![[H]ard|Forum](/styles/hardforum/xenforo/logo_dark.png){kind=logo}
okay, i just wrote an article for a magazine i have to do for a project at school. It's aimed toward somewhat computer-illiterate people, and to teach them about hardware.(Yes, I see the lack of Mac information but... this is for PC's not Macs.) I want to see if the information is correct, and if you guys have any suggestions for me. Thanks! FYI I'm only 13 
Computer Terms for Newbies
There comes a time in everyones life where they are faced with the challenge of technology. Computers are probably one of the most common pieces of technology, taking a spot in almost every familys home. No one really cares how it works, as long as it works, heres where that changes. There are several terms that may frighten people away from computer, or do the opposite, and make them want to learn about computers.
First off, lets start with RAM. RAM stands for Random Access Memory, its much like a humans short-term memory, it only holds the information the computer is currently using, or may need to use within a short period of time. RAM is a must in a computer, and the more RAM a computer has, the faster it will be, within limitations of other hardware.
Lets move on to HDDs. HDD stands for Hard Disk Drive, its much more like a humans long-term memory. HDDs store all of the other information you save on to it, such as your music (MP3s), or your homework. HDDs also act as a medium-term memory as well, by offering a Swap Space. A swap space is where there is a set amount of space on the HDD to act like RAM, but its not as fast as RAM, so it is used for less important things, things that dont currently need to be in your RAM, but things that the computer doesnt want to dispose of yet.
Now lets check out the heart and soul of the computer, the CPU and Motherboard. The CPU is the heart of the computer, and stands for Central Processing Unit, its what makes everything tick. It calculates several thousand equations a second. What determines how fast a CPU is, and how many equations a second it can compute, is called frequency. The frequency of a CPU is set with a combination of numbers, the multiplier, and the Front Side Bus (FSB). The FSB denotes the speed at which your processor interacts with components on your motherboard, and multiplier is what the FSB is multiplied by to get your frequency, or clock. In theory, the higher the FSB, the faster a computer will be at interacting with its components, but the speed at which the whole computer runs depends on the architecture of the CPU, which I wont get into detail with. Just because a CPU is really fast, doesnt mean its the best, it just means its architecture is different, and a slower CPU may be able to crunch more numbers than a faster one.
The Motherboard is the soul of your computer, its what everything plugs in to, and it is what controls everything, and sends data to the CPU to be processed, and sent to another part of the computer. The motherboard as a ZIF (Zero Insertion Force) slot for the CPU, usually 2 controllers for IDE devices (Such as your HDD, CD-Rom, CD Burners etc ), 1 controller for FDDs (Floppy Disk Drive), several PCI (Peripheral Component Interconnect) expansion slots, PCI slots hold audio cards (for producing your crisp audio), networking cards (to hook you into internet), and some graphics cards (for your crystal-clear picture). There is also another standard of expansion slots, called AGP (Accelerated Graphics Port); AGP is much faster than PCI, thus making it better for supporting high-end graphics cards, for the ultimate performance. On the back of your computer you may notice a place containing a lot of different places for cables, such as PS/2 (For mice and keyboards), USB (for mice, keyboards, web cams etc ), and several other ports for your monitor, printer, and sometimes even network, and audio ports. This panel is part of your motherboard, and called the I/O (Input/Output) panel.
Since you now know about the short-term memory, long-term memory, and the heart and soul of your computer, lets talk about the eyes and ears. The eyes of your computer is the graphics card, and your monitor. Your graphics card is what takes the data the CPU routes to it, and turns it into the picture you see on the monitor, a graphics card usually determines whether or not your computer can play that new game you wanted. A graphics card also has RAM, its own special RAM, but your computer also leaves a portion of your system RAM for your graphics card. A monitor can make all the difference for your computing experience, maybe you like the crisp colour of an LCD (Liquid Crystal Display) monitor, but dislike the blur that can occur while playing games. An LCD can be very nice, but the price definitely isnt, unless you have that kind of money. Maybe you prefer the colour precision, and gaming quality of a CRT (Cathode Ray Tube) Monitor, or maybe you just prefer the price tag.
How about your computers ears? Your computers ears are its audio card, and speakers. While most motherboards come with decent on-board (integrated into the motherboard and I/O panel) audio, you may prefer to upgrade to a PCI audio card, to achieve better audio quality. Speakers come in different types, 2.1 (your basic stereo speakers) 4.1 (5 speaker surround sound), 5.1 (6 speaker surround sound), and 7.1 (8 speaker ultra-surround sound). Most speaker sets come with a subwoofer for that deep bass, and as with most stereo or speaker system, watt refers to how much power the speakers have.
Its time to learn about your OS, Operating System. Your OS is that user interface you see; most users on a PC use Windows, or the lesser-known Linux. Both OSs have their pros and cons. Windows is much more oriented towards average computer people, providing some customizability, with a lot of compatibility stirred in. Linux on the other hand provides complete customizing options, and is much more advanced. Linux also offers a completely customizable GUI (Graphical User Interface) and a completely customizable kernel, or core. Linux ability to fit around whatever type of computer you have through customizing the kernel, offers users a feeling that it was designed just for them. Windows does not offer all this customizability, but it offers the compatibility for almost all games and programs. Probably the most major difference is in the price. The price one must pay for a copy of Linux is nothing, its free as long as you have the time to download the files, and put them on a CD, but Windows costs upwards of $100.
