Crave

Update: Pricing is live on HP's site. The new Exhiliration Edition starts at $6,600, and that gets you 2GB of 1,600MHz DDR3 RAM, two 160GB 10k hard drives, as well as a separate 1TB drive for storage, along with the other specs previously mentioned. This also appears to be something of a deal, as similar specs from other vendors cost at minimum about $400 more. HP's site says "limited time starting" near the price, which we take to mean the price may go up, not that the hardware is a limited run.

HP's Blackbird 002 gaming desktop finally gets new wings.

(Credit: CNET)

Rather than adding new components piecemeal to its high-end Blackbird 002 gaming desktop, HP has decided to pick its spots a little more carefully. If you have an eye on a Blackbird 002, then, you'll be glad to know that with today's announcement of Nvidia's new GeForce GTX280 3D graphics chip, HP has finally decided that the time is right for a revamp of the Blackbird's specs.

The changes come by way of a fixed-configuration Exhiliration Edition. Included in the as-yet unannounced price (we're trying to dig it up), you get Intel's top-end Core 2 Extreme QX9770 quad core CPU, an Nvidia NForce 790i Ultra motherboard, support for 1,600 MHz DDR3 SDRAM, a pair of spanking new GeForce GTX280 3D cards, a multiformat HD-optical drive (not a burner), and 64-bit Vista Ultimate. All of that represents the latest in high-end componentry.

A few things to keep in mind before you crack open the money bin. The press release does not mention that the CPU is overclocked. Alienware, Dell, Falcon Northwest, and Maingear, among others, all offer the QX9770 Intel chip with a factory-provided speed boost, up to 4GHz from its 3.2GHz stock speed. It seems a shame that HP apparently doesn't follow suit.

The release also mentions that the 1,600MHz DDR3 RAM is upgradeable to 4GB, suggesting that the system itself comes with less (2GB, we'd guess). And of course without a price, we have no way to compare this new Blackbird with systems from others. The case may be unique to HP, but the core hardware is available from all of the major players. For example, Alienware and Falcon Northwest have both added a GTX280 option to their configurators already, and we expect the other gaming PC vendors will follow suit, as well.

In our recent review of the Dell XPS 730 H2C high-end gaming PC, we said the following to explain why we didn't include HP's competing Blackbird 002 in that review's performance charts.

HP's Blackbird 002 has lagged behind its competition in offering the latest PC hardware.

(Credit: CNET)

"The reason is because HP hasn't moved to keep the Blackbird's specs up to date. We loved that system then, but we'd definitely think twice before purchasing one now...Until HP updates the Blackbird's configuration options, we can't take that system seriously as a high-end gaming PC."

As Rahul Sood tells it, it's not an accident that the Blackbird has not kept up with the latest performance hardware.

"We acknowledge that we haven't announced a significant component upgrade in some time, but there is a reason. We take a very rigorous--and yes, sometimes time consuming--approach to Q&A before we announce any upgrades. We feel strongly that this strategy is in the best interests of our customers."

"That said, we are very passionate about making sure the Blackbird stays on top of the gaming PC heap. We'll do it methodically, and won't be forced down the "4 GPUs in a system" path unless we see some constant stability. We have full intentions to continue pushing the technology that we feel is worthy of our systems."

Rahul, if you're unfamiliar, is one of the founders of boutique PC maker Voodoo PC, which was acquired a few years back by HP. He still runs Voodoo PC, but he has also lent his company's expertise to HP's own product development, and the Blackbird 002 is the first result of that joint effort.

We can't say we've seen major stability issues with the few quad-GPU PCs we've seen, but we do find the idea of dropping $7,000 or more on a desktop just to play Crysis maxed out very narrowly-focused. You can spend half of that to get similar top-end performance on every other PC game out there. That said, there will always be well-heeled shoppers for whom both practicality and frugality are foreign concepts, and neither HP nor Voodoo (which also has no quad-GPU option) can serve them right now.

Even if HP and Voodoo are OK losing the business of a few lottery winners, it bears looking at the hardware that the Blackbird does currently offer. Spec out a Blackbird and an identical Ephex over at Maingear and the Maingear system comes in about $500 less, and with more up-to-date 3D cards and faster CPU overclocking. Perhaps you can let that slide if you find the Blackbird's imposing chassis worth a premium. You can also look forward to whatever updates HP might have coming down the pike, too. But as Blackbird currently stands, we liked it better when its specifications and price compared more favorably with the rest of the market.

Click here for more innards

(Credit: CNET Networks/Mark Kaelin)

Right in time for the Game Developers Conference, News.com is excerpting another TechRepublic feature in which they dive into the guts of a popular piece of equipment. With a $6000 price tag, the Blackbird might not be ubiquitous, but it's certainly an object of intense lust for many gamers.

Don't think any PC's worth that investment? Check out the full gallery at News.com: "Cracking open the HP Blackbird gaming PC"

Why, yes. Double down, even. If not for the intense feelings I had for Intellivision (you never forget your first), I may have ended up a PC gamer instead of strictly a console guy.

