Year 7 Digital Technologies

Hardware Basics

What are the SEVEN (7) ESSENTIAL PARTS to a PC?

The seven essential parts to a computer are Case, Power supply, Motherboard, CPU, RAM, Hard
drive and Graphics card

What is a MOTHERBOARD? How is it used in a PC?

The mother board is a wide and flat circuit board that other components connect to and lets all the other
components send electrical currents composing data between each other.

What does CPU stand for? How is it used in a PC?

CPU stand for Central Processing Unit or processor and is used for ‘doing things’ and is the ‘brains of the
computer it has a very low data storage but can quickly read and arrange data. It can also do the type of quick
and massive calculations needed to run your programs.

RAM stand for Random Access Memory or Memory. It stores your data/files like the Hard Drive but has a small
storage space with almost instant accessibility. Allows you to run more fancier programs.

What does RAM stand for? How is it used in a PC?

What is a HARD DRIVE? How is it used in a PC?

A hard drive is a Disk drive or storage. It is where all your data/files is stored, they have a large storage space
but have slow access to get to the information. Allows you to have more installed and have more
videos/pictures.

What does GPU stand for? How is it used in a PC?

GPU stand for Graphics Processing Unit. A stand\alone computer. It is used to figure out what pixels need to
light up on your screen using what colour and at what time.

What is the difference between the HARD DRIVE and RAM? How do they work together?

A Hard Drive is different to a RAM as a hard drive can allow you to install more, all your data/files are stored, has a large
storage space but slow access and a RAM has small storage, almost instant storage access and allows you to run more
fancier programs but they work together to run all the apps and the Hard Drive holds the apps you don’t need till the
RAM comes and takes them when you are using them.

What COMPONENTS are used when running a HIGH-RES VIDEO-GAME and how do they work together?
A CPU for making it a 3D world and it does that by using data from your RAM which was loaded from the Hard Drive but
your Graphics Card tries to make your screen look like what it is meant to look like.

So, you need

CPU, RAM, Hard Drive, and a Graphics Card.

Year 7 Digital Technologies
Individual Research (Hardware)

What does USB mean? What is a USB used for?

Universal serial bus. It is used to connect computers with peripheral devices.

What is an EXTERNAL DRIVE? What is it used for?

An External/Removable Hard drive. It backs up the computers and transfers data between them.

Name FIVE (5) EXTERNAL HARDWARE DEVICES to a PC and how they OPERATE:
- Mouse. A mouse is a hand held pointing device that moves a cursor around a computer screen.
- Keyboard. A keyboard sends information/instructions to a computer telling it what key they pressed
- Touchpad. Is another way to control the pointer on the screen
- USB Flash Drive. Used for Storage, supplementary backups and transferring computer files.
- Memory Card- Electronic storage

Why can’t OLD SOFTWARE run on CURRENT/NEW COMPUTERS? List some reasons below:

Problem-solving; What is a procedure to follow if the PC SPEAKERS weren’t producing any SOUND?

Problem-solving; What is a procedure to follow if the DISPLAY SCREEN is UNRESPONSIVE? (e.g., mouse/keyboard
frozen)