Green Dragon Solutions

- for computer repairs and maintenance

'How Computers Work' Page

Hi there! While using your computer, some of you may wonder what goes on under the hood so to speak. Well the list of short explanations below will help with some of this curiosity

• A processor - typically these days ( March 2010) a minimum of a dual core or quad core Intel/AMD processor is found in new computers. It resides on the motherboard under a heatsink and fan. Its purpose is to do most of the additions, subtractions and comparisons.



• A motherboard - this connects all the other parts together. It has the usb, keyboard, mouse, floppy drive, hard drive (PATA or SATA - explained later), DVD drive, sound and video (on low and mid range motherboards) connections on it. It also has the memory slots (minimum of 2).



• A hard drive - This contains the Operating System (Windows XP, Vista, 7, Linux or other), your installed programs and most importantly YOUR DATA.



• Memory - 1GB is absolute minimum for a Vista or Windows 7 system. This is the 'workspace' of the computer (more on this later).



• A video card or video chipset - The video card (on high end or better mid range systems) is not, as some people might think, used for creating videos or playing them (though it is involved), it is responsible for displaying the picture on your screen (more on this later)



• An input device or devices - typically these are a mouse and keyboard and it is possible to use just one or the other but using both is the best option.



• An operating system - usually Windows on PCs (or linux), Mac OS (on Apple macs - not dealt with here) or possibly Unix (very complex so will not deal with it here ).



• A power supply - This is part of the case so it should be a power supply and case. This supplies DC power at 3.3, 5 and 12 volts to the motherboard.