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KFConsole – Intel NUC 9 enclosure with built in heater for chicken wings (coolermaster.com)
64 points by mellonaut on Jan 6, 2021 | hide | past | favorite | 41 comments



Okay I looked into it and apparently it is not entirely hot air.

KFC has a deditcated 'KFC gaming' account that tweets memes that appeal to gamers [0]. It jokingly tweeted a video featuring a rendering of this console back in June as a joke to play on the new gen console wars [1]. Apparently the reception was so good that it found a wing man in Cooler Master. This case modder / engineer in particular [2] spent a couple of months designing and fitting working hardware plus a chicken drawer into a hot new case design as close to the original tweet as possible.

As the result turned out to a not entirely half baked pc build, KFC has stated that it plans on release the console. We'll have to see wether that will turn out true or not, but as the harware probably consists of of-the-shelf components I have no doubts that there will be at least a couple be built.

source: https://www.tomshardware.com/uk/news/kfcs-kfconsole-is-real-...

[0] https://twitter.com/kfcgaming

[1] https://twitter.com/kfcgaming/status/1341428570388901891

[2] https://timpelay.se https://www.instagram.com/p/CJbBVdzAPR8/


With a decent Threadripper and 3090, there might be enough heat to cook a small chicken. If not that, enough to reheat leftovers.

They might have to redesign the case a bit, however.


(compiles linux kernel)

"Honey, can you make me some chicken too?"

"Sure, no problem!"

(compiles firefox)


Why melt ingots in a forge when you can just run prime95?


KFC has had a rash of failed silly crowdfunding campaigns as part of their ridiculous marketing push. This is almost certainly part of that.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=np5tFlmRUIc

For Coolermaster's part, they seem like the kind of company that would dedicate a few engineers to a silly idea for the hell of it.


Thermaltake did make this cigarette lighter/cup holder combo in a drive bay: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_ErL39wqO-c


This is probably pretty effective co-marketing on coolermaster's part. I've seen them make cases before with other people's logos.


Suck it Apple. The M1 is totally incapable of delivering this kind of heat regardless of workload.

(Apologies for injecting humor on what is clearly an otherwise serious posting)


I can imagine the chart on a review...

>Heat generated (higher is better)


The KFConsole is obviously intended to be humorous so I think you’re fine.


This is a nice bit of marketing but... is it real? There's no actual information on the page, no links to any other pages/sites, nowhere to buy it, and no mention of "coming soon" or any sort of expected release date.


> Enjoy smooth and fluid high-frame-rate gameplay at up to 240fps for ALL games, with support for 240Hz output on 4k displays

It does sound like a very well-executed joke.


Why? The 3000 series supports 4K 240hz with DSC.


They mention it's patented... Assuming they don't just mean a generic air fryer patent or something, I would think that the patent process is too annoying for a straight-up joke.

EDIT: And that said, 3min on Google Patents hasn't found the relevant patent.


I think KFC invented/patented the combi-oven, they could be referring to that. (A humidity/temperature controlled oven that can be used like sous-vide.)

Practically I kinda doubt you'd want frying temperature anywhere near a computer, but you should be able to get warm enough to safely hold already cooked chicken.

Edit: I think this is the KFC patent for the combi-oven: https://patents.google.com/patent/US5077065A/en


Another half-hearted product attempt with no boundaries pushed.

With a Core i9 they have the hardware to fry the chicken, not only to keep it warm.

No wonder Apple keeps shoveling money into their bank vault.


That would be shot down in the boardroom.

A chicken fryer would compete with KFC, while a chicken heater would heat KFC-fried chicken.

(maybe an enterprise version with franchise-enabled deep-fried deep-learning chicken?)


Holy shit, this comment made my day.


Reminds me of the Acorn RISC PC "Rocket ship" pizza oven module: http://www.computinghistory.org.uk/det/44052/RISC-PC-Pizza-O...

This was shown at trade shows as an optional module for the expandable case, but wasn't a real product.

There's a couple of pictures of the full Rocket ship here: https://twitter.com/ItsBBP/status/1327563474550059009


While the announcement was silly, the insistence that it’s a real product is absolutely bonkers.

But ultimately I think it is vaporware and they are just pushing the “it’s real” narrative for social media reach.


The Lifetime movie "Recipe for Seduction" was all the way real, believe it or not [0]. I thought it was a gag too but it was playing last time I turned to that channel.

CM could be taking the piss, but it would be kinda neat if it was real. I don't see a price or ordering information on the page, yet. So 50/50 chance this is legit.

[0] https://ew.com/tv/mario-lopez-colonel-sanders-lifetime-mini-...


They’ll probably make a 1000 or so units and hand them over to influencers and maybe sell a few.

It may become a collectors item in certain circles just for the meme of it.


I expect they'll make a few units and give them away as a sweepstakes, or maybe a few dozen/hundred to be sold as a novelty.

It can be a product without being a mass market retail product.

Their Japanese division offered a custom keyboard in ~2014 as a contest prize.


With the KFC crocs [1] and the lifetime movie turning out to be a real thing, I am holding out hope for a real life KFConsole as well.

[1] https://www.crocs.com/KFC.html


I don't know why anyone who games would like to eat fried chicken while gaming. You have to eat it with your hands, and it's so greasy that you need to wash your hands afterward or risk covering your mouse and keyboard in grease.


The target is essentially this joke, but gone so far as to circle around and is no longer completely ironic:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ust_Er_oX5A

and

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GXAiBpIz2_I


That's why you game with a controller. Greasy? yes of course. But easy to clean after a long gaming session ;P


Next thing you know, Apple will announce their latest innovation, the new Apple iPie; to keep your apple pie warm while you use their latest ARM device.


KFC actually released a KFC phone in China a few years back. https://www.forbes.com/sites/ryanwhitwam/2017/07/12/huawei-a...


Is it a peltier-based cooler? (Really cold side and really hot side) Then this would make slightly more sense.


The nuc alone pulls 180w and any graphics card that would hit 240fps at 4k would pull 150-280w. I would imagine it just ducts the hot exhaust air through a basket.


Seems risky if you’re playing a game that generates too much heat... don’t want to burn your chicken.


I don't think any PC components are going to exceed 120C (and that's the component themselves, the surrounding air will be cooler), so nothing's going to get burnt. The only concern is the weird plastic smell getting infused into your food.


The risk is more that the temperature is likely to be the perfect temperature for breeding bacteria.


This article is making me want both a new PC and fried chicken for lunch...


Well it's safe to say that KFC's marketing department got you exactly where they want you to be at.


that gives a whole new meaning to adding chips to your meal


It's not April's fools yet?


Does it have ECC ram?


Let’s stop giving corporations free advertising by diverting attention to meaningless stunts like this.

Especially the worst corporations, like those in the fast food industry, that are a net negative to our society.

I’d like to see KFC and other fast food chains start being taxed heavily on undesirable macronutrients like sodium and saturated fat, individual items exceeding reasonable calorie limits, and regulated against marketing toward children like the tobacco industry (unless macronutrients of their meals meet health standards). Junk items should have disclaimer labels stating that daily consumption of those items will shorten your lifespan and/or cause health problems, just like cigarettes.

Obesity is our #1 public health epidemic and nobody’s doing anything about it. I think I read that obesity is a factor in 6 of the top 10 most common causes of premature death in the United States.

Over 80% of Americans are overweight and close to 40% are obese.


I don't mind if the "worst corporations" do something fun like this every once in awhile.

At least it distracts them from their focus of "shortening your lifespan".

Also as far as marketing to kids goes, KFC is not really the problem that other fast food chains are, so its not really fair to level that criticism at them.




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