Computer components and their characteristics. What is included in a personal computer. System unit device

1.2.2 Architecture of modern PCs.



Personal Computer - electronic

computing machine with small

dimensions, relatively low cost and versatility of use.

One of the main advantages of PCs is the principle of open architecture, which makes it possible to assemble them from individual components and parts developed and manufactured by independent manufacturers. Structurally, each PC model has a basic (main) set and external devices (Fig. 1).

1.2.2.1 Basic hardware configuration.

1. Keyboard

   System unit

The basic kit includes:

Monitor(display) – the main information output device, a device for monitoring the results of the actions of the computer system.

Modern monitors can be divided into four classes according to their physical operating principle:

1. Monitors based on cathode ray tube (CRT). The main element of such a display is a cathode ray tube. The image is formed on the inner surface of the screen, coated with a layer of phosphor. Sets of dots form a triad, and the triad forms pixel-dots, from which an image is formed. The distance between pixels is called "grain size".

2. Liquid crystal monitors (LCD). The basis of the liquid crystal panel is two plane-parallel glass plates. An organic substance (liquid crystal) is placed between the plates, capable of rotating the plane of polarization of the radiation passing through it.

3. Gas plasma monitors. The operating principle of the plasma model is to control the cold discharge of rarefied gas in the state of cold plasma.

4. Touch screen. Reacts to the touch of a finger to a certain place on the screen.

The main characteristics of the monitor are:

Screen resolution - number of pixels horizontally and vertically (for example 1024768)

Regeneration frequency – the number of images generated per 1 second (standard 75 Hz and above)

Monitor screen diagonal (15, 17)

The most famous monitor manufacturing companies: Samsung, LG, ViewSonic, Sony, Panasohic.

means: a monitor manufactured by Sony, brand CPD - G 200, with a grain size of 0.25 mm, a screen diagonal of 17 inches, a maximum resolution of 12801024 and a generation frequency of 75 Hz, meeting the TCO99 standard.

Keyboard- a device for entering information into a computer, allowing certain characters or control signals to be transmitted to the computer.

The modern keyboard is a 101-key keyboard with a QWERTY key layout. The keyboard is divided into four parts.

System unit- a case containing the component hardware parts of a PC.

The system unit can have a horizontal or vertical layout.

IN The system unit contains:

1) Power supply

2) Motherboard

3) Internal memory

4) Central processing unit (microprocessor)

5) Sound card

7) Hard disk drive

Floppy disk drive

CD-ROM drive

8) Network card

9) Video adapter.

A power supply is a device that converts alternating voltage of electricity into direct voltage of different polarity and magnitude, necessary to power the system board and internal devices.

The power supply contains a fan that creates circulating air flows to cool the system unit.

Motherboard (system board) is a device for mounting other internal computer devices on it.

Internal memory (Fig. 1) -

Random access memory (RAM) – at least 16 MB. A fast storage device directly connected to the processor and used only for temporary storage of data.

When the computer is turned off, the contents of RAM are not saved.

Cache memory is ultra-random access memory, which is used when exchanging data between the microprocessor and RAM.

Read-only memory (ROM) is non-volatile memory used to store data. Programs for controlling the operation of the processor, external memory, testing devices, etc. are stored here. The ROM includes Flash Memory, a non-volatile memory that can be rewritten multiple times from a floppy disk. The most important Flash memory chip is the BIOS module.

This is a set of programs designed for:

4) Central processing unit (microprocessor) - performs arithmetic and logical operations specified by the program, controls the computing process and coordinates the operation of all computer devices. The microprocessor is characterized by the following indicators: type, clock frequency, operating voltage, bit depth, cache memory size. The clock frequency is set by the clock generator and is measured in Hertz (a frequency of 1 Hertz means that one action is carried out per second).

The processor consists of four parts: ALU, CU, general purpose registers (RON), cache memory. An arithmetic logic unit performs arithmetic and logical operations on data. Intermediate results are stored in RON. The control device is responsible for generating the addresses of the next commands, i.e. for the order of execution of the commands that make up the program. Cache memory is used to improve computer performance.

The leader in the creation of modern microprocessors is Intel.

means: a Pentium III model processor with a maximum operating frequency of 600 MHz, manufactured by Intel, a secondary cache volume of 256 Kb, a system bus frequency of 133 MHz.

5

The main parameter of a sound card is the bit depth, which determines the number of bits used when converting signals from analog to digital and vice versa. The higher the bit depth, the smaller the error associated with digitization, the higher the sound quality.

The most common devices are 32-bit and 64-bit.

) Sound card is a device for working with sound information.

Local bus standards that specialize in servicing certain types of devices.

	old standards, not currently used
	standard for connecting external devices, is processor independent
	a bus standard used to communicate between the processor and memory, beginning with the Intel Pentium Pro processor.
	The bus bandwidth at 100 MHz is 800 MB per second.
	bus standard used to connect the video adapter.
	A bus standard used as an interface only for external storage devices.

I/O bus standard that provides flexibility in configuring peripheral devices without changing the organization of the main processor.

7) Storage device - a device that provides recording of information on a medium, as well as its search, reading and playback into RAM. Drives are divided into internal and external, and according to the method of writing and reading: magnetic, optical and magneto-optical. Internal drives include: N

A hard disk drive (HDD) or hard drive is a high-capacity storage device in which the information carriers are round hard plates, both surfaces of which are covered with a layer of magnetic material. The main characteristics of the screw include:

capacity, i.e.

amount of information located on the disk

performance, i.e. information access time

7) Storage device - a device that provides recording of information on a medium, as well as its search, reading and playback into RAM. Drives are divided into internal and external, and according to the method of writing and reading: magnetic, optical and magneto-optical. Internal drives include: interface, i.e. the type of controller to which it should connect

7) Storage device - a device that provides recording of information on a medium, as well as its search, reading and playback into RAM. Drives are divided into internal and external, and according to the method of writing and reading: magnetic, optical and magneto-optical. Internal drives include: hard drive (for example: IDE/EIDE; SCSI).

floppy disk drive (FDD) - disk drive. The basis of the magnetic recording process is the interaction of the magnetic storage medium (floppy disk) and magnetic heads. The HDD drive turns on the rotation motor, checks whether the cutout prohibiting the write operation is closed or open, and installs the read/write head in the desired place.

8
) A network card is a device (computer board) that is installed inside your system unit and serves to connect a local network wire to your computer. The network card is an intermediary between the PC and the network and transmits network data over the bus system to the CPU and RAM of the server or workstation. The network card is equipped with its own processor and memory. Data rate is the number of bits transmitted per unit of time. (1 baud = 1 bit per second). Depending on the technology and network card used, the maximum data transfer speed on the network is 10, 100, 1000 Mbit/sec.

9) Video adapter (video card, video card) is a device that coordinates the exchange of graphic information between the central processor and the monitor, integrated into the motherboard, or existing as an independent component. The video adapter took over the functions of the video controller, video processor and video memory. One of the properties of a video adapter is video acceleration, which consists in the fact that some of the operations for constructing images can occur without performing mathematical calculations in the main computer processor, but purely by hardware - converting data in video accelerator chips.

External devices.

External (or peripheral) devices make up 50-80% of the total PC composition. To coordinate interfaces, peripheral devices are connected through their controllers (adapters) and ports to the external buses of the microprocessor.

External devices can be divided into the following classes:

External memory (screw, floppy disk, CD, flash drive, magnetic tape cassette).

Input devices (mouse, trackball, trackpoint, trackpad, joystick, scanner, light pen, digitizer, microphone, modem, digital cameras).

Output devices (printer, plotter, modem, speakers, streamer).

1) External memory is designed for long-term storage of programs and data and transfer of information from one PC to another.

Carrier is a material object capable of storing information.

IN int(hard drive) is a set of 4 to 9 plates made of aluminum, brass, ceramics, glass, coated with magnetic material and interconnected by a spindle (axis). Information is recorded on the disk in strictly defined places - concentric tracks (tracks). The tracks are divided into sectors. Hard drive tracks with the same serial numbers located on different disks are called a cylinder.

Diskette(flexible magnetic disk, floppy disk) - a 3.5-inch floppy disk with a capacity of 1.44 MB, marked with the letters HD, which means high recording density on the magnetic surface. The floppy disk has a hard plastic case with a metal flap.

The first disc was developed in 1980 by Sony.

CD-disk(optical disk, CD-ROM) is designed for recording and storing data, audio and video information in large volumes. There are four main layers in the structure of a CD: the base is polycarbonate, the active layer is cyanite or phthalocyanite, the reflective layer is aluminum or silver, and the protective layer is varnish. The disk capacity is up to 3 GB, the diameter can be either 5.25 or 3.5 inches.

Among the variety of compact discs, the main formats can be distinguished: CD - R - read only, CD-RW - read and rewrite,

DVD - R – with single recording, DVD - RW – with multiple recording.

DVDs are high-density double-sided optical discs that can store up to 17 GB of information.

