A central processing unit (CPU) is the electronic circuitry within a computer that carriesout the instructions of a computer program by performing the basic arithmetic, logical, control and input/output (I/O) operations specified by the instructions. Traditionally, the term "!"" refers to a processor, more specifically to its processing unit and control unit ("), distinguishing these core elements of a computer from e#ternal components such as main memory and I/O circuitry.$%&!rincipal components of a !" include the arithmetic logic unit (A'") that performs arithmetic and logic operations, processor registers that supply operands to the A'" and store the results of A'" operations, and a control unit that fetches instructions from memory and "e#ecutes" them by directing the coordinated operations of the A'", registers and other components..A RAM slot or what is sometimes called an e#pansion slot is a rectangular slot that is built into the motherboard. A (A) slot is used to place e#pansion cards in it, such as (A) cards to increase the amount of (A) that is on the computer. The main purpose of the (A) slot or e#pansion slot, is *ust for the user to be able to increase the amount of (A) on their computerA hard disk drive (HDD), hard disk, hard drive or fixed disk$b& is a data storage de+iceused for storing and retrie+ing digital information using one or more rigid ("hard") rapidly rotating dis,s (platters) coated with magnetic material. The platters are paired with magnetic heads arranged on a mo+ing actuator arm, which read and write data to theplatter surfaces.$%& -ata is accessed in a random.access manner, meaning that indi+idual bloc,s of data can be stored or retrie+ed in any order rather than se/uentially. 0--s retain stored data e+en when powered off.A computer fan is any fan inside, or attached to, a computer case used for acti+e cooling,and may refer to fans that draw cooler air into the case from the outside, e#pel warm air from inside, or mo+e air across a heat sin, to cool a particular component.As processors, graphics cards, (A) and other components in computers ha+e increased in speed and power consumption, the amount of heat produced by these components as a side.effect of normal operation has also increased. These components need to be ,ept within a specified temperature range to pre+ent o+erheating, instability, malfunction and damage leading to a shortened component lifespan.

A power supply is an electronic de+ice that supplies electric energy to an electrical load. The primary function of a power supply is to con+ert one form of electrical energy to another and, as a result, power supplies are sometimes referred to as electric power con+erters. 1ome power supplies are discrete, stand.alone de+ices, whereas others are built into larger de+ices along with their loads. 2#amples of the latter include power supplies found in des,top computers and consumer electronics de+ices.

erial A!A (A!A, abbre+iated from erial A! Attachment$%&) is a computer bus interface that connects host bus adapters to mass storage de+ices such as hard dis, dri+es and optical dri+es. 1erial ATA succeeded the older !arallel ATA (!ATA) standard,$a& offering se+eral ad+antages o+er the older interface3 reduced cable si4e and cost (se+en conductors instead of 56 or 76), faster data transfer through higher signalling rates, and more efficient transfer through an (optional) I/O /ueuing protocol.1ATA host adapters and de+ices communicate +ia a high.speed serial cable o+er two pairsof conductors. A data ca"le is any media that allows baseband transmissions (binary 8,6s) from a transmitter to a recei+erData cables are an important part of a computer, as they provide a connection between various hardware components. This enables a computer to communicate with its own various parts. A data cable alsoenables a computer to communicate with additional computers.\A CD#R$M / si di r m/ is a pre.pressed optical compact disc which contains data. The name is an acronym which stands for "Compact Disc Read#$nly Memory". omputers can read -.(O)s, but cannot write to -.(O)s which are not writable or erasable."ntil the mid.%666s, -.(O)s were popularly used to distribute software for computersand +ideo game consoles. 1ome -s, called enhanced -s, hold both computer data and audio with the latter capable of being played on a - player, while data (such as softwareor digital +ideo) is only usable on a computer (such as I1O 9::6 format ! -.(O)s).

