We're in the midst of CES 2014's gadget and computer hardware information avalanche and it's starting to get a little difficult to separate the exciting announcements from the announcements we'll forget about before the show's over. For example, how do you feel about Razer's announcement of Project Christine, a modular gaming PC? I mean, look at it. That doesn't look like any PC I've ever seen. Where's the dust-clogged exhaust fans, the fire-hazardous tangle of cables, and the unsightly, space-inefficient case?
Apparently, Razer has been working on this for two years. The idea is to eliminate one of the most prohibitive aspects of PC gaming—installing new components. Okay, we agree that plugging in a new graphics card or more RAM is not that difficult, but the sight of an exposed motherboard does fill some with debilitating fear. It's why a lot of people buy consoles. They are simple, plug and play consumer devices that just work. Mostly.
Project Christine will allow you to plug in any optical drive, extra storage, GPU, or CPU, each of which is encased in a proprietary, water-cooled module. All parts will plug into the PCI-express, SLI enabled “backbone.” Need a better graphics card? simply buy a new module and exchange or add it to your existing one. That does sound convenient, and ideally it's a foolproof system which makes upgrades quick and easy.
The machine is supposedly very quiet, without cables, and its touch LCD screen displays control and maintenance information. Razer didn't say how much more expensive these modules are when compared with their regular counterparts, or if it will allow other manufactures to sell them.
Actually, it seems as if Razer is still undecided about a lot of the details here. As CEO Min-Liang Tan told The Verge , the goal of the announcement was to "throw it out to gamers and see if people like it."
So, do you like it?