F leshka(USB Flash Drive, yusbishka) - a storage medium connected to a computer or other reading device via a standard USB interface. In the English-Russian dictionary the word flash is translated as: short frame, flash, flash, blinking, flickering. The name was given by Toshiba during the development of the first flash memory chips (in the early 1980s) as a characteristic of the erase speed of the flash memory chip "in a flash"- in the blink of an eye. Flash media is non-volatile, that is, the data in it does not disappear after a power outage and can theoretically be stored for up to 100 years. Flash memory devices are miniaturized, lightweight, highly reliable, and have low power consumption. Flash drives gained great popularity in the 2000s due to their compactness, ease of rewriting files and large volume (up to 64 GB).

TO magnetic tape asset- a storage medium for streamers, similar to a tape in a regular audio cassette. The cassette has a capacity of up to 60 GB. These volumes allow you to save information from the entire hard drive onto a cassette.

TO The asset is inserted into an internal or external drive - streamer.

Streamer is a tape recorder that records information at a very high speed - up to tens of MB per second. The streamer is used for archiving and backing up large amounts of data.

2) Information input devices are designed for entering data and programs, for making corrections to the program and data stored in the PC memory.

M yish - a manipulator for entering information into a computer. The mouse's input device consists of two keys and a scroll wheel. When you move the mouse across the surface and press buttons, a special mouse control program converts sequences of impulses into specific actions. Depending on the method of movement and control, there are mechanical, optical, infrared and radio mice.

T recball(manual trackball) is a device in which the cursor moves by rotating a ball that partially protrudes above a flat surface. As a result of the rotation of the ball, optical sensors generate pulses corresponding to the speed and direction of rotation of the ball. A trackball is an inverted electromechanical mouse in which the ball is rotated by hand.

T recpoint-uh then a mouse and trackball in one bottle. You can use it like a mouse, or flip it upside down like a trackball. The invention belongs to IBM. Trackpoints in this configuration did not receive distribution at all. Another device, TrackPoint II/III, is used in laptops.

Trackpad- a device for the fastest way to scroll on the screen. You can scroll the content vertically, horizontally, diagonally by placing two fingers on the trackpad and moving in the desired direction.

D joystick(lever) is an input device that has taken a strong position in the field of computer games. Digital joysticks are used in game consoles and gaming computers and are equipped with a 9-pin connector. Analog joysticks provide more precise game control, are used in PCs and are equipped with a 15-pin connector that connects to the game port.

Scanner– used to input color or black and white images from paper or film into the computer. The scanned image is received and converted into digital form by a CCD chip. Depending on the area of ​​application, there are manual, drum, sheet-fed and flatbed scanners.

Light pen - a device in the form of a ballpoint pen, in which a photocell is mounted instead of a writing ball.

D
The light pen only works with a special monitor or in conjunction with a digitizer. The light pen is used to enter information in the smallest personal computers - pocket microcomputers. It is also used in various design and design systems. (graphics tablet, digitizer) is a device for entering hand drawings and drawings directly into a computer. Consists of a pen and a flat tablet that is pressure sensitive. With the help of appropriate programs, it allows you to convert hand movements into vector graphics format. For professional activities, A-1 and A-3 format tablets are used.

M microphone is an additional information input device and does not belong to the set of necessary input devices. A computer with built-in voice recognition software is used for telephone communication and voice mail. The microphone is used to amplify and transmit very weak sounds, to record songs and voices.

M dress(modulator-demodulator) is a device for exchanging information with other computers through the telephone network. The operation of a modem modulator is that the bit stream from the computer is converted into analog signals suitable for transmission over a telephone communication channel. The demodulator performs the inverse task. Both computers can simultaneously exchange information in both directions, in the so-called full-duplex data transfer mode. Modems differ from each other in modulation methods, modulation speed (bit/s), software, developer companies, and can be internal or external.

C digital camera is one of the best tools for high-quality image input into a PC. The scanned image is received and converted into digital form by a CCD chip - a device that converts an optical signal into an electrical signal, an electrical signal into an analog signal, and an analog signal into a digital signal.

3) Output devices are designed to output information from the computer, the results of data processing in text, graphic, multimedia or digital-analog form.

A printer- a device for displaying information on paper. Printers are divided into classes according to the mechanism for applying prints. There are chamomile, matrix, inkjet, laser, LED and thermal sublimation printers.

 Chamomile printers

 Dot matrix printers

Peculiarities	Advantages	Flaws
IN In such printers, the print head is a matrix of mn print needles (different models have 9 or 24 impact needles). This allows you to form on paper any type of symbols or graphic images that the printing matrix used can reproduce. Another advantage of matrix or needle printers is the ability to print on multilayer forms (printing up to 6 copies simultaneously on sheets laid through carbon paper).	Low printing cost undemanding to paper	Slow print speed High noise level during operation Poor print quality No color

 Inkjet printers

 Laser printers

Peculiarities	Advantages	Flaws
In these printers, a laser beam creates an image on a whole page in the form of electrified dots on a special drum.	High printing speed - cheap consumables	High energy consumption Expensive
These points attract coloring powder, which is then transferred to the paper when the drum is rolled over the sheet.	The sheet is then heated to set the powder into the paper, and the drum is cleaned for the next sheet. Large work resource	High print quality Bulky

Great electrification of air

The main devices of the computer “live” in the system unit. These include: motherboard, processor, video card, RAM, hard drive. But outside of it, usually on the table, no less important computer devices also “live”. Such as: monitor, mouse, keyboard, speakers, printer. In this article we will look at, What does computer consist of

what these devices look like, what function they perform and where they are located.

System unit.

In the first category, we will analyze those devices, or they are also called components, that are “hidden” in the system unit. They are the most important for his work. By the way, you can immediately look into the system unit. It is not difficult. It is enough to unscrew the two bolts on the back of the system unit and move the cover to the side, and then we will see a view of the most important devices of the computer, which we will now consider in order.

A processor is a microcircuit and at the same time the “brain” of a computer. Why? Because he is responsible for performing all operations. The better the processor, the faster it will perform these same operations, and accordingly the computer will work faster. The processor, of course, affects the speed of the computer, and even greatly, but the speed of the PC will also depend on your hard drive, video card and RAM. So the most powerful processor does not guarantee greater computer speed if the remaining components are already outdated.

3. Video card.

A video card, or otherwise a graphics card, is designed to display images on a monitor screen. It is also installed on the motherboard, in a special PSI-Express connector. Less commonly, a video card can be built into the motherboard itself, but its power is most often only sufficient for office applications and browsing the Internet.

RAM is a rectangular strip, similar to a cartridge from old game consoles. It is intended for temporary storage of data. For example, it stores the clipboard. We copied some text on the site, and it immediately got into the RAM. Information about running programs, computer sleep mode and other temporary data are stored in RAM. A special feature of the RAM is that the data from it is completely deleted after the computer is turned off.

A hard drive, unlike RAM, is designed for long-term storage of files. It is otherwise called a hard drive. It stores data on special plates. SSD drives have also become widespread recently.

Their features include high speed of operation, but there is an immediate disadvantage - they are expensive. A 64 GB SSD drive will cost you the same price as a 750 GB hard drive. Can you imagine how much an SSD of several hundred gigabytes will cost? Whoa, whoa! But don’t be upset, you can buy a 64 GB SSD drive and use it as a system drive, that is, install Windows on it. They say that the speed of work increases several times. The system starts up very quickly, programs fly. I plan to upgrade to an SSD and store regular files on a traditional hard drive.

A disk drive is needed to work with disks. Although it is used much less frequently, it still won’t hurt on desktop computers. At a minimum, the drive will be useful for installing the system.

6. Cooling systems.

The cooling system consists of fans that cool the components. Typically three or more coolers are installed. Be sure to have one on the processor, one on the video card, and one on the power supply, and then as desired. If something is warm, it is advisable to cool it. Fans are also installed on hard drives and in the case itself. If the cooler in the case is installed on the front panel, then it takes away heat, and coolers installed on the rear compartment supply cold air to the system.

The sound card outputs sound to the speakers. It is usually built into the motherboard. But it happens that it either breaks and therefore is purchased separately, or initially the PC owner is not satisfied with the quality of the standard one and he buys another sound system. In general, a sound card also has the right to be on this list of PC devices.

A power supply is needed for all of the computer devices described above to work. It provides all components with the necessary amount of electricity.

8. Body

And in order to put the motherboard, processor, video card, RAM, hard drive, floppy drive, sound card, power supply and possibly some additional components somewhere, we need a case. There, all this is carefully installed, screwed in, connected and begins daily life, from switching on to switching off. The required temperature is maintained in the case, and everything is protected from damage.

As a result, we get a full-fledged system unit, with all the most important computer devices that are needed for its operation.

Peripherals.

Well, in order to fully start working on the computer, and not look at the “buzzing” system unit, we will need Peripheral devices. These include those computer components that are outside the system unit.

