LESSON 04 – IDENTIFYING COMPONENTS

 

LESSON NOTE

The key components that we will be focusing on will be:

 

  • Motherboard
  • CPU
  • RAM
  • Hard drive
  • Video card (GPU) & video ports

 

 

MOTHERBOARD

The motherboard connects all hardware components together.  You will find the CPU and RAM directly connected to it.  To locate it, you must open the computer case.  It will be the main board inside.

 

 

CPU

 

The Central Processing Unit is a chip that is located directly on the motherboard.  It is covered by a heatsink or a fan that help stop the CPU from overheating.

 

 

RAM

 

RAM is connected directly on the motherboard.  Each stick of RAM is an elongated integrated circuit board.  Motherboards usually have a few RAM slots that are placed side by side.

 

 

HARD DRIVE

 

The hard drive is a small rectangular box often located towards the front of the case.  It is sometimes hidden by the brackets that hold it in place. It can also be confused with CD-ROMs or old floppy drives.  One can distinguish them from other drives by checking to see if they open at the front.

 

 

VIDEO CARD

 

The video card is a circuit board that connects to the motherboard and has a video port at the back of the computer.

 

Some motherboards have a built-in video card called on-board video.  This can be verified by the presence of a monitor plug-in at the back of the motherboard.

 

VIDEO PORTS

 

There are a few common video ports that you should know in order to help you identify a video card.

 


VGA PORT

 

VGA is an older video port that was common until about 2014 on computers.  It was replaced by DVI and HDMI.  In their later years of production, the ports were a distinctive blue.

 


DVI PORT

 

The DVI port became popular in the early 2000s but was replaced fairly quickly by HDMI.

 


HDMI PORT

 

The HDMI port is the current port that dominates the market.  It is used in monitor video as well as television video which is very convenient.

 


DISPLAYPORT PORT

 

This DisplayPort port is expected to replace the HDMI port in the next few years (as of 2018).  It is already an option on video cards.

 


MINI DISPLAYPORT PORT

 

Instead of using the regular DisplayPort, laptops are using the mini version of the port seen on the right.