Power and Your PC
The power coming into a computer is the most critical component, and it may be one of the most overlooked. It is just taken for granted that it will always be there and working properly. More ...
Understanding Graphic Cards
Dedicated graphics cards, which we will be discussing in this article, are needed if you want to do 3D gaming or watch high definition movies. The GPU (Graphic Processing Unit) is the most determinant feature of every graphics card when it comes to the overall performance and speed. More ...
A Guide to Basic PC Cooling
Desktop PCs and Notebook PCs generate heat that can reduce the performance, cause intermittent errors, and be damaging to its components. Here are some tips that will help lengthen the life of your precious personal computer. More ...
Anatomy of a Liquid Crystal Display (LCD)
Color LCD displays have a sandwich-like structure. One layer of the sandwich has liquid crystal between two glass plates. One glass plate has a matrix of thin film transistors on it. Liquid crystals move depending upon the charge applied to a tiny capacitor by its related transistor. More ...
An Overview of the Printed Circuit Board (PCB) Fabrication Process
PCBs are fabricated with the use of two types of software. Computer Aided Design (CAD) software is used to design the electronic schematic of the circuit. Then Computer Aided Manufacturing (CAM) software is used to produce the PCB design. More ...
The Universal Serial Bus
In 1996 the Universal Serial Bus (USB) was developed to replace the serial and parallel ports. Today, the USB port is used to connect scanners, digital cameras, and external storage devices like CD-RW drives. More ...
Understanding Your PC's CPU Clock Speed and Front Side Bus
The CPU or Central Processing Unit is the brains of any computer and the two major manufacturers are Intel and AMD or Advanced Micro Devices. For many years Intel CPUs were found in nearly all PCs. And now the Intel is found in most systems but the newer Athlon class CPU from AMD have taken a large chunk of the CPU market. More ...
Device Driver Basics
In this article, I'm going to reveal in plain English what a driver is, why we need drivers, and exactly where the drivers are hiding. To give you a basic understanding, I'm going to go back, way back, to the early days of computers. More ...
Power Supply Form Factors
The shape and physical layout of a power supply is called its 'form factor'. Power supplies come in several industry standard form factors. Power supplies with the same form factor are physically interchangeable. More ...
How to Choose a Computer Case
Computer cases come in many sizes, configurations, and with many features. Which case you need depends upon what you will use your computer for. You might choose a standard mid tower case for a home computer that will be used for word processing and spread sheets. For a game machine or server you might choose a full tower case because of its expansion capability. More ...
Basic PC Anatomy Inkjet Printers
There are two main inkjet technologies, thermal and piezo-electric. Thermal technology uses silicon wafer heating elements, Epson uses a proprietary piezo electric technology. More ...
Understanding PC Data Buses
Physically, a data bus is the connection between the CPU and other devices on the PCs motherboard. A data connection can be serial or parallel. The data bus used in first-generation PCs used 8-bit architecture. PCI Express uses switched serial connections. More ...
How Does a Laptop Battery Work?
There is little difference in how a laptop battery works and how other device batteries work, except that a laptop battery is more intelligent. An electronic circuit works with the laptop hardware to manage the power that flows into the battery while recharging and the power that flows out of each cell of the battery while discharging. More ...
How Does the CPU Cache Work?
CPU's however use a 2 level cache system. The principles are the same. The level 1 cache is the fastest and smallest memory, level 2 cache is larger and slightly slower but still smaller and faster than the main memory. More ...
