What is inside a computer?

If you were to open up a computer, you'd see a few printed circuit boards with lots of microchips and electrical paths or busses. These boards, or cards, along with things like the power supply box, make up a computer. Some of the cards are RAM, or Random Acess Memory, cards. This is the memory that the computer uses while it is executing programs. The information stored on the ROM, or Read-Only Memory, chips is permanent and is stored when it's manufactured. The printed curcuit board that connects all of the parts of the computer together is called the motherboard. The motherboard contains the Central Processing Unit, or CPU, as well as a separate chip for the system clock. The CPU could be considered the 'brain' of the computer. It sends electrical signals to the various parts of the computer, controlling what goes on. Other types of cards include video cards and sound cards, which deal with displaying things on a monitor and playing sounds or music.