What is the components that make up a computer?

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By Tina | Follow | Last Updated December 20, 2021

What are the 7 major components of a computer? What are the basic components of a computer? This post from MiniTool will show you the detailed instruction of the major component of a computer.

When building up a computer by yourself, you may think what the major components of a computer are. When building a computer, some components are essential, which are used to make sure that your computer is able to run successfully.

So, what are the major components of a computer? In general, there are 7 major components of a computer. So, in this post, we will list the 7 major components of a computer.

What Are the 7 Major Components of a Computer?

In this part, we will show you the 7 major components of a computer. You can keep on your reading to know more detailed instructions.

1. Motherboard

Motherboard, also called system board, is the main printed circuit board in most computers. It allows communicating between many crucial electronic components of a system, such as the central processing unit and memory.

Motherboard, as its name suggests, is often referred to as the mother of all components attached to it, which often include peripherals, interface cards, sound cards, hard drives, network cards, and so on.

Most motherboards in computer are expandable. In this situation, you can replace the components as long as they are compatible. For example, you can choose to replace the hard drive with a larger one or with SSD.

2. CPU

The second important component of a computer is the CPU, also called central processor, is the electronic circuitry within a computer that executes instructions that make up a computer program. The CPU performs basic arithmetic, logic, controlling and input/output operations specified by the instructions in the program.

The CPU is the brain of the computer, so you can know its importance. Its main job is to carry out the instructions of computer programs that are stored in computer memory. In addition, computer performance may be affected by the CPU.

3. Graphics Card

There are two different types of graphic card and they are integrated or expansion. The integrated video card is connected directly to the motherboard and it is a part of the processor. The expansion card is a separate card that is connected to another part of the motherboard.

The major work of the graphics card is to create graphics and images that can be shown on a monitor. If your computer does not have the graphics card, you will not see the data and the computer would be useless.

4. Hard Drive

Hard drive would be another component of a computer. Hard drive is used to store programs and files on your computer. The traditional hard drive would be the HDD which is comprised of a series of magnetized disks. Newer hard drives are called SSD which use electrical circuits to store data. In general, SSDs are faster than traditional HDDs.

5. Network Card

The fifth major component of computer is the network card. Network card would be separate card or integrated into the motherboard. The major work of network card is to enable your computer to connect to the network and Internet.

Many computers have an integrated network card into the motherboard. If you are using a laptop, you can also choose to connect Wi-Fi networks through a Wi-Fi card which is usually close to the outer edges of the devices.

6. Monitor

The monitor is sixth important component of the computer. Even though the computer is great, but without monitor, they also would be useless. So, when building a computer by yourself, you also need to choose a monitor. The monitor enables you to view the changes on your computer.

7. USB Ports

USB port is also one of the most important computer components. The USB port enables you to connect some computer accessories, such as a mouse, keyboard, external hard drive and so on. So, it would be an essential part of the computer.

Final Words

What are the 7 major components of a computer? This post shows you the answers. If you have any different ideas of major components of a computer, please share it in the comment zone.

About The Author

Position: Columnist

Tina is a technology enthusiast and joined MiniTool in 2018. As an editor of MiniTool, she is keeping on sharing computer tips and providing reliable solutions, especially specializing in Windows and files backup and restore. Besides, she is expanding her knowledge and skills in data recovery, disk space optimizations, etc.

On her spare time, Tina likes to watch movies, go shopping or chat with friends and enjoy her life.