What Are the Names of Computer Chips?
If you decide to open your desktop tower, you'll see a typical variety of chips, including some of the major computer parts.
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Motherboard
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Motherboard When you look into a computer, the motherboard is the largest board, to which all other parts are connected. The motherboard's primary feature is the system bus, a series of wires that connects all the parts of the system in a line.
RAM
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RAM Random-access memory, or RAM, holds programs and their data while they are running. It is extremely fast compared with a hard drive or CD-ROM, but data is erased each time the machine is turned off and is relatively expensive per byte. It will look like two small rectangles protruding from the motherboard.
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CPU Fan
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CPU Fan The CPU fan, necessary to blow away the heat generated by the CPU, will look like a cube sitting on top of the motherboard.
CPU
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Two CPUs The central processing unit, or CPU, is the "brain" of the computer. It sits under the fan and looks like a flat square. It directs the other components on the computer as well as performing necessary mathematical computations.
PCI/AGP Cards and Slots
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Motherboard with Three PCI Slots. Lining the motherboard, near the outside of the box, will be a series of slots and corresponding holes in the plastic case (or tower). These can be either Peripheral Component Interconnect (PCI) or accelerated graphics port (AGP) slots, to which cards can be added to increase the functionality of the computer. Two common cards found in most computers are graphics and/or network cards.
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References
- Photo Credit Image by Flickr.com, courtesy of Blake Patterson Image by Flickr.com, courtesy of Garrette Image by Flickr.com, courtesy of Ivana Jurcic Image by Flickr.com, courtesy of Windell Oskay
