Know Your Enemy - How to Identify Common Computer Parts

One of the first steps in fixing your own computer (DIY computer repair) or upgrading your PC is identifying the part (if it is a hardware issue) that needs to be dealt with. Fortunately, most computer components (We'll refer to them as hardware) are easy to identify just by looking at them once the case (or box, tower, etc) has been opened.
That is why I've provided this handy pictorial guide that you can use to help you get to know your computer on a more intimate level. That was easy!

This is a standard desktop computer power supply, where the AC cord from the wall connects to the PC.

This is a desktop computer memory (a.k.a. RAM) stick.

This is a laptop computer memory (a.k.a. RAM) stick. Notice the difference in length and width; It's smaller.













Here we see the CPU (a.k.a. processor). I have heard many people make this mistake: the CPU is not the same thing as the case or tower! It is a small chip that sits on the motherboard. The top (left) and bottom (right) of a typical CPU are shown. The bottom has pins or contacts that fit in the socket on the motherboard and make electrical contact.

A typical CPU fan / heat sink combo. This device takes the heat away from the processor and cools it. Fans often die, resulting in random shut downs and hardware failures as the processor over heats.

This is a desktop computer IDE hard drive. A laptop hard drive looks almost exactly the same, but it is smaller.

Currently, there are 2 basic types of hard drives (connection wise): IDE (or PATA) and the newer, faster SATA (serial ATA).
It's easy to tell them apart; IDE drives are connected with a wide ribbon cable and SATA drives are connected with a cable that is much thinner.

Soon, IDE drives will probably be obsolete.

Here is a typical CD/DVD/Blu-Ray drive/burner. Like the hard drives, they come in 2 flavors: IDE and SATA. The connections for each type are the same as for the hard drives, so it is easy to tell them apart. How do you know what type of drive it is? It usually tells you on the front.














Below are 2 desktop computer video (a.k.a. graphics) cards. Not all computers come with video cards; the cheaper desktops have the video processor soldered to the motherboard. The card on the right is what a higher end graphics cards looks like; this is typically the type a card a gamer would have installed in their system.

This is a sound card for a desktop computer. Like video cards, most lower end PCs have the sound chip soldered directly to the motherboard. Gamers, audio enthusiasts, and other higher end users usually want a better, separate solution such as this one.

A typical NIC (networking) card. This is what gives you Internet access and networking capability if you have a high speed connection (and hopefully by now you do!). This is often integrated into the motherboard rather than included as a separate card in newer systems.

Last but not least, we have the good ol' dial up modem. You probably won't see these on newer computers, but if you have an older system you may have one installed. They were used for dial up Internet connections, and unfortunately still are in a few rare cases where people have not upgraded to high speed Internet yet.

Note that an Ethernet (the cable that plugs into your computer's NIC card or port on the back from the high speed modem) will not fit in any of the 2 holes this piece of hardware has because the plug is bigger, though it looks similar. A regular phone cable goes into the ports on a modem.

Below is a motherboard (a.k.a. main board). All the other parts you see on this page connect to this board one way or another; the cards & RAM go into the slots, drives have cables that plug into the board, etc. We'll take a closer look at this piece of computer hardware in another post.