Part 4. Other computer components

We have covered the main components of your computer in previous articles so in this instalment we cover the remaining components.

Power Supply (PSU)

The PSU normally sits at the very top of your PC but can also be found at the bottom. The PSU has allot of cables with different types of plugs to power your devices and come with various power outputs depending on the power requirements of your components. Ensuring your power supply is in good working order is important because sometimes a faulty PSU can damage major components in the PC.

Sound Cards

Just like video cards, sound cards can either be purchased separately or come integrated with the motherboard. Every motherboard now comes with on board sound so unless your an audiophile you wouldn't need a separate sound card because the quality of on board sound is sufficient enough and even come in 5.1 configuration for surround sound. The inputs for the speakers are colour coded for easy set-up.

Optical Drives

The optical drives are your DVD or CD players. CD players are obsolete now as DVD players can also read CD's. If you want to copy files to a disc you would need an DVD/RW (DVD Re-Writable) player. The term used for copying files to a disc is called "burn" and to copy files from a disk is to "rip".

Peripherals

Peripherals are devices connected to your computer like the printer, keyboard & mouse. They connect using a USB (Universal Serial Bus) cable which is plugged into the computer. USB ports on the computer can be found on the back and in some cases on the front. The keyboard & mouse can still use the PS2 connection method. These too are color coded for easy connection.

Well, that was a quick series! I could go into great detail about each component but the point of this series was to give a brief understanding of how things work and not boggle your mind with information you won't understand.

Stay tuned for more computer basics.