1. Computer Hardware Components

2. Cases There are desktop cases and tower cases.

3. Cases The advantage of desktop cases is that they save space, resting under the computer monitor.

4. Cases The advantage of tower cases is that they offer more room for expansion and provide better air flow for cooling.

5. Cases Power Supply Types AT (Named for the IBM AT) ATX (Manufactured by Intel)

6. Cases Cases must match motherboards. If you have an AT motherboard, you will need ant AT case. If you have an ATX motherboard, you’ll need an ATX case.

7. Power Supplies The power supply can be AT or ATX. Power supplies have built in cooling fans. AT Power Supply ATX Power Supply

8. Motherboards The motherboard, or main board, is the vehicle for all data to flow from one part of the computer to the other. Everything in the case connects to the motherboard. (Intel Motherboard)

9. Motherboards AMD Motherboard Intel Motherboard

10. Motherboards Parallel Port Processor Socket RAM Slots IDE Slots

11. Motherboards PCI Slots AGP Slot Battery Heatsink

12. Motherboards USB Ports Ethernet Ports PS/2 Ports Audio in/out

13. Processors The processor, sometimes called the CPU, is the brain of the computer. AMD ProcessorIntel Processor

14. Processors The heat sink attaches to the top of the processor. The fins of the heatsink displace the heat emitted from the processor. Quite often, a fan is mounted to the top of the heatsink to increase cooling. Cooling Fan Heatsink

15. Processors This processor has a heatsink and a cooling fan mounted on it. Heatsink Cooling Fan

16. Memory RAM chips are inserted into slots on the motherboard. RAM Memory Chips (DIMMs)

17. Sound Cards If your computer has speakers or a headphone jack, it has a sound card.

18. Video Cards Video cards today are so powerful that many have their own processor built right onto the card. This video card fits in an AGP (Accelerated Graphics Port) for better performance.

19. Hard Drives The hard drive is the most common storage device on the computer. It is much more stable and dependable than a floppy disk.

20. Hard Drives This is the inside of a hard drive. Platters Read/Write Head Actuator

21. Floppy Disc and Drive Floppy drives were the primary means of storing data when users wanted to transfer the data from one computer to another.

22. Floppy Drives The stepper motor spins the magnetic disk inside the plastic cartridge.

23. Floppy Drives The read/write head adds and removes data from the disk.

24. Floppy Drives The inside of a magnetic disk looks like this.

25. CD Drives This is the inside of a CD drive.

26. CD Drives This diagram illustrates the layers of a CD-Rom. The data pattern is imprinted on the plastic surface of the CD. It is then coated with a layer of aluminum, which reflects light, allowing the lens to read the imprints.

27. DVD vs. Blu-Ray a DVD uses a red laser to read and write data, the new format uses a blue-violet laser instead, hence the name Blu-ray. Photo and information from http://www.blu-ray.com/info / Blu-ray drive

28. USB flash drive Flash memory is considered a solid state storage device. Solid state means that there are no moving parts -- everything is electronic instead of mechanical. http://electronics.howstuffworks.com/flash-memory.htm Photo from: wikipedia