SYSTEM UNIT

-The main part of a

microcomputer, sometimes
called
the
chassis.
It
includes
the
following
parts:
Motherboard,
Microprocessor,
Memory
Chips,
Buses,
Ports,

External
parts of
System
Unit

Ports
sockets
used
in
connecting
external
devices.
External
connecting
sockets
located outside the
computer. This is a
pathway into and out

PS/2 Port

- 6-pins, lowspeed
serial
connections
commonly
dedicated to a

use
connect
monitor
display.

Video
port

to
the
or

Universal Serial
Bus (USB)- a high
speed
serial
interface that is
used
with

Parallel
ports
/printer
portuse
to
connect
older
printers. It has

LAN port (Network

port)A
physical
interface often used
for
terminating
twisted
pair
type
cables
used
to
connect
computers
onto
a
local-area

Serial
Intended
serial
mouse,
modems

portfor
type
and

Power

Port-

Intended
power cord.

for

Audio
Portsuse
to
connect external audio
devices.
-Microphone (Pink)- for
connecting microphone.
Earphone/speaker
(Yellow-Green)- use to
connect
external
speakers or earphones.

Power
Switch
button- it is use
to turn on/off the
unit

Reset Button- it
is use to restart
the system when
it freezes and all
fails (not one to

Power
LEDindicates
that
the computer is
switched on.

Internal
parts of
the
System
Unit

Hard Disk Drive

(HDD)
is
also
known
as
hard
drive. This is the
computer's
main
storage device used
to store all data on

Commonly,
hard
drives
are
permanently place in
an internal drive bay
located in front of
the system case and
are connected with
either ATA or a SATA

HARD DISK

Hard Disk Drive

Capacities:
Desktop
HDDs
typically
store
between 60 GB and
9
4 TB (1GB = 10

Hard Disk Drive

Connections:
PATA (Parallel ATA) and
SATA (Serial ATA) ports are
used for the connection of
hard drives and optical
S-ATA
drives.

Cable

IDE
(Integrated
Drive
Electronics)
ribbon cable- used
for connecting the
hard disk drive and
the CD-ROM drive to
the mother board.

S-ATA
(Serial
Advanced Technology
Attachment)
is
a
computer bus interface
for connecting host bus
adapters
to
mass
storage devices such as
hard disk drives and

Serial
ATA
was
designed to replace
the
older
AT
Attachment standard
(ATA; later referred
to as Parallel ATA or
PATA and often called

POWER SUPPLY
UNIT a metal cased
assembly
that
converts AC utility
power into special
low voltage required
by your computers

POWER SUPPLY
UNIT

Power
Molex
Connectors power
connector is a 4-pin
power
connector
found
in
most
computer
power
supplies. It is used to
provide power to large
internal
drives
like

Power
Connectors

 Berg connector
which is much
smaller and is
used to power
floppy drives.

ATX
connector

power

A connector that has

20 pins connector to
the mother board.
Modern power
connectors can have

AT
power
connector
have two 6 pin
connectors for
the

SATA
power
connector- A 15pin
SATA
power
connector use to
provide power to
Internal SATA DVD

CD-ROM/DVD-ROM
DRIVE is a device that uses
photo
diodes
to
detect
reflecting lights on optic discs
and uses a laser to read or
write data. Commonly, it uses
the same cables as hard
drives to connect to the
motherboard.

Types of CD-ROM/DVD-ROM
DRIVE

S-ATA OPTICAL DRIVE

IDE OPTICAL DRIVE

RANDOM
ACCESS
MEMORY: The personal
computer memory module
also known as Random
Access Memory (RAM) is a
piece of hardware that
allows stored data to be
accessed
randomly.
Its
main function is to store

Types of Random
Access Memory

SDRAM

usually
first

refers
to
generation
synchronous
DRAM,
which is slower than
subsequent

DDR

second
generation
of
synchronous
DRAM
memory chips . The chip
reads or writes two
words of data per clock
cycle. The DDR interface
accomplishes
this
by
reading and writing data
-

RAM- Ramdom Access

Memory

Read- Only Memory

(ROM)
Stores
programs
permanently. This means,
these programs cannot be
changed nor erased; they
can only be read. These
programs
are
already
present in the computer
when it was bought. They

ROM- Read Only Memory

CENTRAL
PROCESSING
UNIT:
The
CPU,
or
the
Central
Processing
Unit, is the brain of
the computer and
one of the most

Kinds of Central Processing Unit

PIN GRID ARRAY (PGA)

is a type of integrated
circuit packaging. The
package is square or
roughly square, and the
pins are arranged in a
regular array on the
underside
of
the

LAND GRID ARRAY

(LGA) is a type of
surface-mount
packaging for integrated
circuits (ICs) that is
notable for having the
pins
on
the
socket
rather
than
the

Motherboard-

a
big printed circuit
board.
The
main
circuit board of the
computer,
that
contains the CPU,
memory, expansion

EXPANSION CARD Also

known as an add-on
card, internal card or
interface adapter or
interface
card.
Expansion
cards
are
add-on cards that adds
other capability to your

VIDEO
CARD
is
commonly known as
graphics
accelerator
card, display adapter,
or graphics card. It is
responsible
for
producing the images
that you see on your

PCI VIDEO CARD

Sound Card
Enables
the
computer to output
sound
to
audio
devices, as well as
accept input from a

Chipsetschips
that
connects
the
microprocessor to the rest
of the motherboard and to
the rest of the computer

Chipsets:

Northbridge- is a
part of the chipsets
that
controls
the
high-speed channel
such
as
communicating with
RAM and graphics

Southbridge- is a
part of the chipset
manages
relatively
slower
devices such as
the
network

Complementary Metal Oxide

Semi-conductor-Random
Access Memory (CMOS RAM)

Stores
the
configuration of the
PC,
example;
password, disk types,
amount
of
memory
installed, current time

CMOS battery- used to

preserve
the
computers
clock time.