Computer-Building Vocabulary

For CP7 Students

When it comes down to it, a computer is a big hunk of plastic and metal. But how does that big hunk of plastic and metal manage to do the magic that it does - i.e. get the electricity coming out of the wall to change into pictures, sound, and interactivity? You can think of the computer like a body. A body can get information from the outside (through eyes, ears, hands, etc) and give information to the outside(through mouth, hands). But none of that giving and getting would be possible without the brain, the spine, and body supporting it. The same kind of thing is happening with a computer: the mouse and keyboard get input, the monitor and speakers give output, and the CPU, motherboard, case, and other parts all work together to make that happen. The following is a glossary of components that make up a computer.

Part	Definition	image
Case	Holds all other components, including the Motherboard, Power Supply, Hard Drive, CPU, video card, and sound card.
CD/DVD device	Place where CDs or DVDs can be played or recorded.
Cooling Device	The heat of the electricity coming from the wall has to go somewhere. If you let the heat stay inside the case, the processor would melt. To prevent this from happening, a fan or or heatsink or some other cooling device is used to push the heat out of the case.
CPU (the processor)	Stands for Central Processing Unit, and is sometimes referred to as the processor. Sometimes called the "brain" of the computer, the CPU is the part of the computer that performs calculations (addition, subtraction, multiplication, division). The faster a CPU can do these calculations, the better it is.
Ethernet Cable	Looks like a fat phone cord. It is used when you want to connect a computer to the internet, or to another computer.
Firewire Port	A place where you can connect an outside device to the motherboard. A firewire device MUST have a cord with a firewire port end to it. Examples of firewire devices are video cameras, external hard drives,
Hard Disk	Location of ROM (Read Only Memory). When you choose 'Save', you are telling the computer to copy the data from the RAM to the Hard Disk. On PC's, the hard disk is often named after a letter of the alphabet (usually C:/)
Heatsink	A piece of metal slices. The Heat Sink absorbs the heat coming off of the CPU so that the CPU doesn't melt.
IDE Cable	Fat cable that connects the Hard Drive to the Motherboard, and also connects the CD/DVD device to the Motherboard.
Keyboard	ASCII code input device.
Monitor	Output device for computer. Gives information provided by video card. (i.e. displays video)
Motherboard	The main circuit board of the computer, the Motherboard can be thought of like a spine. It links all of the other components together, and allows for communication between input/output devices, cards, memory, and the CPU.
Mouse	Input device for computer. Allows for point and click functionality.
Network Card	This card knows how to do exactly one thing - lets your computer communicate with other computers through an Ethernet cable.
Parallel Port	A place where you can connect an outside device to the motherboard. The outside device MUST have a cord with a parallel port end to it. The parallel port is mostly used to hook up the printer.
Power Supply	Converts electricity from the wall into electricity that can be used by the motherboard
Printer	Output Device connected to the Motherboard through the Parallel Port. The printer give output in the form of millions of ink dots getting imprinted on a piece of paper in a pattern determined by the user (you!)
PS/2 Port	The port where you connect a mouse or keyboard - NOT USB, but the other kind.
RAM Memory	Stands for Random Access Memory. This is a chip which provides short term memory. Data stored on RAM is lost when you turn of the computer or quit out of an application. (This is why you always need to SAVE!!!)
Sound Card	This card knows how to do exactly one thing - change electricity into the sound coming out of your speakers. (Actually, sometimes sound cards can do more than one thing - for example, change the sound coming in through a microphone into electricity, so a computer can understand it)
Speakers	Output device for computer. Gives information provided by the sound card. (i.e. plays sound)
USB Port	A place where you can connect an outside device to the motherboard. The outside device MUST have a cord with a USB end on it. Examples of USB devices are mouse, keyboard, camera, music keyboard. USB devices are hot swappable, which means that you can plug something in while the computer is on, and it will work.
Video Card	Also known as the graphics card, this card knows how to do exactly one thing - change electricity into millions of little color dots on your screen. The better a card does this, the more it costs.

Can't find what you are looking for? Here is a link to an larger online glossary of computer terms.

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