A monitor is naturally needed to see what we are working with. The video card supplies the image to the monitor. They are connected to each other using a VGA or HDMI cable.

The keyboard is designed for entering information, well, of course, what kind of work is there without a full-fledged keyboard. To type text, play games, surf the Internet, and everywhere you need a keyboard.

3. Mouse.

The mouse is needed to control the cursor on the screen. Move it in different directions, click, open files and folders, call various functions and much more. Just like without a keyboard, you can’t live without a mouse.

4. Speakers.

Speakers are mainly needed to listen to music, watch movies and play games. Who else today uses speakers more than ordinary users reproduce them daily in these tasks.

A printer and scanner are needed to print and scan documents and everything else needed in the field of printing. Or MFP, multifunctional device. It will be useful to all those who often print something, scan something, make photocopies and perform many other tasks with this device.

In this article we have only briefly reviewed the main computer devices, and in others, links to which you see below, we will consider in detail all the most popular peripheral devices, as well as the components that are part of the system unit, that is, components.

Enjoy reading!

In this article, which was prepared for novice users, we will look at computer device. We will also find out the main characteristics of the devices and what functions they perform.

An ordinary personal computer that we use in our daily life consists of the following parts:

System unit;

Monitor;

Keyboards and mice;

Additional devices (printer, scanner, webcam, etc.)

Personal computer device. The content of the article:

System unit

The system unit is the central part of the computer, in which all the most important components are located. Everything that makes a computer work. A wide variety of system units are produced, which differ in size, design and assembly method.

Main elements of the system unit:

• RAM;
• Video card;
• HDD;
• Optical drive (DVD, Blu-ray);
• power unit

Let's look at each of them in more detail.

The motherboard is the largest board in the system unit. The main devices of the computer are installed on it: processor, RAM, video card, slots (connectors), BIOS; using cables and cables, a DVD drive, hard drive, keyboard, mouse, etc. are connected to the motherboard. The main task of the motherboard is to connect everything these devices and make them work as one. In addition, there are controllers on it. Controllers are electronic boards inserted into connectors (slots) on the motherboard; they control devices connected to the computer. Some controllers are included on the motherboard. Such controllers are called integrated or built-in. So mouse and keyboard controllers are always built-in. By adding and replacing controller boards, you can expand the capabilities of your computer and customize it to your requirements. For example, the user can add an additional sound card that can work with new multi-channel speaker systems.

The central processing unit (CPU) is the main element of the computer, its “brain”. He is responsible for all calculations and information processing. In addition, it controls all computer devices. The speed of the computer and its capabilities depend on its power.

Main characteristics of the central processor:

• Number of Cores
• clock frequency
• socket

Let's take a closer look at them.

Number of Cores

The more cores a processor has, the more operations it can perform simultaneously. Essentially, multiple cores are multiple processors that are located on the same die or in the same package. In a single-core processor, commands received at its input sequentially pass through the blocks necessary for their execution, that is, while the processor is executing the next command, the rest are waiting for their turn. In a multi-core processor, several separate streams of commands and data enter the input and also exit separately, without affecting each other. Due to parallel processing of several command streams by the processor, computer performance increases. Today, as a rule, 2-8 core processors are installed on personal computers. However, not all programs are designed to use multiple cores.

Clock frequency

This characteristic indicates the speed at which commands are executed by the central processor. A cycle is the period of time required for the processor to perform elementary operations.

In the recent past, the clock speed of a central processor was identified directly with its performance, that is, the higher the clock speed of the processor, the more productive it is. In practice, we have a situation where processors with the same frequency have different performance, because they can execute a different number of instructions in one clock cycle (depending on the core design, bus bandwidth, cache memory). Modern processors operate at frequencies from 1 to 4 GHz (Giga Hertz)

Cache

The cache is used to significantly speed up calculations. This is ultra-fast memory built into the processor case that contains data that the processor accesses frequently. The cache memory can be of the first (L1), second (L2) or third (L3) level.

Socket

A socket is a connector (socket) on the motherboard where the processor is installed. But when we say “processor socket,” we mean both the socket on the motherboard and the support of this socket by certain processor models. The socket is needed precisely so that you can easily replace a failed processor or upgrade your computer with a more powerful processor.

RAM

The next important element of the computer, which is located in the system unit, is random access memory (RAM or random access memory). It is in it that the information processed by the processor and the programs launched by the user are remembered. It is called operational because it provides the processor with quick access to data.

DDR2

DDR3

Main characteristics of RAM:

• volume– measured in megabytes (MB) or gigabytes (GB), significantly affects the performance of a computer. Due to insufficient RAM, many programs will either not load or will run very slowly. A typical computer today uses at least 1 GB of memory, although 2 or 3 GB is better for convenient operation;
• bus frequency – measured in megahertz (MHz), also has a great influence on the speed of the computer. The larger it is, the faster the data transfer between the processor and the memory itself.
• memory type– indicates the generation to which the memory belongs. Today you can find the following types of RAM (listed in chronology of appearance):

DDR SDRAM(100 – 267 MHz)

DDR2 SDRAM (400 – 1066 MHz)

DDR3 SDRAM(800 – 2400 MHz)

DDR4 SDRAM(1600 – 2400 MHz)

Video card

Video card | Computer device

A video card is an electronic board that provides the formation of a video signal and thereby determines the image displayed by the monitor. Existing video cards have different capabilities. If office programs are used on the computer, then there are no special requirements for the video card. Another thing is a gaming computer, in which the video card takes on the main work, and the central processor plays a secondary role.

Main characteristics of the video card:

• video memory volume – measured in megabytes (MB) or gigabytes (GB), affects the maximum monitor resolution, number of colors and image processing speed. Currently, video card models are produced with video memory capacity from 256 MB to 6 GB. The optimal average volume is 512 MB or 1 GB;
• video memory bus width – measured in bits, determines the amount of data that can be simultaneously transferred from video memory (to memory). The standard bus width of modern video cards is 256 bits;
• Video memory frequency – measured in megahertz (MHz), the higher the frequency, the greater the overall performance of the video card.

Currently, video cards are produced based on nVidia GeForce and ATI Radeon chipsets.

HDD

Hard drive | Computer device

Hard drive without top cover | Computer device

A hard drive, also called a hard drive or HDD, is designed for long-term storage of information. It is on the hard drive of your computer that all information is stored: the operating system, the necessary programs, documents, photos, films, music and other files. He is the main one atconstruction storage information on the computer.

For the user, hard drives differ from each other primarily in the following characteristics:

• capacity (volume) – measured in gigabytes (GB) or terabytes (TB), determines how much information can be written to the hard drive. At the moment, the volume of a modern hard drive is measured from several hundred gigabytes to several terabytes;
• performance, which consists of the access time to information and the speed of reading/writing information. Typical access time for modern disks is 5-10 ms (milliseconds), average read/write speed is 150 MB/s (megabytes per second);
• interface - the type of controller to which the hard drive should be connected (most often EIDE and various SATA options).

DVD drive

DVD drive | Computer device

A DVD drive is used to read DVDs and CDs. If the name contains the prefix “RW”, then the drive is capable of not only reading, but also writing to disks. The drive is characterized by read/write speed and is designated by a multiplier (1x, 2x, etc.). The unit of speed here is 1.385 megabytes per second (Mbps). That is, when the drive indicates a speed value of 8x, the actual speed will be 8 * 1.385 MB/s = 11.08 MB/s.

Blu-ray (Blu-ray) drive

Blu-ray (Blu-ray) drive | Computer device

Blu-ray drives can be of three types: read, combo and write. The Blu-ray reader can read CDs, DVDs and Blu-ray discs. The combo can additionally burn CDs and DVDs. The Blu-ray writer can read and write all discs.

power unit

The power supply supplies power to the computer's devices and is usually sold with the case. Currently they produce power supplies with a power of 450, 550 and 750 Watts. More powerful power supplies (up to 1500 Watt) may be needed for a computer with a powerful gaming video card.

Monitor

The monitor is designed to display images coming from the computer. It refers to computer output devices.

Main characteristics of monitors:

• Screen size– measured in inches (1 inch=2.54 cm) diagonally. At the moment, the most popular are 19-inch LCD monitors;
• screen format(vertical and horizontal aspect ratio), now almost all monitors are sold in wide format: 16:9 and 16:10 format;
• matrix type– the main part of the LCD monitor, on which its quality depends 90%. Modern monitors use one of three main types of matrices: TN-film (the simplest, cheapest and most common), S-IPS (have the best color rendition, used for professional work with images) and PVA/MVA (more expensive than TN-film and cheaper IPS, we can say that these matrices are a compromise between TN+Film and IPS.);
• screen resolution– the number of pixels (pixels) in width and height that make up the image. The most common 17 and 19-inch monitors have a resolution of 1280x1024 and 1600x1200 pixels. The higher the resolution, the more detailed the image will naturally be;
• connector type used to connect to a computer, analog VGA (D-Sub) or digital connectors DVI, HDMI.

