There are a lot of computer components that reflect certain human traits or organs. I thought it would be fun to list them, along with a real life comparison!

Processor

The brain. This controls the speed of our arithmetic, puzzle solving and reaction times. There isn’t a processor out there that is as powerful as the human brain; it would need to have 38 petahertz of processing power (or, in today’s SI multiple, 38 000 000 GHz)! It would also need 3,854 terabytes of memory. [1]

Steven Hawking: Intel Core i7 (990X) 3.46GHz Extreme Edition

Paris Hilton: Intel Celeron Processor 600 MHz

RAM (Random Access Memory)

This is our short term memory. When we’re given a postcode, we store the postcode in RAM until it has been put into the satnav ready for the journey. This information is removed from memory within minutes of it being put there.

The faster our RAM, the faster we can respond to questions. The more RAM we have, the more temporary information we can store. Waiters and waitresses have a lot of RAM and can remember everything ordered, while the rest of us struggle to remember what day it is.

Tom Morton [2]: Corsair CMZ8GX3M2A1600C9

Texas Gov. Rick Perry [3]: Infineon 128MB DDR SDRAM PC2700

Hard Drive

Our long term memory – friends birthdays, the date of the Battle of Hastings, memories of our first kiss, the perils of our examinations, the knowledge that raw meat needs to be cooked before eaten- all of that is stored here. Files corrupt over time and use.

Louise Owen [4]: INTEL SSDSC2CW240A3

Shaun Ryder [5]: SSDPAMM0008G1

Graphics Card

Defines our visual creativity, how artistic we are, our imagination, our dreams, our inventions.

Carl Warner [6]: GeForce GTX 680

Comfort Wipe [7]:  Trident CyberBlade XP

Sound Card

Audio Creativity- our taste in music, ability to compose, ability to play an instrument or sing.

Claude Debussy: ASUS Xonar Essence STX

The Plasmatics: Rocketfish 5.1 PCI Sound Card

Power Supply

How much power (energy) we have. Some people have excellent power supplies and can live on as little as four hours sleep. Other people sleep all day and still have no energy for anything.

Usain Bolt: OCZ StealthXStream2 600W

Sehwang Jung [8]: DA Series PSDA250 250W ATX Power Supply