This is a simplified and non-complete explanation, but it should be enough to give you a better understanding of what a computer does and how it does it.

The computer starts with the CPU, which performs mathematical operations. The CPU performs very complex tasks through clever manipulation of these operations. For simplicity's sake, let's just say that we are using the computer to multiply x by y. The clock speed (in GHz) specifies how quickly the CPU can perform these multiplications. The number of cores specifies how many multiplications can be performed simultaneously. The cache size (in MB) specifies how many different values of x and y can store for very fast access.

The cache is usually not big enough to store sufficient values for x and y, so in comes the RAM. The RAM can store many many times more x's and y's than the CPUs cache, but is order of magnitudes slower. The size of the ram (in GB) specifies how many different values of x and y can be stored. The speed of the RAM (in MHz) specifies how quickly the RAM can transfer those values to and from the CPU. The type of RAM (DDR1/DDR2/DDR3) specifies the standard they were built on, with DDR3 being the current common standard.

Both the cache in the CPU and the RAM are described as 'volatile' memory, which just means that they need power to store their data. We need a way to permanently store data, so we use a drive. These currently come in two main types, Hard Disk Drives (HDD) and Solid State Drives (SSD). Their size (usually TB for HDD and GB for SSD) specifies how much data they can store. Their speed (RPM for HDD and MB/s for SSD) specifies how quickly they can send data to and record data from the RAM.

(to be continued...)