PC Gamer: Dell XPS 720 vs HP Blackbird 002

There is a great set of articles on PC Gamer between this month and last month. PC Gamer Magazine performed a review of the Dell XPS 720 last month, and I managed to grab a clipping of it. While reviewing the Dell XPS 720 PC Gamer says:

"Walking behind the XPS 720 H2C subjects you to a volcanic blast of very hot air-this box will heat up an average-sized room..."

They then go on to say...:

"...though the XPS 720 uses a closed-system thermo-electric cooler for the CPU, the noise level remains over-the-top. The XPS 720 roars like a lion when you turn it on, the optical drives tend to rattle...the reverberation inside the case amplifies the noise from the hard drive so when the hard drives are defragging themselves, the XPS 720 sounds like it's making coffee, or choking on its own blood."

Ouch!

The review was very well written - quite pointed - and it's clear that PC Gamer went through the Dell system in detail. In addition to finding the Dell XPS 720 system unbelievably loud they also docked Dell for using a proprietary power supply and proprietary motherboard which totally limit easy upgrades for the customer.

All said, kudos to Dell for still scored a respectable 84%, though lower than any other Voodoo system in history, I've seen much worse from boutique companies who "specialize" in gaming machines.

HP Blackbird is more flexible (much more flexible) than the Dell XPS 720. Blackbird 002 also uses industry standard components, high performance parts, a much better tool-less chassis, and it's also much quieter.

Well, what do you know, a month later PC Gamer did a review of an HP Blackbird 002 engineering unit (the production unit is even nicer!!), and the results come out loud and clear (well, not as "loud" as the Dell, but the results are certainly clear).

Blackbird 002 scored the highest *ever* review in PC Gamer Magazine, besting even the highest score from VoodooPC (95%).

PC Gamer starts out by saying:

“It’s sophistication is evident even in the choice of standard components. Unlike last month’s XPS 720 H2C from Dell that shovelled in over a terabyte of storage and set the CPU to “fry,” HP masterfully balanced cost, heat, and performance with Intel’s quad-core 2 Extreme QX6850…and chilled by an exceptionally quiet custom cooler, and a pair of DirectX 10-compatible ATI Radeon HD 2900 XTXs in Crossfire….”

Then they talk about the balance of creating a machine that's not only delivers performance, but also blends technology with value. The following is a series of quotes borrowed from the review:

“The results? A screamer, handily trouncing systems from Dell, Falcon-Northwest, Alienware, and everyone else…but where most high-end rigs stop at the benchmarks to collect their awards, the Blackbird is just getting started….Virtually every inch of the Blackbird demonstrates craftsmanship with gamers first and foremost in mind…”

“In fact, after a night with the Blackbird, no dumbass on the planet will ever go back to thinking, for example, that it’s acceptable to have to rip out a nice cabling job just to change a hard drive.”

“..the Blackbird reaches a pinnacle of utility and craftsmanship that’s beyond anything in a gaming rig…”

"How do you get the highest hardware score in PC Gamer history? This is how."

You need to pick up both issues (Dell issue Farcry 2 is on the cover and HP issue Halflife 2 Orange Box is on the cover) in order to READ THESE REVIEWS! I only included the thumbnails above... There is also an excellent article on gaming with Windows Vista. Highly recommended!

final score:
Dell XPS 720 84%
HP Blackbird 002 97%

Check out HP Blackbird over here...

Interview with the Houston Chronicle

Sorry guys, I promise there will be a non-Blackbird related article soon -- but there is so much press, if I had to post all of it the blog would be full and they would take my account away!

Here is an interview with Dwight Silverman from the Houston Chronical.

Blackbird seeks slice of higher-end gaming pie

By DWIGHT SILVERMAN
Copyright 2007 Houston Chronicle

In New York last week, Voodoo PC founder Rahul Sood fought back tears as he watched his latest baby being born.

We're not talking flesh and blood here. Sood, whose company is now part of HP, was at a launch party for the first product to come out of the merger, which happened last year. Sood's "baby" is the Blackbird 002, a new gaming computer that HP hopes will capture a significant part of a growing — and extremely lucrative — market niche.

