The Extra Dimension

You use computers every day, but do you know how they work? A few computer science majors get together to describe the different components of a computer and what their jobs are.

Overview 00:00 | Intro 04:41 | Motherboard 06:40 | Processor

• AKA CPU
• Specs
  • Clock speed, measured in Hertz (how many operations it can do in one second)
  • Number of cores
• Notable brands – desktop
  • Intel
  • AMD
• Notable brands – mobile
  • Qualcomm
  • Apple
  • Samsung
  • Nvidia

• Note the difference between Hard Disk Drives and Solid State Drives
• Specs
  • Storage space, measured in bytes
  • Read/write speed, measured in bytes per second
• Notable brands
  • Seagate
  • Western Digital
  • Samsung
  • Toshiba

• AKA RAM
• Specs
  • Memory space, measured in bytes
• Notable brands
  • Corsair
  • Samsung
  • G.Skill
  • Kingston
  • Many, many others

• AKA GPU, Video Card
• Specs
  • Clock speed, measured in Hertz (how many operations it can do in one second)
  • Number of cores
  • Memory space, measured in bytes
  • Teraflops
  • Realistically though, you have to look at benchmark tests that people have run to see how a graphics card compares to others

• AKA PSU
• Specs
  • Wattage
  • Power efficiency, reported on an arbitrary rating scale
• Notable brands
  • Corsair
  • EVGA
  • Cooler Master
  • Many, many others

• How much space does it have inside
• How easily accessible are the components

• Note the difference between active and passive cooling
• Notable brands
  • Cooler Master
  • Corsair
  • EVGA
  • Many, many others

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The Extra Dimension is released under a Creative Commons — Attribution 4.0 International license. Feel free to use any or all of it as long as you link back to https://thenexus.tv/ted36/.

This episode of The Extra Dimension has a Fringe episode. You should really listen to The Fringe #494: TED #36 — There’s Nothing Tasteful About Stereo!

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