Primary Components of a PC
- CPU (must be same socket type as motherboard, don’t skimp – spend $300 or more. Make sure to not choose a server processor)
- RAM (spend at least $150)
- Hard Drive (spend $100 or more. Must be internal, not external)
- PSU (spend around $100-$150)
- Video Card (don’t skimp – spend more than $300)
- MotherBoard (must be same socket type as processor)
- Case
Computers are made of many electronic components or parts. These components each have a special job and they all work together to make your computer operate. Some components are hidden inside the computer, where you can’t see them. Others can be seen partly from the outside. This section explains all the hidden components and what they do.
Motherboard and Expansion Cards
The motherboard gets its name because it is like a mother to all of the other circuit boards. Found at the bottom of a desktop case or the side of a tower case, the motherboard is the largest circuit board and has smaller boards plugged into it. It holds all of the most important parts of the computer. On the motherboard, you will find several expansion cards. Each of these cards has a special purpose.
CPU/Processor
The brain of a computer is the CPU or Central Processing Unit. Like a brain, it controls information and tells other parts what to do. Technically speaking, a processor simply performs calculations. Processors are rated by the speed at which they can perform calculations (in Gigahertz – GHz). The speed rating for a mainstream processor is 3.1 – 3.9 GHz with the fastest processors available running up to 4 GHz.
The faster a processor performs, the more heat it generates. Processors generally sit under a heat sink and fan. The heat sink dissipates heat, while the fan blows it away. If processors get too hot, they malfunction. High power fans and even liquid cooling systems are available for high end systems with very fast processors.
There is a trend toward more and more cores within processors. Each core represents a place where information can be processed. These individual processing units are fused together as a single package that plugs into the motherboard.
Imagine a factory where instructions went in the front door, and the finished product came out the back door. When processors had single cores, it was like there was one person in the factory doing all the work. With an 8 core processor, it’s like there are 8 people working together to turn the input (instructions) into the finished product. Taking the analogy further, GHz measures how fast the workers work, and the W (stands for Watts-125 for the AMD FX-8350) measures how much food/energy the workers use. Multi-Core Processors on Wikipedia
A current high end desktop processor is the AMD Ryzen brand. The most expensive one as of spring 2021 costs about $4,000 and operates with 64 cores up to a speed of 4.3 GHz.
Power it Up!
Every computer needs a power supply to take electricity from your house and convert it into a current that works for your computer. The electrical cord that comes out of your computer comes out of the power supply. When it is plugged into the wall, electricity travels from the electrical wires in your house into the computer’s power supply. When your computer is turned on, the power supply allows the converted electricity to travel to other components inside the computer. The current wattage in a new computer can range from 500 to 1600. A low-end system has less need for power, therefore 500 – 600 watts is sufficient. High-end gaming systems may use up to a 1600 watt power supply.
Audio
If a computer is used as a home media center, or if the user wants to incorporate surround sound, the system may include a sound card. The sound card contains special circuits for managing sound input and output, including microphones. Sound cards are rated by the number of audio channels they support. For a long time, computer audio could only play 3-5 separate sounds (channels). Today, a midrange sound card can handle at least 16 channels. Many audio cards can also manage surround sound which is 5 or 6 channels all piped to different speakers.
Most lower end, and many mainstream systems have integrated audio. This simply means the audio processing chips are included on the motherboard. There is no separate sound card.
Video Card/Graphics Card
The video card handles video and graphics that are displayed on the monitor. Users who plan to watch DVD’s, or manage and edit home videos need a midrange graphics card. Only hard-core gamers utilize all the features of the most expensive graphics cards. Like audio, many lower end systems have integrated video. This means the graphic processors are built into the motherboard. More and more PC enthusiasts are using SLI technology to put 2 video cards in their computers. Tom’s Hardware reports that 2 SLI cards are a better buy than a single card that costs the same amount.
Video cards are judged by 4 criteria.
- the Graphics Processing Unit or GPU ,
- the amount of video RAM or vRAM,
- the Direct X version,
- PCI Express version.