Do you want to learn how to understand computer components without the help of specialists and improve your computer yourself? To do this, you will need basic knowledge of the internal structure of a PC, which you will gain by reading this article.

In the era of the 90s, when the personal computer market in Russia was just beginning to emerge, the few companies that sold computer equipment mainly offered customers already assembled system units. For the most part, they were assembled there in the office, on the knees, to the buyer’s order from components that God sent, and the quality of this very notorious assembly directly depended on the direct hands of the assembler. But did anyone pay attention to this at that time? There were practically no branded solutions on the market, and even such a homemade version of a home computer was rare and very expensive.

At the turn of the century, the situation in the computer industry changed dramatically. The active development of IT technologies has led to rapid growth of high-tech production in Asia. A large flow of all kinds of components and peripherals poured into the market, creating conditions for healthy competition, which led to a significant reduction in prices for computer hardware, and this in turn gave a powerful impetus to the mass distribution of PCs. Computer stores began to multiply like mushrooms, attracting customers with ever new types of services, among which one of the most popular was custom PC assembly. Its essence was that the buyer himself chose the components for his future computer and after an hour, an hour and a half, he picked it up from the store in assembled form.

The most advanced users have gone even further. It was during this period that assembling a system unit with one’s own hands began to be actively practiced, fortunately there were enough all kinds of publications related to this topic. This way to get the coveted home computer was significantly cheaper than buying a ready-made solution (at least you didn’t have to pay for assembly). Another advantage of “self-assembly” is the ability to select components of a certain manufacturer and quality, without being tied to the assortment of one store. Having assembled the computer yourself, in the future you could easily upgrade it (improve it) or simply replace/add any components without fear of losing the warranty, since in this case it was for each part separately. But when purchasing a ready-made “system unit”, all the components inside it were sealed with stickers, the tearing of which, as a rule, was a reason for refusing to fulfill your warranty obligations in the event of any malfunctions.

Recently, the issue of assembling a computer with your own hands has somehow faded into the background. Firstly, part of the reason for this is the mass distribution of laptops, netbooks and all-in-one PCs, the mobility of which in the eyes of many users is preferable to bulky desktops. And secondly, at the present time, ready-made solutions along with a pre-installed operating system are now often cheaper than “self-assembly” and a separate box with the OS. This is especially true for the most popular, lower and middle segments of the market.

So does a modern user of computer technology even need knowledge of its internals? In order to answer this question, I will give several situations in which knowledge of a PC, in my opinion, would be very useful to you:

- Buying a new computer yourself. I think there is no need to explain that this is a rather important moment. And if you don’t want to be deceived or at least disappointed with your future purchase, then at least a superficial knowledge of the computer’s hardware is strongly recommended. Remember that the phrase: “I need a computer for the Internet, watching movies, listening to music and sometimes playing” is clearly not enough for the seller to be able to choose the optimal solution for you. As a rule, such requirements will be satisfied by a sufficiently large number of offers and you will choose from them; in this case, it turns out that it will be the sales consultant, not you. And if so, you run a great risk of purchasing something that will not at all meet your expectations.

Surely, before purchasing, you will want to study the current prices for computer equipment in order to at least approximately understand what costs await you. Having previously studied the range of ready-made solutions in the store, on price tags, in price lists or online catalogs, the name of certain devices will most likely be presented to you, for example, in the following form:

SystemblockCore i5-2310/S1155/H61/4Gb DDR3-1333/1024Mb HD6770/HDD 500Gb-7200-16Mb/DVD+-RW/Sound 7.1/GLAN/ATX 450W

Laptop15.6”/i7-2630QM(2.00)/4Gb/GTX460M-1Gb/750Gb/DVD-RW/WiFi/BT/Cam/W7HP64

If you are not yet familiar with the internal structure of a computer, then I am almost sure that you have understood absolutely nothing in these names, which contain the most important characteristics of devices. After reading this article to the end, you can calmly understand what this abracadabra means.

Independent upgrade and purchase of components (improving a computer by adding or partially replacing computer parts).

This feature is fully applicable only to system units, since in mobile devices the upgrade capabilities are limited to only two subsystems: RAM and hard drive. Therefore, when purchasing laptops, netbooks or all-in-one computers, you must immediately clearly determine the performance of the device you require, which is almost impossible to do without knowledge of the internal structure. On desktops, you can replace or add something at any time if you wish, and sell old hardware at some online auction. In general, purchasing components yourself in stores, as well as selling and exchanging them through various “hardware” flea markets on the Internet, can significantly reduce your costs aimed at upgrading your computer. But there are pitfalls here too.

The wrong choice of components when purchasing a new system unit can lead to the fact that modifying your computer will be almost impossible. And if it is possible, then only by replacing almost all components, which, as you understand, cannot be called an upgrade. And the names of components, as well as finished computers, are no less confusing and difficult for an ignorant buyer to understand.- Do-it-yourself minor repairs.

Here, as in the case of an upgrade, knowledge of the internal structure of a PC will be fully useful only to owners of desktop computers. For example, there is a power surge at your home, which is not that uncommon. The consequence of this event is often a partial failure of your computer. In order to save money, your nerves, time and effort, with certain knowledge, you can easily replace burnt components right at home. Moreover, in such cases, it is practically useless to take your computer for warranty service, since this kind of damage is not covered by the warranty. Even if your knowledge is not enough to replace failed parts, at least you can estimate their value on the market and buy it yourself at a better price than they will offer you at the service center. In this way, it is possible not only to reduce repair costs, but also to avoid unauthorized installation of used parts passed off as new.

We will begin our familiarization process with the PC device with a description of its main components. There are seven of them in modern desktop computers and laptops:

• Motherboard
• CPU
• RAM
• Video card
• HDD
• Optical drive
• Power supply and case

We will talk about each of them in detail, and at the end of the description we will consider examples of real names of components from the catalogs of computer hardware sellers. Thus, we will immediately learn to apply the acquired theoretical knowledge in practice. At the end of the review, for the sake of completeness, we will briefly consider additional devices installed in mobile and desktop PCs to expand their functionality.

CPU(CPU or central processing unit CPU) is the main piece of computer hardware and its computing center. Essentially, it is a machine instruction executor and is designed to execute complex computer programs. A CPU has several main characteristics, but for the average person, only two are important - clock speed and number of cores. The first mass-produced multi-core processors for desktop PCs were released in early 2006 and have now almost completely replaced single-core processors.

To significantly speed up computing, any modern processor is equipped with built-in very fast access memory, which is designed to store data that is most likely to be requested by the processor. This buffer is called a cache and can be of the first (L1), second (L2) or third (L3) level. The fastest memory and, in fact, an integral part of the processor, is the first level cache, the volume of which is very small and amounts to 128 KB (64x2). Most modern CPUs cannot function without an L1 cache. The second fastest is the L2 cache and its volume can reach 1-12 MB. Well, the slowest, but also the most impressive in size (can be more than 24 MB) is the third level cache and not all processors have it.

Another important point is the concept of a processor socket or processor socket, called a socket, into which this processor is installed. Different generations or families of CPUs, as a rule, are installed in their own unique sockets, and this fact must be taken into account when selecting a motherboard - processor combination.

Due to the complexity and high-tech production, the highest requirements for product quality, there are not so many competitive companies producing central processors, and for the desktop PC market there are only two - Intel and AMD. Their long-standing rivalry began in the early 90s, although over these 20 years the share of processors sold by AMD has always been significantly lower than the share of Intel. However, Advanced Micro Devices products have always had an attractive performance/price ratio with a fairly affordable retail price for its products, which gives it the opportunity to confidently maintain its market share of about 19% of the global share.

For ease of positioning in the market, each manufacturer divides its products into different families, depending on the capabilities and performance of processors. In this article, we will get acquainted only with those lines of companies that are currently relevant and are in retail sale.

• Sempron- the lowest-cost processor for desktop PCs and mobile devices and a direct competitor to Intel's Celeron processors. The main niche of this processor is simple applications for everyday work.
• Phenom II- a multi-core family of high-performance processors designed to solve any problem. It is the flagship line for desktop computers and contains processors with a number of cores from 2 to 6.
• Athlon II- a multi-core processor family designed as a very low-cost alternative to the more expensive Phenom II series processors. Designed to solve everyday problems and is aimed as an option for “budget” gaming systems and PCs with very decent performance.
• A-Series- The latest quad-core processor family, which is currently the latest development from AMD to go on sale. A distinctive feature of this series is the Radeon graphics card built into the processor core.

• Celeron - a large family of low-cost processors designed for use in entry-level home and office computers.
• PentiumDual-Core - an outdated family of budget dual-core processors for low-cost home and office systems. Despite the fact that processors in this series are still sold everywhere, most users nowadays opt for the more current and cost-effective Core i3.
• Core i3 - a new generation of dual-core processors at entry-level and mid-range price and performance levels. Designed to replace the obsolete Pentium Dual-Core based on the architecture of the old generation Intel Core 2. They have a built-in graphics processor and a built-in memory controller.
• Core i5 - a family of processors of mid-range price and performance. CPUs in this series can contain 2 or 4 cores and most of them have an integrated graphics card. An excellent solution for gaming and multimedia systems. They support TurboBoost technology, which automatically overclocks the processor under load.
• Core i7 - flagship line of processors from Intel. Installed in high-performance systems designed to solve problems of any complexity. Supports Turbo Boost, with which the processor automatically increases performance when needed.

