Razer's Project Christine - Fully Modular Gaming PC For the Masses (plebs)

[Amit]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=G0K41ZWd-vo



I saw Canada Computer post about this on Facebook today. It's an interesting concept, but I'm not convinced it's the solution that Razer touts it as.

Check the full page here (http://www.razerzone.com/christine?utm_source=Razer_Social_Media&utm_medium=smlink_US_launch&utm_campaign=razer_christine).

Some pics:
http://assets.razerzone.com/eeimages/razer_pages/15506/images/razer-christine-gallery-01.jpg
http://assets.razerzone.com/eeimages/razer_pages/15506/images/razer-christine-gallery-02.jpg
http://assets.razerzone.com/eeimages/razer_pages/15506/images/razer-christine-gallery-03.jpg
http://assets.razerzone.com/eeimages/razer_pages/15506/images/razer-christine-gallery-04.jpg
http://assets.razerzone.com/eeimages/razer_pages/15506/images/razer-christine-gallery-05.jpg
http://assets.razerzone.com/eeimages/razer_pages/15506/images/razer-christine-gallery-06.jpg

See the website for closer inspection of what each module is labeled as.

My problem is that it doesn't state that there will be incompatibilities between components. Whatever motherboard they are using in the main housing surely won't work with both Intel and AMD CPUs. And not CPUs that aren't supposed by the chipset, I would assume. Maybe they haven't released some holy grail of information about unifying that yet.. That would be a pretty far-fetched thing to claim, though.

[Warsaw]

It would only take off a little bit if Razer made it affordable. Knowing the company, that won't happen.

[PlasbianX]

Please note that this is nothing more than a concept at this time.

[Tnnaas]

What is this, the year of modular everything? Phones! Computers! Are cars next?

For the hardware inept gamer, this might be an alright system. Scary, I know, but not everyone is going to know how to put a processor in their motherboard or connect their front I/O. I mean, a forum or tutorial will help plenty, but for a first-timer, the intimidation value is pretty high.

[Warsaw]

The scariest part of building a PC is wiring it up and turning it on the first time. You never know if you accidentally missed a seemingly inane connection (i.e. system speaker) that could fry your motherboard. I speak from experience.

Personally, this concept takes away the fun of engineering your cooling dynamics and wiring structure, but I can see where some might like it.

[Cortexian]

But this is even less modular than a normal PC, Razer you're doing it wrong.

[Warsaw]

The biggest issue apart from cost and weight are standards. When the various socket standards move on, you have to buy into a whole new tower just to keep up...which is no better than buying a new motherboard, CPU, etc. and will likely cost twice as much when all is said and done.

[Amit]

^ It ends up actually not being modular any different at all other than in looks and connectors. Unfortunately, I feel like a lot of people would fall for this marketing ploy because like someone said above, intimidation is key as well towards the masses. Could be good if it's affordable. If it's not, then I can't see why anyone who does their research would go for one of these since the price to obsolescence ratio will not be very good. At least if you buy some super expensive GPU, you can pretty much guarantee it'll be good shit for the next 3 years. Not really the same for motherboards and CPUs.

Only upside I can see at the moment is the lack of cables.

[EX12693]

Until you have to access the cables inside one of the modular units, which it seems you would have to do if you were replacing a card or drive or something.

[Tnnaas]

I'm going to recycle what Linus Sebastian said and say that this would be feasible with a subscription-based system. Whatever, you pay Razer $30/month or something and you could order the parts you need as you need them or as they get upgraded and send the old module back, or if a unit gets bricked, send it in for replacement or repair. I mean, it's not the worst idea on the planet, a modular system, and I still prefer the open design computers at the moment, but until it finds a way to be properly set up for end-users, this could be more of a miss than a hit. :/

[Cortexian]

I don't see how the mineral-oil cooling would work. You'd still need to add in more oil every time you add a modular component, no?

[Zeph]

This doesn't solve problems for the masses. It just creates new ones.

These new problems have the masses needing to learn just as much, if not more, about how to build a computer than before.

what do you mean I can't have 10 processors? it says it's completely modular

This will be expensive, and Razor likes making things as cheaply as possible to get the most profit. Remember when they decided to venture into surround sound headsets? They had to reject the first three batches from China because they were so shit and had a near total failure rate. Even now, with what they consider acceptable, you have a near perfect split between people who buy them as their first headset and rate them five stars and people who have tried other headsets and rate them one stars because the quality is so bad.

[Warsaw]

To be fair, their computer systems have received almost nothing but praise and their build quality is second to none. With Razer, you get what you pay for. The only problem is you really have to pay.

As for the mineral cooling, no. It's a sealed unit. The oil moves the heat from the chip to the case, and it then radiates away. Like an aluminum laptop.

[Btcc22]

With Razer, you get what you pay for. The only problem is you really have to pay.

Not sure if I'd agree with that but I don't know anything about their machines.

[Warsaw]

The reviews for the Razer Blade have been pretty sparkly since the original version. They alone have inspired other manufacturers to step it up in the gaming laptop arena, with MSI and Lenovo having their own thin-and-light machines on offer now.

[Cortexian]

As for the mineral cooling, no. It's a sealed unit. The oil moves the heat from the chip to the case, and it then radiates away. Like an aluminum laptop.
It's not, there are quick-disconnect fittings for each module and those run into the cooling unit at the bottom of the chassis to be dissipated/circulated.

I really doubt the reservoir in the cooling unit has a large enough volume to ship in a configuration to cool a basic setup with only a a single type of each module, to cooling one that has been fully upgraded. At least not without adding some more mineral oil.

But yeah, like I said originally, this has even less modding potential and modularity than normal cases and components. Completely unnecessary product, and just makes anyone who buys into it rely on Razer to provide upgraded modules. Unless those modules just take standard components after removing their stock coolers somehow. Unlikely.