It marked a year of work as Voodoo — based in Calgary, Alberta — was integrated into HP's massive organization, all the while planning and building the first of two lines of high-end computers. I spoke with Sood in January at CES, the annual consumer electronics show in Las Vegas, and you can read the column that resulted at www.chron.com/voodoo.

"The Blackbird is what we envisioned it would be from the start," Sood said in a phone interview last week. "We'll have a portfolio of two brands, and this one will pull the HP brand upstream."

And going upstream is becoming more and more crucial to computer makers like HP. Consumers may be lovin' the commodity PC prices they see online and at computer stores, but the folks who run the companies that make them aren't sleeping so well at night. Cutthroat competition and the ubiquity of computing means pricing — and profits — aren't what they used to be.

So HP and others are turning to higher-end markets once considered too small to bother with in search of higher margins. Gaming is one of those niches, because those who are serious about it are willing to pay what it takes to have the latest and greatest hardware and software. You may feel like the $799 desktop you recently brought home is powerful enough, but it's a feeble weakling to someone who plays state-of-the-art, graphics-intensive games like World of Warcraft or the recently released BioShock.

In March 2006, Round Rock-based Dell bought Miami-based Alienware. Six months later, in what was then considered a me-too move among analysts, HP snapped up Voodoo PC. But Voodoo actually is a different company than Alienware.

Voodoo makes custom, high-end systems by hand, while Alienware's gaming PCs are done in a more traditional manner. Dell planned to leave Alienware alone, while HP wanted Voodoo to infuse some of its DNA into the larger company.

And that's the idea behind the Blackbird 002, which combines some of the gaming know-how of Voodoo with the design expertise from HP's consumer and enterprise divisions.

For example, the Blackbird 002 uses liquid cooling to keep its dual graphics cards and multicore processors from melting down, something Vodoo has offered on its boutique products for years. The drives are hot-swappable, meaning they can be removed while the computer is still running, something originally developed by the server division of Compaq, which HP also bought.

In fact, the architect of the Blackbird 002's unique design — it sits off the ground on a stand and is rimmed with aluminum fins, both of which help better dissipate heat — was originally with the Compaq/HP group in Houston. Mark Solomon, who now works for HP in California, is a big World of Warcraft fan, Sood says.

The Blackbird 002 runs between $2,500 and $7,000 depending on how it's configured. That may sound expensive, but consider that tricked-out Voodoo PCs often sell for five figures and you'll see that, for high-powered gaming systems, it's a relative bargain.

During my interview with him in January, Sood said he'd been given the run of the legendary HP Labs and was looking forward to using some of the under-wraps technology he'd found there in his upcoming line. Unfortunately, much of it is still under wraps. He told me last week there's not much from the labs in the Blackbird 002.

"But we have some secret weapons in the HP labs," which should show up in future HP gaming systems, he said.

HP and Voodoo were able to pull off one amazing technical feat. Its main system board is made by nVidia and can use either dual ATI or dual nVidia graphics cards. Usually, PC makers must stock separate motherboards to support dual configurations of the two brands, but HP is now able to use the same board and save costs.

"We needed to choose a motherboard, and we chose the best board we could, but we're not going to choose two motherboards. That's stupid," Sood said. His team was able to engineer a solution that did not require competitors ATI and nVidia to cooperate.

The Blackbird will be available starting next month, though orders will be accepted at www.hp.com/blackbird in the middle of September. But don't expect to get it the next day. As is the case with Voodoo systems — the Blackbird is built at Voodoo's Canada facility — it will take awhile. Sood says to expect a 30-day wait, though he wants to "underpromise and overdeliver."

So far, Sood says the integration of tiny Voodoo with sprawling HP has gone well. Voodoo's fans worried that its personal touch would be overcome by HP's culture, but that's not been the case, and Sood says he has proof.

"We've had 0 percent attrition at Voodoo since the acquisition," he said. "No one has left. You won't get that answer from any other merged companies. It's very phenomenal."

It's Official: Halo 2 on the PC Sucks!

