Computer hardware includes the core components that make your computer work. These include the motherboard, memory, video card, and hard disk drive (HDD or solid-state drive).
The motherboard connects all of these components and allows them to communicate with each other. It also provides expansion slots for additional hardware.
Motherboard
The Motherboard is the heart of a computer, and without it, your computer would be as lifeless as a skeleton. It connects all the components and allows them to work together, transferring data from input to output devices. It also protects them from dangerous power fluctuations that could ruin their circuitry.
Modern motherboards include traces that lead to slots into which the CPU (the computer’s mechanical brain) and memory (Random Access Memory) are placed. They also have connectors that support expansion cards, such as a graphics card.
Motherboards also house the BIOS and UEFI (Unified Extensible Firmware Interface) firmware, which manages how your computer starts up when it is turned on. They also provide USB ports, which allow compatible peripherals to be connected in a plug-in and plug-out fashion.
Processor
The processor is the brain of the computer and tells all other components what to do. It does all the arithmetic and computing work. It works with the clock speed to quickly process and temporary store information in the memory then save it permanently on the hard drive.
The CPU can have multiple cores which allows it to handle more than one task at a time. It also has special circuitry called an arithmetic logic unit to perform basic arithmetic and logical operations.
The CPU also has a cache memory that provides faster access to data and instructions than would be possible without it. It also has a floating point unit which can manipulate numbers more efficiently than the main microprocessor circuitry.
RAM
RAM is where short-term data like web pages and programs stay, putting them right in front of the processor. Its lightning-fast data access makes it perfect for processes and apps your computer is actively working on.
For example, when you click on a link to go to a new website, the capacitors and transistors in RAM turn on or off quickly, translating that link into the web page you see. Without RAM, those operations would take far longer to complete.
You can get RAM in a soldered-on form on a motherboard, or in removable modules called DIMMs that slot into the motherboard. Most computers allow you to upgrade the amount of RAM they have up to a certain limit. More RAM reduces the number of times the CPU must read data from slower storage, like a hard drive or solid state drive (SSD). These devices keep data around after your computer is shut down.
Graphics Card
A graphics card is an add-in component that helps your computer produce an image on a monitor. Also known as a GPU (Graphics Processing Unit), it is designed to offload graphical processing from your CPU, and it’s important for tasks like gaming and video editing.
The graphics card starts with a sequence of ones and zeros sent from the CPU via data bus lines to the GPU processor core. It uses algorithms to translate these pixels into shapes and colors that make up images, and then sends the results back to the monitor.
Graphics cards require significant amounts of power, so they use dedicated 6- or 8-pin connectors from your PSU to draw the necessary voltage. They may also include heat sinks and fans for thermal management.
Hard Drive
Hard drives are the main data storage device in your computer. They contain magnetic recording medium layered on high-precision disks called platters. The platters are divided into organizational elements known as tracks and sectors. The platters are suspended on an actuator arm, which is controlled by the drive’s electronics.
The actuator arm positions the head stack a few nanometers above the platter(s). The heads read and write data by producing lasting magnetic fields that indicate 1s or 0s. When a file is saved, the information in it is transmitted to the drive and converted into binary (1s and 0s).
The drives connect to the motherboard via dedicated interfaces, including ATA (Advanced Technology Attachment) for desktop PCs, SATA for notebook computers, and SAS and Fibre Channel for enterprise drives.