Blackbird 002-Makes me wish Consumer was still here

[ikjadoon]

HP's new Blackbird 002 is setting some records, with this configuration for only $5,500:

Intel® Core™ 2 Extreme QX6850 3.0GHZ + Additional Performance Tuning
Dual NVIDIA GeForce 8800 Ultra with NVIDIA SLI
CPU & dual GPU Liquid Cooling
2 GB 800 MHz CORSAIR PC2-6400 DDR2 SDRAM
1 160GB 10,000 rpm SATA (Western Digital Raptor)
1 500GB 7200 rpm SATA
Voodoo Razer Gaming Mouse & Keyboard

They have reportedly gotten that quad-core to 3.67GHz. Have a read:

"Every HP Blackbird 002 PC ships with a performance BIOS, allowing for comprehensive customization by the end user and making it a natural extension of Voodoo's open-system legacy. Although your Blackbird is built and pre-tuned in a Voodoo DNA facility in Calgary, Alberta, we leave the BIOS open – with no proprietary barriers. The memory speed is adjustable, and you can tweak more than a dozen aspects of the system memory frequencies independently of the CPU's FSB, including the CAS Latency, Async Latency, and Command Per Clock. Voltage settings can be adjusted in nine different areas, and a hardware monitor constantly checks the voltage, temperature, and fan speed, warning you if you're putting any part of the system at risk. Set a target temperature for each zone on the motherboard, and the fan controller will maintain it. Once you have your BIOS settings customized, you can save them as a profile for quick configuration changes"


First time I've seen this kind of openness from a boutique/mass-market company. It is rigs like this when I wish Consumer was still around. I would love for them to tear this thing apart (in a good way). *Hint*Hint*

Anyways, just wanted to give you guys a heads up on this beast of a machine that will be trouncing records and keeping them for quite some time to come.

~Ibrahim~

 

[FlimFlam]

Yes, it is quite a machine. I build systems but buy some from time to time. This is a machine I would buy since I beta tested it prior to release. It has some features that you just cannot "build" like the SATA backplane, and the case is just sick.

It is sad that many DIYers will be resistant to buying such a rig since most only see the price of raw parts and not the whole.

At any rate, HP will need to add a p35 and x38 board to the fray to stay up in benchmarks. As far as beating records, that is up in the air. Nonetheless, it is quite a well-rounded machine and runs Crossfire/SLI on the same board which is amazing.

 

[Jason_Wall]

A lot of times, new product launches interest competitor companies for a few minutes, then they move on. Blackbird has a lot of companies very interested, and very nervous.

My biggest concerns would be support and the ability to mass produce these things with fidelity.

It would surely be an interesting article.

 

[ikjadoon]

You actually beta-tested it? Wow, nice! You wouldn't happen to know anything about the temps, would you? Me and a few guys had a bit of an argument about its water-cooling, especially since it is on a quad-core.

The Crossfire/SLI thing: I've heard that it was possible, but was a tricky mod. Actually selling it to a "mainstream"/non-DIY consumer? That is absolutely wicked! I'm sure Rahul had something to do with it,

Yeah, if you guys ever get the time/money, it would be awesome.

~Ibrahim~