One of the great barriers to getting the average, non-tech savvy console gamer to cross over to high performance PC gaming is upgrading. Everyone knows your brand new gaming PC's gear is going to be outstripped in a year or less and you'll have to upgrade. But what if you didn't have to break out the static mat and special screwdrivers you can't pronounce to get the latest and greatest hardware upgrades without breaking the bank? That's exactly what hardware maker Razer is thinking. They've debuted a concept modular, upgradable gaming PC that users simply snap their desired hardware in place and it's ready to go.
The bizarrely named Project Christine is basically a rack into which users can slot any combination of modular graphics cards, processors, memory and more that automatically install and sync. All modules have their own liquid cooling system, require no cables and built-in noise cancellation to boot.
Razer has put forth Project Christine as a test case to see if gamers are interested. If it gets enough positive responses it'll go ahead and look at production. Taking the headache and downtime out of upgrading may be well worth any cost upgrades associated with these plug-n-play modules.
Razer did something similar last year when it introduced a Tablet that would double as a gaming PC, people loved it and Razer developed it into what become the high-powered tablet known as the Razer Edge.
What do you think, would making PC upgrading idiot proof make you more likely to buy, or upgrade your rig? Have any horror stories of GPU upgrades that went terribly wrong? Check out Razer Project Christine site for more images of the modular system.
