Intel the element: a modular pc prototype for possibly 2020

If you've been in the news scene for a while, you might remember Razer's Project Christine unveiled at CES 2014 . A few years later, Intel has presented us with a similar and somewhat more polished prototype and, in the absence of official names, it has been dubbed Intel "The Element" . If you want to know what this is all about and what a Modular PC is , keep reading.

The strange Intel "The Element" , a prototype of Modular PC

What you're looking at right now is the first prototype for an audience of one of Intel's projects. It has no official name, but its creators refer to it as Intel "The Element" and its characteristics are peculiar, to say the least.

If you look closely , below it has a PCIe (we assume that Gen3) along with a power pin and several connectors on the left. Despite looking like a graphic from some twenty years ago, this component brings a whole series of pieces packed inside.

Inside the Intel "The Element" we have a processor, RAM and a single memory unit and everything just bulges two expansion ports. In addition, as connections we will have Thunderbolt , Ethernet , Wi-Fi and USB, that is, it is almost an all in one.

This is intended to connect in parallel with other accelerators such as GPUs, RAIDs or the like to power a team.

The Intel “The Element” is being developed by the development team responsible for most small products and their idea in mind was to break typical designs and create something really new and interesting.

Characteristics of the new prototype

This particular prototype carried a BGA Xeon processor , although we expect versions with Intel Ice Lake desktop CPUs , for example.

On the other hand, it has two M.2 ports , as well as two slots for SO-DIMM LPDDR4 RAM . Outside, you can see the small fan, which has enough power to cool this bug and to finish, as input / output connections we have:

• Wi-Fi connection (possibly Wi-Fi 6) 2x Ethernet ports (unconfirmed whether 1Gbit, 2.5Gbit or 10Gbit) 4x USB ports 1x HDMI 3x Thunderbolt

The PCIe port technology of the Intel "The Element" is not confirmed, but is possibly PCIe Gen 3 . However, depending on when it comes out, we could already see it with PCIe Gen 4 technology.

As we have seen, this board is powered with 75W of energy, but with the 8-pin input it could theoretically hold up to 225W . It would be interesting to know if due to this we could see other versions of Intel "The Element" with high performance processors like the Core i9-9900KS (TDP 127W) .

Regarding the other parts of the component, Intel has ensured that this limited cooling system will not be used in the final product. Also, when asked by a journalist about whether liquid cooling could be used, the brand stated that these components will be customizable, although everything will depend on the manufacturers.

The estimated date for the release of Intel "The Elemente" (but with its real name) is intended for the end of the first quarter of 2020. However, realistically, it will probably be delayed until the middle of that same year or even 2021.

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The team behind Intel "The Element" is quite veteran, so we can trust the good quality of the final product. Who knows what we will see in the future? Perhaps we will see a version that occupies three expansion ports with a coupled Intel X ^e graphics of the next generation.

And what do you think about this innovative idea rescued from Razer? Do you think Intel is taking the right steps? Share your ideas in the comment box.

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