A floppy disk, also called a diskette, is a dis, storage medium composed of a dis, of thin and fle#ible magnetic storage medium, sealed in a rectangular plastic carrier lined with fabric that remo+es dust particles. ;loppy dis,s are read and written by a floppy disk drive (;--).;loppy dis,s, initially as 7.inch (%66 mm) media and later in > mm) and >?.inch (96 mm) si4es, were a ubi/uitous form of data storage and e#change from the mid.89@6s well into the %666s.$8&In electronic systems, a heat sink is a passi+e heat e#changer that cools a de+ice by dissipating heat into the surrounding medium. In computers, heat sin,s are used to cool central processing units or graphics processors. 0eat sin,s are used with high.power semiconductor de+ices such as power transistors and optoelectronics such as lasers and light emitting diodes ('2-s), where the heat dissipation ability of the basic de+ice is insufficient to moderate its temperature.Random#access memory (RAM /rAm/) is a form of computer data storage. A random.access memory de+ice allows data items to be read and written in appro#imately the sameamount of time, regardless of the order in which data items are accessed.$8& In contrast, with other direct.access data storage media such as hard dis,s, -.(Bs, -C-.(Bs and the older drum memory, the time re/uired to read and write data items +aries significantly depending on their physical locations on the recording medium, due to mechanical limitations such as media rotation speeds and arm mo+ement delays.A computer's audio ports link the computer's sound hardware with yourspeakers, microphone, headsets or other audio equipment. Every computer motherboard has at least a few basic audio ports built in, allowing you to connect stereo speakers and a microphone. igher!endmotherboards and computers with discrete audio cards include additional ports for connecting surround!sound speakers or e"ternal sound systems.A network port is a number that identifies one side of a connection between two computers. omputers use port numbers to determine to which process or application a message should be deli+ered. As networ, addresses are li,e street address, port numbers are li,e suite or room numbers. Any program may use any port, though some port numbers ha+e a standard use and some programs may be limited in which ports they can use for security reasons. ;irewalls often bloc, access to ports based on the networ, address and port of the source or destination computer, or the program using the port (if the firewall is running on the same computer).A "1D port is a standard cable connection interface on personal computers and consumerelectronics. "1D ports allow stand.alone electronic de+ices to be connected +ia cables to a computer (or to each other)."1D stands for "ni+ersal 1erial Dus, an industry standard for short.distance digital data communications. "1D allows data to be transferred between de+ices. "1D ports can also supply electric power across the cable to de+ices without their own power source.I-2, an acronym for Integrated Drive Electronics, is a standard type of connection for storage de+ices in a computer.Eenerally, I-2 it refers to the types of cables and ports used to connect some hard dri+es and optical dri+es to each other and to the motherboard.1o an I-2 cable, then, is a cable that meets this specification.A capacitor is a small electrical component on your motherboard that can perform various functions. First of all, capacitors condition DC voltage to the components and thus provide a steady power supply. Electrical components are very sensitive to voltage swings, and as such a power spike can kill those expensive parts. e don!t want that now, do we" #herefore a capacitor is placed inline to the component, allowing for absorbing of spikes and supplementing valleys, keeping a constant power supply to the component.$econd, a capacitor can store an electronic charge to be discharged at a later date.#hink of a camera %ash for example. A typical battery cannot release large amounts of electrons at any given point in time, and therefore a capacitor is installed into the camera to build up a charge, which is then released all at once for the %ash. &emember when you couldn!t take a picture for a few seconds when using a %ash" #he capacitor needs time to build it!s charge from the battery, and therefore it is not ready to discharge yet.#he most common use of capacitors on motherboards is for conditioning power tothe components, and if the capacitor is bad, it will not condition the power. 'f you put a suck on the power, such as engaging in graphics intensive applications, the capacitor is drained of its reduced capacity and the component loses power, thus shutting down the (C or free)ing the screen.CMOS batteryA battery that maintains the time, date, hard disk and other configuration settings in the CMOS memory. CMOS batteries are small and are attached directly to the motherboardPC%&Conventional PC%, often shortened to PC%, is a local computer bus for attaching hardware de+ices in a computer. !I is the initialism for !eripheral omponent Interconnect and is$%& part of the !I 'ocal Dus standard. The !I bus supports the functions found on a processor Cideo cards ha+e outgrown the capabilities of !I because of their higher bandwidth re/uirementsbus but in a standardi4ed format that is independent of any particular processorFs nati+e bus. -e+ices connected to the !I bus appear to a bus master to be connected directly to its own bus and are assigned addresses in the processorFs address space.$>&$page needed& It is a parallel bus, synchronous to a single bus cloc,. The Accelerated 'raphics Port (often shortened to A'P) is a high.speed point.to.point channel for attaching a +ideo card to a computer system, primarily to assist in the acceleration of >- computer graphics. It was originally designed as a successor to !I.type connections for +ideo cards. 1ince %665, AE! has been progressi+ely phased out in fa+or of !I 2#press (!Ie)G by mid.%667, !I 2#press cards dominated the mar,et and only a few AE! models were a+ailable.$8&A#$ %Accelerated #raphics $ort& is a high!speed point!to!point channel for attaching a graphics card to a computer's motherboard, primarily to assist in the acceleration of (D computer graphics. A#$ has been replaced over the past coupleyears by $)* E"press. A#$ cards and motherboards are still available to buy, but they are becoming less common.A#$ +lotA Mother"oard (sometimes alternati+ely ,nown as the main"oard, system "oard, planar "oard or logic "oard,$8& or collo/uially, a mo"o) is the main printed circuit board (!D) found in computers and other e#pandable systems. It holds and allows communication between many of the crucial electronic components of a system, such as the central processing unit (!") and memory, and pro+ides connectors for other peripherals. "nli,e a bac,plane, a motherboard contains significant sub.systems such as the processor and other components.