US gaming hardware company Razer has chosen CES 2014 to unveil plans for what it calls "the world's most modular gaming system." Dubbed Project Christine, the desktop gaming PC promises to unlock the upgradability and performance of a high-end gaming PC, to the non-geeks among us.
Many hardcore gamers are also handy with a screwdriver, and so are comfortable sourcing the correct parts and swapping out bits and pieces of their PC rig to keep it current. However, those of us who don't know their soldering iron from their SCSI generally don't venture inside the case, and herein lies the crux of Razer's concept.
Project Christine promises an easy plug-and-play system – no screwdriver or cables required – that enables users to upgrade and swap out parts on the fly, in any order or combination.
It seems that practically all relevant parts can be changed, including the CPU and GPU, in addition to more standard upgrades such as memory and storage, thanks to their being based in sealed unit modules – albeit of Razer's own proprietary design. Razer also cites the unit's ability to run multiple operating systems.
Naturally, this being early days yet, we've got no word on availability and only a few details on the specs and features, but Razer has let slip that it will be based around a high speed PCI-Express architecture, feature up to quad-SLI graphics, numerous I/O options, and will allow the company to factory overclock components without risk of voiding any warranties.
The firm further revealed that each self-contained Project Christine module will sport liquid cooling and noise cancellation, and an LED touchscreen display offers control and maintenance information. Onboard storage comes in the form of an SSD and a RAID 5 HDD array.
Check out the teaser video below.
Source: Razer
I see the benefits for people who do want liquid cooling for their computer, but are not forced with the at first somewhat daunting situation where they have to do research, pick the water cooling kits or separate components, plan and build it in their set-up themselves.
It is a nice solution, but not for people like me who like to mess around with their computer and add a crazy custom water loop to it that cools like a fridge. Surely, opening up the case for some maintenance cleaning, and part swapping isn't much of a hassle every now and then.
Not sure that would be possible but it is the only way to succeed. No one will buy every part from Razer.
If the two biggest companies in the PC industry couldn't make a "non-box" PC system acceptable to the market, even with an open standard, it'll never work as a single source proprietary design.
Same for your single, double or triple GPU cards. Each hot swap dock has a connection for power, for data and for cooling in