Information Sheet 1.

1-5
System Unit Internal Components
Learning Objectives:

After reading this INFORMATION SHEET, YOU MUST be able to:

1. Identify basic computer parts functions.

Computer System Unit parts Usage

1.Computer Case Also known as a computer chassis, tower, system
unit, cabinet, base unit or simply case and
sometimes incorrectly referred to as the "CPU"
or "hard drive",[1][2] is the enclosure that contains
most of the components of a computer (usually
excluding the display, keyboard and mouse)

2.Power supply A power supply unit (PSU) converts mains AC to

low-voltage regulated DC power for the internal
components of a computer. Modern personal
computers universally use a switched-mode
power supply. Some power supplies have a
manual selector for input voltage, while others
automatically adapt to the supply voltage.

3.Motherboard The motherboard controls all the electronic

signals that are passed between all the other
components on the computer. Think of it as the
central nerves system, connecting all the parts of
your body.

4.CPU A CPU is the brain of the computer is responsible

for handling all instructions and calculation it
receives from other hardware components in the
computer and software programs running on the
computer. The larger the processor and amount
of processors means it can make more
 calculations per seconds and return results to
software or hardware more

5.CPU Coolers It is required to remove the waste heat produced

by computer components, to keep components
within permissible operating temperature limits.

6.RAM RAM provides the computer with space to do its

calculations very quickly, once it has done the
calculations if forgets everything it just did.

7.Optical drive Is a disk drive that uses laser light or

electromagnetic waves within or near the visible
light spectrum as part of the process of reading
or writing data to or from optical discs. Some
drives can only read from certain discs, but
recent drives can both read and record, also
called burners or writers. Compact discs, DVDs,
and Blu-ray discs are common types of optical
media which can be read and recorded by such
drives.

8.Hard Drive Is a data storage device used for storing and

retrieving digital information using one or more
rigid ("hard") rapidly rotating disks (platters)
coated with magnetic material. The platters are
paired with magnetic heads arranged on a
moving actuator arm, which read and write data
to the platter surfaces.[2] Data is accessed in a
random-access manner, meaning that individual
 blocks of data can be stored or retrieved in any
order rather than sequentially. HDDs retain
stored data even when powered off.

9.Floppy Drive Floppy disks are read and written by a floppy

disk drive (FDD).

10. IDE cables Is an interface standard for the connection of

storage devices such as hard disk drives, floppy
disk drives, and optical disc drives in computers.
The standard is maintained by the X3/INCITS
committee.[1] It uses the underlying AT
Attachment (ATA) and AT Attachment Packet
Interface (ATAPI) standards.

11. SATA cables Is a computer bus interface that supports both

Serial ATA (SATA) and PCI Express (PCIe) storage
devices, initially standardized in the
SATA 3.2specification. The SATA Express
connector used on the host side is backward
compatible with the standard 3.5-inch SATA data
connector,[2] while it also provides two PCI
Express lanes as a pure PCI Express connection to
the storage device.[3]
 Information Sheet 1.1-6
Learning Objectives:

After reading this INFORMATION SHEET, YOU MUST be able to:

1. Identify the Ports at the back of the system unit and its functions.

AT THE BACK OF THE SYSTEM UNIT

Power Input
Ports at the back of the System Unit
Ports Usage
1.Power input It is where you connect the power cable
2.PS2 mouse port It is a 6-pin mini-DIN connector used for
connecting some keyboards and mice to a PC
compatible computer system. Its name comes
from the IBM Personal System/2 series of
personal computers, with which it was
introduced in 1987.
It is where you connect the mouse
3.PS2 keyboard port The PS/2 designs on keyboard and mouse
interfaces are electrically similar and employ the
same communication protocol.
It is where you connect the keyboard
4.USB port Support devices like flash drive, web camera,
speaker, printer and other device with USB
connectivity.
5.Ethernet port/LAN port It is a family of computer networking
technologies for local area networks (LANs) and
metropolitan area networks (MANs).
It is where RJ45 with cable is connected
6.Serial port Older port use for connecting mouse, keyboard
7.LPT1/Parallel port/printer port It is where you connect printer with parallel
connectivity.
8.VGA port Video Graphics Array (VGA) connector is a three-
row 15-pin DE-15 connector. The 15-pin VGA
connector is found on many video cards,
computer monitors, and high definition
television sets.
It is where you connect you monitor with VGA
connectivity
9.Speaker port It is where you connect you speaker
10.Game port Old port use game connectivity like musical
instruments.