(Credit: Digital Press)

Let me start with a disclaimer: I'm a console gamer. Always have been, since my friend down the street in Minneapolis got an Atari 2600 in 1979, and I trumped him a year later with Mattel's Intellivision. (Along with George Plimpton, we found Intellivision's Major League Baseball to be clearly superior to Atari's Home Run baseball. Intellivision baseball, hockey, and skiing were pretty much all I cared about in 1980.) Like Larry King with wives, there's long list of consoles that I traded in for newer models over the years: Intellivision to Intellivision 2, to NES, to Sega Genesis, to PlayStation, to Xbox, to Xbox 360. As I moved from console to console, I never did find the need to plunk down for a gaming PC, and thankfully any old PC can run an Intellivision emulator.

If I were a PC gamer (and I happened across a pile of money), however, there are five systems that would definitely be on my list. Since May, we've reviewed one gaming PC each month that has really impressed us. These five desktops are all overclocked, and all but the AVADirect system feature a quad-core processor, so you know your investment--prices of our review units range from $3,600 to nearly $6,600--is well equipped to stand the test of time. Three of the five earned an Editors' Choice, including the HP Blackbird 002, which is only the highest0rated desktop we've ever seen at CNET--at least since Rich Brown and I have been here. (The other two award-winners came from Maingear and Velocity Micro.)

For a specs comparison, videos, and the reviews themselves, I've assembled this page for your viewing pleasure.

HP's and Voodoo PC's Blackbird 002

(Credit: CNET)

HP announced the first product of its joint design efforts with Voodoo PC this evening. Our review of the HP Blackbird 002 is up, and it achieved the highest rating we've ever awarded a desktop. We'll let the review speak for itself, but we'll only add here that while we wrote about a custom configuration that won't be available until Oct. 1, you can buy a similar, fixed-configuration system today for $5,500 that looks like this:

• Overclocked Intel Core 2 Extreme QX6850
• (2) Nvidia GeForce 8800 Ultra graphics cards
• Windows Vista Ultimate
• 2GB, 800MHz DDR2 Corsair SDRAM
• 160GB, 10,000rpm hard drive
• 500GB, 7,200rpm hard drive
• (2) 16x dual-layer DVD burners

One external drive bay on the top, another on the bottom right.

(Credit: CNET)

HP also announced its new Pavilion Elite line of digital-media-oriented desktops. They look basically the same as the Pavilion Media Center systems from earlier this year, with a few tweaks to the glossy case. We're still working on our review of the higher-end Pavilion Elite m9040n, but we can tell you so far that we're perplexed by the fact that it has bays for two different kinds of removable HP hard drives. This feels like a serious waste of space design-wise, and also like a transparent upselling tactic. The good news is that this system no longer has the superfluous "Media Center" designation in its name, as all PCs with Vista Home Premium or Vista Ultimate include Microsoft's Media Center interface. Stay tuned for that full review tomorrow.

Bye bye Blackbird

(Credit: Alpine Electronics)

The honeymoon of portable and in-dash navigation devices continues here at CES 2007. On Sunday, we brought you news of Eclipse's AVN2210p, and today we had a close-up of Alpine's IVA-W205, which combines with the Blackbird PMD B200 portable GPS unit in a unique way. Instead of requiring drivers to attach the portable unit to the front of the installed cradle, (as per the Eclipse unit), the IVA-W205 actually swallows the portable navigation unit, with the latter slotting in cartridge-like behind the installed unit's fold-up screen. Also new on the PMD B200 is its built-in, Bluetooth, hands-free, calling interface, which has the ability to wirelessly import phone books from cell phones and other mobile devices.

With the Blackbird in place, all its maps, navigation information, and controls are transferred to the IVA-W205 bigger, 6.5-inch touch-screen display. In addition to its navigation capabilities, the IVA-W205 is a versatile multimedia player in its own right: it has all of the media playback capabilities of the IVA-W200 that we reviewed a couple of months ago (DVD video, CD, WMA, MP3; add-on modules for iPod, satellite and HD radio), plus a much-needed update to its add-on Bluetooth module, and some new digital audio capabilities that we have not seen anywhere else.

The most impressive of these is a translator module that connects the head unit to a separate Sirius satellite radio player. With the touch screen hooked up to Sirius, drivers can customize Sirius and music- and sports content down to individual artists and teams. For example, the IVA-W205 can be configured to search all Sirius channels for a user's favorite artist, and to automatically play that music as it is broadcast live. The IVA-W205 will go on sale in May with a price tag of around $1000, excluding the price of the Blackbird, which is sold separately.

Alpine Blackbird PMD B200

(Credit: CNET Networks)

Alpine is using CES 2007 to launch the next generation Blackbird portable navigation device. The Blackbird PMD B200 improves on the first-generation device with live-traffic capabilities via a built-in Navteq tuner that picks up RDS data of live traffic flow and incidents. This information is then projected onto the device's preload maps to alert drivers to hotspots in real time. Owners of the PMD B200 get a free 90-day trial of the traffic service, after which it costs $60 for a year's subscription. Other navigation enhancements to the second generation Blackbird include an increased number of points of interest (from 2 million to 6 million), a bigger screen, and an integrated GPS antenna (rather than the protruding attachment present on its predecessor).

Also new on the PMD B200 is its built-in Bluetooth hands-free calling with the ability will copy over cell phone contact books. When a Bluetooth device is connected, users can access call history and make calls from an on-screen touchpad. Perhaps the most impressive feature of the PMD B200 is its ability to fit inside Alpine's new IVA-W205 in-dash multimedia stereo head unit. The PMD B200 will be available in spring: no pricing is yet available.