HP Firebird with Voodoo DNA hands-on
By Nilay Patel 
posted January 8th 2009 1:39PM
posted January 8th 2009 1:39PM
posted January 8th 2009 1:39PM
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No i7?
Rahul is going after that elusive market of gamers who want to spend a lot of money on an underperforming gaming PC, but not as much money as gaming PCs which aren't as underperforming.
Good thinking, Rahul. This may just be the breakaway hit of the year, nay, *decade.*
Something tells me Rahul isn't making the decisions anymore. Regardless of what he says.
if it had an i7, it would be really expensive.
Core 2 quad Q9950 2.83GHz =$315
Core i7 920 2.66 GHz = $295
The Core i7 920 outperforms the Core2 QX9770 ($1400) in most tasks, and is cheaper than the processor that they used. So none of this 'It's more expensive' BS
@Giroro:
I guess you didn't take into account that the MoBo for the i7 is a lot more expensive?
or the DDR3 memory...
$1250 is the price of a gaming machine.
http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/core-i7-overclock,2112.html
forget about Dell, HP and other greedy companies. This $1250 build outperforms HP's piece of crap made of old components.
And yes, its i7, and motherboard is only $245. And get an aftermarket cooler so you can overclock it properly and quietly, its only $60.
When comparing prices, please also include liquid cooling into account.
Box is definitely overpriced, yet not by such huge margin. Overall, with added HP support, it is quite good value.
Unless they seriously skimped out on the mobo and the ram for the Core2, they shouldn't make that much of a difference. I would be pissed if I bought a $1800 computer and it only had a $100 and budget ram in it.
*$100 mobo
Seems a little underpowered for its price, no?
Every "gaming" PC I've seen seems underperforming for its price. Or rather, conversely, overpriced for its performance. I'm not sure how many serious PC gamers are out there who can't build their own rigs for so much cheaper. Hey guys, are you out there? We know you're lurking on these boards so come fess up.
Yes. We exist and we couldn't give the slightest fuck about this or any other OEM. If anything we want to rip out that CPU cooler and put it in our own rigs.
Oh and the '90's called. They want their cathodes back :P
i got a rather powerful gaming laptop from asus about 30% cheaper than this thing
Sweet Case!
yea it looks like a pain in the ass to maintenance though....hope you don't have to replace the optical drive
I've heard of a 9800 GT, a 9800 GTX, and an 8800 GS.
But what is a 9800S?
GTX+>GTX > GT > GS > S
the "S" suffix is the underclocked version of the regular chip. GT is probably what would be considered "regular". It's a nice sweet spot for most nVidia cards IMO. The "X"s take you more enthusiast and the "S" cards take you more value/mainstream.
Processor Cores 64
Graphics Clock (MHz) 600 MHz
Processor Clock (MHz) 1500 MHz
Texture Fill Rate (billion/sec) 19.2
Memory Specs:
Memory Clock (MHz) 800 MHz
Standard Memory Config 1024 MB
Memory Interface Width 256-bit
Memory Bandwidth (GB/sec) 51.2
sounds like a 9600 GT with slower GDDR3
In a $1800 PC?
My... someone seems to have bought too much of different crap and now is trying to sell machines with that crap just because they don't know where to put it...
Man, I tho was tiny, like these dell studio? is a monster :P
Now it try that in English.
Dual-fail.
@Arkenlo
On you're part yes you obviously didn't get the point or the joke.
You = Dumbass.
@Arkenlo,
If you're going to insult two people for a lack of intelligence, you may want consider doing it using the proper form of "your".
C'mon~ you guys, dont cry for my engrish :P
His name i s Arkenklo. Make sure you spell the name correctly if you plan to mock someone for improperly insulting someone's English.
Makes nice for some HD pr0n streaming on my new Mitsubishi LaserVue TV!
Oh yes, and gaming too with some sick directX10.
looks ps3ish...
In the same that way it Doesn't.
@Arkenlo,
If you're going to insult two people for a lack of intelligence, you may want consider doing it using the proper form of "your".
Seems that HP is violating copyright using Firebird in the name: http://www.firebirdnews.org/?p=2293
I've only just realised that this is actually called "Voodoo DNA" and not just referred as such because it is made by the guys who used to make Voodoo PCs.
