We always loved us that Voodoo-designed
HP Blackbird 002, but it was certainly a behemoth. Now it looks like the duo are going for a more realistic size -- and hopefully pricepoint -- with the all-new HP Firebird PC 803 that just fell in our lap, a gaming tower which flips the disc drive and most other components on their sides to save on space. The resulting kit seems to have more in common with gaming consoles than desktop PCs in terms of design, with very little configurability or expansion available, but the leaked specs are still quite palatable to the modern PC gamer:
- NVIDIA nForce 760i SLI chipset
- Core 2 Quad Q9550 2.83GHz processor
- 4GB of RAM
- Dual NVIDIA GeForce 9800S cards
- Two 320GB SATA drives
- Blu-ray
- 5-in-1 card reader
- 6 USB, 1 FireWire, 2 eSATA, 1 S/PDIF and 1 DVI dual-link
- Bluetooth
- 802.11n WiFi
To save on space (and heat), the Firebird actually uses an external power supply, but we suppose the included wireless keyboard and mouse should help to make up for that clutter. As you've probably gleaned from the specs, those small form factor 9800S cards aren't going to be putting away the frame rates quite like the cutting edge cards from NVIDIA and AMD, and the seeming lack of expandability makes the (theoretical) up-front cost savings seem a bit less exciting, but for a certain type of gamer the Firebird could be a welcome respite from
monstrous, unrealistic and just-as-quickly-outmoded performance towers.
P.S.: Rahul's dubious rant about the boutique gaming industry -- which Voodoo still serves -- makes a lot more sense in this light. [Thanks to everyone who sent this in]
posted Dec 23rd 2008 11:03AM
That is all kinds of hot.
I will admit the specifications on this thing is above average.
That looks surprisingly appealing - if they come out with a version that costs less by losing the SLI, I might be interested. I don't really have room in my current space for a giant tower anyways.
While I dig the case, it seems to harken back to the old days of proprietary systems. It's a beautiful design, but unless that design exists w/in the confines of industry standard architecture, it's a bit pointless.
I'd like some further blown up detail of the insides though, to see exactly how those cards are mounted.
Whoah! Check out those advanced features!
1. Holes in case for air
2. Reflective case that acts like a mirror.
(someone must have taken this guy somewhat seriously http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20060923202508AAKhUd3)
Revolutionary on so many levels!
The link is wonderful. Thank you.
Thanks Boarderwoot for my daily laugh
Oh my god, "scanning a mirror doesn't work."
LOL!
Yep, I just tried it, really doesn't work :P
No HDMI??? wtf? Im really looking for some type of HTPC without having to build it...
How can it play bluray movies through DVI to my plasma?
HDMI is there.
It's got HDMI. Take a closer look at picture #7...
Can't you just buy an adapter?
Whoops, I just saw that I was wrong to assume that the OP knew what he was talking about.
Leak a price too. Miniature computers come and go... its usually the price that determines if the thing is worth the lack of upgradability.
I am loving the 6 usb ports in addition to other enjoyable qualities. To be quite honest PC gaming is loosing its edge against console gaming in terms of price to performance. It seems that the only thing you get for paying upwards of twice as much is a mouse and some select titles. more and more often pc games a ported to ps3 and xbox so you at the end of the day you pay a premium for gaming environment and interface. I understand and appreciate that PC gaming is a large driving force pushing the performance envelope of home computing but seriously, many of the top graphics cards cost more that a console. I for one love PC gaming, the valve distribution system is great, but after my switch to mac sacrifices were made, one of which was the addition of a ps3. the younger generations seem to be preferential to console gaming, the PC game sphere is become a niche market for WOW players and people who don't like dual analog sticks.
For PC gaming to be competitive again costs need to come down. hopefully this system is a step in the right direction.
you may want to look just north of the dvi connector
So basically a sli laptop in a compact desktop....
In the age of plastic someone had the nerve to ask: "Is it an accordian?"
that has all the makings of being an amazing htpc. leak the price already.
Yeah, but I'm guessing it could easily go way overboard with price...
I like it, but I've been burned on proprietary systems in the past (I'm looking at you Viewsonic, although it wasn't my purchase).
What I'd really like to know is if those small form factor 9800S card will see a retailer anywhere.
loving the case. wish hp would sell the blackbird and voodoo cases by themselves
Ed, You can buy the Blackbird case on it's own.
sweet how much?
are they mATX?
They are around $599 and $99 shipping. Here's the link http://www.thenextbench.com/t5/Blog/You-asked-for-it-and-you-re-getting-it/ba-p/22504#A574
Blu-ray? But I heard that's a bag of hurt?
