Razer Unveils Project Christine, the World's Most Modular PC Concept Design

[vega22]

dont forget the head!

it will also die 2 weeks after the warranty runs out.

 

[15th Warlock]

Cool concept, too bad, as others mentioned, knowing razer, they'll charge pretty penny for it, I can see less technically inclined people falling for this concept, and with all the talk of prebuilt Steam machines, it doesn't surprise in the least to see Razer try to take advantage of the fact the the PC will become a more mainstream product.

Yes ladies and gentlemen, the hardware enthusiast as a race.. we are endangered species...

 

[Nordic]

Speaking of steam box, why doesn't razer market as such?

 

[HisDivineOrder]

I expect more outrageous pricing from Razer.

 

[Breit]

Actually I don't see how this will work. I mean it's a nice concept with all the modules and build-in liquid cooling and stuff. But for keeping this thing modular, it seems that all the modules are connected in parallel in the cooling loop. This is just bad for flow and can't give any good cooling performance at all, at least if there isn't a separate pump in every module, which I doubt. Maybe they got clever valves to reroute the flow if a new module is inserted? To be honest, I also doubt that. The connectors on the Gizmodo pictures just look like standard Koolance quick connectors:

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.

 

[Wittermark]

I expect more outrageous pricing from Razer.

Razer pricing isn't THAT outrageous, I don't know why people get this idea about them.

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?

 

[natr0n]

Overheating parts will end this disaster this before it starts.

 

[wickedcricket]

dont forget the head!

and all of them broken after 3 months.

 

[Fourstaff]

The connectors on the Gizmodo pictures just look like standard Koolance quick connectors:

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!

Quick release connectors will not leak, so if its arranged in parallel that's two of your questions solved. As for heat, all they need to do is to use sub par laptop chips

 

[Breit]

Quick release connectors will not leak, so if its arranged in parallel that's two of your questions solved. As for heat, all they need to do is to use sub par laptop chips

I guess spending like 10+ grand (supposed price range for that system) is adequate for laptop performance... I mean at least its 'dead silent'!

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...

 

[Solidstate89]

Well, it seems to be past the concept stage, as they have a physical prototype at CES (I assume) as shown on Gizmodo.

http://gizmodo.com/razers-modular-desktop-makes-building-a-pc-like-playin-1496479940/@Fahey

Most intriguing and definitely most expensive point is that the design is completely mineral oil cooled configuration. So it basically is dead silent.

For those of you who say that PCs are modular enough, the way I see it is its a "plug and play" approach, which I for one am impressed by. In recent years, air cooling has become somewhat inadequate to cool GPUs or OCed CPUs. Hence the return of watercooling in the last few years, but Razer, did something new for once, each module has inlet and outlet ports for mineral oil, which plug into the chassis, so other than making computer building beyond idiot-proof now, they found away to bring in a sense "liquid cooling" to the masses with their pre-built oil immersed modules.

I'm unimpressed with using mineral oil for cooling. That means it's basically required for you to, at some point, drain out the mineral oil and clean everything off before replacing it with fresh mineral oil. That stuff doesn't last forever.

 

[micropage7]

nice concept and hard to be a reality since too many aspect, creating new standard, the hardware itself, the driver, software, connectivity, bandwidth etc

 

[arterius2]

nice concept and hard to be a reality since too many aspect, creating new standard, the hardware itself, the driver, software, connectivity, bandwidth etc

I think you might have confused this product with something that you grab off a store shelf. I doubt this project was designed to generate any significant profit anyways(it does generate some PR which is exactly what Razer is aiming for), hence why its still called a "Project" usually meant to be something for fun or experimental. I can see them selling these in limited quantities, obviously at an astronomical price, but like everything, someone will flock to these like flies to shit, myself included.

 

[Sasqui]

In the center where the things are getting connected. Anyway ... as usual great on pictures, but not as good IRL. Typical for Razer /yes, I have a lot of stuff, but .../. They just should continue making peripheral devices and not messing in things like this.

So they're inventing and building a new form factor called RazerTX?

 

[Blín D'ñero]

Typical over-valuating themselves: "the world leader" is supicious enough.
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.

 

[micropage7]

I think you might have confused this product with something that you grab off a store shelf. I doubt this project was designed to generate any significant profit anyways(it does generate some PR which is exactly what Razer is aiming for), hence why its still called a "Project" usually meant to be something for fun or experimental. I can see them selling these in limited quantities, obviously at an astronomical price, but like everything, someone will flock to these like flies to shit, myself included.

yeah, its a concept but i just feel like its too far far away, maybe thats why it called concept

 

[Random Murderer]

Yes ladies and gentlemen, the hardware enthusiast as a race.. we are endangered species...

Far from it. As long as component manufacturers keep offering individual components to consumers, the hardware enthusiast race will never die.
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.

 

[xenocide]

Far from it. As long as component manufacturers keep offering individual components to consumers, the hardware enthusiast race will never die.
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.

Unless I'm mistaken I believe companies like Intel and AMD make the most money off of workstations and servers as well as prebuilt machines. Enthusiasts hardly drive the market...

 

[Random Murderer]

Unless I'm mistaken I believe companies like Intel and AMD make the most money off of workstations and servers as well as prebuilt machines. Enthusiasts hardly drive the market...

It's really the manufacturers of pre-built systems like Dell and HP that provides them with the most profit, as they buy hundreds to thousands of chips at a time.
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.

 

[Fx]

A very interesting concept. Bravo to them for thinking outside the box regardless of how practical it turns out to be.

 

[cadaveca]

Looks like the same PCIe interconnect used by the new Mac Pro can.

 

[Eagleye]

It's a glorified HDD hot-swap station

 

[Arjai]

Since it's a Razer product, I'm gonna bet it's gonna cost an arm (and maybe a leg)

Don't forget your first born...

 

[Arjai]

Um, what is it I am supposed to see in this collage?

 

[natr0n]

Um, what is it I am supposed to see in this collage?