The "S" is supposed to be for the slim profile of the cards... Rahul said that there just as powerful as there desktop counter part.. Whatever that means but they can't be real crappy. And to all of the people who can build one for less I would like to know how. Every time someone says that they get some shit case along with a bunch of other off brand things. Someone build me a desktop thats not ugly, is mega powerful, liquid cooling sans wires all over, and make it $900 since that is half of this!
It's called Newegg.
Yea I know of Newegg. But that wasn't my point.. I wanted someone on here running there mouth saying they could build this for so much less, to show the products and prices used to build a better PC than the one above, at a price far below $1800 and that isn't made up of shit products.
I'll do it once I see the full specs on this...
Well head on over to Voodoopc.com
Blooper62: I agree with you. This Firebird cost more because it is not just some beige case with noisy fans slapped with cheapest OEM components one can find. In the past, custom built PCs might have a price advantage. Nowadays, not anymore. The only reason to do custom PC is to get the latest hardware or a specific one. Other than that, pre-built PCs are competitively priced, especially if you factor in the time building, cost of OS, support, case design, etc. Custom built PCs with real good looking custom cases + liquid cooling cost a LOT more.
The only thing I'm disappointed with the Firebird is the size (like another person, I thought it would be much smaller), and the fact that it only use 5400rpm hard-drives (it uses notebook 2.5" hard-drives).
you don't need to choose cheap OEM parts to get a cheaper PC. Actually its not recommended that you choose the cheapest parts you can get, especially with components like the power supply. Sure pre built PCs have some advantages such as custom built cases (although there are plenty of really nice cases you can buy alone, plus some companies sell their cases on ebay, and as far as beige cases and noisy fans, I don't know where you get that from) they build the system for you (some people think building a gaming PC is one of the fun parts, but I guess thats different for everyone) also theres that software already preloaded for convenience. Also I'll agree that pre built PCs have a better looking water cooled system but I don't know much about the performance for either side of the issue hear. Can you get the same performance from custom built PCs? I do not know.
Regardless, the prices on Pre-Built PCs can be just be ridiculous. Would I pay $1800 for this? Heeellll Noooo
Sweet, two motherboards...wait...
it's the vanity mirror, because you have to be vain to get one!
>rig
I thought we were talking about computers, not oil excavators.
>classy gaming PC light kit
No such thing. Case LEDs are meant to appeal to 13-year-old pR0 GaM3Rz and idiots that think their computer needs to replace a lamp.
Hi everyone,
VoodooDan from HP here. I just wanted to help address a few questions raised in this thread:
1. The Firebird is an energy efficient, performance PC – it performs on a high level with a 350W power supply (that draws only 280W under load and around 180W in power save mode). We’ve worked hard to bring this type of balance, which is hard to achieve in a do-it-yourself built system.
2. The Graphics chip is a new form factor called MXM and the 9800S should not to be confused with the old 9800 chips in the PCI-e cards. This is a new line and the 9800S is the top of the MXM line.
3. The HDD's offered are 5400 RPM, but the box will support 7200 RPM and even Solid state drives if you choose to install them. Right now capacity and price point make offering SSD less desirable.
4. There is no i7 cpu for a very specific reason: i7 does not support ‘hybrid’ SLI, and that feature that is critical to achieving an energy efficient and performance PC
5. The optical drive is a standard slim line, and will have the life you would expect with any other slim line optical, and if needed in the distant future, can be easily replaced.
I hope this help, and I’m happy to answer any other questions.
Cheers
VoodooDan
Enough of the BS...
Bring on the benchmarks, reviews and head-to-head bake-offs.
That way we *all* can make an educated decision if the convenience of a pre-built (relatively inflexible) "gaming" rig is worth the sacrifice in flexibility, and possibly, performance of a custom-made rig. I have building my own desktops for years (at least eight), and there is definitely a draw to not having to piss around with another water-cooling kit.
If it turns out that it really does not perform to my expectations (for a $2K system), then I'll just chalk this up as a competitive move by HP / Voodoo towards the traditional console gamers (let them play WoW and Crysis)... Yet if this move increases the user base (and demographics) of PC gaming, so much the better for us all. It would eventually mean more and varied games. I'll save my $2K and build yet another system ('cause I'm sure as sh!t not spending $7-$15K on a full-blown Voodoo rig).
So... Let's see some numbers!
ReneGamer