| A | B |
|---|
| Motherboard | The main circuit board inside the computer. Also referred to as: The heart of a |
| CPU (Microprocessor) | Called the “Brains” of a computer – Controls all of the other parts of the Computer. |
| Expansion Cards | A circuit board that can be placed in the PCI or AGP slots on the motherboard. |
| Heat Sink | A metallic device mounted over the CPU to draw heat away from it to keep it from |
| IDE Cable | Integrated Device Electronics. This is a cable that looks like a wide ribbon. It |
| RAM | Random Access Memory. A board made up of small memory chips. The |
| Peripheral Devices | Devices that are outside of the computer, but are plugged into an available port on |
| Power Supply | Converts external power – regulates and distributes appropriate power throughout |
| Hard Drive | An input and output device that stores program and data files used by a PC |
| Optical Drive | Uses a light reader (laser) to record and store information, e.g., a DVD/CD-ROM R/W |
