HP Unveils First Collaboration with Voodoo PC

[`danny]

Kind of cool but getting one prebuilt takes out the DIY fun

[crash5s]

bad parts GTX sli 4 GB ram and quad core. bad parts?

I think he meant the striker. Which, frankly, isn't the best choice for a mass market consumer 680i solution with 4gb of RAM.

Can you imagine all the tech support calls "wtf CPU INIT"

[Kobalt]

second tier cooling running an overclocked quad at 3.67Ghz

i don't know about you but that company has been around for a little while HP and Astek so it's not like they went for a yumcha solution here

i've always been a fan of HP and everytime i'd open up any of their business PC boxes in past i thought wow these guys kick arse.....they have great attention to detail in design and usually put together and thoroughly test their gear according to purpose used

tell me Kobalt if you fit the market of a US$6000 PC which i doubt you do considering you are raising a price issue as first idea would you not want the best gear in the system. I am talking about the motherboard, RAM, CPU, GFX cards, even PSU and cooling...everything is pretty good.....I can understand you complaining about cooling not being all water for example and using a higher end solution there but to say outright it's needlessly expensive hardware components for top of the range gaming PC i am really surprised

this is not a budget system :S

They went for bling when other solutions would work and perform better. Chipset/PWM cooling comes to mind. No doubt its a nice PC, but they could have done better is all I'm saying. As someone going into engineering, I'm a critical person.

[Blauhung]

I think he meant the striker. Which, frankly, isn't the best choice for a mass market consumer 680i solution with 4gb of RAM.

Can you imagine all the tech support calls "wtf CPU INIT"

again, not for the mass market at all

[dinos22]

They went for bling when other solutions would work and perform better. Chipset/PWM cooling comes to mind. No doubt its a nice PC, but they could have done better is all I'm saying. As someone going into engineering, I'm a critical person.

you are right about cooling chipset with water

i don't like those Asus chipset fans
to me they are tooooooo loud lol

[bypolar]

Looks like the cleanest oEM system I have ever seen.The case Aesthetics are decent but as usual this is all personal opinion.

The Asus MB ,Astek,FSP are at least brands we know as enthusiast and is a welcome changed to the propritiery or unmarked componets as of late.

Remember it is diffucult to decifer which brands are the best of the best with all of the user opinions around.

I like it, Put a DFI board in there an I would consider purchasing one.

[FlimFlam00]

dinos, very sage words.

I beta tested the Blackbird, and I was dying to show the XS forums, but was under NDA. I am a DIY guy, but this rig is probably the best prebuilt. If you consider that this is their first offering, then I think that this is a success.

Also, I tried to push a p35 chipset, but they were trying to limit their SKUs. Additionally I mentioned adding Crucial or TG to the ram list, and we'll see what happens their. This is a huge production as industrial design, marketing, business development, etc are involved. Lots of time and money went into this, and for the prebuilt community, I don't think you find a better machine.

Some of the cooler things are the airflow, and there are precut mobo holes. Additionally there is a sata backplane so no messing with cables on the HDs. It is a tad loud and I pressed for some Yate Loons or SilenX fans, but it wasn't happening.

When the site is up, you will be able to make some considerable configuration changes, and this is the midline model IIRC - if you want to DIY config a cheap model, and mod the out of that thing. The drive trays alone make it worth it. When you see it in person, you'll grow quite fond of it.

I suppose it is easy to criticize mass produced stuff, but at least HP is thinking outside of the box because last time I checked Alienware, FNW, Hypersonic et al are still using platic alien heads, Temjin tj03s, and Lian Li non-modified rebadges for their cases respectively.

[dinos22]

wow so you were a part of the project?

fantastic

[Kobalt]

you are right about cooling chipset with water

i don't like those Asus chipset fans
to me they are tooooooo loud lol

Heh...all chipset fans are too loud. I always slap a zalman nb heatsink on with a zip-tied 80mm fan blowing on it. Works real well and I never see temps above 45°C on my DFI.