Table of the main characteristics of desktop processor families from Intel and AMD

Concluding this topic, finally, let's look at the price list of any computer company and try to understand some item from the processor catalog, applying the knowledge we have just gained. For example, let's decipher a record like:

“Processor Socket 1155 Intel Core i5 G620 (2.6GHz, L3 3Mb) BOX.”

• Socket 1155 - the processor is installed in an LGA 1155 type socket
• Intel Core i5 - the processor belongs to the Core i5 family and is manufactured by Intel
• G620 - processor model
• 2.6GHz - processor clock frequency (the higher it is, the faster the processor)
• L3 3Mb - the processor has a third level cache, which is equal to 3 megabytes
• BOX - means that the processor comes complete with a fan and has a proprietary three-year warranty (OEM - without a fan and a 1-year warranty)

RAM(random access memory RAM) - the most important part of the system, responsible for temporary storage of data and commands necessary for the processor to perform various operations. The main characteristics of memory are its clock frequency, which determines its bandwidth and capacity.

An equally important indicator for memory is the generation to which it belongs. Naturally, memory of different generations has completely different characteristics (supply voltage, power consumption, clock frequency, bandwidth, latency, etc.). As part of this review, we will not dwell on this in detail, the only thing you need to remember is that the connectors for installing memory modules are different for different generations, and this must be taken into account when choosing a RAM-motherboard combination.

Today's desktop and mobile PCs primarily use DIMM (Dual Data Rate Memory) or DDR (Double Data Rate Synchronous Dynamic Random Access) memory from three different generations. The generation number is always reflected in the name of the memory module. It should be noted that at the moment, first-generation DDR memory is already very outdated and can only be found in computers four or five years old, and second-generation DDR2 RAM is currently being actively replaced by DDR3.

Now let's see what the name of a memory module looks like in a real computer company catalog and try to figure it out. For example :

“RAM 4Gb PC3-10600 1333MHz DDR3 DIMM”.

• 4Gb - memory module capacity
• PC3 - 10600 - maximum memory bandwidth (peak amount of data that RAM can exchange with the processor per second). In this case, it is equal to 10667 Mb/sec.
• 1333MHz - memory clock frequency
• DDR3 - memory generation
• DIMM form factor of the RAM module

Sometimes RAM is sold in sets of 2 or 3 modules, for example: "RAM 4Gb (2x2Gb) PC3-10600 1333MHz DDR3 DIMM." Why is this being done? The fact is that modern computers use a dual-channel (much less often a three-channel) memory operating mode, which in practice increases the memory throughput mode by up to 70%, which undoubtedly increases the overall system performance. For this mode to be enabled, RAM modules must be installed in pairs (triples) on the computer, and this pair (triple) must have the same characteristics.

Dual channel mode Three channel mode

That is why manufacturers already select memory modules in pairs (three) at the factory and test them for error-free operation. Modules that pass the test are packaged together and sold as a set. But this does not mean that modules sold separately will not work well together. It’s just that the possibility of any errors still exists, although it is very small. Always try to use multi-channel memory mode to improve performance by installing modules only in pairs (triples). Remember this.

VIDEO CARD(graphics adapter, graphics card, video adapter) - a device that generates a graphic image and displays it on the monitor screen. In the era of the birth of desktop PCs, graphics adapters performed only the function of displaying an image already generated by the processor on the screen. The current generation of graphics cards not only displays images, but also generates them independently.

Modern video adapters can be built-in (integrated) into the computer’s motherboard or be an expansion card that is inserted into a special slot for PCI-Express video cards (previously this slot was AGP, which is now obsolete) on the motherboard. The first group of adapters, as a rule, is used in budget solutions for working with office applications, where we are not talking about the formation of complex three-dimensional images and in general the requirements for the graphic component are small. And although many integrated solutions have recently allowed users to watch high-definition (HD) video and enjoy entry-level three-dimensional (3D) graphics, their capabilities cannot be compared with the capabilities of video cards that are released as stand-alone solutions.

Essentially, a video adapter, which is an independent expansion card, is another computer in your computer. It has its own graphics processor (GPU) or even two, video memory (GDDR), cooling system, power system, video controller and digital-to-analog converter. Such a complex video card design is due to the very high requirements for computing resources to create a realistic and dynamic three-dimensional image in real time. Therefore, in order to fully enjoy the beauty of modern 3D games, it is necessary that your computer be equipped with a graphics card of the highest level.

The main characteristics of a video card are the clock frequencies of the video processor and video memory, the number of working execution units inside the graphics processor, the width of the video memory bus (affects the amount of data transferred by the memory per clock cycle) and the amount of video memory. As a rule, modern graphics adapters have several outputs with the same or different graphic interfaces for connecting a variety of monitors and TVs. Now the most common are the analog VGA and digital interfaces: DVI, HDMI (miniHDMI), DisplayPort (miniDP). The last two, in addition to video, also transmit sound.

Quite a lot of companies are currently engaged in the production of video card boards, but strangely enough, the entire graphics adapter market is divided into only two main competing camps. The fact is that the graphics processor determines almost all the main characteristics of the card, on which its performance depends and is its key component. Well, in the design and production of graphics chips, as in the case of central processors, since the mid-90s, two irreconcilable rivals have been fiercely fighting for consumers - the Canadian company ATI, purchased and now owned by AMD, and the Californian NVIDIA. It is worth noting that over all these years, none of them have managed to tip the scales in their favor, and today their shares in the video processor market can be estimated as 50 to 50. All video cards for widespread use (for home PCs) manufactured by those based on graphics chips from ATI (AMD) are called Radeon, and those released on NVIDIA logic are called GeForce. These companies also have professional solutions for workstations. These lines are called Quadro from NVIDIA and FireGL from ATI (AMD).

Today on the shelves of computer stores you can find video adapters built on graphics chips of two generations at once, and in some cases even three. NVIDIA has the GeForce GT 2XX, GT 4XX families (morally outdated lines and now mostly only budget models remain on sale), GTX 5XX and GTX 6XX, and AMD (ATI) Radeon HD 5XXX, HD 6XXX and HD 7XXX. The principle of forming a model range of graphic cards for both companies is similar. As a rule, models in the series differ in the clock frequencies of the video chip and memory, the different number of disabled execution units and the width of the memory bus. Depending on the combinations of the above characteristics, the overall performance of the video card and its cost are determined. I think there is no need to explain that the higher the performance and capabilities of the video adapter, the higher its price. Below is a summary table of the most popular GPUs and their budget positioning in the market.

Budget positioning of GPUs

Next, it is worth mentioning such important technologies as SLI (3-Way SLI) from NVIDIA and CrossFire (CrossFire X) from AMD (ATI), which allow you to combine the computing power of two, three or even four video cards installed in one computer. The simultaneous use of several video cards in one system can be interesting in cases where it is necessary to obtain a super-efficient video system that exceeds the power of any existing single video card. There are also cases when installing two mid-range (performance) class video adapters is more economically profitable than installing one video card of the same performance. To implement these technologies, it is necessary to have two or more slots for PCI-Express video cards on the motherboard, as well as support for these same technologies by the motherboard chipset.

In order to make life easier for developers of games and multimedia applications, Microsoft came up with an independent DirectX software package, which saves them from writing programs for each individual video card and gives them the opportunity to use ready-made solutions from this library. In turn, video cards, for their part, must also support one or another version of the DirectX library, which affects the ability of the adapter to perform a certain set of functions at the hardware level. The later the version of DirectX the video card supports, the larger the set of functions and, accordingly, the wider its capabilities for creating special effects. If the game was created using a new version of DirectX, and the video card does not support it, you will not be able to fully enjoy all the video effects provided by the developers.
Modern video cards support version 11. But you need to take into account that DirectX 11 only works under Windows Vista or Windows 7; if you have Windows XP, you will have to limit yourself to version 9.0c.

And finally, let's look at a couple of examples of video card names from a real computer catalog and break them down:

Example 1: "Video card 1536MbGTX580,PCI-E, 2xDVI,HDMIDisplayPortOEM"

• 1536Mb - amount of video memory installed on the video card in megabytes
• GTX580 is a type of graphics processor of a video card, by which the manufacturer of this processor itself can be easily determined (in this case it is NVIDIA)
• 2xDVI, HDMI, DisplayPort - has two DVI outputs, one HDMI and one DisplayPort for connecting various output devices (monitors, LCD TVs, plasma)
• OEM - video card sold without box

Example 2: " Video card 2048Mb HD6950, PCI-E,VGA, DVI, HDMI, 2xmini DP Retail»

• 2048Mb - amount of video memory installed on the video card in megabytes
• HD6950 is a type of video card GPU, in this case manufactured by AMD (ATI)
• PCI-E is the type of connector in which the video card is installed
• VGA, DVI, HDMI, 2xminiDP - listing of available outputs on the video card
• Retail - the video card is sold in colorful packaging

HDD(HDD) is a data storage device based on the principles of magnetic recording. The main device in your computer on which all information is located, from the installed operating system to your personal files.

