OK, I should warn you that this is target to the total PC newbie. To those of you who are already familair with the inner workings of a PC, don’t come crying to me when you discover the article below is overly simplified for your eyes.
That being said, it is a great piece for those who are learning for the first time how a PC works…
The following feature is from the ExtremeTech book, Build the Ultimate Home Theater PC. Check out another feature from this book, “Choosing Graphics and TV Cards for Home Theater PCs.”
Before you can build a PC properly, it’s important to understand the pieces and parts that go into creating a working personal computer. It’s also important to understand the roles that components play, and how various factors in one component can impose requirements and trade-offs on selection of other components. In part, you can understand what’s inside a PC (and by extension, what’s needed when putting a PC together) by cracking open the case and inspecting its contents. Though the actual components themselves may vary, here’s a list of the kinds of things you will always find in or around a PC:
* The PC case or enclosure
* The PC electrical system, including power supply and cabling
* The CPU
* Various forms of storage that vary in speed and capacity, including:
o RAM
o Hard disks
o Optical drives, including CD and DVD drives
o Floppy disk drives (these are uncommon on many PCs nowadays, especially Home Theater PCs)
* A motherboard
* One or more interface cards that plug into the motherboard (At a minimum this usually includes a graphics card—and at least a TV tuner card—on a Home Theater PC.)
* Input devices, such as a keyboard and a mouse
* Output devices—for example, a monitor, speakers for sound, a printer for printed output, and so forth
* Cooling and ventilation elements… Source: ExtremeTech
[tags]pc,home theater,guide,beginner,tv card[/tags]