components

components

1. Fan-cools the components that may get hot

2. power supply-supplys power to the components

3. CPU-processes information (central processing unit)

4. Motherboard-connects all components

5. RAM-stores data while powered

   • Random access memory

6. Floppy Drive-reads and writes informatiom from floppy disks

7. Fetch-Decode-Execute cycle

   • The computer has a list of instructions in memory to carry out:
     • CPU fetches top instruction from the list
     • Instructions are passed to decoder to interpret, decoder passes on the instruction
     • Each instruction is executed or carried out and then the cycle restarts

8. ROM-read only memory

9. Processor speed

   • One cycle per second=1 Hertz (Hz)= 1 instruction carried out each second
     • 1 Kilohertz (1kHz)=1000 cycles per second
     • 1 megahertz (MHz)=1,000,000 cycles per second
     • 1 Gigahertz (GHz)=1,000,000,000 (1billion) cycles per second

10. Hard drive- Reads and writes data onto metal platters

11. Optical drive-reads and writes data stored on compact discs