System Unit

SocketsA CPU socket or CPU slot is an electric component that attaches to a printed circuit board (PCB) and is designed to house a microprocessor. It is a special type of intergrated circuit socket designed for very high pin counts. A CPU socket provides many functions, including providing a physical structure to support the CPU, providing support for a heatsink, facilitating replacement (as well as reducing cost) and most importantly forming an electrical interface both with the CPU and the PCB. CPU sockets can most often be found in most desktop and server computers, particularly those based on the Intel x86 architecture on the motherboard.

Chips

A small piece of semiconducting materialon which an intergrated circuit is embedded. A typical chip is less than ¼-square inches and can contain millions of electronic components such as transistors. Computers consist of many chips placed on electronic boards ccalled printed circuit boards.

Slots

An opening in a computer where a circuit board can be inserted to add new capabilities to the computer. Nearly all personal computers except portables contain expansion slots for adding more memory, graphic capabilities, and support for special devices. The boards inserted into the expansion slots are called expansion boards, expansion cards , cards, add-in, and add-ons.
Expansion slots for PCs come in two basic sizes: half- and full-size. Half-size slots are also called 8-bit slots because they can transfer 8 bits at a time. Full-size slots are sometimes called 16-bit slots. In addition, modern PCs include PCI slots for expansion boards that connect directly to the PCI bus.

Bus lines

Graphics Card

An expansion card that interprets drawing instructions sent by the CPU, processes them via a dedicated graphics processor and writes the resulting frame data to the frame buffer. Also called video adapter (the term "graphics accelerator" is no longer in use).

Sound Card

A sound card (also referred to as an audio card) is a peripheral device that attaches to the ISA or PCI on a motherboard to enable the computer to input, process, and deliver sound.
The sound card's four main functions are: as a synthesizer (generating sounds), as a MIDI interface, analog-to-digital conversion (used, for example, in recording sound from a microphone), and digital-to-analog conversion (used, for example, to reproduce sound for a speaker). The three methods of sound synthesis are through frequency modulation technology, wave table, and physical modeling.

Modem Card

The modem card that is placed in the PCI slot of your computer operates at a faster speed. It is usually recommended for the average user but can cost more than other modem cards. The modem card that connects to the motherboard of your PC is more inexpensive than a PCI card but is not as reliable. A wireless modem card can fit into a computer's motherboard or it can be an external USB card. A wireless modem can also fit into a PCMCIA slot of a laptop. Wireless modem cards allow internet access by communicating with a router that is connected to a user's PC.

Network Interface Card

A computer network interface card (NIC) is the hardware added to the machine that allows it to communicate with the network. The hardware is now normally included with computers, especially in laptops that require wireless technology for network access. A network card is bound to an IP address, which is the address of the computer on the network. When deciding to create a large or small network, the NIC is a necessary component to consider.

Plug and Play

Plug and Play is a catchy phrase used to describe devices that work with a computer system as soon as they are connected. The user does not have to manually install drivers for the device or even tell the computer that a new device has been added. Instead the computer automatically recognizes the device, loads new drivers for the hardware if needed, and begins to work with the newly connected device.For example, if you connect a Plug-and-Play mouse to the USB port on your computer, it will begin to work within a few seconds of being plugged in. A non plug-and-play device would require you to go through several steps of installing drivers and setting up the device before it would work.While Plug and Play usually refers to computer peripheral devices, such as keyboards and mice, it can also be used to describe internal hardware. For example, a video card or hard drive may be a Plug and Play device, meaning the computer will recognize it as soon as it is installed. The only difference is that internal components usually require the computer to be turned off when they are installed, while external devices can typically be installed while the computer is running.

Serial Port

In computing, a serial port is a serial communication physical interface through which information transfers in or out one bit at a time. Throughout most of the history of personal computers, data transfer through serial ports connected the computer to devices such as terminals and various peripherals.

Parallel Port

A hardware interface that transfers one or more bytes simultaneously. A socket on a computer used to connect a printer or other device via a parallel interface (eight data bits transferring simultaneously). In the past, the parallel port was widely used for printers and occasionally for connecting other devices externally, but was superseded by USB.

Universal Serial Bus Port

(Universal Serial Bus is a widely used hardware interface for attaching a maximum of 127 peripheral devices to a computer. There are usually at least two USB ports on laptops and four USB ports on desktop computers. After appearing on PCs in 1997, USB quickly became popular for connecting keyboards, mice, printers and external drives and eventually replaced the PC's serial and parallel ports.USB devices are "hot swappable;" they can be plugged in and unplugged while the computer is on. This feature, combined with easy-to-reach ports on the front of the computer case, gave rise to the ubiquitous USB drive for backup and data transport.

Firewire Port

This high-speed interface has become a hot new standard for connecting peripherals (no pun intended). Created by Apple Computer in the mid-1990's, Firewire can be used to connect devices such as digital video cameras, hard drives, audio interfaces, and MP3 players, such as the Apple iPod, to your computer. A standard Firewire connection can transfer data at 400 Mbps, which is roughly 30 times faster than USB 1.1. This blazing speed allows for quick transfers of large video files, which is great for video-editing professionals. If 400 Mbps is still not fast enough, Apple Computer released new PowerMacs with Firewire 800 ports in early 2003. These ports support data transfer rates of 800 Mbps -- twice the speed of the original Firewire standard.