Rahul Sood, HP's Gaming Biz CTO, upgrades his HP Blackbird 002 to GIGABYTE X58A-UD3R

[dinos22]

Can't go wrong with one of these I say

Source: Rahul's blog

I finally did it. I decided to bring my Blackbird 002 from 2007 to 2010 with some serious VoodooDNA. This machine is over three years old and it's still very current - it's a real testament to how ahead of its time it was.

I spent under $1000 and I ended up replacing the motherboard, CPU, memory, power supply, and fans. I already have a selection of video cards kicking around so it was a pretty cheap upgrade. My new Blackbird operates silently. I kept the same liquid cooler and used a new Intel i7 mount for it. The Gigabyte motherboard fits like a glove in the chassis with very little cable management changes.

If you are going to do this I recommend you pick up a large can of air and blow out the entire system when you pull it apart.

Here is a list of parts I ordered:

• Corsair AX850 Power Supply
• Gigabyte GA-X58A-UDR3 (why Gigabyte? ..because it's fanless, it's fast, and it's not overpriced. The Asus republic of gamer motherboard seems way overpriced for what you get, don't waste your money)
• Intel Core i7 Processor 930 2.80GHz w/ 8MB Cache
• Corsair 6GB XMS3-1333 Triple Channel
• 2 120mm silent 1200CFM RADIAL fans (to replace the top radiator fans on the Blackbird)
• New mounting bracket for the liquid cooler (buy a cheap Corsair H50 & dump the cooler, use the i7 mounting bracket)

I received new cards from ATI and Nvidia - I'm still playing between them. Based on the individual performance of these cards it's unlikely that I will install two. One video card is more than enough to deliver the performance I need in all my games at 2560x1600. By using one card my machine is also quieter and it runs cooler - and I still run dual displays. It's generally easier to work on as well.

I'm amazed at how well my PC is running now! It's way faster, it's much quieter, and it's rock solid!

It's been over three years and we basically left the premium market wide open after HP Voodoo proved it could design a world class performance PC. There was a time when Henry Ford brought out the Ford GT just to embarrass Ferrari in the 24 hours of Lemans. They succeeded by completely destroying everyone and winning all three podium positions.

Well they did bring it back eventually... Remember that?

[metachronos]

he comes off as kind of an arrogant . Of course he has a bunch of video cards laying around, and why would someone buy a corsair h50 just for a mounting bracket?

what a douche

[hollo]

rahul "phenom @ 3ghz is a stone cold killer" sood
http://www.rahulsood.com/2007/08/ben...edy-whack.html

[IvanAndreevich]

One video card is more than enough to deliver the performance I need in all my games at 2560x1600

LOL what? Try Crysis or Metro 2033 (freaking awesome game).

[dinos22]

Dungeons and Dragons at super high res maybe

[rusty]

epic failure ...

[alfaunits]

rahul "phenom @ 3ghz is a stone cold killer" sood
http://www.rahulsood.com/2007/08/ben...edy-whack.html

Exactly what came to my mind

[K404]

How exactly is this news?

[Leeghoofd]

Who does big D work for Kenny ? I rather read this then the armed intruder in Paris Hiltons house. Who cares about that ?

Rahul has alwas been controversial in his blogs ( recalling the Custom PC times )...

[dinos22]

googles armed intruder in Paris Hilton's house

already sounds staged

[miahallen]

Why'd he get an i7 930......he doesn't even know what bclock is, does he

[DarthBeavis]

No reason to bag on the dude. I am a fan of the old VooDoo. Rahul did great stuff there.

[Hornet331]

Why'd he get an i7 930......he doesn't even know what bclock is, does he

Because this one has replaced the 920..

here in europa you hardly find 920s, and when you find them they are the same price as a 930... so no point in getting a 920.

[Dainas]

Because this one has replaced the 920..

here in europa you hardly find 920s, and when you find them they are the same price as a 930... so no point in getting a 920.

amen, same story gave me a 930. Besides no microcenters here.

[amlett]

No reason to bag on the dude. I am a fan of the old VooDoo. Rahul did great stuff there.

+1

this is my current rig:



I love the blackbird chassis.

[Glow9]

Is this from someones blog? Or why do we care what someone upgraded to?

[Manicdan]

i dont see whats so news worthy, maybe a worklog post would be more fitting

[dinos22]

Is this from someones blog? Or why do we care what someone upgraded to?

Rahul is the world's uber nerd who founded VoodooPC and then sold the business to HP and gave himself a fancy job title CTO > Chief Technology Officer

He's not your average Joe Bloe blogger imo

[dctokyo]

i dont see whats so news worthy, maybe a worklog post would be more fitting

+1, this is not news

[Donnie27]

Rahul is the world's uber nerd who founded VoodooPC and then sold the business to HP and gave himself a fancy job title CTO > Chief Technology Officer

He's not your average Joe Bloe blogger imo

http://www.rahulsood.com/2006/03/if-...e-machine.html

[Serra]

A few things popped to my eyes reading that post:
- If the system is "still current", why did he have to replace everything in it except the DVD, HDD, and liquid cooling system?
- Also, HDD speeds have increased significantly in the last 3 years. It's also where you'll see a lot of day-to-day difference.
- I like how he makes it sound like the old system was so good that he did a full overhaul for under $1000, but in reality you should factor in the video card(s), should do a HDD upgrade, and quite likely he did an OS upgrade he's not mentioning at some point. It's not that he didn't directly state the video cards were free, but it reads like "Our systems are so good that upgrades are very cheap even 3 years later". This is fine because he obviously has a stake in doing some marketing, but it still smacked me a bit.

@Dino - Re: "He's not just some blogger" - I would counter that this is just a blog post about how someone who we happen to know bought a few not-top-of-the-line parts and put them in his old chassis. That's like blogging about Steve Jobs stepping in gum. When he is talking about a new HP product or a new Voodoo branded item, or even does something exciting like built a top-of-the-line something using components the average person can't even get their hands on, then he's a someone. But when a person is talking about an inconsequential act or subject matter beyond their scope of knowledge, they suddenly become "just some guy". I'm know there is at least one other poster out there who disagrees with me on that, but I maintain the position.