Computer Cases

• Contain the framework to

support and enclose internal
components of the computer
• Typically made of plastic, steel,
and aluminum
• Available in a variety of styles
• The size and layout of a case is
called a form factor.
• Designed to keep internal
components cool by using
airflow vents and cooling fans
• Helps to prevent damage from
static electricity
Full Tower
Full-tower cases are
generally big with a
height that is about
or more than 30
inches (more than
76 cm). The number
of internal drive bays
inside these cases
can be between 6
and 10.
HAF Stacker 935
Mid Tower
Another case that might be a
step down, would be classified
as a mid tower case. Mid-tower
cases are the most widely used
computer cases. Mid Tower
cases are about 18 to 24 (45 to
60 cm) inches high and they
usually contain 2 to 4 internal
drive bays and a similar
number of external bays (for
CD/DVD readers and similar).
Centurion 6
Mini Tower
Usually have up to 2 or
sometimes 3 internal
drive bays. Mini-cases
normally stand at a
height of 12 to 18 inches
(30 to 45 cm).
Expandability is a
problem with these
cases.

Cooler Master Elite 241 - USB 2

Case Selection
Factor Rationale
Two main case models (one for desktop PCs and the other for
Model Type tower PCs). The type of motherboard determines the type of
case. Size and shape must match exactly.
If a computer has many components, it will need more room for
Size airflow to keep the system cool.
Desktop cases allow space conservation in tight areas because
Available the monitor can be placed on top of the unit. The case design
Space may limit the number and size of the components that can be
added.
Match the power rating and connection type of the power
Power Supply supply to the type of motherboard chosen.
There are many case designs to choose from if it is necessary
Appearance to have a case that is attractive.
LED indicators that are mounted on the front of the case can tell
Status Display you if the system is receiving power, when the hard drive is
being used, and when the computer is on standby or sleeping.
All cases have a vent on the power supply. Some cases have
Vents more vents to dissipate an unusual amount of heat.
Internal Components
Internal Components
•Power Supply •CPUs
•Motherboard •Cooling systems
•Storage drive •Internal cables
•RAM •Adapter cards
Power Supply
Power Supply
• It converts alternating-current (AC) power
coming from a wall outlet into direct-current
(DC) power, which is a lower voltage.
• Must provide enough power for the installed
components and future additions—ranges
from 200W to 800W
• DC power is required for all of the
components inside the computer.
• Cables, connectors, and components
are designed to fit together snugly.
Never force any connector or
component.
• Connectors are generally “keyed,”
which means they fit in only one way.
Power Supply
Power Supply Connectors Molex
Berg
• A Molex connector is a keyed connector used to connect to
an old optical drive or an old type of hard drive.
• A Berg connector is a keyed connector used to connect to a
floppy drive.
• A 20-pin or 24-pin slotted connector is used to connect to ATX 4 pin 12V ATX 20-pin

the motherboard. The 24-pin slotted connector has two

rows of 12-pins each, and the 20-pin slotted connector has
two rows of 10-pins each.
• A 4-pin to 8-pin auxiliary power connector has two rows of
two to four pins and supplies power to all areas of the SATA ATXv12 24-pin
motherboard. The 4-pin to 8-pin auxiliary power connector
is the same shape as the main power connector, but smaller.
• SATA 15-pin power supply connector is one of the standard
peripheral power connectors in computers. It's the standard
connector for all SATA-based hard drives and optical drives. SATA
power cables protrude from the power supply unit and are meant
to reside only inside the computer case
Power Supply Connectors

12v power for PCI express SATA power connector

Berg connector Molex connector

Power Supply • Wattage, form factor, CPU type,
expandability, energy efficient
• +12, Yellow, drive motors, fans, bus slots
• -12, Blue, serial ports and PROM
• +3.3, Orange, newer CPUs and AGP video
cards
• +5, Red, motherboard, Baby AT and
earlier CPUs
• -5, White, ISA bus cards and early
PROMS
• 0, Black, ground, used to complete
circuits with the other voltages
ATX 24 Main Power Connector Voltage Output
Power Supply
CAUTION: Do not open a
power supply.
• Electronic capacitors located
inside of a power supply can
hold a charge for extended
periods of time.
 It is also called the "System
Board," it is the main printed
circuit board in an electronic
device, which contains
sockets or slots that accept
additional boards. Contains
the buses, or electrical
pathways found in a
computer.

