Power supply

Main article: Power supply unit (computer)

Includes power cord, switch, and cooling fan. Supplies power at appropriate voltages to the motherboard and internal disk drives.

[edit] Video display controller
Main article: Graphics card

Produces the output for the visual display unit. This will either be built into the motherboard or attached in its own separate slot (PCI, PCI-E, PCI-E 2.0, or AGP), in the form of a graphics card.

[edit] Removable media devices
Main article: Computer storage

* CD (compact disc) - the most common type of removable media, suitable for music and data.
o CD-ROM Drive - a device used for reading data from a CD.
o CD Writer - a device used for both reading and writing data to and from a CD.
* DVD (digital versatile disc) - a popular type of removable media that is the same dimensions as a CD but stores up to 12 times as much information. It is the most common way of transferring digital video, and is popular for data storage.
o DVD-ROM Drive - a device used for reading data from a DVD.
o DVD Writer - a device used for both reading and writing data to and from a DVD.
o DVD-RAM Drive - a device used for rapid writing and reading of data from a special type of DVD.
* Blu-ray Disc - a high-density optical disc format for data and high-definition video. Can store 70 times as much information as a CD.
o BD-ROM Drive - a device used for reading data from a Blu-ray disc.
o BD Writer - a device used for both reading and writing data to and from a Blu-ray disc.
* HD DVD - a discontinued competitor to the Blu-ray format.
* Floppy disk - an outdated storage device consisting of a thin disk of a flexible magnetic storage medium. Used today mainly for loading RAID drivers.
* Zip drive - an outdated medium-capacity removable disk storage system, first introduced by Iomega in 1994.
* USB flash drive - a flash memory data storage device integrated with a USB interface, typically small, lightweight, removable, and rewritable. Capacities vary, from hundreds of megabytes (in the same ballpark as CDs) to tens of gigabytes (surpassing, at great expense, Blu-ray discs).
* Tape drive - a device that reads and writes data on a magnetic tape, used for long term storage and backups.