Razer's "Project Christine" Combines PC Power With Console Simplicity

[Alexander Kirby]

"Project Christine is a new concept design that will revolutionize the way users view the traditional PC," Razer CEO Min-Liang Tan said. "This is the first gaming system that is able to keep pace with technology and could allow consumers to never buy another PC, or gaming system, again."

Really? Well I find that hard to believe. In not too many years the data transfer rate of PCIe will seem obsolete as things like RAM and storage drives get faster and faster. Saying this is assuming that PC component standards will never change. And if you have to buy a completely new load of parts because of incompatibility issues (especially in the software side of things) then aren't you essentially buying an entire new computer?

Looks interesting though, could be interesting to see what could be accomplished with this principal.

 

[mindfaQ]

Modular is nice, but it won't be affordable as it looks and I don't really like the design anyway. I can build a computer myself if I want to, no need for this just to save me some time screwing things together..

 

[Joccaren]

I really don't see this working in any reasonable fashion...

PCI-E CPUs, and RAM, and... Everything I guess...
So, what, are Razer now entering the hardware market for every single piece of PC hardware? Making their own CPUs, RAM, Motherboards, Hard Drives, SSDs - ect?
If not, how the fuck is this going to work?
Either its going to be ungodly huge as every bloody CPU you install will need to have a motherboard attached to it, as well as being ungodly expensive, or its going to use some form of adapter I have no doubt will impact performance and reliability of the whole system.
And if they are now entering the market for creating all their own pieces for a PC, I'd rather buy from the pros. Better performance is doubtless from those who know what they're doing, on top of better reliability. Razer may be able to make things competently [That's a big may], but my money's not on them if they're expanding out to another 10 or so disciplines at once.

This whole design baffles me. I get the intent, but I'm not yet sold on the execution.

I'm also baffled as to how they see this being the only PC you'll need to buy ever. New technology will come out, and it will be more advanced than what "Christine" can handle. She may keep up with the next round of tech, but what happens when a successor to PCI-E is announced?

And I'm also going to question the customisability of this. It will be UPGRADEABLE, but I REALLY doubt it'll be customisable to any great extent. If it is, then it still gets hit with the good old compatibility issues between pieces of hardware. Whilst most play nice together, not everything does. It'd also mean Razer would have to get every new component and put them in this case, and test, and all that jazz, for not only new, but also older components too for less powerful rigs, which I really don't see them doing.

The more I think about it, the more I start to question it. I'll have to withhold final judgement until I see reviews and such, but I'm not seeing how this will work at all, or how this'll be cheaper at all then going to a PC store, giving them a list of parts [What you'll have to do with this anyway], and asking them to build a PC for you. Only thing it seems to have going for it is its questionable looks.

Air flow is a non issue, it's oil cooled. The modules would be freakishly expensive though, probably twice as much.

I have liquid cooling in my PC. It still uses a fan to get rid of excess heat, as does every cooling method I know of outside of liquid NO2 cooling. Yeah, the oil takes the heat away from the component, but where does it go from there? Does the oil just keep heating up as its relying on terribad radiation cooling [Its in plastic boxes, please don't tell me anyone thinks these will radiate heat well], or are there fans and heat exchanges to get rid of the heat into the atmosphere, hence requiring some form of airflow to remove the heat from the computer?

 

[Hoplon]

Air flow is a non issue, it's oil cooled. The modules would be freakishly expensive though, probably twice as much.

I have liquid cooling in my PC. It still uses a fan to get rid of excess heat, as does every cooling method I know of outside of liquid NO2 cooling. Yeah, the oil takes the heat away from the component, but where does it go from there? Does the oil just keep heating up as its relying on terribad radiation cooling [Its in plastic boxes, please don't tell me anyone thinks these will radiate heat well], or are there fans and heat exchanges to get rid of the heat into the atmosphere, hence requiring some form of airflow to remove the heat from the computer?

Because the radiator unit will have it's own fans that all the fans you need. You don't need to worry about air flow around the components. hence the air flow being an non issue. I would imagine that was the massive unit at the bottom of the structure. Sorry if I wasn't precise enough for you.

 

[FalloutJack]

Speaking through an Alienware laptop, I should like to point out that I find my machine's performance dreamlike and ecstacy in compact form. One traditionally waits to see how a machine performs before speculating as such. All my friends recommended Alienware to me because in their experience it was worth having.

Whilst I don't doubt that you feel you are getting a good user experience at the end of the day Alienware are products are bad value, you paid top dollar for components that are subpar for the laptops price bracket. Alienware machines are repackaged Dell machines, you bought a Ford with a BMW badge and price tag, mutton for the price of lamb.

Whilst there is nothing wrong with a Ford and lamb can be perfectly tasty I wouldn't want to be ripped off, there are any number of ultrabooks by other manufacturers with equal or better performance where you will get what you paid for.

No, I'm sorry, but that just won't fly. The machine plays games at their highest settings, it operates everything I wanted on it (not just games), the amount of problems have been nil, and it looks good too. In short, I bought an Aston Martin and then bribed the dealer for a few James Bond accessories. Actually, I had a good price for it too, though that may be my own supernatural luck coming into play. Let's not get testy at me because I know what I want and how to get it, never have bad service at Gamestop, take good care of my equipment, and so on. Now, if this starts gettin' into a PC War, I'm gonna have to stop ya there 'cause they never solve anything, they never prove anything, and certainly nobody involved ever learns to avoid them. Well, 'cept for me, because I hate 'em.

