HP Blackbird 002 Review
When Hewlett-Packard announced its acquisition of boutique computer maker VoodooPC in September of 2006, many saw the move as a knee-jerk reaction to HP rival Dell's purchase of fellow boutique system builder Alienware several months earlier. Dell had been pushing its high-end line of XPS desktops and laptops, and the Alienware purchase looked to improve Dell's standing in that market. But the HP-VoodooPC union appeared to be less of a natural fit, given that HP's presence in the gaming market was virtually non-existent.
Fast forward one year, and much has changed. HP introduced the first fruit of the VoodooPC acquisition, the Blackbird 002, last September. The new system had actually been in development prior to the addition of VoodooPC; in fact, HP had already begun work on a prototype gaming rig, dubbed the 001. With the addition of VoodooPC, HP Labs integrated the boutique system builder's staff and "DNA" into its Blackbird project. The result is, of course, the Blackbird 002 gaming series, which costs between $2,300 to $7,100 depending on the configuration, with the LCi model being the most expensive. And it just may prove that HP's acquisition of VoodooPC was not only a good move but a brilliant one (for a closer look at the Blackbird, check out our "Quick Look" video).
The Blackbird 002 LCi from Hewlett-Packard represents the first offspring from HP's acquisition of VoodooPC.
Simply put, the Blackbird is a marvelous system, the kind that reminds me why I love computers and, more specifically, my job. I can't remember the last time I saw a gaming rig design as gorgeous and inspiring as this one. The Blackbird's exterior and case design is only rivaled by its configuration. Somehow, someway, the HP Labs and Voodoo PC crew found a way to get an ATI Crossfire GPU setup to work on an NVIDIA Nforce SLI chipset. More specifically, the Blackbird matches up an ATI Radeon HD 2900 XT Crossfire GPU with an Asus Striker Extreme 680i motherboard.
In an interview with Rahul Sood, VoodooPC's founder and current CTO of HP's Global Gaming Business, we asked how and why Blackbird design team accomplished this feat. Unfortunately, the how was kept under wraps; Sood simply said that the team worked closely with ATI on the project and that the solution was developed by VoodooPC. The why is a bit easier to explain. "We wanted to make a system that was easily upgradeable and we wanted to give customers a choice about what kind of hardware they want to use," Sood said. "We felt that Nforce is the best chipset, so we found a way [to enable Crossfire on the motherboard]."
The Blackbird's left side door panel.
The Blackbird has plenty of tricks up its sleeve beyond the original GPU-motherboard combination. The impressive case design is the first element that stands out. While the jazzy black exterior may not be for everyone, it's undeniably sleek and eye-catching. The case is a sturdy cast aluminum chassis that sits atop a single cast aluminum foot; while the foot pedestal has an odd look to it and might appear a little unstable, it's surprisingly firm. The aluminum foot raises the case off the ground and gives smaller, hidden vents room to breath and is designed to improve airflow around the bottom of the case near the 1.1 KW power supply (the Blackbird stayed remarkably cool during out tests, and we'll get into more cooling details later).
The Blackbird has a tricky pop-up panel with card readers and ports galore.
On the top of the case lies a hidden card reader panel - accessible through a keen pop-up button - that features an assembly of USB/FireWire ports and card readers. Even better is the 5.25" bay on the front of the machine (hidden behind a sliding cover) that sports both a Blu-ray Rewriter drive and HD-DVD Super MultiDrive. Therefore, HP saves you the trouble of trying to decide between traditional DVD and either of the two dueling HD formats.
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