The main characteristics of this device are:

Capacity- the amount of data that can be stored on the drive. Until recently, the entire range of hard drives fell into the range from 80 to 1000 Gigabytes. But even now, modern drives, thanks to perpendicular recording technology, have sizes of 3 Terabytes (3000 GB).

Physical size. Drives with a width of 3.5 inches (rarely 2.5 inches) are used in desktop computers, and 2.5 or 1.8 inches are used in mobile devices (laptops or netbooks).

Spindle speed. An important characteristic on which access time and average data transfer speed depend. The higher the rotation speed, the faster the hard drive. It is measured in revolutions per minute and generally has the following values: 5400 rpm (mainly laptops or high-capacity 3.5-inch wide drives), 7200 rpm (desktop PCs, less often laptops), 10000 and 15000 rpm (high-performance PCs or servers). Lovers of silence should remember that the noise level of the drive increases significantly at high speeds and when assembling a quiet system, choosing a drive with a speed above 7200 rpm is not recommended.

Connection interface - the type of connector and bus used to connect and exchange data with the hard drive. For a long time, the most common interface in desktop and mobile computers was Parallel ATA (aka IDE, ATA, Ultra ATA, UDMA 133) with a maximum throughput of 133 MB/sec, which used the principle of parallel data transfer. Because of this, the connection connector was quite wide and had 40 pins, and bulky 80-wire connection cables always got in the way in the case and interfered with normal cooling. And although many modern motherboards are still equipped with an IDE connector, the days of this interface are numbered, and it has long been replaced by a new standard - Serial ATA (SATA), which uses a serial data transfer interface. The throughput of the modern 3rd revision of SATA III is 600 MB/sec and exceeds the capabilities of PATA by 4.5 times. Moreover, SATA uses a miniature 7-pin connector and, accordingly, a much smaller cable area than IDE, which reduces the resistance to air blowing across computer components and simplifies wiring inside the system unit.

Random access time- the average time during which the read/write head is positioned on an arbitrary section of the magnetic disk. As a rule, for disks intended for installation in desktop and laptop computers, it ranges from 8 to 16 milliseconds and is the main brake on the speed of a magnetic drive. For comparison, for new-fangled solid-state drives (SSDs) it is 1 ms.

Buffer- intermediate memory (cache), designed to smooth out differences in read/write speed and transfer speed over the interface. In modern media it varies from 8 to 64 MB.

For curious users, in detailed descriptions of hard drives you can find additional parameters, such as: noise level, reliability, energy consumption, standby time, shock resistance and data transfer speed from the internal and external zones of the disk.

More recently, in the modern magnetic storage market, all products were represented by four manufacturers: the world's largest Western Digital (WD) and Seagate, as well as Hitachi and Samsung. But in 2011, the situation changed, WD acquired Hitachi's hard drive division, and Seagate bought Samsung's division. Thus, to two segments of the computer market (production of central and graphic processors), a third has been added (production of hard drives), where only two competing companies are engaged in the development and production of products.

Finishing the description of hard drives, we, as usual, will look at an example of a drive name from a computer catalog and try to understand what is written there.

Hard drive 3.5" 1 Tb 7200rpm 64Mb cache Western Digital Caviar Black SATA III (6Gb/ s)

• 3.5” - the hard drive is 3.5 inches wide and is designed for installation in a desktop PC
• 1 Tb is the capacity of the hard drive, which in this case is 1 terabyte (1000 Gigabytes)
• 7200rpm - spindle rotation speed, in this case 7200 rpm
• 64Mb cache - buffer size in megabytes (here it is maximum)
• Western Digital - manufacturer
• Caviar Black is the family to which the hard drive belongs. Black - WD's family of the most productive drives
• SATA III - hard drive connection interface
• 6Gb/s - maximum interface throughput, in this case equal to 6 Gbit/s (600 MB/s).

I hope everything is clear here and we can move on.

OPTICAL DRIVE- a device designed for reading, writing and rewriting information from optical storage media in the form of a plastic disk (CD, DVD, BD).

In the early 90s, the most common optical media was the compact disc (CD), which could store 700 MB of various data. That is why the first optical drives could only read and only CDs and were called CD-ROM. The next actively developing format was and is now the most common DVD. Disks of this standard could already record 4.7 GB of information, which is almost 7 times more than on a CD. Computer drives designed to play DVDs were called DVD-ROMs, while the ability to read regular CDs on this device was preserved. At the same time, the first CD recording devices began to appear on the market, which were called CD-RW. Then combined optical drives (ComboDrive or “combine”) appeared, which could read CDs and DVDs, but only write CDs. Progress, of course, did not stop there, and the next logical step was the appearance on the market of DVD recording drives that could read and write any disc. True, initially they were very expensive and for quite a long time the most popular optical device installed in home computers was the combo drive due to its affordability. But over time, DVD-RW drives have become cheaper, and this class of optical devices is still the most common on all types of computers.

Today, the maximum capacity of a DVD disc is 8.5 GB (double-layer disc). But with the advent of high-definition (HD) multimedia content, this volume was not enough for its storage and distribution, and therefore in the spring of 2006 a new optical media format appeared on the market - Blu-Ray. A single-layer Blu-Ray disc can store 25 GB of digital data, including high-definition video and audio, a double-layer can hold 50 GB, a triple-layer 100 GB, and a quad-layer 128 GB (BDXL). Modern Blu-Ray optical drives (BD-ROM) can read, write and rewrite not only new format discs (BD), but also previous ones - DVD and CD.

The main characteristics of optical drives are the speed of reading, writing and rewriting data in various formats. Previously, they were indicated directly in the drive name itself, but due to increased support for various disk formats, they are now indicated only in the detailed description of the device. A pleasant bonus may be the presence of marking technology for specially prepared disks, which allows you to obtain an image on its reverse surface. Like hard drives, optical drives can have two connection interfaces, the legacy IDE and the modern SATA.

An example of an optical drive name looks quite laconic and contains a minimum of information: Blu-ray drive Pioneer BDR-206DBK, Black, SATA, OEM

• Blu-ray drive supports all existing optical media formats, including the latest Blu-Ray
• Pioneer - optical drive manufacturer
• BDR-206DBK - drive model
• Black - drive color
• SATA - drive connection interface
• OEM drive is sold without paint box and additional accessories (fastening screws and connection cable)

As you can see, everything is simple here, but at the same time, to understand all the capabilities of the drive, you need to study its detailed description.

Now, having become acquainted with the main components that make up a computer, it’s time to look at the part that unites it all into a single whole.

MOTHERBOARD(motherboard, mother, main board, motherboard) is a complex multi-layer printed circuit board on which the main components of a personal computer are installed (central processor, RAM controller and RAM itself, graphics adapter, controllers for connecting hard drives and optical drives, basic interface controllers I/O, sound and network card). As a rule, the motherboard also contains connectors (slots) for connecting additional cards and devices via USB, PCI and PCI-Express buses.

In this material, to simplify perception, we will consider only motherboards for desktop PCs, without bothering ourselves with products for mobile computers. Moreover, for a general understanding of the issue this will be quite enough.

Main motherboard components

The key component of the motherboard is the chipset (system logic set) - a set of chips that connects the CPU to RAM, graphics controller and peripheral controllers. It is the set of system logic that determines all the key features of the motherboard, what devices can be connected to it and, in fact, all the future capabilities of your computer.

All motherboards can be divided into two main camps - motherboards for Intel processors and motherboards for AMD processors. Accordingly, they also produce system logic sets for their processors. Within these two main groups, further division is conveniently carried out along processor connectors (sockets). Today, motherboards with four types of sockets are available for Intel processors, and three for AMD. For each socket, developers have several sets of system logic, aimed at different budget segments of the market.

As can be seen from the block diagram, there are quite a lot of varieties of chipsets, and therefore motherboards built on them and their modifications. Let's see what basic characteristics of a computer can be affected by one or another chipset modification and what you should pay attention to first:

• CPU type
• Type of RAM (DDR, DDR-II, DDR-III), its bandwidth and possible maximum capacity
• The presence or absence of a built-in video adapter, and if present, a possible connection interface (VGA, DVI, HDMI)
• Possibility of installing multiple video cards to enable SLI and CrossFire technologies
• Number and revision of SATA connectors for connecting hard drives and optical drives
• The presence or absence of support for RAID technology (the ability to create an array of several hard drives perceived by the system as a single whole)
• Number and revision of USB connectors for connecting peripheral devices
• Type of sound card (2, 5 or 7 channels) and the presence of its digital outputs
• Number of network interfaces
• Availability of additional outputs (e-SATA, FireWire) for connecting digital peripheral devices
• Number and types of connectors for connecting expansion cards (sound and network cards, modems, TV tuners, analog and digital video capture cards, etc.)
• Availability of outdated connectors and corresponding FDD and LPT interfaces

Finally, it is worth mentioning another important characteristic of the motherboard - the form factor. This is a standard that determines its dimensions, places of attachment to the computer case and its entire wiring (location of interfaces, ports, slots and types of connectors for power connections). The modern and most common standards are ATX (the dominant format), micro-ATX and mini-ITX.