DIP switches?
butt scratcher?
I thought wireless mice and keyboards were bad for gaming....
Real PC gamers use cords for the fastest and most reliable gameplay.
anyone else think that article linked at the bottom is terrible?
the end of high system requirements is over, where you need to spend $500 each on 3 video cards just to play a game?
What the @#$% is he talking about? i played cod 4 maxed out on my 8800gt ($130) q6600 ($189) open box mobo ($90) 8gb ram ($140) and the rest of my components are just average (i.e. what you need for ANY computer to run, monitor, psu, etc.).
If he is talking about Crysis, that is ONE game, which still demands more than any game out there. and it is the only one to do so, farcry 2 scales very well, as does fallout 3 and left 4 dead, and i can't really think of any other games he is talking about...plus crysis is plenty "playable" on a ton of different systems. it doesn't REQUIRE 3 $500 video cards at all.
people will spend lots of money on their rigs to get those extra frames....and that mentality isn't going anywhere, just like supercars cost sometimes millions of dollars, people still pay for the clout, bragging rights, and performance. who is that guy?
I thought he was just pointing out the fact that gaming boutiques don't offer affordable, well-designed PCs that have adequate power to play current "scalable" games. Instead, they seem determined to sell behemoth machines that cost, at minimum, double what you would pay to build your own machine that could play the same games.
He's not accusing the game companies, just the gaming PC boutiques.
If this here Firebird 803 is price competitive with consoles, it could be a revolution akin to netbooks.
He's saying that a super high-end setup ISN'T necessary to play modern games. He believes a setup like yours is all a gamer really needs. Reading comprehension has certainly gone down the crapper. And if you seriously don't know who that is, he is the founder of Voodoo PC.
Has Voodoo not heard of Core i7? Seriously if Dell can give me a mini tower Studio XPS with a i7 920 for $1K Canadian what performance appeal does the Voodoo have left.
Even HP Canada hasn't released a Core i7 configuration yet.
Thanks but I will wait.
Punchy
Awesome little piece of hardware.
PS, Rahul Sood's rant was dead-on. Don't call it dubious just because you find the truth painful.
Interesting. Watercooling on the video it seems, external powersupply so that heat source is taken care of. Better specs than my current machine. If they have one with a single video card instead of SLI (I am not an ubergamer!) and a reasonable price, I may consider a couple of these. A nice laptop without the screen.
I would not feel bad about owning this, I think.
It's ugly as sin.
I wouldn't game on this ugly, mediocre, proprietary beast if you paid me.
Tell me the gaming PC is dead when Total War: Empires comes out. I'll be rocking on an i7 extreme, as many $500 video cards as possible, and an array of 4 Intel X25-E's. Why? Because that's what I worked my whole life for, and when I game, I want the best possible sound, graphics, and performance humanly possible.
There will always be a market for quality PC games, and always a niche of people like me who want the best. This guy Sood is a real jerk, and a traitor to the fan base and philosophy which made him rich. He's destined for failure. I hope Voodoo goes down in flames and HP cans him.
VOODOO/HP are selling the BlackBird Chase, you need to call in
@greatsunjester
Water cooling on video??? the Box is simply not big enough to do that.
HP is the last company on Earth to do water cooling in desktops.
So bringing my point - How loud is this thing?? Like my Xbox 360 ? (which also have external power supply)
The pictures would imply that it is indeed liquid cooled.
Edit: picture 14 of 15. Items 3, 6 and 7 have tubing which is also connected to what may be a reservoir visa item 2 with item 1 as the fan array. I don't know how i feel about the water blocks used, i am a koolance man myself.
I guess I will be the first one to point out that HP is now making up their own names for their PC components. Clearly Nvidia does not have a 760i chipset or a 8800S graphics card. So what components is this PC actually running?
http://www.nvidia.com/content/DriverDownload/nforce/chipID.txt
http://www.nvidia.com/object/product_geforce_9800s_us.html
Both exist. The more I look at this form factor, the more attractive it becomes to me. I can not think of any component I would need to install that USB or eSata would not take care of. With the exception of a front USB port just for ease of use.
I assume Picture 7, item 4 is the multi card reader. Having it around back is awkward as well.
Any guesses as to what the highlighted are is on picture 13? It seems to be missing on pictures 2 and 3.
Engadget likes it because its not upgradable, just like...
A pony!
did i win?
WOW!!! 5-in-1 card reader!!!!!!
Now to the question: why the hell it is located on the arse of the case???
Actually..... it's an Expresscard slot. Now that's a nifty addition to a Desktop.