What makes a computer look so good, the case. Aesthetics are just about as important as how good the components are. Cases come in many different form factors for different styles of motherboards. Modern Motherboards use 4 different form factors, ATX, Mini-ATX, Micro-ATX and Mini-ITX, with Mini-ITX being the smallest. Cases usually come in 3 main colours, beige or off-white, black, and silver. Most people crave black and silver cases, due to their superiority in looks over the off-white cases. Some people who are extreme about the looks of their cases, sometimes mod the cases to look different, or unique. The inside of the case usually reveals a drive-rack, for all of your HDDs, Floppy drives (FDDs), and CD-ROMs. You would also notice a few wires coming from the bezel, the front, of the case. These wires are for the power switch, reset switch, power LED (Light Emitting Diode), HDD activity LED, and sometimes, front ports (Such as USB).
Cooling; without it a computer is as good as burnt toast, literally. Most people use the standard air-cooling, using fans to move around air. The CPU is fitted with a heat sink, and the heat sink has a fan on top, blowing into the heat sink, removing heat from the CPU. Now once that heat has dissipated off the heat sink and CPU, an exhaust fan is usually mounted near the rear of the computer, below the PSU (Power Supply Unit), to remove excess heat from the computer. This is usually enough, but when you have several HDDs, a high-end graphics card, and a CPU in your case, things can get kind of hot. Sometimes people just install an extra fan in one of the fan punch-outs in their case, sometimes they cut a hole in the side or top panel to bring in cold air, or remove hot air. Even with all these fans, sometimes a computer can still get too hot. Some enthusiasts install a water-cooling kit so they can water cool their computers, so not only is it quieter than having lots of fans, but more efficient, but water-cooling brings its dangers, water leaks, and pump failure, both can result in hardware damage.
Finally, last but not least, the Internet, the world of possibilities. The Internet is a network of networked networks. It is ideally a network of computers all over the world. Every computer hooked into the Internet is given an IP (Internet Protocol) address, which identifies ones computer to the rest the network. When you type in a URL (Uniform Resource Locator), or the address to a website (such as www.google.ca), the computer doesnt understand the words, it just understands the numbers (IP address) that the words direct to, and takes you there. Many websites are hosted from a server, a computer specifically designed for hosting websites, or other on-line duties. The Internet is a vast world of information, and knowledge. There you have it, the guide to just about everything you need to know about computers.
EDIT: Added in cooling section, its the second last one.
Computer Terms for Newbies
There comes a time in everyones life where they are faced with the challenge of technology. Computers are probably one of the most common pieces of technology, taking a spot in almost every familys home. No one really cares how it works, as long as it works, heres where that changes. There are several terms that may frighten people away from computer, or do the opposite, and make them want to learn about computers.
First off, lets start with RAM. RAM stands for Random Access Memory, its much like a humans short-term memory, it only holds the information the computer is currently using, or may need to use within a short period of time. RAM is a must in a computer, and the more RAM a computer has, the faster it will be, within limitations of other hardware.
Lets move on to HDDs. HDD stands for Hard Disk Drive, its much more like a humans long-term memory. HDDs store all of the other information you save on to it, such as your music (MP3s), or your homework. HDDs also act as a medium-term memory as well, by offering a Swap Space. A swap space is where there is a set amount of space on the HDD to act like RAM, but its not as fast as RAM, so it is used for less important things, things that dont currently need to be in your RAM, but things that the computer doesnt want to dispose of yet.
Now lets check out the heart and soul of the computer, the CPU and Motherboard. The CPU is the heart of the computer, and stands for Central Processing Unit, its what makes everything tick. It calculates several thousand equations a second. What determines how fast a CPU is, and how many equations a second it can compute, is called frequency. The frequency of a CPU is set with a combination of numbers, the multiplier, and the Front Side Bus (FSB). The FSB denotes the speed at which your processor interacts with components on your motherboard, and multiplier is what the FSB is multiplied by to get your frequency, or clock. In theory, the higher the FSB, the faster a computer will be at interacting with its components, but the speed at which the whole computer runs depends on the architecture of the CPU, which I wont get into detail with. Just because a CPU is really fast, doesnt mean its the best, it just means its architecture is different, and a slower CPU may be able to crunch more numbers than a faster one.