If you own a Gaming PC, or you're about to buy a high end Blackbird - don't waste your money on Halo 2 for the PC. This is easily the worst use of high performance hardware that I've seen in years (no offense Microsoft - but you should know better!).

Microsoft/Bungee, please don't do direct ports from the XBOX to the PC unless you improve the graphics and resolution! The experience that Halo 2 delivers is terrible, and you know damn well a PC can spit out graphics 100 times better than an XBOX 360 can.

This is like the worst example of Games for Windows - and certainly among the least compelling reason to buy a Windows Live Gold account.

I just wasted 30 minutes of my life installing this thing, now I have to clean it up. Friggin Half Life 2 is a thousand times better than this game and it's old!

Ugh.. what a disappointment.

S-Bomb Interview with the Sun Media in Canada

I won't keep posting these, otherwise my blog will end up being nothing but interviews in the coming days and weeks. Saying that, however, this interview is pretty funny - a friend of mind forwarded to me with a message attached asking if I had Media Training yet :)

He was only kidding of course.... I think?

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The Blackbird sings
High-end computer performs like a dream

By STEVE TILLEY

NEW YORK -- Like so many other truly good things in life, if you have to ask how much a Voodoo desktop computer costs, you probably can't afford one.

Calgary-based VoodooPC, now a part of consumer electronics giant Hewlett Packard after a friendly acquisition a year ago, has carved out a reputation for high-performance, meticulously built desktop and notebook computers that can literally cost as much as a small car.

But their latest desktop PC (and the first Voodoo-bred machine to carry the HP logo) is the Blackbird 002, aimed at a broader market than Voodoo's usual affluent customer base. It's for people with Ferrari aspirations, but a Corvette budget.

And its creators are not exactly modest about their new hot rod.

"To put it bluntly, this machine, this system, there's nothing like it out there," says Rahul Sood, chief technology officer for HP's global gaming business, who founded Voodoo in 1991.

"This system kicks the living (expletive) out of our top competition right now."

(As an aside, any time an executive at a Fortune 500 company starts dropping s-bombs in conversation, we're willing to give him the benefit of the doubt.)

Unveiled Wednesday at an HP product showcase in New York, the Blackbird 002 is Voodoo and HP's first joint effort since HP bought the Canadian company.

But it doesn't mark the end of the separate Voodoo and HP computer lines; rather, this is a hybrid of sorts. And everyone knows hybrids are hot right now.

How hot? Well, the Blackbird 002's design is without equal.

A giant ebony wedge perched on an aluminum foot that looks like Darth Vader's Star Destroyer, the machine is built to allow supremely easy access to its innards, so enthusiasts can pop out components without tools and upgrade at will.

ALL-ALUMINUM

The inside of the all-aluminum chassis is tidier than Martha Stewart's kitchen, with dozens of nice touches like a swing-out side door that can be easily removed, a side-facing column of five hard drive bays that can be yanked out and swapped at will, and a heat shield separating the video cards from the CPU and memory to further help with cooling.

And the enigmatic 002 in the name?

It seems the original version of Blackbird, which was completed and ready to head to manufacturing, was scrapped after Voodoo and HP took a long, hard look and decided it just wasn't cutting-edge enough.

"It was a nice machine and everything, but it wasn't a game-changing system," says Sood. "It didn't really bring innovation back to the desktop, which is what we're hoping for."

We were able to take the Blackbird for a spin, running pre-release versions of several graphically demanding upcoming games, and it performed like a dream: quiet, fast and smooth.

Orders for the Blackbird 002 started this week at www.hp.com/blackbird, with the units being built at Voodoo's expanded manufacturing facility in Calgary and set to begin shipping in October. It won't be long before customers will be weighing on whether they think the machine is, as Sood says, a game-changing system.

But whatever the case, this Canadian company with humble beginnings is now a major player in the full throttle race to build a better PC for high-end users, multimedia junkies and gamers.

"Gaming to the PC industry is similar to Formula One of the auto industry," says Satjiv Chahil, a senior vice-president of global marketing at HP, who likens the Voodoo name to Porsche and Rolls Royce.

