Graphics Processing Unit or GPU

A computer wouldn’t amount to much without the ability to see the data on the monitor. The GPU makes this possible. A GPU may come as an integrated solution that is physically on the motherboard or as a separate card. More expensive add-on cards like the GeForce GTX 280 come with a built-in processor. Just as the motherboard has a processor to handle directives, the GPU’s processor handles the load for rendering images on-screen.

NVIDIA and AMD/ATI are the two major GPU manufacturers for PCs. We have guides which explain each company’s current GPU models which may be useful if you want to learn more about GPU technology: AMD/ATI CPU Guide and NVIDIAGPU Guide.

Hard Drive

The computer hard drive is considered long term storage. When you tell a program to save the file to the computer, you are really saving the data to the hard drive. Hard drives come in many different flavors. You can find hard drives in sizes ranging from 20GB to 1.5TB. The hard drive connects to the motherboard through a connection cable, usually SATA for faster speeds. The older IDE connection cannot transfer as fast as the 3GB/sec marks of a SATA connection.

If you were to lift the lid on a hard drive, you would see a metal or glass platter that is coated with a magnetic film. The hard drive platter spins during operation at either 5400 RPM or 7200 RPM. More expensive server hard drives can reach 10 000 to 15 000 RPMs. The speed at which the hard drive spins makes a difference according to how quickly it can access information, like in order to save a file. The higher the RPM the faster the hard drive access data. This spinning is also the cause for much of a computer’s noise.

If you would like to learn more about hard drive technology, please read this guide.

Memory or RAM

The memory modules installed in the motherboard are considered short term memory. Memory modules handle immediate software usage needs on the computer system, including elements of the operating system. A memory module enables the processor to access the software you are using much faster than if you had to pull the data off a hard disk.

RAM stands for Random Access Memory. The randomness of the memory is what makes it so well designed for short term memory. A call to the memory can be passed through within milliseconds, while a similar call to the hard drive would take seconds.

RAM comes in many speeds and sizes. There are also a few different pin types for RAM, including SD and DIMM chips. The pin types refer to the connection the stick of RAM makes with the motherboard. Each desktop computer typically uses one pin type or the other. If you are thinking of upgrading your desktop, be sure you know the pin type before purchasing a new stick of RAM.