Components in a Computer

What are the Most Important Component in a Computer?

Buying a computer is an exciting thing, and today they are a necessity for most people. The process of buying a computer, though, is often not as exciting for people who are just casual users and are not quite sure what they are looking for with all the different components and terminology. Unless you’re a computer expert, the process of figuring out computer parts can be confusing and frustrating. Here are a few of the most important components of your computer and why you need them.

The Motherboard

Think of this as the central control area, building the foundation for everything that you can put into your computer and how it will all work together. The wrong motherboard may limit how much memory your computer can have, what kind of processor you get, and the other peripherals that you can connect to the machine. Most people aren’t really familiar with how to choose the best motherboard, so talk to the experts at Computer Fix to learn more.

The Hard Drive (also called HDD)

This is where you keep and store all of your data, and it is not unlimited. The bigger your hard drive, the more information you can put on your computer. Since all your software and all your files will require some amount of memory—measured in kilobytes (KB), megabytes (MB), gigabytes (GB), and even terabytes (TB)—it’s always best to have more than you think you might need. To determine whether you need a 256 GB or 1 TB hard drive, think about what you plan to use the machine for. If you’re going to play games, or store large files such as photos and video, you need a bigger hard drive. Larger HDDs are pretty inexpensive, so it’s best to overestimate your needs and buy big. If you do run out of hard drive space, you can talk to someone at Computer Fix to help with computer repair and get an external drive to store more data.

The CPU

The most popular central processing units are Intel (you’ve probably heard of the brand), and they allow your computer to multi-task. These are sort of like the “brain” of the computer, running all the processes on the machine. More advanced CPUs can process programs more quickly, and today the lowest end CPU is a dual-core, which can run two programs at the same time before the computer slows down. On the high end you can find CPUs that run eight or more programs simultaneously.

 

The Graphics Card

A graphics card, also called a video card or GPU, is what the machine uses to process and display textures and images, generally in gaming or videos. Better graphics cards will render 3D images and textures in games and videos more quickly, but if you’re not planning to do a lot of gaming, you can probably get away with just using the factory-installed card. 

The Memory

Memory is measured in RAM (random accessory memory), and determines where things are stored on the machine. More memory allows you to run more programs simultaneously without affecting performance.

If you’re looking for a new machine, all these components are important. Before you buy just any computer, talk to the experts at Computer Fix to find exactly the machine you need that fits in your budget and will give you the computing power and speed that you require. If any of these parts are malfunctioning, you can always visit Computer Fix to get computer repair and keep your machine running smoothly.