Buses allow data to travel

among the various
components.
MOTHERBOARD
 Hard Disk Drive (HDD) is also
known as hard drive. This is
the computer's main storage
device used to store all data on
the computer permanently.
Commonly, hard drives are
permanently place in an
internal drive bay at the front
of the system case and are
connected with either ATA,
SCSI, or a SATA cable and
power cable.

HARD DISK DRIVE-IDE TYPE

 The Optical Disc Drive is
used to read or write
data on a disc.

OPTICAL DISC DRIVE

 The personal computer
memory module also known
as Random Access Memory
(RAM) is a piece of hardware
that allows stored data to be
accessed randomly. Its main
function is to store the data
temporarily.
This is a volatile memory,
which means that the
contents are erased when
the computer is powered
Random Access Memory
off.
Memory Modules
• Dual Inline Package (DIP) is an individual memory chip. A DIP
had dual rows of pins used to attach it to the motherboard.
• Single Inline Memory Module (SIMM) is a small circuit board
that holds several memory chips. SIMMs have 30-pin and 72-
pin configurations.
• Dual Inline Memory Module (DIMM) is a circuit board that
holds SDRAM, DDR SDRAM, and DDR2 SDRAM chips. There are
168-pin SDRAM DIMMs, 184-pin DDR DIMMs, and 240-pin
DDR2 DIMMs.
• RAM Bus Inline Memory Module (RIMM) is a circuit board that
holds RDRAM chips. A typical RIMM has a 184-pin
configuration.
RAM – Random Access Memory
(SIMMS / DIMMS / RIMMS)
Central Processing Unit
 The CPU (Central Processing
Unit), is the brain of the
computer and one of the
most important chip in the
computer. New CPUs are
small and square and contain
multiple metallic connectors
or pins on the underside. The
CPU is inserted directly into a
CPU socket, pin side down, on
the motherboard.

PROCESSOR -CPU
Central Processing Units
CPU Slot and Socket
• CPU socket
• is the connector that interfaces between a computer's
motherboard and the processor itself. Most CPU sockets
and processors in use today are built around the pin grid
array (PGA) architecture, in which the pins on the
underside of the processor are inserted into the socket,
usually with zero insertion force (ZIF) to aid installation. In
contrast to this, a couple current and upcoming sockets
use a land grid array (LGA) in which the pins are on the
socket side instead and come in contact with pads on the
processor.
• Slot
• based processors are cartridge shaped and fix into a slot
that looks similar to expansion slots.
• General
• In general sockets and slots are used so that the Processor
and the motherboard of a computer are able to
communicate with each other. And it depends on the
processor on what type of socket or slot that it might use.
Central Processing Unit (Continued)
• Some CPUs incorporate hyperthreading or hypertransport to enhance the
performance of the CPU.
• The amount of data that a CPU can process at one time depends on the size of
the processor data bus.
• The wider the processor data bus width, the more powerful the processor. Current
processors have a 32-bit or a 64-bit processor data bus.
• Speed of the CPU is measured in cycles per second-megahertz (MHz) or
gigahertz (GHz).
• Overclocking is a technique used to make a processor work at a faster speed
than its original specification.
• The front side bus (FSB) or system bus is the physical bi-directional data bus
that carries all electronic signal information between the central processing
unit (CPU) and the Northbridge. Some computers also have a back side bus
which connects the CPU to a memory cache.
TYPES OF CPU:
1. Single-core
2. Dual-core
3. Quad-core
4. Hexa Core
5. Octa-core
6. Deca-core
Single-core CPU
•It is the oldest type of CPU which
is available and employed in most
of the personal and official
computers. The single-core CPU
can execute only one command at
a time and its not efficient in multi-
tasking.
Dual-core CPU
• It is a single CPU that comprises of two strong cores
and functions like dual CPU acting like one. The
dual-core CPU manages the multitasking effectively.
To utilize the dual-core CPU effectively, the running
programs and operating system should have a
unique code called simultaneous multi-threading
technology embedded in it. Dual-core CPU is rapid
than a single core but it is not robust as quad-core
CPU
Quad-core CPU
• A refined model of multiple core CPU features and
design with four cores on a single CPU. Similar to
dual-core CPU, that divides the workload in between
the cores, and quad-core enables for effective
multitasking. It doesn’t signify any single operation
which is four times faster rapid than others. Such
types of CPU are used in people who need to
execute multiple different programs at the same time
as gamers, series of supreme commander that is
optimized in multiple core CPU.
Hexa Core
• Another multiple core processor which is
available with six cores and can execute the
task which works rapidly than the quad-core
and dual-core processors. Nowadays,
smartphones are available with hexacore
processors.
Octa-core
• The octa processors are developed with eight independent
cores to execute an effective task that is efficient and even
acts rapidly than quad-core processors. Trending octa-core
processors comprises of a dual set of quad-core processors
that divides different activities between the various types.
Many times, the minimum powered core sets are employed
to produce advanced tasks. If there is any emergency or
requirement, the rapid four sets of cores will be kicked in. In
precise, the octa-core is perfectly defined with dual-code
core and adjust it accordingly to give the effective
performance.
Deca-core
• Deca-core is available with ten independent systems that
are deployed to execute and manage the task that is
successful than other processors that are developed until
now. It is faster than other processors and very successful in
multi-tasking. Deca-core processors are trending with its
advanced features. Most of the smartphones are now
available with Deca core processors with low-cost and
never become outdated. Surely, most gadgets in the market
are updated with new processors to give more useful
purposes to people.
APU (Accelerated Processing Unit)
• A combination of a CPU (generally a multi-core one), a
(GPU) graphics processing unit, and then some way to get
them to play together.
• It produces a better transfer rate between the two,
allowing them to share the burden of processing tasks.
GPU (Graphics Processing Unit)
• It is a dedicated graphics depiction device for a PC or game
station. Modern GPUs are efficient at manipulating and
displaying computer graphics, and their parallel structure
makes them more successful than normal CPUs for a range
of complex algorithms.
Cooling System
 CPU Fan and Heatsink helps
in reducing the heat from
the processor so it will not
shutdown automatically.

