Razer Project Christine: Modular Gaming PC Business
Razer is making a modular gaming PC.
Valve Software and Nvidia aren't the only ones trying to transform the PC gaming scene; Razer is jumping on the bandwagon as well thanks to Project Christine. The company promises that Project Christine will be the most modular gaming system ever, that it will change how users will view PCs from here on out.
According to Razer, this modular setup eliminates the technical know-how, allowing anyone to put a gaming rig together. And as new upgrades come to the market, owners can easily and quickly upgrade the same rig without additional technical assistance or fears of obsoleteness and incompatibility.
We've seen something like this before with Xi3's Piston and its other small form factor modular PCs. However, Razer's take on the modular design appears to be a bit deeper, allowing novice customers to replace the CPU, the GPU, the memory, the storage and more.
Need more storage and graphics power? Simply insert additional modules, or swap the old ones out. The PCI-Express architecture of Project Christine automatically syncs components.
"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," Razer's press release reports. "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."
Razer explains that each sealed module is entirely self-contained and features active noise cancellation and liquid cooling. This aspect allows Razer to factory overclock components without voiding warranties. The system also comes packed with a touch-based LCD screen that indicates control and maintenance information, as well as the ability to run two different operating systems.
When asked about a set of minimum hardware specs, a Razer rep told Tom's that the company is currently looking at all types of components. The project is still a concept, so pricing was out of the question as well. However, here's a neat twist: there may be a tiered subscription system that will send new components to subscribers when they're released.
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Kevin Parrish has over a decade of experience as a writer, editor, and product tester. His work focused on computer hardware, networking equipment, smartphones, tablets, gaming consoles, and other internet-connected devices. His work has appeared in Tom's Hardware, Tom's Guide, Maximum PC, Digital Trends, Android Authority, How-To Geek, Lifewire, and others.
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leo2kp Limited to people who want a unique looking PC, have no ambition of building one themselves, and don't care about the make/model of their upgrades.Reply -
back_by_demand This is obviously capable of installing SteamOS like every other PC ever made, so why aren't Tom's spamming us with the "Steam Machine" moniker that they seem to be tagging on every other gaming PC in the news? Oversight? Or has the cheque not cleared yet?Reply -
Murissokah It's a really innovative design once you get past the fact that it looks a lot like a Thermaltake Level 10 case. Other than that... good luck finding enough people willing to spend big bucks on a PC and not interested in learning how to assemble it.Reply -
Spencer Castillo you know its not really that hard to build a pc. Even if its modular im sure this product will be very expensive when this will go out. And how do you address step up in technology like the next usb standard, new PCIE or SATA version or perhaps an upgraded thunderbolt connection?Reply -
Morbus I don't find that there's really any need for full upgrades on the traditional PC other than when compatibilities are an issue.*This concept certainly makes it easier to upgrade, but the price premium is way too much. Unless, of course, they market this towards the uneducated user, who doesn't even know PCs can be upgrade, and then it may work. But for a gamer, I don't think the current upgrade process of a PC is enough of a bother to justify the price difference.It certainly looks cool.*The reason I don't think full upgrades are needed beyond the cases where compatibility is an issue, is that if you have a 4 year old computer, you can upgrade just the CPU and the motherboard, or just the RAM, just the storage, just the PSU, just the graphics card. Full upgrades only come for CPU/Motherboard/RAM when you're using an old socket and an old RAM type. If you have an old VGA card you can live with the IGP of a newer CPU so even the VGA doesn't need to be upgraded in those cases!Reply -
biohazrdfear I've seen products (not like this), taking the modular design and throwing around a few ideas. Anyone seen the Razer Blade series? Those laptops (even though they are very thin) are way over priced. This thing is going to be expensive. So expensive that I'm even less interested in Razer than what I was before. Kill me with fire, but I don't even like their mice.Reply -
therogerwilco I'm sorry Razer, but until you increase your warranties and QA on products, count me out.I've gone through 3 mice, 2 keyboards, all but 1 failed within several months of the warranty (1 freaking year for 100+$ keyboards?! Then 2 years for another 100+$ mouse)Sorry Razer, but you've taken enough of my money.Reply -
salgado18 I think you guys are missing the point. We all know how to build computers, so it's easy for us, but allowing the process to be idiot-proof can make custom pc builds (those with good graphics cards, memory, ssds, etc) very accessible to the general public, increasing high-end components sales, generating interest from software and game developers in powerfull hardware, and taking the whole system forward. I agree that it looks weird, and will probably be damn expensive, but if the concept makes pcs less of a black art to common people, I guess everyone can benefit from it. Heck, choosing the right motherboard or a psu is hard even for tech-savvy nowadays.Reply -
biohazrdfear @salgadoIts a great idea, and I caught that much at least. But the price will be insane, and the modular parts will be insanely priced, too. If someone has deep pockets, or a fetish for the color green, then by all means...get it. But its not worth it. I would advise someone to get a custom PC built at a local computer shop.Reply