Senior speech
Computers make up most of our daily lives, however we do not know much about the inner workings of how they function. In recent times there has been a rise in popularity for personal computers, or PC, for gaming or personal use such as recording. Computers have been seen on the rise in demand in recent years with most analysts supporting the idea that computers will become part of social life mainly due to their reliability.
Now, for some context during the summer me and my brother both decided to build a PC. After doing my research and finding out the materials we needed we started the construction. It took about 1-2 weeks to finish with many setbacks along the way. The experience however showed me how little I knew about the inner workings of a PC and how they function previous to my research. I hope tonight to share my discoveries while researching for this project.
Now firstly what is a PC? A PC is a short name for Personal computer which many use in their work environment such as offices or at home when they need to play games, do homework or office work. There are many methods to assemble a computer, and, in this presentation, I hope to explain such methods to build a PC.
A main part of the PC is the CPU or the central processing unit. This part of the computer is quite similar to the brains of humans; it acts as an input and output processing area of the computer for the user input. It usually transforms the input to the computer into data that is then processed usually into long-term storage.
Cores are also another essential part of the computer and oftentimes come along with the CPU. The core are physical units where the actual processing and computing takes place. Most CPUs come with 32-64 cores, which makes computers reliable in editing or streaming videos.
An important term to note is the clock speed which is in reference to how fast a computer is. However, with such innovations, the CPUs have become more prone to overheating as they require much more power than previous generations.
In an interview with Mr. Miller, president of KM computers, states how currently processor(CPUs) are going backwards in development, as when processors(CPU) get more powerful, they tend to overheat more often which leads to degradation of the components much faster than usual. Now manufactures are doing the opposite and attempting to try to extend a components efficiency without the sacrificing of its durability and longevity.
A good analogy of this would be to think of clock speed as a car able to run one site very quickly although it tends to overheat and slow when there are multiple sites up. And CPUs with large amounts of cores, as trucks that are able to run multiple sites although slower while not overheating.
(Question)
Now does anyone know what to do once a CPU overheats. (waits for response)
If the CPU encounters an issue such as overheating it is likely due to the user opening too many applications or browsers it is recommended to go to the computer's task manager to check on the CPU performance and close the excessive browsers. symptoms of a CPU failure would be frequent crashes, slow performance, excessive heat and freezing.
Next up, is the ram. The ram is a component of the computer that holds short-term data and uses that data when the computer needs to accomplish a task quickly. Now what is short-term data? Short-term data is the data used when opening a website, application, or editing a file. These all use short-term data in which the speed of opening these sites often depends upon how many rams a computer has, the more RAM a computer has the better the processing time.
It should be noted how the RAM and CPU often work hand in hand as both components rely on each other to function, the CPU running the program and the RAM providing faster access to data that the CPU uses. So, if a computer is running slowly, it may be time to upgrade your RAM as a prolonged period of use may cause the RAM to run out of memory which forces the processing unit to primarily utilize the long-term storage. It should be noted however, if you are only using your computer for tasks such as web browsing this should not be a concern as it has more of an impact on those opening gaming applications which costs a lot of storage to be taken up.
(Question)
Now members of the audience which would you prefer to use to cool down an overheated component? water or air?
Mostly every computer and PC has a fan, and it is one of the most important components of a computer. Without it, the computer would not function for a long period of time and will degrade quickly with components' lifespans being reduced due to damage from overheating. When components overheat; it will dissipate heat in the surrounding area around the components. Therefore, it is the task of the fans which will then move air through the computer to cool down the components. If there is a larger strain put on the CPU, say for example from playing a video game or editing a video, then it will cause the need for the use of the fan more frequently as video games and editing a video often overheats the CPU due to such resource-intensive tasks.
Although, a slightly newer system called the water-cooling system is being put into place as a more efficient alternative than the standard fan system. The reason why manufacturers are turning towards this new method of cooling is because water has a higher heat capacity than air which allows it to take in more heat from the CPU at a larger duration of time. In the same interview with Mr.Miller he states how Water Cooling is more efficient and does not make much noise and so in light of this most of the gaming PC they ship out has a Water-Cooling system installed, while in the office it is an air-cooling system. So, although water cooling systems are more efficient, we may not see them come so soon to everyday PC builds.
When in a power outage or lighting storm the PC is susceptible to data loss or accumulation of damage to the component. Files of important documents or software could be corrupted due to such an occurrence. One of the most efficient ways to counteract this loss of data would be with an uninterruptible power supply (UPS) or also known as a surge protector. It functions as a device which diverts excess power toward the ground to protect devices connected to it.
One part of the computer that is often overlooked although quite essential is the keyboard. There are many different types of keyboards each of which provides different benefits than the other. The main keyboards used nowadays is the mechanical keyboards and the membrane keyboards. There are three main types of switches on a keyboard: linear, clicky, and tactile. Linear is more towards the gaming factors within computers, while clicky is more towards a responsive type often providing more noise as feedback for an input. Tactile keyboards would be the mix of the two
The speaker is a major component of a PC set up as it allows the user to hear and listen to audio emitted from a video or while gaming. In technical terms the speaker is a device that transforms electrical waves that are sent by the computer/PC and turns it into sound pressure waves that allows the average human ear to hear it.
Now there needs to be a device to connect all of these components together and the main circuit board for most computers and PC referred to as the mainboard, logic board, or system board. The main purpose of the motherboard is to allow communication between the CPU, RAM, and other computer components.
And Lastly the monitor whose main function is to output information from the processor and other components. It does not actually affect the processor or other components as they already have the information and data instead the provided pictorial representation is for the user to see what is going on within the computer. This works in tandem with the graphics card as the graphics card allows the user to see visuals and colors on the monitor.
Overall, I hope you learned something new from this speech and wish that this has helped with expanding some people's knowledge about the inner workings of PCs. Are there any questions?
Time: 8-11 minutes
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