer.
External devices.
The next component is keyboardshown in Fig. below, with which you enter text information and control the computer using the function keys (the laptop has a keyboard built into the case, however, you can connect an external keyboard that has a USB connector). In fact, it is very similar to a typewriter, but it has additional keys and, in addition, allows you to work with different character sets, for example, Cyrillic (Russian) and Latin (English) set. A more detailed description of the keyboard is given below.
Next to the keyboard is a mouse-type device that allows you to control the cursor. It has become a standard pointing device, is used in almost all computers and looks really like a mouse - a small one with a long tail, that is, a cable that connects to the system unit(however, there are so-called wireless mice controlled by radio signals, recently according to the protocol Bluetoothor Wi-Fi ). Hereinafter, for convenience, we will refer to this device simply as a mouse or mouse. At the bottom of the device is a ball that allows you to move the cursor on the display screen when you move the mouse over the mat. There is another type that is actively used today - an optical mouse, which determines its movement with the help of light (lately, a laser beam is increasingly used for this). You can try working without a mat, but since the grip between the mat and the mouse ball is higher than on a table surface, it is better to have a mat, especially since it is inexpensive. The mouse has two or three buttons, but in practice, two of them are used: left and right. In many mouse models, a wheel is located between the two buttons, which allows you to "scroll" the text displayed on the screen.
The laptop has an optical device that mimics a mouse - the so-called touchpad (see the picture below). It has a rectangular window that you drag your finger over to move the cursor on the screen. The two buttons below are like the two buttons on a mouse.
Computers often have a paper output device called printer... The main characteristics of the printer are its type (needle, inkjet, laser), the size of the paper with which it works (A4, A3, etc.), the ability to output an image in color, the output speed of printed sheets, etc. The printer is shown below.
In addition, in addition to the set of a personal computer, other external devices can be included - an MFP (scanner, copier, printer in one device, its appearance is shown in the figure below), a scanner, a plotter, a joystick, an external hard drive, etc.
