Getting Ready for OHS Open Heart Surgery!

What’s a PC? Personal Computer –These computers were originally designed by IBM in the 70s. Your computer at home is a PC. The workstations at KLDCS are PCs. Someone who uses a PC is called a USER

PC Parts (External) Typically, PCs have a Monitor, Tower (or case), a keyboard and a mouse. –Note: Anything you plug into the Tower is called a “peripheral device” (mouse, speakers, keyboard…)

PC Parts (Internal) There are 5 major components that make PCs work: –Hard Drive –CPU –RAM –Mother Board –Power Supply

Hard Drive Stores data magnetically (This means it doesn't disappear when the computer is switched off) Can store very large quantities of data. (200 Gb+) Read/write arm swings while the disks all spin

Hard Drive 2 Usually made of glass or aluminum with a magnetic coating. Very Shiny, and must be kept perfectly clean!

Hard Drive 3 Cons: Relatively slow access time. ( times slower than RAM!) Pros: Cheap memory ( $/mb) Non-volatile – This means you can turn the computer off and you don’t loose your stuff. NOTE: When you click “Save” you are putting your project on the HD.

CPU Central Processing Unit

CPU 2 Also Called a “Microprocessor” Everything that happens in a PC goes through the CPU. (just like your brain)

CPU 3 CPUs are made of billions of interconnected electric circuits. The speed of a CPU is measured in “Hertz” or “how many operations it can perform every second” A 2 GHz processor can do up 2 billion things each second!

RAM

“Random Access Memory” It is REALLY fast memory right near the CPU It holds currently running programs Stores Data Electronically  Volatile!

RAM 2 Computers these days have around 2 Gb of Ram. My first computer only had 1 Mb! That’s 2000 times less! Having more ram makes your computer faster, because less information needs to go out to the HD.

Mother Board (MOBO)

Mother Board The main circuit board in the PC. It Contains: -RAM -CPU -Video Card (Sends the signal to monitor) -Sound Card (Sends a signal to the speakers) -Much more!

Mother Boards It is the mother board that determines what components you can put in your machine. EX: If you want a fancy gaming video card, your mobo must be able to support it!

Power Supply The power supply converts the 110v AC power from your wall into the small amounts of power your computer needs to run. If you somehow bypass your power supply, your computer will likely explode.

Summary of Components Hard drive –Non-volatile, stores info magnetically, very large storage device. CPU – The brain! Everything that a PC does goes through the CPU. RAM – Really fast memory right by the CPU –Stores data of currently running programs –Stores info electrically Mother Board –Brings all the PC parts together Power Supply –Converts household power to power a computer can use!