Friday 7th September 2007

HP Blackbird ‘kicks the living crap out of Dell XPS’ – read the HP interview

Posted at: 11:38am 7th September 2007 by Ben Hardwidge

We talk to Rahul Sood and Mark Solomon from HP about the company's new water-cooled gaming PC

The first piece of design to come out of HP’s acquisition of Voodoo has finally been unveiled, and the Blackbird 002 is easily the company’s most striking PC yet. It’s water-cooled, it looks like it’s hovering and it’s even compatible with both SLI and CrossFire. We’re joined by Rahul Sood, chief technologist of HP Gaming (and regular CPC columnist), and Mark Solomon from HP, who are going to tell us all about it.

Who do you think will be interested in buying this PC then?

Rahul: I think anybody looking at a high-end desktop will look at this system and realise that there’s no comparison. I also think that it will reach a wider audience because of the price point not just for gaming but also video editing, PhotoShop and image manipulation. We also think that the DIY market will be hard pressed not to want one of these.

The first quote in your press release is from Ageia. Does this mean PhysX cards will be an option when buying the PC? What’s your opinion on PhysX given the lack of current game support?

Rahul: That’s a good question. PhysX will be an option. We’re agnostic to all kinds of technology, so in other words, we’re offering it as an option. We’re also offering Nvidia and ATi as an option, and we’re offering Intel and AMD as an option.

Will there be a choice of motherboard as well?

Rahul: Well, when we get to the later boards for AMD, yes, but we’re only doing Intel at first. What’s really cool is that we’re only using the nForce chipset for Intel, because it’s the best chipset, but we’re also giving the choice of CrossFire or SLI on it.

Sorry, did you just say you were running CrossFire on an nForce SLI chipset?

Rahul: That’s correct.

How do you do that?

Rahul: With a little bit of Voodoo magic! *laughs* It’s all a part of the whole Voodoo DNA thing, and working with our partners to make it happen.

What does Nvidia think of this?

Rahul: You know, that’s a very good question! If I could look at the face of my Nvidia ref right now and see what he was thinking, I’d probably say that he gets it. I think Nvidia understands that Blackbird is a game-changing system. In other words, it’s no longer about the technology inside the machine; it’s about the customer experience. That is how we designed Blackbird, and that is why we’re agnostic when it comes to components. Most customers don’t really know the difference between CrossFire or SLI. What they care about is how that game is going to look, how easy will it be to play – they care about the visual quality. We have no stickers on the outside of the box, other than the HP logo, and we have the Voodoo logo on the inside, but we’re not going to have Intel, AMD, Nvidia or ATi logos

So will customers have a complete choice over the CPU and graphics card in the Blackbird?

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Comments

Rahul Sood & Voodoo DNA

Agree on the last comment. WTF? Voodoo is simply a small company that had great marketing people behind it (definitely not Rahul) allowing the sale of the company to the big boys. The real movers and shakers behind Voodoo and HP Gaming are the guys you don't hear about. This punk needs to stop promoting himself and prove his abilities, if he has any at all.

Comment by jnelson at 1:19am 3rd October 2007

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Voodoo DNA ...what the

Whats all this talk about Voodoo DNA inside the box? What revolutionary technology or design did Voodoo actually bring to the party? The reality distortion generator is in full gear here. Voodoo was a small company from Calgary that built high end custom machines aimed at the gaming market. They were/are successful at creating a brand in that market space as a niche player with a strong and loyal customer base. Kind of like a microbrewery with its crafted beer and loyal drinkers. We all know what happens when the big boys buy them out. Something changes .. its not the same any more. Not saying this is the situation here however Voodoo DNA? - give me a break - your customers are smarter than this spin.

Comment by fastman at 12:44pm 11th September 2007

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enthusiasts

cant see any major enthusiasts buying these as you cant beat the feeling of building a monster box but for off the shelf hi end gaming pc's i could see hp doing very well.

Comment by MDK_UK at 11:52am 11th September 2007

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specs are online

http://h20435.www2.hp.com/#

Comment by faceplant at 11:38am 9th September 2007

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One of the key features of the Blackbird is

You can go in and do whatever you can on the Asus Striker motherboard. My god! how revolutionary just another pre built company trying to justify why you should buy a machine that is worse, than you could build for less money

Comment by russspez at 6:38am 8th September 2007

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There are plenty of people who are prepared to pay for these types of machines, I know cos I've sold a few of them! Watercooling especially creates the kind of mental block that totally puts people off building their own PC's, as does sifting through all the hardware etc to make sure the thing works. Must be a nightmare for those who know as much about PC's as I do about cars. They won't sell many but companies like Alienware, Vadim and HP have clearly shown there is a market.

Comment by combatus at 1:34pm 7th September 2007

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hmmm

I think it is a good idea, but won't the people who want a wicked gaming pc (and care about all that stuff) buy the components themselves? it'll be cheaper and mroe satisfying; the way i see it is pepole who buy things like Dell XPS are mostly people who want to play computer games and have the dollar to just buy a mega PC without making it themselves. There's a gap between enthusiasts, want to probably totally customise and buy their own components, and average slightly interested but wealthy people who want a gaming PC, and this gap isn't a gap to be filled...

Comment by wegreenall at 12:57pm 7th September 2007

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Are there any jobs going at HP?

Looks awesome and very well thought-out from the sounds of things. I might have opted for one of the Asus Blitz boards to get rid of the heatpipe fan and add to the look good factor (which I'm glad to see they're using with watercooling) as the chipsets+ mosfets are watercooled too, but then having SLI and Crossfire compatibility is a major boon.