As awesome as this looks, I've learned my lesson about buying non-upgradeable PC's with my iMac.
There is no worse feeling than seeing Core i7s and high end video cards being released that absolutely wipe the floor with whatever you're using, and not being able to upgrade.
Do you know how terrible it feels being stuck with an Ati 2600xt?
Do you know how terrible it feels being stuck with an nVidia GeForce FX5200?
Am I the only one who thinks it looks like the Asus Eee Box?
And not a word who'll provide the right drivers for the box.PS3 is still superior than a new Vista OS based PC for gaming and much cheaper too.
right, because a 7800 GTX totally beats SLI 9800.
Actually, you're right. After all, who needs Crysis and it's absolutely stunning visuals and amazing physics which were really the first of it's kind?
Wake up buddy. The PS3 can play games usually on what translate to high, my laptop can play assassin's creed on all maxed out and I bought it for $600.
PS3 would have to scale back crysis to medium if it was released for it, and my laptop can play it on high. Now, if I had built it myself with the same models of desktop components, it probably would've cost me $500.
@ Brian
Crysis on high... 600$ laptop.... do you make your own crack or do you just buy it?
hustler has a point. A purpose built machine will perform it's respected task better than a PC. it's a sand-boxed environment with a fixed display resolution, better OS optimization and a homogeneous hardware standard. add the reduced cost and its hard to justify a gaming rig. What your saying, Brian, is that your Swiss army knife can cut steak faster than my steak knife. only problem is that your fork is attached to your knife while mine is not. who's eating dinner faster?
well, the PS3 isn't a PC. theres a very thin layer between game and hardware with the PS3. the PS3's 7800GTX translates to roughly an 8800GT on the PC.
for gaming in general though, consoles win. but for the revolutionary stuff, its PCs.
sorry Hustler, but your PS3 would shit itself trying to process the insanely complex and realistic physics in Crysis. It would pass out just by seeing how many polygons there are in one tree in Crysis.
@ Matthewmongan
Crysis can be played on a netbook. The only difference between systems is the frame rate you want. Obviously a higher end system will handle Crysis better than a lower end one. I for one primarily use a laptop for my gaming needs of COD4, COD5 and Crysis. All on high settings, and I don't even have Sli. Have you been living under a rock?
And how is a gaming console better than a gaming computer system? I find it hard to justify someone buying a laptop for their email and internet use, then a console for gaming. Then you buy cds that you end up loosing or scratching. Talk about money down the drain. I would much rather spend a little more at once but have a much better system that I can use for more than one thing, that will last longer, can be upgraded and much more. Oh, and to me a PS3 is just a handicapped computer. You said it yourself, a FIXED display resolution and a homogeneous hardware. Every new console and so forth is getting closer to a computer, by adding internet, web browsing and so on. I know people who spent $700 to get a PS3 when they came out. Then a new console comes out, and then what? My computer is pretty good now. A new game comes out I buy it. Eventually I will have to overclock my gpu and cpu. Then I will pop a new cpu in. then it will be so old it would have paid for itself (in school work, work, and gaming).
It looks great, but I couldn't live with the utter lack of upgradeability. Not in a gaming machine.
"cutting edge cards from NVIDIA and AMD, and"
You mean NVIDIA and ATI, right?
I did not know that AMD produced graphics card...
AMD owns ATi
you must be new to the site
this is a gorgeous piece of kit. but it IS proprietary & that's a problem. i was just about to pull the trigger too...oh well. Ugly-ass Velocity Micro Edge Gx435 w/Intel Core i7 w/3GB DDR3-1333 RAM, 2 x ATI Radeon HD 4850 512MB each in Crossfire, come to poppa! i'll just throw a sheet over it & keep it waay under my desktop.
imho, hopin' for Sood's demise is pretty lame & possibly gay. i'm sure he's already made more money than you ever will in your life. just try to move on buttercup..u'll be aiight
Well, I just bought one and i think it's pretty amazing. It was out of the boxand ready to go in minutes. The wireless keyboard and mouse worked on startup. I plugged it into,my 42" HDTV via HDMI and into my surround sound receiver via the optical digital fiber connection. Presto! I'm surfing in 16:9 from my La-Z-Boy chair. It also doubles as my new universal Blu-Ray RW player, which saved me lik $500. It's dead silent and looks good eenough to put in the living room entertainment center (no complaints from female household members)
I used to build my own systems and this is my first shelf system. I found "upgradeability to be overrated. The last two times I wanted to upgrade I started shopping and decided it wasn't worth b othering to upgrade w/o upgrading the whole board, memory, etc.