CPU FAN AND HEATSINK

Cooling System
• Electronic components generate
heat. Too much heat can damage
components.
• A case fan makes the cooling
process more efficient.
Case Fan
• A heat sink draws heat away from
CPU Fan the core of the CPU. A fan on top of
the heat sink moves the heat away
from the CPU.
• Fans are dedicated to cool the
graphics-processing unit (GPU).
Internal Cable
 The EIDE (Enhanced
Integrated Drive
Electronics data cable is
used to connect EIDE
type Hard Disk Drive to
the motherboard.

EIDE DATA CABLE

 The S-ATA data
cable is used to
connect S-ATA type
Hard Disk Drive to
motherboard.

SATA DATA CABLE

Internal Cables
Data cables connect drives to the drive
controller, which
is located on an adapter card or on the
motherboard.
• Floppy disk drive (FDD) data cable (34 pin connector)
• PATA (IDE) data cable (40 conductors)
• PATA (EIDE) data cable (80 conductors)
• SATA data cable (7 pin)
• SCSI data cable (50 conductors)
NOTE: A colored stripe on a cable identifies
Pin 1 on the cable. When installing a data cable,
always ensure that Pin 1 on the cable aligns with
Pin 1 on the drive or drive controller. Some cables
may be keyed and therefore they can only be
connected one way to the drive and drive controller.
Adapter Cards
Adapter Card
• Increase the functionality of a computer by
adding controllers for specific devices or by
replacing malfunctioning ports.
• Examples of adapter cards:
• Sound adapter and video adapter
• USB, parallel, and serial ports
• RAID adapter and SCSI adapter
• Network Interface Card (NIC), and wireless NIC
• Types of Expansion Slots:
• Industry Standard Architecture (ISA)
• Extended Industry Standard Architecture (EISA)
• Microchannel Architecture (MCA)
• Peripheral Component Interconnect (PCI)
• Advanced Graphics Port (AGP)
• PCI-Express
 VIDEO CARD is commonly
known as graphics
accelerator card, display
adapter, or graphics card.
This is a hardware
component whose main
function is to generate and
display the output images
to a computer monitor.
VIDEO CARD ADAPTER
 Network Interface Card
(NIC) is used to connect
computers to a computer
network.

NETWORK INTERFACE CARD (LAN CARD)

 SOUND CARD is also called
as audio card adapter. This
is a computer expansion
card used for the input
and output of audio
signals from a computer
using a specific computer
programs. New
motherboard comes with
built in audio adapter
SOUND CARD ADAPTER
Ports
Different Connectors / Ports
C
O
M

P
o
r
t
DB9 USB
s DB25--parallel

SCSI

Firewire

Mini-DIN

Game Port-DB15