 

[Kahani]

It's a fully-modular PC design in which individual components like CPU, GPU, RAM and storage are self-contained and can be swapped in or out as needed.

So it's a PC.

I'll chime in and say that besides being from Razor -an incredibly expensive company-, the design is completely awful when it comes to true customization. You'd have to order parts specifically designed for the modules and no other company's would fit in.

Indeed. "Look at our amazing design that means you don't need to worry about what parts fit where or who you buy them from, as long as you only buy the correct parts to fit in the thing from us."

Edit: Also on a somewhat less sarcastic note, this appears to be a terrible idea. Even assuming that the consumer customisation end of things really is as brilliant as advertised, there's actually a reason different components don't all use the same interface. A GPU has very different I/O needs and capabilities than a CPU, and both are very different from RAM, hard drives, and so on. By trying to force every component to use the same common interface, you will inevitably either have to compromise on the performance of most, or have most massively over-engineered for what they actually need. It's exactly the same reason we don't just have USB ports and nothing else to connect things to a PC.

 

[Shadow-Phoenix]

the sad part of all this is that i now may come as a vile "elite pc master race old guard highlander" piece of shit that supresses others with his knowledge, instead of my original intend to just say, "that thing seems like a scam and people should know that pc building is not as hard as it used to be and i can provide them help to learn how to do this and not fall for this scam.
just give it a try."

That post was both brilliant with wit and I did detect a slight hint of sarcasm in there, not like I didn't expect some since you'd had no choice as is.

If you wanted and intended to say what I've just quoted, then why didn't you in all it's simplicity?, why involve me at all?, what does winning a debate against me accomplish?, you should know by now that I'm not type of guy to budge, I can be a nice guy when I'm being treated in kindness but to expect me to already acknowledge what I've already known seems rather silly don't you think?.

You've already shown sarcasm so you're clearly not willing to talk in a formal manner with me, yes you have come off as a bit elitist but I'm not going to hold that against you since you did intend to just say it how it was.

Why don't we just leave it here since you've said what you wanted to say and I've said what I've wanted to say (tbh there's not much more I wanted to say in this thread anyway =P)

 

[Church185]

If only a company that wasn't Razer was doing this (like ASUS or EVGA) I'd be really exited. That, or we can slot in our own components in those little modules they have.

This actually kind of reminds me of that case Thermaltake made:
http://www.thermaltakeusa.com/products-model.aspx?id=C_00001903

I used to stare longingly at that case when I was dreaming up my PC build, but the $5000 price tag kept me away. I had the same thought about this Razer concept PC when I first saw it. I bet it will be damned expensive, and it will be just another failed attempt to grab the console market.

 

[Sigmund Av Volsung]

>.>

<.<

This wouldn't happen to be on The Escapist because of The Co-optional podcast, would it?

Because we all know how Razer ended it.

Spoiler

They sent in a squad of borg babies to take apart Totalbiscuit's PC

OT: This would be a nice idea if Razer weren't the only ones doing it.

Because the modules would be monopolized by them, and thus, hard to get at a reasonable price and limited in selection(I doubt that many parts manufacturers would get behind this idea all that much).

 

[loc978]

I'm curious to see how much these will cost. From the look of the casing and current prices of liquid cooling systems, I would guess that this is going to add a good $100 per component. Not a huge deal if you're talking about a $700 bleeding-edge CPU, but what about your $30 wireless network card?

I imagine this will be popular enough in the boutique market (as a status symbol for rich people), but they seem to be trying to market these to anyone who feels they lack the mechanical inclination to build a regular PC (and it's just a feeling. They're less complicated than a lot of Lego sets these days. Software setup is the hardest part, and it auto-detects pretty much everything).

This sort of reminds me of the Mac Pro ($30,000 price tag on $10,000 worth of server parts), only for lesser hardware.

Also, is the motherboard analog in the center going to be modular? If not, an increase in standard bus speed is going to cap your unit's potential same as any other motherboard. This is not going to make things simpler... you'll still have to research your parts before buying.

 

[AlwaysPractical]

I can really advise everyone to look at this video of it too to get a better idea:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=1FW78IAfybI

To sum up the ideas in this video:
- It is likely the final product will look nothing like what we see now
- One of the modules on each step would be a cooler/rad while the other will be the actual components
- All the components are mineral-oil cooled with quick-disconnect fittings going into and through the main brace to the coolers on the back
- The connector is proprietary for now but it is possible the actual thing will have an open standard

Razer displayed the Razer Edge simmilarly before making the actual thing, looking for responses from people and CES and their audiences. When the responses were very positive, they went ahead and made the tablet.

I for one would love to see the final product come to market. Razer has been one to very much accept the reality that the next itteration of their product will be better, as shown by their Razer Blade line, where their first one, a 17" Laptop with a display in the mousepad, was reviewed as rough around the edges while their newer Blade 14" ultra-thin notebook was praised in most aspects. I hope they stick to their guns and let this technology through a few generations so we can enjoy something truly new.

 

[Arnoxthe1]

and could allow consumers to never buy another PC, or gaming system, again.

Nope. That PCI-E port will turn into a bottleneck sooner or later. It may be 1 year from now or 10. But it will happen.