The brain of the computer is CPU or Hard Drive?

[DemonicHeart]

4 minutes ago, AUniqueName said:

It's an analogy... Obviously there's going to be some compromise on logic. 

 

The CPU calculates  - it can be compared to being the brain

The HDD stores data - it can be compared to being the brain

 

Not really sure what you're looking for.... 

the closes thing to a human brain.. which one is it. a cpu or hdd..

 

i stick to what i say which is hdd

[Jito463]

I prefer to refer to the CPU as the 'heart' of the machine, since everything pumps through it.

[tlink]

you can't compare the two since the structures are vastly different. the brain has a very decentralized approach and basically reforms 'cpu traces and transistors' to store things. when one part of the 'cpu' fails another part will pick it up no problem. its almost impossible to forget words because of brain injury while you can easily completely forget how to breathe because of it. the storage of words is very decentralized and robust, while the storage of system critical processes such as breathing, processing senses, giving meaning to words, etc are much more fragile. there is not one place where information is stored, but there are certain places that do things so complex that they can't be offloaded to a different part.  so the brain is essentially both, or just a cpu with a huge build in cache.

[DemonicHeart]

7 minutes ago, Jito463 said:

I prefer to refer to the CPU as the 'heart' of the machine, since everything pumps through it.

therefore the brain will be the hard drive. 

 

but the cpu can't be the brains to me 

[Spork829]

Brains store things temporarily and permanently, as well as process data, so I would say that the CPU, storage drive and RAM all make up the 'brain', though it's not really a great comparison in the first place. Motherboard is the rest of the body, GPU is the eyes I guess? But your brain processes a display signal like a GPU would, so maybe your eyes are the display? Idk I'm confusing myself  

[ProjectBox153]

If you have a computer without a CPU, it won't work at all. The CPU tells everything what to do. If you have a computer without a hard drive, it will work, but won't be able to run anything (ignoring USB devices, etc.). The thought of computer components working in a similar manner (both in structure and how they work) to a human body is wrong. The human brain stores information, whereas a CPU (the closest thing to a brain a computer will have) does not (save for the instruction set, etc.). These two systems don't work in the same way, and therefore cannot be directly compared. There isn't one thing that does the storage and processing in a computer like there is in a computer system. 

[DemonicHeart]

1 minute ago, Jamiec1130 said:

If you have a computer without a CPU, it won't work at all. The CPU tells everything what to do. If you have a computer without a hard drive, it will work, but won't be able to run anything (ignoring USB devices, etc.). The thought of computer components working in a similar manner (both in structure and how they work) to a human body is wrong. The human brain stores information, whereas a CPU (the closest thing to a brain a computer will have) does not (save for the instruction set, etc.). These two systems don't work in the same way, and therefore cannot be directly compared. There isn't one thing that does the storage and processing in a computer like there is in a computer system. 

 this is why its more suitable to call the hard drive the brain

[ProjectBox153]

2 minutes ago, DemonicHeart said:

 this is why its more suitable to call the hard drive the brain

But the hard drive does no processing of it's own. The CPU instructs it what to get. Try to install Windows solely onto a hard drive and let me know how far you get. 

[Mr.Meerkat]

2 minutes ago, DemonicHeart said:

 this is why its more suitable to call the hard drive the brain

But it cannot do any calculations or instruct anything to happen so...  

[DemonicHeart]

2 minutes ago, Jamiec1130 said:

But the hard drive does no processing of it's own. The CPU instructs it what to get. Try to install Windows solely onto a hard drive and let me know how far you get. 

 try to install windows without a  hard disk and see how far you will get lol

 

but i see your point

[TheRandomness]

47 minutes ago, DemonicHeart said:

can still process.. no matter how slow.. 

 

 

Not really. The CPU has to compute the information, then give it to the HDD to store. The CPU can work without a HDD, you can unplug a HDD with a windows install whilst running and since the OS is on the RAM, it'll keep running, albeit without the ability to actually open or save anything else. On the other hand, if you had a HDD without a CPU... well, you wouldn't get much at all.