The Motherboard is the soul of your computer, its what everything plugs in to, and it is what controls everything, and sends data to the CPU to be processed, and sent to another part of the computer. The motherboard as a ZIF (Zero Insertion Force) slot for the CPU, usually 2 controllers for IDE devices (Such as your HDD, CD-Rom, CD Burners etc ), 1 controller for FDDs (Floppy Disk Drive), several PCI (Peripheral Component Interconnect) expansion slots, PCI slots hold audio cards (for producing your crisp audio), networking cards (to hook you into internet), and some graphics cards (for your crystal-clear picture). There is also another standard of expansion slots, called AGP (Accelerated Graphics Port); AGP is much faster than PCI, thus making it better for supporting high-end graphics cards, for the ultimate performance. On the back of your computer you may notice a place containing a lot of different places for cables, such as PS/2 (For mice and keyboards), USB (for mice, keyboards, web cams etc ), and several other ports for your monitor, printer, and sometimes even network, and audio ports. This panel is part of your motherboard, and called the I/O (Input/Output) panel.
Since you now know about the short-term memory, long-term memory, and the heart and soul of your computer, lets talk about the eyes and ears. The eyes of your computer is the graphics card, and your monitor. Your graphics card is what takes the data the CPU routes to it, and turns it into the picture you see on the monitor, a graphics card usually determines whether or not your computer can play that new game you wanted. A graphics card also has RAM, its own special RAM, but your computer also leaves a portion of your system RAM for your graphics card. A monitor can make all the difference for your computing experience, maybe you like the crisp colour of an LCD (Liquid Crystal Display) monitor, but dislike the blur that can occur while playing games. An LCD can be very nice, but the price definitely isnt, unless you have that kind of money. Maybe you prefer the colour precision, and gaming quality of a CRT (Cathode Ray Tube) Monitor, or maybe you just prefer the price tag.
How about your computers ears? Your computers ears are its audio card, and speakers. While most motherboards come with decent on-board (integrated into the motherboard and I/O panel) audio, you may prefer to upgrade to a PCI audio card, to achieve better audio quality. Speakers come in different types, 2.1 (your basic stereo speakers) 4.1 (5 speaker surround sound), 5.1 (6 speaker surround sound), and 7.1 (8 speaker ultra-surround sound). Most speaker sets come with a subwoofer for that deep bass, and as with most stereo or speaker system, watt refers to how much power the speakers have.
Its time to learn about your OS, Operating System. Your OS is that user interface you see; most users on a PC use Windows, or the lesser-known Linux. Both OSs have their pros and cons. Windows is much more oriented towards average computer people, providing some customizability, with a lot of compatibility stirred in. Linux on the other hand provides complete customizing options, and is much more advanced. Linux also offers a completely customizable GUI (Graphical User Interface) and a completely customizable kernel, or core. Linux ability to fit around whatever type of computer you have through customizing the kernel, offers users a feeling that it was designed just for them. Windows does not offer all this customizability, but it offers the compatibility for almost all games and programs. Probably the most major difference is in the price. The price one must pay for a copy of Linux is nothing, its free as long as you have the time to download the files, and put them on a CD, but Windows costs upwards of $100.
What makes a computer look so good, the case. Aesthetics are just about as important as how good the components are. Cases come in many different form factors for different styles of motherboards. Modern Motherboards use 4 different form factors, ATX, Mini-ATX, Micro-ATX and Mini-ITX, with Mini-ITX being the smallest. Cases usually come in 3 main colours, beige or off-white, black, and silver. Most people crave black and silver cases, due to their superiority in looks over the off-white cases. Some people who are extreme about the looks of their cases, sometimes mod the cases to look different, or unique. The inside of the case usually reveals a drive-rack, for all of your HDDs, Floppy drives (FDDs), and CD-ROMs. You would also notice a few wires coming from the bezel, the front, of the case. These wires are for the power switch, reset switch, power LED (Light Emitting Diode), HDD activity LED, and sometimes, front ports (Such as USB).
Cooling; without it a computer is as good as burnt toast, literally. Most people use the standard air-cooling, using fans to move around air. The CPU is fitted with a heat sink, and the heat sink has a fan on top, blowing into the heat sink, removing heat from the CPU. Now once that heat has dissipated off the heat sink and CPU, an exhaust fan is usually mounted near the rear of the computer, below the PSU (Power Supply Unit), to remove excess heat from the computer. This is usually enough, but when you have several HDDs, a high-end graphics card, and a CPU in your case, things can get kind of hot. Sometimes people just install an extra fan in one of the fan punch-outs in their case, sometimes they cut a hole in the side or top panel to bring in cold air, or remove hot air. Even with all these fans, sometimes a computer can still get too hot. Some enthusiasts install a water-cooling kit so they can water cool their computers, so not only is it quieter than having lots of fans, but more efficient, but water-cooling brings its dangers, water leaks, and pump failure, both can result in hardware damage.
Finally, last but not least, the Internet, the world of possibilities. The Internet is a network of networked networks. It is ideally a network of computers all over the world. Every computer hooked into the Internet is given an IP (Internet Protocol) address, which identifies ones computer to the rest the network. When you type in a URL (Uniform Resource Locator), or the address to a website (such as www.google.ca), the computer doesnt understand the words, it just understands the numbers (IP address) that the words direct to, and takes you there. Many websites are hosted from a server, a computer specifically designed for hosting websites, or other on-line duties. The Internet is a vast world of information, and knowledge. There you have it, the guide to just about everything you need to know about computers.
EDIT: Added in cooling section, its the second last one.