"Voodoo is our luxury brand, the brand you crave."

Interview with Custom PC Magazine

I know I've been writing quite a bit about Blackbird lately, but there are so many articles out - more press than I have ever seen on any product launch that I've been involved with. This interview with Custom PC is pretty cool - and it shows the direction that we're taking as it pertains to focussing on customer need rather than speeds & feeds.

----------------------------------------------------

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.


Click here for the rest!

Blackbird..the aftermath...

On September 5, HP hosted its largest PSG event, “Your Life is the Show", which was attended by over 800 customers, partners, industry influencers and 350 press and analysts. Lifestyle showcases filled with the latest portfolio of PSG commercial and consumer products wowed those in attendance.

Capping the stage show presentation was the unexpected reveal of the HP Blackbird 002, which captivated the audience and led to the opening of the previously sealed Gaming Gallery.

Initial reports from top-tier press as well as bloggers conveyed enthusiasm throughout coverage of all the new products, showing particular interest in the HP Blackbird 002 and the new iPAQ models. Coverage has underscored HP’s great strides in various product areas, including innovation and design. The launch of HP’s first gaming PC since the Voodoo acquisition garnered very strong media attention.

Positive articles, reviews and blog commentary applauded HP Blackbird 002’s features, performance, design and overall wow factor. Noted critic Brian Lam of Gizmodo claimed Blackbird is by far the most beautiful PC he has ever seen and analysts and reporters agree that this system strengthens HP’s reputation as a cutting-edge designer and gives HP a strong foothold in the gaming PC market.

We are also seeing print publications release the most compelling reviews that anyone has ever seen in such publications. Blackbird 002 is truly an amazing machine, yet we've only just begun - I guess you'll just have to wait and see what's next. Generally speaking things are awesome - we couldn't be happier with the response.

The Inquirer, Voodoo’s Blackbird spreads its wings
“REMEMBER ALIENWARE? It used to be a high end gaming computer maker that was bought by Dell and smothered into obscurity. Sad. HP bought Voodoo to form VoodooHP, and with the launch of its first product, the Blackbird 002, it is clear that this hasn't happened at HP.” – Charlie Demerjian

Wired.com (Gadget Lab)
HP in NY Liveblog – Blackbird 002 Gaming PC Unveiled
"Voodoo PC is up! Sexy, sexy gaming hardware." – Rob Beschizza

CNET.com, HP Blackbird 002 – 9.3 Spectacular
“HP's Blackbird 002 earns the highest rating this editor has ever given a desktop PC. Its design rivals the Apple Mac Pro, it takes risks that benefit your upgrade path, it's fast, and it's competitively priced. If you can afford it, and you want a high-end gaming PC, buy this one. End of story.” – Rich Brown – 8.5 Editor’s Choice

PC Mag.com, HP Blackbird 002 Five Stars
"Sleek like its reconnaissance-plane namesake, the HP Blackbird 002 is poised to excel on a specialized mission: ruling the gaming grid. A combination of innovative design, the intelligent picking and choosing of features from the newly merged companies, and a stealth introduction of a product without the rivals catching on and copying it beforehand all speak volumes about how the HP/Voodoo collaboration is working out.” – Joel Santo Domingo

Gizmodo
The Love Child of HP and Voodoo: Blackbird 002 Gaming PC Photos and Impressions
“It is by far the most beautiful looking PC I've ever seen.” – Brian Lam

San Jose Mercury News
“Every element of the HP Blackbird 002 – from its aluminum chassis to the cast-aluminum foot – contributes to its stunning look and extreme performance. It features patented, full system liquid-cooling to keep itself running cool in even the most heated head-to-head gaming scenarios.” – Dean Takahashi

New York Times, H.P.’s Blackbird 002, the Spy Plane of Gaming PCs
By Marty Katz

Reuters – reposted on Washington Post , NYTimes.com
HP unveils "Blackbird" high-end gaming PCs
By Scott Hillis

BusinessWeek.com, Game On for HP
By Arik Hesseldahl
September 5, 2007

Enter Blackbird

It’s been nearly a year since the acquisition of Voodoo by HP and we’ve been pretty quiet about what has been going on behind the scenes.