A typical mid-range card will have a GPU made within the last 8 months to a year. In general, the older the GPU version, the cheaper (and slower) the card. A mid-range card would also have 4-6 Gb of memory, and Direct X 12. Even cheap cards are bumping up to Direct X 12. Many Direct X 10 or 11 cards go for $100 or less. A mid-range card is sufficient for most people. The high-end card market is driven by hardcore gamers. A current high-end gaming card has the most current multi-core GPU, 6 Gb of memory, and runs Direct X 12Ultimate. Among gamers, the current cream-of-the-crop is NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3090 – 24GB GDDR6X RAM, PCI-Express 4.0, 10496 CUDA Processing Cores. It costs about $2,200.
Two manufacturers dominate the video GPU market. Almost every video card will be advertised as a NVIDIA GeForce card, or an ATI Radeon card.
Dual NVIDIA GeForce GTX 280 video cards on an SLI compatible motherboard Video
Memory/RAM
RAM stands for Random Access Memory. RAM chips or sticks (multiple chips set into a long, skinny circuit board) will remember what you tell them and can even change to remember new information. RAM is the area that holds information for what the computer is currently doing. It stores the operating system configuration including the network access areas that you have rights to. It also stores any programs you are running and the data you are creating while you are using those programs. For instance, if you have Microsoft Word open and are writing a letter, RAM is not only running Word for you, it is holding the contents of the letter.
RAM is temporary and once the computer is turned off will forget anything that it has been doing. This is why it is necessary to save your data files to a disk drive or a network drive for permanent storage. If a machine has too little RAM, it performs slowly, and has trouble doing more than one thing at a time.
A mid-range machine will have at least 8 Gb of RAM. 16 Gb and 32 Gb are becoming standard amounts of RAM with many mother boards having the capacity to support 64 or 128 Gb.
Disk Drives
Disk drives read information off of storage disks. The three most common disk drives are the hard drives, CD/DVD drives and solid state drives. Some people predict that the CD/DVD drive will become obsolete in the near future, replaced by the USB flash drive.
In general, the hard drive is hidden inside the computer and not meant to be removed. Information that you save on your computer is usually stored on the internal hard drive.
There are other options for storing your files
Hard drives are judged by how fast they spin and how much information they can hold. A midrange system usually ships with at least an 1 Tb hard drive. Drives up to 3 Tb are available for users with a need for a lot of storage. 7200 rpm is the standard speed for a new hard drive. The price goes up quickly if you want a faster drive. The next level is 10,000rpm and the fastest hard drives (SCSI drives) spin at about 15,000 rpm.
A new generation of hard drives is becoming available to consumers. This new type of hard drive has no moving parts. It operates as a flash drive, the same way a portable flash drive operates. These are called solid state drives. This is the same type of storage a flash drive has. Solid state drives are used in tablets and phones. Solid state drives for regular desktop computers top out at about 512 Gb.
BIOS
A very important computer component is the BIOS chip. BIOS stands for Basic Input Output System. In very simple terms, the BIOS chip wakes up the computer when you turn it on and reminds it what parts it has and what they do. You may have seen the BIOS settings if you ever interrupted the start up of a computer.
Upgrades
Back in the olden days, where desktop PC’s ruled, people upgraded hardware to get a longer product life from an older system. The computer industry has shifted from upgrading parts to upgrading OS’s or operating systems. This is moving us toward more disposable hardware.
Assignment
Create a slide presentation in Google Presentation showing the parts you need to buy to build a $2,000 computer. Here is an example of what your presentation should look like – My $2,000 Computer Build.
As you piece together your $2,000 PC, each slide has to contain the 4 P’s:
- Part Name – CPU/Processor
- Product Name – AMD FX-8350
- Price – $219
- and a Picture of the product
If you have trouble spending all $2,000, consider a hot rod cooling system, and a sweet case.
Newegg and TigerDirect are great places to buy computer hardware.
If you’re ready to jump in and build you own computer irl, check out LifeHackers article – The Best PC’s You Can Build For $300, $600, and $1,200
