Tech knowledge

A hard disk is part of a unit -- often called a  disk drive ,  hard drive  or  hard disk drive  -- that stores and provides relatively quick access to large amounts of data on an electromagnetically charged surface or set of surfaces. Today's computers typically come with a hard disk that can contain anywhere from billions to trillions of bytes of storage. A hard disk is actually a set of stacked disks, like phonograph records. Each disk has data recorded electromagnetically in concentric circles, or tracks, on the disk.  A head , similar to a phonograph arm but in a relatively fixed position, writes or reads the information on the tracks. Two heads, one on each side of a disk, read or write the data as the disk spins. Each read or  write operation requires that data be located, an operation called a  seek . Data already in a disk cache, however, will be located more quickly. A hard disk/drive unit comes with a set rotation speed varyi...

A Graphics Card is a piece of computer hardware that produces the image you see on a monitor. The Graphics Card is responsible for rendering an image to your monitor, it does this by converting data into a signal your monitor can understand. The better your graphics card the better, and smoother an image can be produced. This is naturally very important for gamers and video editors. Types of graphics cards Integrated  – Graphics built into the motherboard where no add-in card is used. You’ll find these built into most ‘standard’ laptops and computers, they are a cost-effective model but cannot be easily upgraded. Discrete  – An add-in graphics card that is installed on to the motherboard as an extra component. Ideal for those wanting to modify their system by upgrading the graphics cards. Most people using a modern computer for standard tasks like surfing the internet, creating documents or watching movies will be fine using the integrated graphics. For us...

Expansion card Alternatively referred to as an  add-on card ,  expansion board ,  internal card ,  interface adapter , or  card , an  expansion card  is a PCB that fits into an expansion slot on a desktop computer. An expansion card is used to give a computer additional capabilities, such as enhanced video performance via a graphics card. Note:  Expansion cards can sometimes be called  daughterboards . However, it is more appropriate to refer to them as expansion cards or one of the terms mentioned earlier. ·          Types of expansion cards in a computer ·          Expansion card example ·          Do laptops or netbooks have expansion cards? ·          Related expansion card pages. Types of expansion cards in a computer ·   ...

PCI Short for  peripheral component interconnect ,  PCI  was introduced by Intel in 1992. The PCI  bus  came in both 32-bit (133 MBps) and 64-bit versions and was used to attach hardware to a computer. Although commonly used in computers from the late 1990s to the early 2000s, PCI has since been replaced with PCI Express. Revisions came in 1993 to version 2.0, and in  1995  to PCI 2.1, as an expansion to the ISA bus. Unlike ISA and other earlier expansion cards, PCI follows the PnP specification and therefore did not require any  jumpers or  dip switches. PCI overview The picture below shows an example of what PCI slots look like on a  motherboard . As you can see, there are three PCI slots: PCI4, PCI5, and PCI6, as well as a  CNR  slot. Examples of PCI devices ·          Modem ·   ...

DIMM (dual in-line memory module) A DIMM (dual in-line memory module) is a double SIMM (single in-line memory module). Like a SIMM, a DIMM is a module that contains one or several random access memory (RAM) chips on a small circuit board with pins that connect it to the computer motherboard. A SIMM typically has a 32 data bit (36 bits counting parity bits) path to the computer that requires a 72-pin connector. For synchronous dynamic RAM (SDRAM) chips, which have a 64 data bit connection to the computer, SIMMs must be installed in in-line pairs, since each one supports a 32-bit path. A single DIMM can be used instead. Originally, a DIMM had a 168-pin connector to support 64-bit data transfer. As faster dynamic random access memory (DRAM) was developed, DIMM circuit boards evolved. Modern DIMMs based on double data rate fourth generation (DDR4) SDRAM chips use 288-pin connectors to attach to the computer motherboard to enable the increase in data throughp...

What is RAM? People always say you should upgrade your RAM. But what is it, anyway? Random access memory, or RAM, is one of the most important components of not only desktop PCs, but laptops, tablets, smartphones, and gaming consoles. Without it, doing just about anything on any system would be much, much slower. Even not having enough for the application or game you’re trying to run can bring things to a crawl, or make it so they can’t even run at all. But what is RAM? In a nutshell, it’s an extremely fast type of computer memory which temporarily stores all of the information your PC needs right now and in the near future. It’s where your computer loads up all of the things it thinks it will need to find out soon, so that when it does need something, it can read it super fast. It’s quite different from your system’s storage, like its hard drive, where information is stored long term. If this is all semantics to you and you just need to know  how to install some RAM , or...