Razer's Project Christine just made me drop trout over modular PC design
Razer does exciting work. It's never cheap, but it's exciting. Case in point: Project Christine. Not sure if it's named after the Stephen King novel about a possessed '58 Plymouth Fury, but Project Christine's entire plug-and-play modular approach to PC building makes my brain do happy little backflips.
Once upon a time I was able to keep up with the arms race known as PC building. In the end, I couldn't foot the bill, but in addition, I was consistently roadblocked by a lack of understanding as to what was compatible with what, which upgrades were necessary (or entirely unnecessary), and just how short of a time frame I had in dealing with components' planned obsolescence.
I was -- and continue to be -- a technological Luddite. I couldn't tell you the first thing about Project Christine's specs. I don't know much about PCI-Express architecture, factory overclocked components, quad SLI capability, or SSD + RAID 5 HDD arrays. But Razer knows their business, so I'll let the adults do the talking.
No pricing available yet, but again, it won't be cheap. That LED touchscreen, though.
Project Christine Simplifies PC Set-Up, Future Upgrades and Eliminates Obsolescence
LAS VEGAS (CES 2014)– Razer, the world leader in entertainment devices and software, today announced a concept of what promises to be the world’s most modular gaming system, Project Christine.
The PC has traditionally been one of the most open platforms in all of technology. However, given the technical complexities of PC hardware, only the most hardcore enthusiasts have been able to take advantage of this openness to build, customize and continuously upgrade their PC desktop systems. The tremendous promise of the PC has remained underexploited by the vast majority of general consumers for more than 30 years, largely due to the convoluted hardware – knowing what does what, what works with what, and how to connect the pieces.
Project Christine is a revolutionary new concept design that will change the way users view PCs. It will allow any user to build and customize his or her PC in any configuration without any prior technical knowledge. Further, as new upgrades come to the market, the same PC can be easily and quickly upgraded without additional technical assistance and without the fear of incompatibility or obsolescence.
Project Christine’s modular design allows users to easily build their PCs by allowing them to select and install modules on-the-fly, whether it’s a CPU, GPU, or memory and storage configuration. The PCI-Express architecture of Project Christine automatically syncs components. Need more graphics processing power or storage? Easy – a user can slot-in additional graphics modules and add more storage by either swapping-out the existing storage drives or adding more modules. Equally exciting, Project Christine is able to run multiple operating systems that the user may require.
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. 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.
The cable-less design of each sealed module is entirely self-contained and features active liquid cooling and noise cancelation, which allows Razer to factory overclock components without voiding warranties, safely and quietly. The system also features a touch-screen LED display that indicates control and maintenance information.
“Project Christine is a new concept design that will revolutionize the way users view the traditional PC. 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,” says Min-Liang Tan, Razer co-founder, CEO and creative director. “We have a history of bringing incredibly innovative concept systems to market and it’s fair to say that Project Christine is a very exciting new prospect for future development.”
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For more information, check out www.razerzone.com.
Product features:
· Fully modular design for perpetual, cable-less customization
· PCI-Express architecture
· Open operating system platform
· Factory overclocked components
· Self-contained modules with active liquid cooling and noise cancelation
· Quad SLI capable
· SSD + RAID 5 HDD Array
· LED touchscreen control display
For more information about Project Christine, please visit www.razerzone.com/christine.
