PC Components
Below is a list of the most common PC Components, what they are, and what they do.
CPU - The CPU or Processor is the engine underneath your PC. The CPU is responsible for taking information from various sources and distributing in successfully. A processors speed is measured in Hz, i.e how many cycles per section it can achieve, of which the higher the Hz rating (or MHz/GHz etc) the faster the processor.
RAM - RAM (or Random Access Memory/System Memory for short) can be thought of as the fuel for the engine (or Processor). It's no good having a 6 litre V12 engine under the bonnet if you are only feeding it thimbles of fuel at a time! Having sufficient Memory is crucial to the speedy operation of your computer. Insufficient Memory causes the computer to slow down as it cannot physically cram enough data through to the CPU to be processed fast enough.
Hard Drive - The Hard Drive (or Hard Disk) is where all your pictures, videos and general data is stored. People occasionally confuse Hard Drives with Memory as they are measured in the same units (Megabytes "MB" and Gigabytes "GB"), however they play very different roles. The hard disk will permanently store data for you, allowing access when needed, whereas System Memory will only store data for short periods of time before unloading it onto the CPU.
Motherboard - The Motherboard is a large Printed Circuit Board (or PCB) that could be thought of as the chassis of the PC. Although not strictly true (the chassis of the PC is infact the outer case) everything plugs into and bolts onto the Motherboard, and so if relating this to a car then it would indeed be the chassis. The motherboard links every component of the PC up and harmonizes the whole operation.
PC's include, but are not limited to the above components. There are other components that go into the making of a PC, however none are as important as the above.
I hope this Jargon Buster is of use, and if you would like to see explanations of any other PC component please feel free to email us.