As you would expect, the names of motherboards in price lists look very cumbersome and are the most difficult to understand, since they include quite a lot of device characteristics. Let's look at one of them using an example: Motherboard ASUS P8P67 DELUXE (B3), Socket 1155, Intel P67, 4xDDR3, 3xPCI-E 16x, 2xPCI-E 1x, 2xPCI, 4xSATA II+4xSATA III, RAID0/1/5/10, 7.1 Sound, Glan, USB3. 0, ATX, Retail

• ASUS P8P67 DELUXE (B3) - manufacturer, model and revision (infrequently indicated)
• Socket 1155 - type of socket for installing a central processor
• Intel P67 - chipset name
• 4xDDR3 - the board has 4 connectors (slots) for installing third generation RAM modules
• 3xPCI-E 16x - the board has as many as three connectors for video cards, which means it is possible to use SLI (3-WaySLI) technologies from NVIDIA and CrossFire (CrossFireX) from AMD (ATI)
• 2xPCI-E 1x - the board has two PCI-EX1 type connectors for installing additional expansion cards (sound and network cards, modems, TV tuners, etc.)
• 2xPCI - the board has two PCI slots for installing additional expansion cards (sound and network cards, modems, TV tuners, etc.)
• 4xSATA II+4xSATA III - the board has 4 SATA interface connectors of the second revision and four thirds for connecting hard drives and optical drives.
• RAID0/1/5/10 - the motherboard supports the technology of combining multiple hard drives and makes it possible to create arrays of the 0th, 1st, 5th and 10th levels
• 7.1 Sound - has a built-in 7-channel sound card
• Glan - there is a gigabit network card on the motherboard
• USB 3.0 - the board has connectors of the new USB3.0 standard
• ATX - motherboard form factor
• Retail-motherboard is sold in a box and equipped with connecting cables, software and installation instructions

So, the hardest part is over and we are reaching the finish line.

POWER SUPPLY AND CASE

power unit(BP) - designed to supply computer components with direct current electrical energy, as well as convert the mains voltage to the required values. To some extent, the power supply can perform the functions of stabilizing and protecting computer components from minor voltage surges.

The main characteristic of a power supply is its power, which in modern products varies from 300 to 1500W (Watt). As a rule, a power of 400 - 450 W is sufficient for an office computer, but for advanced gaming systems with several video cards installed, a very powerful power supply may be required, since at peak load the power consumption of such a system can reach from 700 - 1000 W.

It is necessary to take into account the fact that it is worth choosing the power of the power supply with a margin of the calculated peak load, because in this case it will heat up less, which means that its cooling system will work more quietly. A gentle regime will also have a beneficial effect on service life. Do not forget that over time, due to various facts, the power ratings of the power supply may drop by 15-20% of the nominal.

As a rule, the more powerful the power supply, the more connectors and their modifications for powering various computer components it contains. True, in most cases the number of these same connectors is excessive, and in order to compactly lay a large volume of wires in the case, you have to spend a lot of effort. That is why many manufacturers produce power supplies with detachable cables, where you can connect only the connectors you need.

Beware of buying cheap low-quality power supplies from unknown manufacturers. All computer components are powered by low voltage (+3, + 5 and +12 V) and in order to damage any board, a discharge of static electricity from an electrified sweater is sufficient. What can we say if the power supply allows even a slight voltage surge to pass through itself or produces abnormal values. The consumer qualities of these devices are not high either. As practice shows, the real power value of such products is much lower than what is stated on the labels, and their service life is short.

As a rule, in component catalogs, the names of power supplies are some of the most capacious and short, for example: Power supply ATX 1000W OCZ Z1000M-UN

• ATX is a motherboard power connector standard that is the main one for desktop PCs
• 1000W - power supply power
• OCZ - power supply manufacturer
• Z1000M-UN - power supply model

It's as simple as that, but don't think that choosing a power source is a trivial task. Quite the contrary, this is the case when the name contains practically no useful information and it is necessary to study its detailed description, where you can find out about the number of different power connectors, its efficiency (efficiency), the presence of overvoltage protection, overload protection and much more. The right choice of a good power source is the key to long and uninterrupted operation of the hardware components of your computer.

Let's say a few words about power supplies for laptops. They are usually used to charge batteries, as well as to provide the laptop with power bypassing the battery. By type of design, the laptop's power supply is an external unit. Power supplies for mobile devices are produced for a specific model (series), they have different characteristics and power connectors, and therefore there is no single standard for them, and the power supplies themselves are usually not interchangeable. When purchasing a new unit for a laptop, you have no options other than to purchase exactly the power supply that is designed for your model of mobile device.

Frame(system unit) - protects the internal elements of the computer from external influences and mechanical damage, maintains internal temperature conditions and shields electromagnetic radiation. The main characteristics are its type (vertical Tower or horizontal Desktop) and size (small Mini, medium Midi, large Big). The most common format is Midi Tower, because such cases are designed to install motherboards of the most popular form factor - ATX. Also, when choosing a case, you should take into account the number and location of external USB ports, audio outputs, the presence of FireWire outputs on the external panel, the number of internal fans and their size.

Cases and power supplies for desktop PCs can be sold either separately or together as a set. As a rule, for office solutions, the entry-level and mid-range segment of home computers, it is more profitable to buy a kit. True, then you will most likely have to put up with a mediocre case design and an average power supply. Well, if you decide to assemble a powerful system or a computer with a unique design, then you only need to select these components separately, in accordance with the appetites of the selected hardware and your tastes.

OPTIONAL EQUIPMENT

So we looked at all the main components that make up a desktop computer. Of course, this is an incomplete list of components that can be located inside the system unit, but only those that are required to be installed in any computer. To complete the picture, let's still touch on the remaining components, but only briefly:

Floppy drive(FDD) - floppy disk drive with a physical size of 3.5 inches. With the advent of flash drives, these media have almost completely lost their relevance, and the drives themselves can only be found on very old computers.

Card reader- a device for reading all kinds of memory cards used in digital and mobile devices. As a rule, in modern computers it is installed instead of a floppy drive.

TV tuner- a device designed for receiving, playing and recording a television signal on a home computer. Most modern tuners can also receive signals from FM radio stations. According to the method of connection to the computer, they are divided into internal (for desktop PCs, connection via PCI and PCI-Ex1 connectors, for laptops via the CardBus connector) and external (USB and FireWire).

Controllers- boards that expand the interface capabilities of the motherboard. If necessary, using the controller card you can add additional USB, SATA, FireWire, IDE and LPT interfaces (connectors). They are usually installed in PCI and PCI-Ex1 slots.

Sound card- additional equipment for a personal computer that allows you to process and output sound. Provide the user with additional capabilities and quality compared to integrated solutions. They can be either internal devices (installed in PCI and PCI-Ex1 slots) or external (connected to USB, and for laptops PCMCIA).

Network adapter- a device that allows a computer to communicate with other devices on the network. Can be wired (Ethernet) or wireless (Wi-Fi). Based on the method of connecting to a computer, they are also divided into external and internal. On all modern motherboards, a wired network adapter is already built-in and therefore is practically no longer used as additional equipment.

CONCLUSION

Now let's go back to the beginning of the article, where as an example the real names of computer equipment (system unit and laptop) that you can encounter in any computer store were given. Definitely, without basic knowledge of PC devices, it is almost impossible to understand at least something about them. But if you carefully read the previous material, then now understanding these abbreviations will not be difficult. Let's check it out. Let's start with a description of the system unit:

System unitCorei5-2310/S1155/H61/4GbDDR3-1333/1024MbHD6770/HDD 500Gb-7200-16Mb/DVD+-RW/Sound 7.1/GLAN/ATX 450W

If you look carefully at this inscription, you can guess that the various components of the system unit are indicated through a slash; try to determine which ones yourself first, and then you can check our answer.

