CPU

One hardware feature is the CPU which stands for the Central Processing Unit
also known as the processor. This component is the brains of the computer
where most of the calculations take place. In terms of computing power the CPU
is the most important element of a computer system. On large machines the CPU
requires one or more printed circuit boards. On personal computers and small
workstations the CPU is housed in a single chip called a microprocessor. Since
the 1970s the microprocessor class of CPUs have almost completely overtaken
all other CPU executions. Two typical components of a CPU are the following:

The arithmetic logic unit (ALU) which performs arithmetic and logical
operations.
The control unit (CU) which extracts instructions from memory and
decodes and executes them calling on the ALU when necessary.

There are two main CPUs found in computers today: 32-bit and 64-bit. In
addition to this CPUs can be broken down into further categories based on the
manufacturer and version. Clock rate typically refers to the frequency at which a
chip like a CPU (one core of a multicore processor) is running at. A CPU cache is
a cache used by the central processing unit (CPU) of a computer to reduce the
average time to access data from the main memory. The cache is a smaller,
faster memory which stores copies of the data from frequently used main
memory locations. A collection of wires connecting the CPU with the main
memory that is used to identify particular locations (addresses) in main memory.
The width of the address bus (the number of wires) determines how many unique
memory locations can be addressed. Modern PCs and Macs (Macintoshes) have
as many as 36 address lines which enables them theoretically to access 64 GB of
main memory. However the actual amount that can be accessed is much less
due to the limitations of the motherboard and chipset.
GPU
Another hardware feature is the GPU
which
stands for Graphics Processing Unit which
is
sometimes called a Visual Processing Unit (VPU).
A GPU can be
used alongside a CPU to accelerate scientific,
analytics, engineering, consumer and enterprise
applications. Pioneered in 2007 by
NVIDIA,
GPU accelerators now power energyefficient datacentres in
government labs, universities,
enterprises, and small-andmedium businesses around the world.
GPUs are accelerating applications in platforms ranging
from cars to mobile
phones and tablets, to drones and robots. A Graphics Processing Unit (GPU) is a
single-chip processor primarily used to manage and boost the performance of
video and graphics. GPU features include

2-D or 3-D graphics

Digital output to flat panel display monitors

Texture mapping

Application support for high-intensity graphics software such as AutoCAD

Rendering polygons

Support for YUV colour space

Hardware overlays

MPEG decoding

These features are designed to lessen the work of the CPU and produce faster
video and graphics. A GPU is not only used in a PC on a video card or
motherboard; it is also used in mobile phones, display adapters, workstations
and game consoles. This term is also known as a visual processing unit (VPU).

1. Integrated
If you have a computer, but did not assemble it yourself or upgrade it in any way, chances are
that it uses an integrated graphics card to display images on your screen. When a graphics card
is described as integrated, it refers to the card's relationship with the computer's motherboard.
Integrated graphics cards are sometimes also known as on-board graphics cards. Integrated
graphics cards are the default option that come with standard motherboards. An integrated
graphics card can be upgraded, but it requires plugging a new graphics card into your computer's
motherboard and ignoring your old card. Integrated graphics cards are the least powerful variety
overall, at least compared to the time period they are from. If you have an integrated graphics
card and want to play the latest video games, you will need to upgrade.

2. PCI
PCI graphics cards are graphics cards that use the PCI slots on your motherboard to connect to
your computer. PCI graphics cards are usually a little bit out of date, if not extremely so. However,
many older motherboards have PCI slots, but lack newer varieties of connections. For this
reason, there is still a reason to buy a PCI graphics card but only if you are trying to upgrade
an older system.

3. AGP
AGP graphics cards are named for the same thing PCI cards are the slot they connect to on a
motherboard. AGP cards can have 4 speeds, the fastest being 8x. However, if your motherboard
only supports a lower speed, such as 1x, 2x, or 4x, your graphics card will behave as if it is of
that slower speed, rather than its real speed. AGP connections are not quite as fast as PCI-E

slots due to technological limits, and as a result will not be developed to run at higher speeds.
However, like PCI cards, they are more widely compatible than the most cutting-edge cards.

