Familiarization with the Various

Computer Systems’ Components and

Peripherals
 Major parts of a Computer:
Mother Board
Processor (CPU)
Memory (RAM)
Expansion Cards
Hard Disk Drive (HDD)
Floppy Disk Drive (FDD) – phase out
Optical Disc Drive
Monitor
Keyboard / Mouse
Power Supply
Casing
Other peripherals
Mouse
Keyboard
Monitor
Printer
Speaker
PC Microphone
Webcams
Scanner
External Hard Disk Drive
External Optical Disk Drive
 What is a computer motherboard?

A computer motherboard is the most

important part of a computer. It is the
main printed circuit board (PCB) in
the computer and is sometime
referred to as the system board or
mainboard.
Types of Motherboard
AT Motherboards - The oldest of the main
boards.
ATX Motherboards - The ATX
motherboards started in 90's and are still
available.
 Parts of the Motherboard
Expansion Slots
Memory Slots
Processor Slot
Chipsets(Northbridge and Southbridge)
BIOS
CMOS Battery
Kinds of Connectors
Back Panel
 EXPANSION SLOTS

A socket in a computer, designed to hold

expansion boards and connect them to the
system bus.
PCI (Peripheral component interconnect)
 computer to connect to peripheral add-
on devices, such as network cards,
sound cards, tv tuners, firewire cards,
graphics cards and many other types of
extension cards, allows for 32- or 64-bit
bus specification.
AGP (Accelerated Graphics Port)
 is a high-speed point-to-point channel
for attaching a video card to a
computer's motherboard, primarily to
assist in the acceleration of 3D
computer graphics.
 PCI-E (Peripheral Component
Interconnect Express)
 A high-speed peripheral interconnect
from Intel introduced in 2002. Initially
used for high-speed display adapters,
and intending to eventually replace the
PCI and AGP buses entirely, PCI
Express was designed to match the
higher speeds of today's CPUs.
Memory Slot
Memory slots also call memory
banks are for Random Access
Memory modules (RAM). Each
memory bank can receives a RAM
module designed for a specific pc
mother board.
 PROCESSOR SOCKET
Sockets are the home for your Central
Processor Unit (CPU). Several types of
socket exist, but only 2 of them are really
used, and both of them are used by Intel
and AMD.
Pin Grid Array (PGA) - With the type
PGA, the CPU will have pins to fit in the
socket holes.
Land Grid Array (LGA) - with the type
LGA, the CPU will not have such pins
and will just sit on the socket.
THE NORTH BRIDGE AND
THE SOUTH BRIDGE
BIOS
Another important component is the
basic system input/output system
(BIOS) chip which contains startup
programs such as the power on/self-
test (POST) and drives of the computer.
This chip controls communication
between the systems hardware and
operating system.
Battery
This battery is referred to as CMOS
(Complementary Metal Oxide
Semiconductor battery) and responsible
for keeping the time and date. It
usually has a life span of about 3 to 4
years.
Kinds of Connectors
Floppy connectors
IDE connectors/PATA connectors
SATA Connector
Power supply connectors
Panel wires connectors
Fan Connector
CPU Supplementary Connector
Audio Connector
Floppy connector
This is typically a connector slightly
smaller than the IDE connectors.
IDE Interface Connector
The Parallel Advance Technology
Attachment (PATA) interface is used to
connect hard drives and optic drives.
You can attach 2 drives on the same
ribbon, 1 master and the other slave,
and it supports almost all modern hard
drives storage capacities.
 SATA Interface Connector
Modern computer mother
boards have the new
interface called Serial
Advance Technology
Attachment (S-ATA). It is
faster than the ATA and
only 1 device can be
attached to it. The wire is
thinner than his
predecessor and surely
help at the cooling
process inside the
computer case.
 ATX Power Connector
This ATX (Advance Technology
Extended) form-factor power supply
connector is keyed to ensure proper
connection of the ATX lead.
CPU supplementary Power
Connector
On many
modern ATX
motherboards
there is an
additional power
connector that
provides power
solely to the
CPU.
Audio Connector
This links the audio output from those
devices to the motherboards audio
system so that sound can be output to
external speaker.
Fan Connector
Next to the Zif socket there is a three-
pin connector where the CPU fan plugs
in. This both powers the fan and
controls the fan sped and power-up
cycles. On some motherboards here
may be a second one of these to power
a case fan.
Panel wires connectors
Panel wires connectors
The basic front panel headers found on most motherboards are
those for the
H.D.D LED, HD - hard drive LED
POWER LED, PWR LED, PLED, - power LED
POWER SW, PWR SW, PW - power switch
RESET SW, RESET, RES - reset switch
SPEAKER, SPEAK - internal PC speakerHD AUDIO, AC' 97,
F_AUDIO - front panel headphone and microphone jack
USB, F_USB - front panel USB port-
Of these, the leads for the LEDs must be connected in the
proper polarity in order to work properly. The rest should be
connected in the proper polarity just for the sake of doing things
professionally, but they will work even if they're attached
backwards.
Back
Panel
 PROCESSORS
A computer cpu is the brain that runs
a computer. CPU (Central Processing
Unit) is the core chip to a computer. It
is placed in the cpu socket and from
here it forms an electrical interface with
the motherboard. A CPU is the most
important part in a computer.
A computer CPU is measured in megahertz
(Mhz) and more recently gigahertz (Ghz).
This is generally called the clock speed of
the CPU. The higher the amount of hertz
the greater amounts of cycles can be
completed and more information will be
processed. However, along with faster
processors comes more heat and thus
bigger and better fans have been placed
onto CPUs to keep them cooler.
Intel Corporation:
Pentium
Celeron
Atom

