Xi3, a company owned by ISYS Technologies Inc, has turned to popular crowdfunding site Kickstarter for its latest project. Xi3 is aiming to raise $250,000 by October 28 to produce two new modular computers: the X3A and X7A. Both units measure 4.27" x 3.65" x 3.65" and are slated for release in early 2013.
The X3A Xi3 is a power efficient business and general computing machine. It will pack a dual core processor running at 1.65GHz, 4GB of DDR3 RAM, and 32GB of solid state storage. That storage can further be upgraded to up to 1TB. Rear I/O of the X3A includes two USB 3.0 ports, four eSATA ports, four USB 2.0 ports, and one Gigabit Ethernet jack. Xi3 expects the base level model to retail for under $500 and use a mere 18 Watts of power.
The X7A on the other hand is meant to be a workhorse and gaming machine. Specs include a quad core processor running at up to 3.2GHz, 8GB of DDR3 RAM, up to 1TB of solid state storage, and a GPU with at least 384 shaders. This machine will support triple monitor configurations and will use around 40 Watts. Rear I/O includes four USB 3.0, four USB 2.0, four eSATA, and one Gigabit Ethernet port. This machine will allegedly be capable of playing the latest games, including Crysis 2. It has an expected shipping date of early 2013 and with prices starting at $1,000.
Personally, I like the blue colored model.
At time of writing, Xi3 has raised $24,613 from 55 backers – and has 24 days left to reach its goal. I'm interested to see whether or not Xi3 will actually be able to pull off a gaming machine in that small of a form factor. You can find more information about the X3A and X7A modular computers on Kickstarter..
Is this the “dumbing down” of
Is this the “dumbing down” of the gaming pc? We buy expensive graphic cards and expensive cpu’s, so that we can have a kick-ass gaming pc with great graphics. To develop games to run on this… is well… like developing a game for a console. We need games that challenge our hardware, run our electric bill through the roof and gives us the experience that justifies the $500 graphic card we bought while our children starved. Otherwise, I and everyone else who loves pc gaming just wasted their money.