 The Motherboard - A large printed printed circuit board that connects all the parts

together. Most of the computer’s ports are located on the motherboard. It also holds some
lesser chips such as the Chipset (which is actually one chip. It used to be multiple chips, but
on modern platforms the functions of these chips have been either moved directly onto the
CPU, or onto one chip which is surface mounted to the motherboard.) It holds a socket for
the CPU, slots for RAM, as well as various other connectors for expansion, including PCIe,
USB and SATA. It also holds the CPU voltage regulation module as well as other power
delivery circuitry. Features and exact expansion and ports vary from one model to another. It
is the primary determiner of features on the computer.

 CPU Cooler - This is usually a heatsink with a fan on it, however it can also sometimes
be a watercooling system. Its role is to dissipate heat from the CPU into the air.

 Random Access Memory (RAM) - This is where data relating to what you are currently
doing is stored. It is a very fast-access type of memory, but it is volatile, meaning that it is not
for long term storage, and loses all the data it holds when powered off. RAM is made in chips,
but each chip holds very little. In desktops and laptops, there are multiple chips that are
surface mounted to a PCB that is inserted into RAM slots on the motherboard. In laptops, it
is sometimes surface mounted directly to the motherboard.
 The Graphics Card or Video Card - This is different from a GPU. The GPU (Graphics
Processing Unit) is the chip that handles graphics processing in a particular computer. The
GPU is surface mounted to the Graphics Card, but the graphics card also has power delivery
circuitry, cooling, and video output ports.

 The Power Supply - The name is self-explanatory. It supplies power to the different
components in a computer. It is usually internal, but sometimes can be an external brick, in
which case the motherboard contains additional power delivery circuitry.

 Hard Disk Drives - Slow, long-term data storage. They are inexpensive, so usually used
as a secondary drive to store large amounts of data that does not need to be accessed quickly.

 Mass Storage Device

If you were surprised that your computer's memory is actually not where your epic archive of college-era
MP3s lives, the computer's mass storage device has you covered. This is where data is actually written,
stored and accessed for the long term, whether it's your old phone's 32-gigabyte SD card or your new
laptop's 1-terabyte of hard-disk storage. When a computer needs to access program or app data or bring
up a file that you saved six months (or six years) ago, that data comes from its storage device.

 Keyboard
The keyboard is one of the main ways to communicate with a computer. There are many different types
of keyboards, but most are very similar and allow you to accomplish the same basic tasks.

 Mouse
The mouse is another important tool for communicating with computers. Commonly known as
a pointing device, it lets you point to objects on the screen, click on them, and move them.

 The Central Processing Unit (CPU) - This term is often erroneously used to refer to a
computer tower. It is the primary chip that performs most of the computing tasks of a the
computer. Major manufacturers are Intel and AMD. It is the primary determiner of a
computer’s performance.
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