Razer's Modular Desktop PC Concept

If there were a way to take something like this and make it where I could buy individual components off "newegg". I would be Sold in a minute.

As a pre fab anything..Not a Chance.

I mean it is a cool concept, but All I see it as is a means to charge far more for upgrades just because they are in those modules.
 
I do like the concept, but I've never used a Razer product that was well made.
 
That's a neat concept however if they could make it not so bulky and ugly and more enclosed in a box like hot-swaps, then we may see this go places.

I wouldn't bet on it.
 
I'd like to see a tear down video of one of these, and not the fancy "Here buy our awesome product" video.
 
This would be pretty neat, more so if they were able to plug in off the shelf componnents into the "modules"
 
Modular makes no sense on a home PC. Modular only makes sense if you need to reconfigure quickly. Otherwise, its just a marketing gimmick. Albeit a slick one, but a gimmick nonetheless.
 
I do wish there was a 100% backwards/forwards compatible modular design for PC/servers. What would be neat is a system where the mainboard is basically just a backplane with identical slots and power bus. Then you buy cards, they would all be the same size and slide in. You would start with a PSU card, CPU card, ram card, in most cases a storage card, then the rest would be open to whatever else. You could also put multiple CPU cards or multiple ram cards to increase power. Multiple power cards for redundant power etc... Ram cards would basically have slots on it and take ram sticks, though some cards would be all built in. It would be up to card manufacturers to decide if the cards themselves are modular or not, but the standard would be that any combination of cards would work together. New cpu comes out? Just swap the card. You have two cpu cards? Great, you can hot swap em live!

Now that would be awesome.
 
spugm1r3 said:
Modular makes no sense on a home PC. Modular only makes sense if you need to reconfigure quickly. Otherwise, its just a marketing gimmick. Albeit a slick one, but a gimmick nonetheless.
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You realize what company is showing this, right?
 
I like modular but not like this, and certainly not by razer, even though I own plenty of their mice.

What really needs the go modular is the smartphone in both hardware and software aspects.
 
How many days until it starts double-clicking by itself?
 
They did modular PCs in the early/mid 90s and it failed hard. This probably won't be much different.
 
MSRP of Deathadder: $60
MSRP of similar gaming mouse: $35

MSRP of decent gaming PC: $1500
MSRP of this: $5000
 
That look is pretty neat, but in every other category I would not be on board.
 
Red Squirrel said:
I do wish there was a 100% backwards/forwards compatible modular design for PC/servers. What would be neat is a system where the mainboard is basically just a backplane with identical slots and power bus. Then you buy cards, they would all be the same size and slide in. You would start with a PSU card, CPU card, ram card, in most cases a storage card, then the rest would be open to whatever else. You could also put multiple CPU cards or multiple ram cards to increase power. Multiple power cards for redundant power etc... Ram cards would basically have slots on it and take ram sticks, though some cards would be all built in. It would be up to card manufacturers to decide if the cards themselves are modular or not, but the standard would be that any combination of cards would work together. New cpu comes out? Just swap the card. You have two cpu cards? Great, you can hot swap em live!

Now that would be awesome.
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Except the you would end up with a common backplane that woudl slow everything down. Memory controllers (which dictate the type of memory used) are built into modern CPUs for the best performance.

CPU/Motherboard/Memory are too highly interconnected for this to happen with current technology.
 
I do admit modularity ala the mxm modules of drop in gpu's for laptops is something the PC needs but not because they're "too hard" for only "geeks" to build. WTF.
 
a bit to fancy considering when steam gets to the point it dosn't need real hardware due to streaming (7-10 years?) all you will need is the android app and a phone that can do HDMI output / whatever is the new port at the time, and it would support steam controllers via bluetooth for input.
 
Just wait till it starts glowing Plymouth Fury red and somehow goes on a rampant killing spree if you bully its owner.
 
I think some of you are being way way too hard on this.

I for one think it would be neat if it works well and is reasonably priced. Not to mention if it really is as easy as swapping in modules and not having to open anything or fiddle with wires, etc it would be a lot easier for non-tech people to use.

Also regarding the design, do some of you REALLY care that much about what your pc tower looks like? In all the years of building pc's I have gave exactly diddly squat to caring what my tower "looks" like and rather more so about how quiet it is and how well it's built. I have never invited anyone over to my house to show off my pc or say "hey wanna see my tower."

FRankly I don't know anyone that even cares what a pc tower looks like.
 
LeninGHOLA said:
I do like the concept, but I've never used a Razer product that was well made.
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Exactly. Razer has pretty much been synonymous with sexy, overpriced equipment made to the cheapest and lowest standards possible.

Razer "Engineer": We made a widget in a cool shape!
Razer Salesschmuck: Sell it!
Consumer: Shouldn't you engineer it to be a bit more durable so it doesn't break just coming out of the package?
Razer Salesschmuck: Screw it! Buy another one! More money for us!

I remember talking with the Razer guys back in 98 when they were still working on the Boomslang mouse. They seemed, at the time, to be an earnest bunch who wanted to deliver a quality product. Wish I knew what happened to change that...
 
Stiler said:
I for one think it would be neat if it works well and is reasonably priced.
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As someone else already asked. You DID see who's working on this right? It'll be a bunch of cheap tin and thin plastic worth abut $10, plus a $15 manufacturing process. They'll be charging a minimum of $300 for it.
 
Nope, not for me. I prefer to spend my money on the "go" bits that make it work, not the chassis.

My Antec P280 was relatively inexpensive, plenty of room, easy to work on (tooless), quiet, nice filters and what not, and practical. I see it lasting me to the point that miniaturization makes its size obsolete even on the most powerful of systems.
 
It looks pointless. The only parts that are going to have a thermal budget to fit in those modules are far too slow to be of any interest to anyone running that case. Nobody that buys that is going to be satisfied with a 780M for example, even in SLI.
 
Anything proprietary will cost an arm and a leg. WIll take ages to improve on the initial design, and looks are not for everyone.
 
Pfft, Razer can even make a mouse pad last. Like their engineers could pull something like this off.
 
My PC is already modular because I built it myself. Razer's hooker Christine needs a new hobby rather than taking in different parts.
 
I like it idea a lot, but I think the execution is wrong. They should be selling the external modular pieces empty as accessories to the case, so that system builders can fill those pieces with the hardware of their choosing. Then, essentially Razor is marketing a fancy, neat case with liquid cooling and noise deadening... which is awesome.

My other concern is that the external connections are not robust enough to handle the modularity use of constantly swapping out parts.
 
kllrnohj said:
It looks pointless. The only parts that are going to have a thermal budget to fit in those modules are far too slow to be of any interest to anyone running that case. Nobody that buys that is going to be satisfied with a 780M for example, even in SLI.
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Well that's the idea of the water cooling. You take the heat generated in each module and dump it somewhere else.

However thermals are only one small part of the problems this thing faces.
 
The single PC component I hate the most is the case.

Any new design attempt, even if just a concept, is good thing in my books.
 
SpeedyVV said:
The single PC component I hate the most is the case.

Any new design attempt, even if just a concept, is good thing in my books.
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I enjoy the innovation over anything that does something different to a rectangle box. If this were to pan out (not holding my breath) but think about the different designs that could be achieved. Sure right now its a tower, but that could change if the product takes off.
 
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