Type of Processor
PGA – Single Core
LGA – Dual Core to latest
AMD Corporation:
Athlon
Duron
Sempron
Socket FM2+

Type of Processor
PGA type only
Core i3
Developed and manufactured by Intel,
the Core i3 is a dual-core computer
processor, available for use in both desktop
and laptop computers. It is one of three types
of processors in the "i" series (also called the
Intel Core family of processors).
The Core i3 processor is available in
multiple speeds, ranging from 1.30 GHz up
to 3.50 GHz. It utilizes either the LGA 1150
or LGA 1155 socket on a motherboard.
Core i5
Developed and manufactured by Intel,
the Core i5 is a computer processor, available
as dual-core or quad-core. It can be used in
both desktop and laptop computers.
The Core i5 processor is available in multiple
speeds, ranging from 1.90 GHz up to 3.80
GHz, and it features 3MB, 4MB or 6MB
of cache. It utilizes either the LGA 1150 or
LGA 1155 socket on a motherboard.
Core i7
Intel Core i7 is a name that the company 
Intel uses for the computer processors it
makes for desktop and laptop computers. 
MEMORY or RAM (Read Access
Memory)
Computer RAM (random access
memory) is a volatile data storage
device. It is used by the computer
to temporarily store data. When
the computer is turned off all the
data stored on the computer
memory is lost.
SO DIMM [Small Outline DIMM]
- SO DIMMs are commonly used in
notebooks and are smaller than
normal DIMMs. There are two types of
SO DIMMs. Either 72 pins and a
transfer rate of 32 bits or 144 pins with
a transfer rate of 64 bits.
DIMM [Dual Inline Memory Module]

1. SDRAM or SDR SDRAM - SDR SDRAM

stands for: Single Data Rate Synchronous
Dynamic Random Access Memory.

SDR (Single Data Rate) just means that it

can transfer one piece of data in contrast
to DDR (Double Data Rate) which
transfers twice as much.
SDR SD-RAM varies from 8MB-512MB. The
common sizes were 32MB, 64MB and 128MB,
256MB and 512MB.
Approximately 5.375” x 1.375”
168 pins DIMM
DDR RAM or DDR SDRAM (Double Data
Rate Synchronous Dynamic Random
Access Memory) - the RAM transfers twice
as much data as the SDR (single data
rate) SDRAM does. DDR SDRAM has only
one notch (slightly more to one side).