4. PCI-Express
PCI-E cards are the most advanced, connecting to the motherboard's PCI-E slot. PCI-E graphics
cards can be accelerated to 16x. In addition, a motherboard with more than one PCI-E slot can
have more than one PCI-E graphics card connected to it, combining their power. However, this is
a rare scenario. This can also cause compatibility problems if not planned out correctly; certain
motherboards work better with certain other specific brands of PCI-E video card.

The technical definition of a GPU is "a single chip processor with

integrated transform, lighting, triangle setup/clipping, and rendering engines that
is capable of processing a minimum of 10 million polygons per second."[2]
Modern GPUs use most of their transistors to do calculations related to 3D
computer graphics. They were initially used to accelerate the memory-intensive
work of texture mapping and rendering polygons, later adding units to
accelerate geometric calculations such as the
rotation and translation of vertices into different coordinate systems. Recent
developments in GPUs include support for programmable shaders which can
manipulate vertices and textures with many of the same operations supported
by CPUs, oversampling and interpolation techniques to reduce aliasing, and very
high-precision colour spaces. Because most of these computations
involve matrix and vector operations, engineers and scientists have increasingly
studied the use of GPUs for non-graphical calculations. In addition to the 3D
hardware, today's GPUs include basic 2D acceleration
and framebuffer capabilities (usually with a VGA compatibility mode). Newer
cards like AMD/ATI HD5000-HD7000 even lack 2D acceleration; it has to be
emulated by 3D hardware.

CPU Versus GPU

A simple way to understand the difference is
to compare how they process tasks. A simple
CPU consists of a few cores optimized for
sequential serial processing while a GPU has
a massively parallel architecture consisting of
thousands of smaller more efficient core
designed for handling multiple tasks
simultaneously.

So what is memory?

Well memory is an internal storage area within the computer. The term memory
identifies data storage that comes in the form of chips and storage is used for
memory that exists on tapes or disks. Moreover the term memory is usually used
as a shorthand for physical memory which refers to the actual chips capable of
holding data. Some computers also use virtual memory which expands physical
memory onto a hard disk. Every computer comes with a certain amount of
physical memory usually referred to as main memory or RAM. You can think of
main memory as an array of boxes each of which can hold a single byte of
information. A computer that has 1 megabyte of memory therefore can hold
about 1 million bytes or characters of information.
RAM (random-access memory): This is the same as main memory. When used
by itself, the term RAM refers to read and write memory; that is, you can
both write data into RAM and read data from RAM. This is in contrast to ROM,
which permits you only to read data. Most RAM is volatile, which means that it
requires a steady flow of electricity to maintain its contents. As soon as the
power is turned off, whatever data was in RAM is lost.
ROM (read-only memory): Computers almost always contain a small amount
of read-only memory that holds instructions for starting up the computer. Unlike
RAM, ROM cannot be written to.
Human Computer Interface
Human-computer interface (HCI) The means of communication between a human
user and a computer system, referring in particular to the use of input/output
devices with supporting software. Devices of increasing sophistication are
becoming available to mediate the human-computer interaction. These include
graphics devices, touch-sensitive devices, and voice-input devices. They have to
be configured in a way that will facilitate an efficient and desirable interaction
between a person and the computer. Artificial intelligence techniques of
knowledge representation may be used to model the user of a computer system,
and so offer the opportunity to give personalized advice on its use. The design of
the machine interface may incorporate expert-system techniques to offer
powerful knowledge-based computing to the user. HCI is a branch of the science
of ergonomics, and is concerned especially with the relationship between
workstations and their operators. The aim is to develop acceptable standards for
such aspects as display resolution, use of colour, and navigation around an
application. Most operating systems (OS) recognize basic HID devices, such as
mice and keyboards, without the need for a specific driver. This facilitates the
plug and play (PnP) attributes of USB devices. Some HIDs, such as a mouse,
receive user input only. Others, such as speakers, provide output only.
Ergonomics (or human factors) is the understanding of interactions among
humans and other elements of a system and applies theories to optimize human
well-being and overall system performance.
Display
LED display is a flat panel display, which uses an array of light-emitting diodes as
a video display. LED panel is a small display, or a component of a larger display.
They are typically used outdoors in store signs and billboards, and in recent
years have also become commonly used in destination signs on public
transport vehicles or even as part of transparent glass area. LCDs are used in a