[ProjectBox153]

Just now, DemonicHeart said:

 try to install windows without a  hard disk and see how far you will get lol

 

but i see your point

If you read my long post earlier, it should have clued you into the fact that the human body and a computer system cannot be directly compared. They're very different beasts, both in what they do and how they work. 

[MasterChromatica]

PSU

[ProjectBox153]

Just now, StepinCurry said:

PSU

What does that do in terms of processing or storing information? 

[MasterChromatica]

Just now, Jamiec1130 said:

What does that do in terms of processing or storing information? 

It powers those things and without power good luck.

[ProjectBox153]

Just now, StepinCurry said:

It powers those things and without power good luck.

But we're discussing two items (in the title of the post BTW) that have at least some significance to the storage or processing of data. These are the hard drive and the CPU. 

[DemonicHeart]

14 minutes ago, TheRandomness said:

Not really. The CPU has to compute the information, then give it to the HDD to store. The CPU can work without a HDD, you can unplug a HDD with a windows install whilst running and since the OS is on the RAM, it'll keep running, albeit without the ability to actually open or save anything else. On the other hand, if you had a HDD without a CPU... well, you wouldn't get much at all.

but the information have to be on the HDD first.

 

and what madness you saying? the cpu cant install with HDD unplugged.. the operation will fail since there's no HDD to copy it too.. ..a ram can be from 128, 512, 1gb,2gb... windows 7 and up can't be stored on that sir

[TheRandomness]

6 minutes ago, DemonicHeart said:

but the information have to be on the HDD first.

 

and what madness you saying? the cpu cant install with HDD unplugged.. the operation will fail since there's no HDD to copy it too.. ..a ram can be from 128, 512, 1gb,2gb... windows 7 and up can't be stored on that sir

Then explain how I've done it to several PCs? Windows itself isn't massive at all, in fact, it's a few hundred mb. With windows already loaded into the RAM, you can unplug the HDD and it'll continue running.

[ProjectBox153]

6 minutes ago, DemonicHeart said:

but the information have to be on the HDD first.

 

and what madness you saying? the cpu cant install with HDD unplugged.. the operation will fail since there's no HDD to copy it too.. ..a ram can be from 128, 512, 1gb,2gb... windows 7 and up can't be stored on that sir

You can't run an OS from RAM but you can use it for temporary storage. The CPU will work without a hard drive, you just can't do much. 

[DemonicHeart]

4 minutes ago, TheRandomness said:

Then explain how I've done it to several PCs? Windows itself isn't massive at all, in fact, it's a few hundred mb. With windows already loaded into the RAM, you can unplug the HDD and it'll continue running.

lol you're sum kind of psycho...i wish windows files were just mb..because when i check the windows files properties i see over 5GB and im currently on a windows 7 laptop in work

[TheRandomness]

4 minutes ago, DemonicHeart said:

lol you're sum kind of psycho...i wish windows files were just mb..because when i check the windows files properties i see over 5GB and im currently on a windows 7 laptop in work

I'm talking about the actual OS itself, not all the extra files that come with it.

[trueofficialme]

The CPU still technically has a way to store information.

Cache, It may only be a few mb but it still has the ability to do it.

The HDD however can not do any processing of its own, Only store things.

So, take the HDD out and you can still enter the BIOS.

Take processor out and you cannot do anything.

[Megah3rtz]

The entire PC is a brain, they can't run by themselves. 

[DemonicHeart]

4 minutes ago, TheRandomness said:

I'm talking about the actual OS itself, not all the extra files that come with it.

i'll have to test this theory out on a 1gb stick to see if what you're saying is true..

 

but its very hard to believe

[trueofficialme]

Just now, DemonicHeart said:

i'll have to test this theory out on a 1gb stick to see if what you're saying is true..

 

but its very hard to believe

It is actually true.