Megabyte (MB) and Gigabytes (GB)

measure the size of DDR SD-RAM. They
vary in size from 128MB-1GB. The
common sizes are 256MB, 512MB and
1GB.
Approximately 5.375” x
1.25”
184 pins DIMM
DDR2(Double Data Rate 2Synchronous
Dynamic Random Access Memory) -memory
chips which is a new and better
standardized version of DDR using less
power.
 DDR2 SDRAM has only one notch (slightly
more to one side) and it differs from DDR
RAM because it is a thinner notch and
they are not in the same spot.
 240-pin DIMMs are available in DDR2 or
DDR3 SDRAM.
 They vary in size from 256mb-2Gb. The
common sizes are 512mb, 1Gb and 2Gb.
Approximately 5.25" X 1.18"
240 pins DIMM
DDR3 – Double Data Rate type three
Synchronous Dynamic Random-Access
Memory
with a high bandwidth ("double
data rate") interface,
supply voltages: 1.8 V or 2.5 V for
DDR2, and 1.5 V or 1.35 V for
DDR3. 
DDR3 standard permits DRAM
chip capacities of up to 8 gigabits.
DDR3 DIMMs have 240 pins and
are electrically incompatible with
DDR2.
A key notch—located differently in
DDR2 and DDR3 DIMMs—prevents
accidentally interchanging them. Not
only are they keyed differently, but
DDR2 has rounded notches on the
side and the DDR3 modules have
square notches on the side.
Description DDR1 DDR2 DDR3 DDR4

Chip Densities 128MB – 1 GB 256MB - 2GB 512MB – 8GB 4GB – 16GB

Data Rates 800Mb/s - 1600Mb/s –

2133Mb/s 3200Mb/s

Voltage 2.5V 1.8V 1.5V 1.2 V

Pins 184 pins 240 pins 240 pins 240 pins

Hard Disk Drives (HDD)
Is the storage facility for your
computer. It stores every
program installed and every
changed that is saved.
Types of Hard Disk Drive
IDE : Integrated Drive Electronics. IDE
drives are also known as PATA drives
(Parallel advance technology
attachment)
SATA - Serial advance technology
attachment 
IDE / PATA (Integrated Drive Electronics Drive /
Parallel Advance Technology Attachment Drive)

IDE/PATA Drives have usually 40 pins.

IDE/PATA Drives offer 133 MB/sec
transfer rate.
It sends 8 bit data at a time. 
PATA Cables are used to connect PATA
HDD. Two drives can be connected in a
single pata cable. One as master and
other as slave. The configuration of
master and slave is done by different
combination of jumpers in the HDD.
SATA (Serial Advance Technology
Attachment Drive)
SATA Drives have usually 7 pins, 4 pins
in pair of two for sending and receiving
data and rest 3 pins are grounded.
SATA Drives offers generally 300MB/sec
transfer rate.
It sends data bit by bit.
SATA Cables are used to connect SATA
HDD. Only one drive can be connected in
a single sata cable.
Latest Hard Disk Drive
Kinds of Hard Disk Drives:
Internal - All the hard drives that are
inside a computer are called internal
hard drives.
External - sit outside the computer in
a case and they connect to the
computer through USB, Firewire or
eSata.
 EXTERNAL HARD DISK DRIVE

EXTERNAL CD-ROM DRIVE

EXPANSION CARD
Also known as an add-on card,
internal card or interface adapter,
an expansion card is an electronic
board or card added in a desktop
computer or other non-portable
computer to give that computer a
new ability, such as the ability to
connect to another computer
using a network cable.
PCI CONNECTOR BUS

LAN Card
PCI CONNECTOR BUS
PCI CONNECTOR BUS

Firewire Card
AGP CONNECTOR BUS

Video Card
PCI-EXPRESS CONNECTOR BUS

Video Card
PCI-EXPRESS CONNECTOR BUS

Wireless Card
Sound card and audio cable
A computer sound card is an additional card that
is often included in the motherboard. A sound
card translates signals into sounds that can be
played back through speakers.
Underneath each port will be a small
engraving of what each port does.
The pink port is for a microphone which can
record sound to the computer.
The green port is line out and this is where
the speakers are connected to produce sound
from the computer.
The blue port is line in and this is for
connecting a CD-player or cassette tape to the
computer.
Power Supply
It is a transformer that changes 220 volt
of AC power line into 5 & 12 volt of DC
for the components of the computers.
ATX POWER SUPPLY
IDE CABLE
SATA CABLE