Tuesday, January 7th 2014
Razer Unveils Project Christine, the World's Most Modular PC Concept Design
Razer, the world leader in entertainment devices and software, today announced a concept of what promises to be the world's most modular gaming system, Project Christine.
The PC has traditionally been one of the most open platforms in all of technology. However, given the technical complexities of PC hardware, only the most hardcore enthusiasts have been able to take advantage of this openness to build, customize and continuously upgrade their PC desktop systems. The tremendous promise of the PC has remained underexploited by the vast majority of general consumers for more than 30 years, largely due to the convoluted hardware -- knowing what does what, what works with what, and how to connect the pieces.
Project Christine is a revolutionary new concept design that will change the way users view PCs. It will allow any user to build and customize his or her PC in any configuration without any prior technical knowledge. Further, as new upgrades come to the market, the same PC can be easily and quickly upgraded without additional technical assistance and without the fear of incompatibility or obsolescence.
Project Christine's modular design allows users to easily build their PCs by allowing them to select and install modules on-the-fly, whether it's a CPU, GPU, or memory and storage configuration. The PCI-Express architecture of Project Christine automatically syncs components. Need more graphics processing power or storage? Easy -- a user can slot-in additional graphics modules and add more storage by either swapping-out the existing storage drives or adding more modules. Equally exciting, Project Christine is able to run multiple operating systems that the user may require.
The modularity of Project Christine make it perpetually customizable, offering plug-and-play upgradability as new and improved technology evolves, ostensibly eliminating the need to replace entire systems. Modules connected to the PCI-Express backbone can be added in any order or combination, featuring up to quad-SLI graphics, multiple SSD and RAID storage components, I/O and even power supplies, ensuring maximum flexibility.
The cable-less design of each sealed module is entirely self-contained and features active liquid cooling and noise cancelation, which allows Razer to factory overclock components without voiding warranties, safely and quietly. The system also features a touch-screen LED display that indicates control and maintenance information.
"Project Christine is a new concept design that will revolutionize the way users view the traditional PC. This is the first gaming system that is able to keep pace with technology and could allow consumers to never buy another PC, or gaming system, again," says Min-Liang Tan, Razer co-founder, CEO and creative director. "We have a history of bringing incredibly innovative concept systems to market and it's fair to say that Project Christine is a very exciting new prospect for future development."
For more information, check out www.razerzone.com/christine.
Product features:
The PC has traditionally been one of the most open platforms in all of technology. However, given the technical complexities of PC hardware, only the most hardcore enthusiasts have been able to take advantage of this openness to build, customize and continuously upgrade their PC desktop systems. The tremendous promise of the PC has remained underexploited by the vast majority of general consumers for more than 30 years, largely due to the convoluted hardware -- knowing what does what, what works with what, and how to connect the pieces.
Project Christine's modular design allows users to easily build their PCs by allowing them to select and install modules on-the-fly, whether it's a CPU, GPU, or memory and storage configuration. The PCI-Express architecture of Project Christine automatically syncs components. Need more graphics processing power or storage? Easy -- a user can slot-in additional graphics modules and add more storage by either swapping-out the existing storage drives or adding more modules. Equally exciting, Project Christine is able to run multiple operating systems that the user may require.
The modularity of Project Christine make it perpetually customizable, offering plug-and-play upgradability as new and improved technology evolves, ostensibly eliminating the need to replace entire systems. Modules connected to the PCI-Express backbone can be added in any order or combination, featuring up to quad-SLI graphics, multiple SSD and RAID storage components, I/O and even power supplies, ensuring maximum flexibility.
The cable-less design of each sealed module is entirely self-contained and features active liquid cooling and noise cancelation, which allows Razer to factory overclock components without voiding warranties, safely and quietly. The system also features a touch-screen LED display that indicates control and maintenance information.
"Project Christine is a new concept design that will revolutionize the way users view the traditional PC. This is the first gaming system that is able to keep pace with technology and could allow consumers to never buy another PC, or gaming system, again," says Min-Liang Tan, Razer co-founder, CEO and creative director. "We have a history of bringing incredibly innovative concept systems to market and it's fair to say that Project Christine is a very exciting new prospect for future development."
For more information, check out www.razerzone.com/christine.
Product features:
- Fully modular design for perpetual, cable-less customization
- PCI-Express architecture
- Open operating system platform
- Factory overclocked components
- Self-contained modules with active liquid cooling and noise cancelation
- Quad SLI capable
- SSD + RAID 5 HDD Array
- LED touchscreen control display
52 Comments on Razer Unveils Project Christine, the World's Most Modular PC Concept Design
Yes ladies and gentlemen, the hardware enthusiast as a race.. we are endangered species...
Maybe you have to place a dummy module on every unoccupied slot to maintain a serial loop layout? Then there is another thing I'd like to know: Where is the radiator? The heat have to be dissipated somewhere and with possible multi GPU's there is a lots of heat to be dissipated and to be 'whisper quiet' you need lots of radiator space for that!
As I said: cool concept, but I doubt this will work in this state any time soon.
I mean, just look at their products, The Goliathus mouse pad, a pretty good mousepad --priced around the same as other enthusiast mouse pads from steelseries or corsair etc. ok, then lets see, the Razer Deathadder? --very popular mouse among gamers, and comfortable too, fairly priced, about the same as other gaming mice from Logitech/Steelseries/Roccat/Corsair etc., their mechanical keyboard then? How about the Blackwidow? well, its priced on par as other mechanical keyboards of the same league such as Ducky/Deck/Das etc. alright, how about their the Razer Blade? too explensive? well, not really, its about the same price as a MacBook, or Dell/Alienware, Asus Zen series, so I'm not seeing what is the big deal here? I mean.. we have to compare apples to apples right?
Sure the quick connectors will not leak, but 1 or 2 drops of oil (in that case) will be spilled. I only could imagine how stained and messy the once beautiful surface will look like after a few module exchanges...o_O
But then: "...given the technical complexities of PC hardware, only the most hardcore enthusiasts have been able to take advantage of this openness to build, customize and continuously upgrade their PC desktop systems."
Nonsense. Standardisation works pretty well. Generally, even noobs can build entire PC's successfully.
That's enough crap. No need to read the rest of the article.
Besides, think of how much money companies like AMD, Intel, Nvidia, Asus, ASRock, MSI, etc. would lose if they stopped offering their components to consumers. It's because of us that building PCs from scratch has become a multi-billion dollar industry in the last 20 years or so. It would be foolish for the industry to completely cut out their largest, most profitable consumer base.
However, system builders, tinkerers, and enthusiasts do make up a fair bit of their revenues.
That point aside, I think you get what I'm driving at. Cut the system builders and enthusiasts out of the picture, and the entire industry will feel the backlash.
"Oh nooo... someone thinks the collage filter works on all pictures... Are they blind?!"