When Voodoo was acquired we immediately created a new gaming business unit within HP in order to best amplify one another’s strengths. We spoke publicly about this strategy and how our relationship would be a symbiotic one - how we would work together and not separately to build this business. We then expanded our team, which now spans from Cupertino, to Calgary, to Taipei. In the meantime there was speculation, both good and bad, as to whether or not this strategy would work – all of which fuelled us to beat expectations – such expectations were high, both internally and externally. That said, under HP Gaming we are now designing a portfolio of products which belong to two different brands, Voodoo and HP.

Today is a very special day, because we’re unveiling our first machine featuring grounds up innovation that you have not seen in a gaming or high performance computer - ever.

Rather than picking a price point and working backwards, we took the time to study the market. We knew that the first thing we wanted to create is a desktop PC – because the desktop PC is our bread and butter. We also wanted to create this under the HP brand because we prepared to scale, and we’re already developing a portfolio for both brands.

We studied all of the best desktop PCs from all major manufacturers because we wanted to understand why innovation has been lacking in the desktop space. Even the people at Voodoo were frustrated with the lack of innovation, thus the reason we felt the partnership with HP would allow us to do things that others could only dream of.

Our research in the desktop space proved interesting – on the high end PC side it seems as if all of our competition are behaving like their nothing more than re-marketers for major semiconductor and software companies. Instead of innovating, they are simply throwing together a suite of components into a “box” (in every sense of the word), throwing a bunch of third party stickers on it, and competing on price for it. Companies are fixated on benchmarks and specs, but they clearly missed the mark when it came down to customer experience. Retail prices have eroded, and innovation has deteriorated.

On the high end the value was starting to get lost in paint jobs and flashy lights. While semiconductor and software companies may be successful with the “sticker marketing”, the long term effects are all but devastating.

Our team chose to fixate on the customer experience and work backwards from there and in the process we grabbed cool technologies and ideas from all over HP, including the workstations, servers, labs, and of course Voodoo. The result is very compelling. Not only are we successfully showcasing technologies from other business units within HP, but we also created Blackbird 002.

HP Blackbird 002 is actually our second product, 001 was canned during the time of the Voodoo acquisition for a number of reasons. We decided that we wanted to create something that was truly game changing – and we did just that. “Blackbird 002 with Voodoo DNA” is the most advanced enthusiast class PC on the planet – it literally kicks the crap out of anything in its class – go ahead and check it out for yourself. There is absolutely no comparison, and it’s easy to see why.

What is “Voodoo DNA” and what does it mean to you?


When you first look at Blackbird you’ll find no stickers on the outside of the chassis – just the subtle HP logo, along with a really cool Voodoo DNA logo in the interior. The team at HP Gaming created the Voodoo DNA brand to associate the amount of detail that was created on the inside to gamers and enthusiasts. Essentially, when we started designing Blackbird 002 we spoke to gamers and enthusiasts and took all their feedback and created customer centric innovations that just make sense.

Many of you may not realize this, but after HP acquired Voodoo we performed a major expansion in Calgary, bringing in experts from all over the industry, new equipment, and a much larger facility. We created an ultra cool “custom shop” with state of the art machinery, an additional downdraft bake booth, and a new cell manufacturing process dedicated to Blackbird 002. In the process we also extended our service hours and expanded our customer care team. Service on your Blackbird 002 is not “outsourced” - we handle all the service and call volume in house – in North America.

Too many other little things to list here, but once you crack it open you’ll understand.

What are some of the major features of Blackbird?

- Most simple and efficient liquid cooling system in the world: No unnecessary technologies that create heat and hurt reliability. No loud fans, no leaks, no thermal electric coolers, no massive power drain - and it is super clean.

