Computer Hardware

I think, if we talked about speed DRAM is much faster that SRAM because DRAM require only one transistor and a capacitor per bit, compared to six transistors in SRAM. That allows DRAM to reach very high density.

If for durability my opinion goes to SRAM.

I based my conclusions from definitions in WIKIPEDIA In terms of speed, Static RAM(SRAM) is faster. Dynamic RAM(DRAM) needs to be refreshed thousands of times per second while Static RAM does not need to be refreshed, which is what makes it faster than Dynamic RAM. Dynamic RAM supports access times of about 60 nanoseconds, Static RAM can give access times as low as 10 nanoseconds. Despite Static RAM being faster, it's not as commonly used as Dynamic RAM because it's so much more expensive.

The Basic Elements of a Computer:

Hardware - Compose of the physical components. The tangible parts of a computer. ex. power supply, keyboard, mouse, etc.

Software - Intangible parts. The parts which do not have material form. ex. datas, programs, protocols, etc.

Slightly more detailed: Included in the hardware is mother board which is pretty much the hub of everything and manages all the different connections for other components such as your CD drive, hard drives, ram, graphics cards, sound cards, mouse and keyboard, monitor and anything else. Some motherboards have ethernet (a way of connecting to the internet), graphics, and sound cards built into them. You than attach the CPU. The CPU is your main processing chip and is generally made by AMD or Intel. The hard drives store all your information and files. Dedicated sound cards and video cards handle all your sound and visual stuff respectively. They generally do a better job than the motherboard does so if you are using intensive applications such as CAD or gaming you may want dedicated graphics and sound. Ram is memory that is used while the computer is on for running programs, generally more ram helps you run more programs simultaneously. Your keyboard and mouse are input devices that you use to type or navigate the computer and generally connect via usb or ps2 ports on the back of your computer. The monitor displays what your computer is doing and allows you to interface with your machine graphically. Your CD drive is an optical device that lets your read CD's you can also get drives that read DVD's blu-ray discs and hd dvds.

Answer:

Basic Computer Elements: In generally used computers one can find that there are four basic computer elements following are the elements.

(1) ALU (Arithmetic Logic Unit): The ALU is the digital circuit that is able to perform different types of functions, such as Addition, Subtraction, and Multiplication etc.

(2) Control Unit: The control unit is the part of CPU (central processing unit) or other devices that performs the duty to direct its operations, the control unit is just like a finite state machine that has some finite states and the transaction from one state to the other state is called action.

(3) Memory: The memory is another very important element of the computer without memory the computer can't operate in today's modern age it is called the RAM (Random Access Memory) when ever we give some instruction to the computer it passes through RAM to the Processor and the processor processes it and send it back. The main reason behind memory is that it is faster in communication with the processor then the other memory devices such as hard disk etc.

(4) Input/output devices: The input and output devices is another important element for example the processor is the input device and it gives its output to the monitor etc for output.

There is another very important point the basic elements are considered as CPU (central Processing Unit), I/O devices, and Memory actually the CPU is the composition of different other elements such as ALU, Control Unit, Registers which is another type of memory.

There are many components in a computer. In order to understand how a computer works, one must know the basic components. Open the case and look at all the gizmos. There are 4 basic parts to a computer (PC): CPU- Central Processing Unit GPU- Graphics Processing Unit PSU- Power Supply Unit Memory- Temporarily stores data from the hard disks Without these components, the computer will not function normally.

There are other devices that can be attached to the PC. CDROMs, Hard Disks, Floppy Disks, Sound Cards, TV tuner cards, mice, keyboards, NICs (network interface card), and USB cards. The devices are not needed to make the PC run.

Let's trace a packet of data from power on to it's final destination, the monitor. First, the packet is stored on the hard disk. It goes from the hard disk through the ribbon cable, which connects the hard disk to the motherboard, then to the memory. From the memory, it travels through the FSB (Front Side Bus) to the cache on the CPU. There, it waits until it is needed by the CPU. When it's needed, it goes to the GPU which in turn generates an image that goes to the monitor. Seem like a lot? Computers are not simple, ever.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DVgOMRUNXsg

Also, this article is very good:

http://computer.howstuffworks.com/how-computers-are-made2.htm

Depending on what type of power supply it is there are a few options.

If the 2000mA rating means it'll supply up to 2000mA, you're already okay, although you should put a resistor in parallel with the device to safely dissipate extra power. You wouldn't want to exactly split the supply in case the device has current demand variations. It would probably be best to siphon off say, 750mA. Since it's 12 volts, from ohm's law: V = IR you'd want 12 = 750mA*R, or a 16 Ohm resistor. It would also have to handle the power output, where P = IV, so P = 12v*750mA = 9 W. This is a lot of power, but you could probably find such a resistor somewhere. (Try looking at sandstone power resistors)

However, if the supply is powering a sealed device (eg something you wouldn't open up and tamper with), I think you'd be better off just finding the appropriate power supply.