wide range of applications including computer monitors, televisions, instrument

panels, aircraft cockpit displays, and signage. They are common in consumer
devices such as DVD players, gaming devices, clocks, watches, calculators, and
telephones. A liquid-crystal display (LCD) is a flat panel display, electronic visual
display, or video display that uses the light modulating properties of liquid
crystals. Liquid crystals do not emit light directly.
Sound
A sound card (also known as an audio card) is an internal computer expansion
card that facilitates economical input and output of audio signals to and from a
computer under control of computer programs. The term sound card is also
applied to external audio interfaces that use software to generate sound, as
opposed to using hardware inside the PC. Typical uses of sound cards include
providing the audio component for multimedia applications such as music
composition, editing video or audio, presentation, education and entertainment
(games) and video projection. Sound functionality can also be integrated onto
the motherboard, using basically the same components as a plug-in card. The
best plug-in cards, which use better and more expensive components, can
achieve higher quality than integrated sound. The integrated sound system is
often still referred to as a "sound card".

Connectivity
A local area network (LAN) is a computer network that interconnects computers
within a limited area such as a home, school or office building using network
media. They have small geographic areas and non-inclusion of leased
telecommunication lines. Ethernet and Wi-Fi are the two most common types.
A wide area network (WAN) is a network that covers a broad area (i.e.,
any telecommunications network that links across metropolitan, regional,
national or international boundaries) using leased telecommunication lines.
Business and government entities utilize WANs to relay data among employees,
clients, buyers, and suppliers from various geographical locations. In essence,
this mode of telecommunication allows a business to effectively carry out its
daily function regardless of location. The Internet can be considered a WAN as
well, and is used by businesses, governments, organizations, and individuals for
almost any purpose imaginable.

Power Supply

One type of a power supply is an internal battery. These are charged up by a

power cable connected to an outlet and store that energy within its cells. These
sometimes these do need to be replaced as they can be worn down or damaged.
The "external power supply" is the AC power adapter that converts household AC
electricity voltages to the much lower DC voltages needed to charge a mobile
phone's internal battery.

Game Storage Medium

DVD (sometimes explained as "digital versatile disc" or "digital video disc") is
a digital optical disc storage format, invented and developed
by Philips, Sony, Toshiba, and Panasonic in 1995. DVDs can be played in multiple
types of players, including DVD players. DVDs offer higher storage capacity
than compact discs while having the same dimensions. Pre-recorded DVDs are
mass-produced using moulding machines that physically stamp data onto the
DVD. Such discs are known as DVD-ROM, because data can only be read and not
written or erased. Blank recordable DVD discs (DVD-R and DVD+R) can be
recorded once using a DVD recorder and then function as a DVD-ROM. Rewritable
DVDs (DVD-RW, DVD+RW, and DVD-RAM) can be recorded and erased many
times. DVDs are used in DVD-Video consumer digital video format and in DVDAudio consumer digital audio format, as well as for authoring DVD discs written
in a special AVCHD format to hold high definition material (often in conjunction
with AVCHD format camcorders). DVDs containing other types of information
may be referred to as DVD data discs. A single layer DVD can store about 4.7 GB
of data. A double layer DVD can hold over 9GB of data (although these are rare).
Advantages

Very large storage capacity.

Sound and picture quality is excellent, making them ideal for storing films
with video and sound.

DVDs are now mass produced so they are relatively cheap.

DVD drives can read CDs.

Disadvantages
DVDs do not work in CD drives
There is no single standard of DVD
They can be easily damaged by breaking or scratching.

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http://www.nvidia.com/object/what-is-gpu-computing.html
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