A lot of things. this is a list of the most common,
1) power supply. The power supply is what the power cord plugs into. This converts line voltage (wall plug) to 5 and 12 volts DC (also other voltages on newer computers).
2) Mainboard or motherboard which includes most of the electronics- CPU, Memory, Chipset, keyboard controller, cache and BIOS.
Don't confuse memory with hard drive.
3)Hard drive. This is a magnetic data storage box that has rotating platters that store your digital data. The data is read and written on/off the platter by heads. The heads are moved by a stepper motor.
4)DVD or CD rom drive. It sorta works like a hard drive. But uses light instead of magnetics.
5)Video card. This may be included on the mainboard. It has many electronics like the mainboard but is smaller. It has a video processor chip, memory, BIOS, Chipset.
goto www.yahoo.com and search on "inside computer pic"
Glen, February 2007
