Identifying the parts of a personal computer

Practical :Learning Outcome 1 of Unit 4

AIM: To setup the computer system.

Equipments and Components Required: 

Theory: The Mother Board There are primarily two types of motherboards, AT motherboard, and ATX motherboard. AT motherboards. The AT and ATX motherboards differ in the form factor. Full AT is 12" wide x 13.8" deep, and Baby AT is 8.57" wide x 13.04" deep. Full-ATX is 12" wide x 9.6" deep and Mini-ATX is 11.2" wide x 8.2" deep. Other major differences include power supply connector and keyboard connector. AT has 5-pin large keyboard connector, whereas ATX has 6-pin mini connector. Similarly, AT has single row two connectors +/-5V, and +/-12V, whereas ATX motherboard has double row single connector providing +/-5V, +/-12V, and +3.3V. 

The important constituent components of an ATX Motherboard are given below: 

1. Mouse & keyboard 2. Usb 3. Parallel port 4. Cpu chip 5. Ram slots 6. Floppy controller Port 7. Ide controller Port 8. Pci slot 9. Isa slot 10. Cmos battery 11. Agp slot 12. Cpu slot 13. Power supply plug in conector

1. Mouse & keyboard: Keyboard Connectors are two types basically. All PCs have a Key board port connected directly to the motherboard. The AT-style keyboard connector is quickly disappearing, being replaced by the smaller mini DIN PS/2-style keyboard connector.

2. USB (Universal serial bus): USB is the General-purpose connection for PC. You can find USB versions of many different devices, such as mice, keyboards, scanners, cameras, and even printers. a USB connector's distinctive rectangular shape makes it easily recognizable. USB has a number of features that makes it particularly popular on PCs. First, USB devices are hot swappable. You can insert or remove them without restarting your system. 

3. Parallel port: Most printers use a special connector called a parallel port. Parallel port carry data on more than one wire, as opposed to the serial port, which uses only one wire. Parallel ports use a 25-pin female DB connector. Parallel ports are directly supported by the motherboard through a direct connection or through a dangle. 

4. CPU Chip : The central processing unit, also called the microprocessor performs all the calculations that take place inside a pc. CPUs come in Variety of shapes and sizes.Modern CPUs generate a lot of heat and thus require a cooling fan or heat sink. The cooling device (such as a cooling fan) is removable, although some CPU manufactures sell the CPU with a fan permanently attached. 

5. RAM slots: Random-Access Memory (RAM) stores programs and data currently being used by the CPU. RAM is measured in units called bytes. RAM has been packaged in many different ways. The most current package is called a 168-pin DIMM (Dual Inline Memory module).

6. Floppy controller: The floppy drive connects to the computer via a 34-pin ribbon cable, which in turn connects to the motherboard. A floppy controller is one that is used to control the floppy drive. 

7. IDE controller: Industry standards define two common types of hard drives: EIDE and SCSI. Majority of the PCs use EIDE drives. SCSI drives show up in high end PCs such as network servers or graphical workstations. The EIDE drive connects to the hard drive via a 2-inch-wide, 40-pin ribbon cable,which in turn connects to the motherboard. IDE controller is responsible for controlling the hard drive.

8. PCI slot: Intel introduced the Peripheral component interconnect bus protocol. The PCI bus is used to connect I/O devices (such as NIC or RAID controllers) to the main logic of the computer. PCI bus has replaced the ISA bus. 

9. ISA slot (Industry Standard Architecture): It is the standard architecture of the Expansion bus. Motherboard may contain some slots to connect ISA compatible cards. 

10. CMOS Battery: To provide CMOS with the power when the computer is turned off all motherboards comes with a battery. These batteries mount on the motherboard in one of three ways: the obsolete external battery, the most common onboard battery, and built-in battery. 

11. AGP slot: If you have a modern motherboard, you will almost certainly notice a single connector that looks like a PCI slot, but is slightly shorter and usually brown. You also probably have a video card inserted into this slot.This is an Advanced Graphics Port (AGP) slot 

12. CPU slot: To install the CPU, just slide it straight down into the slot. Special notches in the slot make it impossible to install them incorrectly. So remember if it does not go easily, it is probably not correct. Be sure to plug in the CPU fan's power. 

13. Power supply plug in:The Power supply, as its name implies, provides the necessary electrical power to make the pc operate. the power supply takes standard 110-V AC power and converts into +/-12-Volt, +/-5-Volt, and 3.3-Volt DC power.

Different Components of a Motherboard and PC

CPU (Processor) :The central processing unit (CPU, occasionally central processor unit) is the hardware within a computer system which carries out the instructions of a computer program by performing the basic arithmetical, logical, and input/output operations of the system. 

SMPS (Switched mode Power Supply): A switched-mode power supply (switching-mode power supply, SMPS, or switcher) is an electronic power supply that incorporates a switching regulator to convert electrical power efficiently.

Cabinet A computer cabinet is an enclosure with fitted, fixed or removable side panels and doors. The cabinet contains a computer rack for mounting computers or other electronic equipment.

CPU heat Sink and fan : A computer fan is any fan inside, or attached to, a computer case used for active cooling, and may refer to fans that draw cooler air into the case from the outside, expel warm air from inside, or move air across a heat sink to cool a particular component.

RAM (Random Access Memory) : RAM (random access memory) is the place in a computer where the operating system, application programs, and data in current use are kept so that they can be quickly reached by the computer's processor. RAM is much faster to read from and write to than the other kinds of storage in a computer, the hard disk, floppy disk, and CD-ROM. However, the data in RAM stays there only as long as your computer is running. When you turn the computer off, RAM loses its data. When you turn your computer on again, your operating system and other files are once again loaded into RAM, usually from your hard disk.

HDD (Hard Disk Drive): The hard disk is housed inside the hard drive, which reads and writes data to the disk. The hard drive also transmits data back and forth between the CPU and the disk.

CD Writer : A CDROM (compact disk read-only memory), also written as CD-ROM, is a type of optical storage media that allows data to be written to it only once

Different Screws Used:

AGP (Accelerated Graphics Port) : Card Stands for "Accelerated Graphics Port." AGP is a type of expansion slot designed specifically for graphics cards. 

 LAN (Local Area Network) card : A network interface card (NIC) is a computer circuit board or card that is installed in a computer so that it can be connected to a network. Personal computers and workstations on a local area network (LAN) typically contain a network interface card specifically designed for the LAN transmission technology, such as Ethernet or token ring.