Computer parts


In this section I tried to give answers to the following questions:

The system unit

When speaking about a system unit, (or the computer) one usually refers to the box where the drives, the on/off switch, the sockets for printer, mouse and keyboard, etc., are located.
The main effort of this course is to clarify what is in this system unit, how does it look like, and what can be done if it is broken. Peripheral devices, like printers, scanners, monitors, mice, keyboards, hence everything outside this box, are not covered in detail.

What components does a computer consist of?

Every computer must have

Central processing unit Motherboard
Random access memory Power supply


Personal computers normally also contain

Graphic Adaptor Network card
Sound card Modem


For durable saving of calculation results and application programs most computers contain components for data storage:

Storage controller Hard disk drive
Floppy disk drive CD-ROM drive
CD writer Tape drive
Zip drive MO drive


Additional components:

Fans UPS power supply


© 2000 Peter Gallert, last updated on 30 April 2001