• Core i5-2310 - Processor from Intel of the Corei5 family. By its model number (2310) you can find out that its clock frequency is 2.9 GHz.
• S1155 - processor socket on a Socket 1155 type motherboard
• H61 is a motherboard chipset from Intel.
• 4Gb DDR3-1333 - the amount of installed third-generation RAM is 4 GB. Memory clock frequency 1333 MHz.
• 1024Mb HD6770 - Radeon video card from AMD/ATI (clear from the HD index) with a video memory capacity of 1024 MB. The index 6770 tells us that the graphics adapter belongs to the middle class.
• HDD 500Gb-7200-16Mb - the hard drive has a capacity of 500 GB, a spindle speed of 7200 rpm and a 16 MB buffer.
• DVD+-RW - the computer has an optical drive with the ability to read, write and rewrite CDs and DVDs.
• Sound 7.1 - has a built-in seven-channel sound card
• GLAN - there is a wired built-in network card with a data transfer speed of 1 Gbit.
• ATX 450W - a case designed to install an ATX form factor motherboard and a power supply with a power of 450 Watts.

See how much information about a product can be gleaned from its name with a certain knowledge of computer hardware. Now, to consolidate the material, let's decipher the typical name of a laptop. And although its name has some meanings that may not be clear to you, after our decoding you will be fully armed.

Laptop 15.6”/i7-2630QM(2.00)/4Gb/GTX460M-1Gb/750Gb/DVD-RW/Wi-Fi/BT/Cam/W7HP64

• 15.6” is the diagonal size of the laptop screen.
• i7-2630QM(2.00) - This entry should already be clear to you. Processor from Intel of the Corei7 family with a clock frequency of 2 GHz (indicated in parentheses). True, the clock frequency and other characteristics of the processor can always be determined by knowing its model, which is always indicated after the family. In our case it is 2630QM.
• 4Gb - amount of RAM. As you can see, it is listed here without any details about the type of memory and its bandwidth.
• GTX460M-1Gb is a GeForce video card with an nVidia graphics processor (this can be understood by the abbreviation GTX) and 1 GB video memory. Based on the GPU model (GTX460), we see that this graphics adapter belongs to the class of performance solutions. The letter “M” in the name of the video chip indicates that it was produced for mobile devices.
• 750Gb - hard drive with a capacity of 750 GB.
• DVD-RW - the laptop has an optical drive with the ability to read, write and rewrite CDs and DVDs.
• Wi-Fi - the laptop has a wireless network adapter installed.
• BT - the laptop is equipped with BlueTooth wireless communication technology (Bluetooth), which is now used mainly for connecting peripheral devices (mice, headphones, etc.) and mobile phones.
• Cam-laptop has a built-in webcam - a digital video and photo camera capable of capturing images in real time for further transmission over the network.
• W7HP64 - as a rule, at the end of the laptop configuration, the operating system preinstalled on it is indicated. In this case, it is Windows 7 Home Premium 64 bit.

With this, let me finish our educational program on the internal structure of personal computers. I hope this material will be not only educational for you, but also a good help if you independently purchase a new computer and components or upgrade your home PC.

BASIC DEFINITIONS OF COMPUTER SCIENCE

A PERSONAL COMPUTER (PC or IBM PC) is an electronic computer designed to work in dialogue with a person (user).

INFORMATION SCIENCE is a science that studies the structure and most general properties of information, its search, storage, transmission and processing using computers.

INFORMATION is information about objects and phenomena of the environment, their parameters, properties and condition.

FILE is a named memory area on external media. Files can store texts, documents, programs themselves, drawings, etc.

A DIRECTORY is a named location on a disk in which files are stored.

PROGRAMMING is the preparation of a problem for solving it on a computer.

ALGORITHM is a sequence of commands leading to a goal.

Computer generations

First generation computers on vacuum tubes (1946-1956). The speed of the first machines was several thousand operations per second.

Second generation- transistor computers (1956-1964). Transistor-based computers have dramatically reduced their size, weight, and power consumption, and increased their performance and reliability. A typical domestic car (Minsk, Ural series) contained about 25 thousand transistors.

Third generation- computers on microcircuits with a low degree of integration (1964-1971). Microcircuits made it possible to increase the speed and reliability of computers, reduce dimensions, weight and power consumption.

Fourth generation- computers based on microprocessors (1971-present). A microprocessor is an arithmetic and logical device, most often made in the form of a single microcircuit with a high degree of integration.

Fifth generation(promising) are computers that use new technologies and a new element base, for example, ultra-large integrated circuits, optical and magneto-optical elements, operating through ordinary spoken language, equipped with huge databases. It is also expected to use elements of artificial intelligence and recognition of visual and sound images. Such projects are being developed in leading industrialized countries.

COMPOSITION OF A PERSONAL COMPUTER

Personal computers have 2 parts: hardware - Hardware and software - Software.

The Personal Computer includes:

1) System unit;

2) Monitor;

3) Keyboard;

4) Mouse (standard PC configuration).

Any computer contains:

1) Arithmetic logic unit (ALU),

2) Storage device (memory),

3) Control device

4) Information input/output device (I/O) and has a program stored in its memory (John von Neumann architecture).

SYSTEM UNIT includes devices that enable the computer to operate: processor, random access memory (RAM), floppy and hard disk drives, power supply, etc.

CPU designed for calculations, information processing and computer control; RAM, floppy and hard disk drives - for storing information.

MEMORY Computers can be internal or external. Internal memory includes permanent storage (ROM-BIOS or CMOS Setup), RAM, cache, video memory. External memory devices include hard and floppy disk drives (HDD and FDD), CD-ROM, magneto-optical disk and tape drive.

STORAGES floppy disks (FDD) and hard disks (HDD) are used for permanent storage of information. When the power source is turned off, the information on floppy and hard drives is retained.

KEYBOARD designed for manually entering information into a computer. It contains keys for Latin and Russian letters, numbers, various characters and special function keys.

A computer keyboard consists of 6 groups of keys:
1) Alphanumeric;
2) Controls (Enter, Backspace, Ctrl, Alt, Shift, Tab, Esc, Caps Lock, Num Lock, Scroll Lock, Pause, Print Screen);
3) Functional (F1-F12);
4) Numeric keypad;
5) Cursor control (->,<-, Page Up, Page Down, Home, End, Delete, Insert);
6) Function indicator lights (Caps Lock, Num Lock, Scroll Lock).

MONITOR(display) is designed to display information on the screen. There are text and graphic display modes. Displays reproduce color and monochrome images.

Video memory- this is a special RAM in which a graphic image is formed.

PORTS b There are parallel and sequential ones. A serial port transmits information bit by bit (slower) over a small number of wires. A mouse and modem are connected to the serial port. Through a parallel port, information is transmitted simultaneously over a large number of wires corresponding to the number of bits.

3. The concept of software.

Software is a set of programs that allows you to organize the solution of problems on a computer. Computer software and architecture (hardware) form a complex of interconnected and diverse functional computer tools that determine the ability to solve a particular class of problems.

It is necessary to distinguish between software and mathematical software (MS).

MO- these are mathematical methods and algorithms that provide solutions to assigned problems. The software is divided into 3 classes: system software, application software and programming systems (tool systems).

1. System software organizes the process of information processing in a computer. The main part of the system software is the Operating System (OS). System software also includes programs for diagnosing and monitoring computer operation, archivers, antiviruses, disk maintenance programs, software shells, external device drivers, network software and telecommunications programs.

2. Application software designed to solve a certain class of user problems. There are application packages (for example, MS Works) and libraries of standard programs (for example, MathCad for calculating functions, plotting graphs and solving equations). Application software includes text and graphic editors, spreadsheets, database management systems (DBMS), graphic editors for computer-aided design (CAD) systems, automated workstations (AWS) for accountants, secretaries, etc., publishing, information and reference systems , training and testing programs, game programs. Examples of the most important application programs: Word, Excel, Works, Lexicon, Paint Brush, AutoCad.

3. The most important part of the software is Programming systems(tool systems) that allow you to develop new programs in programming languages. Examples of the most important programming systems: Turbo Pascal, QBasic, Borland C++, Visual Basic.

4. Concept of interface. Types of interfaces.

1. Interface is a way for a user to communicate with a personal computer, a user with application programs, and programs with each other. The interface is used for easy management of computer software. Interfaces can be single-tasking or multi-tasking, single-user or multi-user. Interfaces differ in the ease of software management, that is, in the way they launch programs. There are universal interfaces that allow all ways to launch programs.

2. Interface types.
Interfaces differ in the way they access program command files.
2.1. Command line (text) interface.
To control the computer, a command is written (entered from the keyboard) into the command line, for example, the name of the program’s batch file or service words specially reserved by the operating system. The command can be edited if necessary. Then the Enter key is pressed to execute the command. The

2.2. Graphical full screen interface.
It usually has a menu system with hints at the top of the screen. Menus are often drop-down (drop-down). To control the computer, the screen cursor or mouse cursor, after searching in the directory tree, is set to program command files (*.exe, *.com, *.bat) and the Enter key or the right mouse button is pressed to start the program. Different files may appear in different colors or have different designs. Directories (folders) are separated from files by size or design.

2.3. Graphical multi-window pictographic interface.
It is a desktop (DeskTop) on which icons (icons or program icons) lie. All operations are performed, as a rule, with the mouse. To control the computer, move the mouse cursor to the icon and start the program by clicking the left mouse button on the icon.