Nice info flimflam... did you get to keep it ?

[dinos22]

Nice info flimflam... did you get to keep it ?

errr Mr. HP looks like i'm just gonna have to test this system for another 2-3 years if you don't mind :d

[FlimFlam00]

wow so you were a part of the project?

fantastic

Heh...all chipset fans are too loud. I always slap a zalman nb heatsink on with a zip-tied 80mm fan blowing on it. Works real well and I never see temps above 45°C on my DFI.

Nice info flimflam... did you get to keep it ?

Hell no I did not get to keep it. It was used for the HP NYC media event on the 4th,5th, and 6th announcing their new rigs and technologies. One of teh Frags Dolls was showing it to the masses.

Thanks. I was just a beta tester but am not an HP employee...yet. They limited the cs to 680i because of the manual, tech support, etc. All that stuff is being hashed out, so when you look at all of the work to design, build, and market this project it is immense.

You have to give kudos to the young HP industrial designers - they have some whiz kids over there and HP labs is looking to incorporate their proprietary tech (they have lots of it) into their gaming business.

Also, if I wasn't such an entrenched New Yorker, I would be at Cupertino right now. If any of you guys are interested, HP/Voodoo have tons of job openings in the Gaming Business Division in Cupertino, CA, Calgary, and Taiwan. Might be a great opportunity for some of you guys. GO HERE and type "voodoo" or "gaming business unit."

Wait until you see what is coming out shortly...

[brickout]

nice case, but HP really needs to revamp their logo for their voodoo ventures...

[FlimFlam00]

Here is my beta unit next to my Temjin case. It was by one of my TVs just to load stuff. Chip, my cat, dug the Blackbird.



The drives are vertical. The right side drive is the slot load. The drive on the left actually has a flip open door. The power and reset buttons are a bit whimpy, but the button housing is pretty sturdy.

Also, I got pretty decent temps and OCs during beta testing, but since my AC was out, my ambient was high. In fact, i was about butt nekkid when I was trying to push this thing to the limits.

I have some more testing pics, but I tried to limit them so as to not tempt myself to post them on here pre-launch thereby violating my NDA. Seemed to work.

[Brother Esau]

Yet another Alienware tragedy story but now Voodoo falls by the way of the dodo but yet the price remains the same and sports the HP logo

[SafeFire]

I wouldn't mind the case, just the case alone. Or, just the foot stand would be fine by me. Hawt case

[dinos22]

http://www.rahulsood.com/2007/09/enter-blackbird.html

[mrkram]

i used one tonight playing UT3 at the launch party celebrating HP/Vodoo's merger in NYC. The system looked nice but way overpriced...... good for those with lots of money and don't want to DIY. UT3 was running suprisingly bad on it though.... hopefully it was UT3 and not the hardware.

[saaya]

first look: nice!
second look: hmmmm
third look: mmmhh :/

overpriced and looks like so so built quality.
dont like the weird shape of the case...

[hixie]

Looks like a NZXT 1000W PSU

[gundamit]

Some of the cooler things are the airflow, and there are precut mobo holes. Additionally there is a sata backplane so no messing with cables on the HDs. It is a tad loud and I pressed for some Yate Loons or SilenX fans, but it wasn't happening.

The air flow is good enough they don't need a rear 120mm fan? Are the fans on the rad the ones that are loud or maybe the one mounted in the front?

[perry_78]

I like it

[Kenetixx]

Looks pretty good but a bit over priced i think.
I wish my Place of employment would get into the gaming market

[Daveb2012]

yeah this is just HP copying Dell, they will soon lose the #1 spot in the PC market back to Dell again.

[Origin_Unknown]

i do quite like the hovering design

[dinos22]

Looks pretty good but a bit over priced i think.
I wish my Place of employment would get into the gaming market

i think your place of employment has some much nicer gear to drool over