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

Rahul said that the Blackbird kicks the crap out of the XPS. What does the Blackbird offer that you don’t get from the Dell and Alienware machines?

Mark: Let’s talk about the outside first. The outside is really about creating something you’ve never seen before, but from the beginning everything about the outside design is about the performance of it. We haven’t styled it for style’s sake. You’ll notice that the overall form factor is a wedge shape, so it’s thicker at the back and thinner at the front. That’s because certain drives have been rotated vertically, which creates a dynamic shape.

You’ll also notice that it’s lifted off the ground – you don’t see too many computers hovering! We actually lifted it up to open up more room for cooling. We realised that thermals were the key, so by opening up the bottom of the case we opened up a thermal passage.

So you’re basically bringing in more airflow from the bottom of the case, which then rises with convection?

Mark: Yeah, internally we actually put the power supply down in the bottom at the rear of the case, so you’re pulling air up through the area that covers the power supply and then directly out.

So is there a blowhole in the top as well then?

Mark: I wouldn’t call it a blowhole, but it’s all cast aluminium, and it’s cast aluminium ribbed at the top, with venting and a radiator underneath the rib. The aluminium helps dissipate the heat, but there’s also a dual radiator at the top of the chassis.

The design is all metal, the only bits that are plastic are these customisable side panels that we’ll be offering with different designs and modified designs. Maybe in the future you’ll be able to choose your own design or make your own design. Those are plastic, and anything that glows is also plastic – metal doesn’t glow very well! Everything else is either cast or anodised metal.

Lighting was a big thing with the design too. Lighting has always been a big thing in the gaming space, but we feel like we’ve taken it to the next level by introducing cast lighting inside and outside. There’s also lighting at the back at the rear ports, so if you’re under your desk at a LAN party in the dark, you can quickly see those lights and plug in your connectors.

As it’s going to be mass-produced by HP, is the Blackbird going to be readily available in the UK, or will we still have to import it from the States?

Rahul: Clearly the UK is one of our key targets, but we have to go through a lot more regulatory standards before we can do that.

What sort of regulatory standards are you talking about?

Rahul: Pretty much everything. We have to get it through emissions testing, RoHS compliancy. Going into Europe is a whole additional level, so it is one of our targets, and we’re doing our best, but we don’t want to over-promise and under-deliver.

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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.