Computer Case

The computer case or system unit is a big box that usually sits in a dusty corner on the floor and no one ever pays any attention to it. In fact it’s ignored so much that people have even forgotten what it’s called! They call it by other names like “CPU”. Now if you want to learn about computer hardware you will have to learn to call things by their correct names. So lesson number 1 is that a computer case is not a CPU. So what is a computer case? Take a look at the picture below:

The two boxes in front are cases.

The computer case houses the main hardware components in your computer system. Without it you would have no computer.

As you can see from the picture above there are two main types of computer cases. The tower variety on the right is taller than its wide. And then there is the desktop computer case on the left. Desktop cases are no longer in fashion because they take up desk space. Tower cases, OTOH, can be tucked out of sight underneath your desk so they are more in fashion.

But what’s really important is the stuff that’s inside the computer case:

Case internals

The computer case is home to the following core computer hardware components:

• Motherboard
• Central Processing Unit or CPU
• Random Access Memory
• Hard Disk Drive
• Power Supply Unit
• Add-on cards like the Graphics card