Razer's new concept

[Deleted member 219079]

http://www.razerzone.com/christine
Fully modular PC, looks so sci-fi... Man can only guess how much it'll cost...

 

[Gilles]

Well it's just a concept and since there seems to be so little information on the website, I'd say it's no where near an actual product yet. I've seen other pretty amazing concepts, but unless there's a working model, no point in really giving it much attention.

Do you have any other sources of info?

 

[Deleted member 219079]

Pretty good video about it: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1FW78IAfybI

 

[PurgeandFire]

It's interesting, but I doubt it will be worth the price. All those side visuals (e.g. the control panel) will just ramp up the price, when they really could be controlled by software. I think it is funner to build a PC anyway, even if you are new to it. There are lots of guides on it, and you feel good in the end (if it works, lol).

 

[Gilles]

Pretty good video about it: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1FW78IAfybI

Haha, I saw that video on facebook right after I posted my comment. Does look interesting, but I'm not sure it would catch on. Seems like anyone who builds computers would rather save money and buy cheaper parts (assuming the parts would cost more than normal components).

 

[Deleted member 219079]

I'm sure they will cost a lot more.

 

[Adiktuz]

Since it's Razer, it's meant to cost A LOT more...

 

[Deleted member 219079]

Since it's Razer, it's meant to cost A LOT more...

They're probably gonna milk every penny customers are willing to spend on that system. And the fact there's no competitors yet makes those systems even more expensive.

 

[Dr Super Good]

Sounds like a toy for rich people.

 

[Adiktuz]

@DSG - well, Razer products ARE toys for the rich

 

[Velmarshal]

When I first saw the news a "modular PC concept" I was like "YAAAAAAY! FINALLY!", few lines down as soon as I saw "Razer", well let's just say I was underwhelmed.

The two main questions I have about it.
1. How the heck do they think to use a same type of socket for every component.
2. After you plug in a new, let's say SSD. It's chamber gets filled with the cooling fluid. Now if you want to replace it with a bigger SSD, how do you empty the old one of the cooling liquid? Because if you take it out altogether with the liquid inside, there is less liquid in the system, since those things seal up as soon as they are disconnected.
In short, does the "simple user" who bought that glorified DVD rack for its "simplicity", has to refill the coolant reservoir every time he disconnects a piece of hardware, or there's some magic by which the cooling system dries out the component before unplugging?

And yes, considering it's razer, it is going to be most certainly overpriced and marketed towards rich brats. But then I look at apple and become disappointed in humanity altogether.

Not to mention nobody saw that thing do anything, though it wouldn't be the first time (sadly, nor the last time) razer came up with an expensive piece of plastic.

 

[Dr Super Good]

1. How the heck do they think to use a same type of socket for every component.

Because there are only 2 fundamental types of transfer through sockets.
1. Power.
2. Data.

As such as long as they use one large enough, they can use it for any device that needs both power and data.

2. After you plug in a new, let's say SSD. It's chamber gets filled with the cooling fluid. Now if you want to replace it with a bigger SSD, how do you empty the old one of the cooling liquid? Because if you take it out altogether with the liquid inside, there is less liquid in the system, since those things seal up as soon as they are disconnected.

Probably along the same lines as a nuclear power station. Each component has its own water cooling system (closed off from outside) which then transfers heat using a heat exchanger to the central cooling system. Nuclear power stations have 3 such transfer stages (if I recall) to prevent radiation leaks since the water becomes radioactive when near the core. Obviously this is not a problem with a computer but you can still apply the concept of separate cooling systems which never directly contact each other.

 

[Velmarshal]

Because there are only 2 fundamental types of transfer through sockets.
1. Power.
2. Data.

As such as long as they use one large enough, they can use it for any device that needs both power and data.


Probably along the same lines as a nuclear power station. Each component has its own water cooling system (closed off from outside) which then transfers heat using a heat exchanger to the central cooling system. Nuclear power stations have 3 such transfer stages (if I recall) to prevent radiation leaks since the water becomes radioactive when near the core. Obviously this is not a problem with a computer but you can still apply the concept of separate cooling systems which never directly contact each other.

About the sockets, I am aware of that. And it does sound viable when you put it like that. But in reality, gpus require aditiomal 6pin power connectors, most mobos require aditional power connectors along the standard 24pin one, these days, mostly 6pins and 8pins. Gpus require high memory bandwidth as well as ram, ssds and hdds dont require lightning fast response times, etc. Though in the end I too tired to go deeper, so I'll agree that its possible, while being much less cost efficient.

About the second thing. Yes that could work, but it's not the case here. That concept is supposed to use a centralized watercooling system, along with the powersupply at the bottom.

 

[Dr Super Good]

Gpus require high memory bandwidth as well as ram

PC GPUs have that all integrated. I doubt they will separate that part into separate modules.

most mobos require aditional power

I do not think it has a conventional motherboard component. I am guessing they use a custom motherboard style thing that sits inside the central tower.

But in reality, gpus require aditiomal 6pin power connectors

Or a better PSU which can transfer more current through a single wire. This wire can then branch off into the individual power pins of the plug. This is where some adapters come from.

There are a few reasons why parallel power pins are used of the exact same voltage level. The most practical one is that you cannot draw enough current through a single pin so you need to distribute over multiple pins. Another reason is digital noise reduction since if analogue components are powered by a pin shared with a digital component you will get voltage dip noise at the clock frequency of the digital components on the analogue component. I am guessing that one of those power pins your GPU uses is dedicated for the I/O connectors where noise could cause a loss in image quality (analogue outputs) or bandwidth (digital).

 

[Velmarshal]

Well we will see how it goes, I don't like getting into such details while all that was presented is a rack of boxes witha touchscreen on, heck guys at razer booth even chased away the journalist that touched it.
If a company like Corsair or Asus decided to do this, I wouldn't be as half as sceptical.