Razer Project Christine: Thinking Outside the Box

By Marcus Yam, Video by Alex Davies
published

Razer takes all the complexity out of building a PC.

Razer's Project Christine is one of the most interesting things from CES 2014. Razer has designed a PC system called Project Christine that removes all the mystery and technical challenges of customizing and building your own PC. Many of the modular parts of a PC are encased in a user-friendly – and liquid cooled – black plastic housing. Rather than building a PC using screwed-in parts on a motherboard set inside a case, people can build a PC simply by slotting in parts.

We recognize that readers of Tom's Hardware have the skills and knowledge to put together computers from the most complicated of parts, but the overwhelming majority of consumers select their computers from big box electronic stores and rely on an in-house squad of geeks for their service and upgrades. Razer's Project Christine would give the power of choice and customization to the consumer. 

Who knows, once a Project Christine owner experiences the joys of customizing and upgrading PC parts, they will join the Tom's Hardware community.

Check out all of our CES 2014 coverage!

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Marcus Yam
Marcus Yam
Marcus Yam served as Tom's Hardware News Director during 2008-2014. He entered tech media in the late 90s and fondly remembers the days when an overclocked Celeron 300A and Voodoo2 SLI comprised a gaming rig with the ultimate street cred.
19 Comments Comment from the forums
  • vincenz0
    it looks 5 feet tall! I wouldnt know anything about PC and I would still know something wrong !
    Reply
  • edogawa
    Don't know about this...the only thing I like about it is the display on the front. This will be for those who are not willing to learn about computers and have disposable income; what sane person would buy this otherwise?
    Reply
  • lancelot123
    I'd buy this if the cost was reasonable. Especially if the mentioned subscription fee had a good price. The only reason I build my own is because it is cheaper. Unless they can bring the cost to a reasonable amount, I'd stick to making my own.I see the benefit for non-tech people though. I like that they are at least thinking outside the box and throwing ideas out there.
    Reply
  • Usersname
    Revolting dust trap.
    Reply
  • rolandzhang3
    The biggest concerns would be pricing and availability of prices :S
    Reply
  • vmem
    I think this will flopt:knowing razer, it won't be cheap. but all this is is AMD/Intel/Nvidia silicon on proprietary boards inside 'proprietary' plastic with a 'proprietary' connector. all for the sake of convenience and 'ease of access'. the truth is, by the time a consumer even THINKS about upgrading a computer him/her self, he'll soon figure out it's not that hard to plug in a gpu etc etc.
    Reply
  • daekar
    My question is, how do you upgrade the motherboard? Is the motherboard a modular piece too? I would be interested in the subscription plan depending on pricing and actual long-term upgradability.
    Reply
  • ap3x
    Oh lord no. Don't think outside the box. People on this site really like their boxes.....nothing is innovative unless it conforms to the norms of standard pc architecture which is why most of these posts on this thread is going to be negative by default.

    At least they are trying something new, the only question is will the addon internals be proprietary. If so then Razer will need to really market the hell out of this thing and show how it is superior in order to get people to adopt it and give it staying power.

    Personally I think the idea of moduler computing is where we need to go but we need standards wrapped around it so that multiple companies can build the modules. Need more horsepower, plug a processor module in on the fly without rebooting. Same with memory, storage, graphics. The system will need to be able to manage the power distribution and the initialization and provisioning of the each module type.

    It can be done, I hope Razer does it.

    The cool thing is that the solution would be able to adapt to any requirement. One solution for any situation. Workstation, Gaming, Math Processing, Bitcoin mining. whatever you want to do, just buy the modules you need and plug it in and go.
    Reply
  • ap3x
    Don't know about this...the only thing I like about it is the display on the front. This will be for those who are not willing to learn about computers and have disposable income; what sane person would buy this otherwise?
    People who already know about computers, are tired of building, tweaking, and troubleshooting, and have income to buy what they want because of the time saved by not needing to do the other things I just mentioned.
    Reply
  • Bloob
    Were it cheap enough (only about $100 more than the average), it could see moderate success, I think. Likely it will be priced with enthusiasts in mind, which will kill it.
    Reply