- The tightest cabling in the industry: That’s right, we’ve been tested over and over again, and if you ask anyone in the space, there is no company on earth that does cabling like Voodoo does. Tight cabling not only looks amazing (like looking under the hood of a Ferrari), but it also allows for efficient airflow. That said, our biggest complaint was the cabling is so tight that it’s hard to replace a component like a hard drive without altering it. With Blackbird 002 that’s not a worry! You can replace a hard drive in 10 seconds (literally), with no tools, and no touching the cables.

- No proprietary components: No BTX motherboards to wait for! We currently chose an ASUS Striker motherboard for Blackbird 002. The bottom line is we wanted to use industry standard components throughout, and we did. This means you can go to any online store, buy an ATX motherboard, and install it yourself if you want! You don’t have to wait for HP to create a new motherboard – how cool is that? I wonder if our competition wishes they could say the same?

- Build by power users for power users: Our team understands gaming, they understand the requirements for video editing, flight simulators, medical imaging, photo manipulation, and so on. Blackbird 002 is built in a Voodoo approved facility, right next to the Voodoo production line – and it’s overseen by Voodoo trained technicians.

- Totally tool-free: Open and remove the door all in one motion. Get inside your PC and remove the interior panels, all with no tools. Need to replace a hard drive, sound card, or optical drive? No tools. It’s just that simple.

- It’s not a big hunk of plastic: While our competition loves plastic – we believe it should only be used for functional pieces – but certainly not as the major material in your system. HP Blackbird 002 is constructed from all cast aluminium. The doors are something to behold, constructed using a deep draw process only available in the car industry. The aluminium fins also help dissipate the heat.

- Hover effect: Have you ever seen a PC like this suspended in mid air? It really does give that effect, and what’s cool is the fact that we introduced a sixth side of cooling! Cold air is brought into the foot directly into the industry standard power supply and dumped out the back. This is just such an amazing accomplishment, and it means that you don’t have to worry about excess heat inside the chassis thereby increasing the stability significantly.

- Slot Load DVD Drives: HP created Light Scribe technology, and our slot loads are the best in the business. We include up to two slot load DVD drives, and another 5.25” bay for expansion if you want something else to go with them.

- Loads of Expansion room: 5 totally tool free hard drive bays allow you to install up to 5 terabytes of storage. You read right, 5 fricking terabytes. Oh and did I mention certain configurations allow hot swapping? That’s nuts.

- Too many other things to list: From the out of box experience, to the unique “mod panel”, rear port illumination, and much much more. I could go on for days, I catch myself salivating as I write this – it’s just that hot.

Words words words

I may be the spokesperson for the gaming team – but the team effort and passion that was generated in the creation of Blackbird is simply amazing. I can’t thank the countless people who helped make Blackbird a reality – our program manager Vida Z must be very proud, because she was integral in bringing two teams together, and even in the most challenging times she kept things rolling. This is simply the best project I’ve been involved with in my 15 years, and if you think this is good, wait until you see what else we’re working on.

On behalf of the entire team at HP Gaming, we hope you enjoy Blackbird 002 as much as we enjoyed creating it for you.

BTW - While there were a few leaks, the pictures sucked - the "spy photo" that has been floating around is an engineering unit - it's nothing like the real thing.

..and now some words from the media

We have been showing Blackbird 002 for awhile now. When we invited some media for a pre-briefing in San Francisco I said that we’d “make them cry”. I was kidding of course, and I now leave you with some of the reaction we picked up during our pre-briefs with the media.

From Steven Morgenstern, Rolling Stone, Cigar Aficionado, Mens Health
“The physical shape is great. It has a real unique look….. It also has a no bulls**** feel, which I really like.”

From Scott Alexander, Playboy:
“It just looks bad a**…..It has a real visual heft to it. It’s a great way for people to get a little part of Voodoo.”

From Joel Santo Domingo, PC Magazine:
“My gut feeling is that some of the competition are going to s**** a brick”

From Daniel Dumas, WIRED:
“G*ddamn! That’s quite a system you got there.”

From Darren Gladstone, Games for Windows:
“It does look bad a**. I can’t wait to throw some games at it……think Will (G4TV Tech Personality) is going to dry-hump it on the spot.”

From Gordon Ung, Maximum PC
“The whole thing is pretty @*#! nice!”