Some New 3DMark06 Score Results - A Wee Bit O' Tweking

So here are my new 3DMark06 Scores after tweaking a few settings with in the the bios, the tweaks were CPU only, but I will look into working on the RAM timings later.

http://service.futuremark.com/compare?3dm06=4412749

Cannis

A Very Merry Belated Christmas To You All:

A combination of work and the Holidays has kept me busy the past few days, but I wanted to jump back on here and post a link to the Blackbird Desktop images and the Blackbird Vista Theme.

Link: Blackbird Desktop Images & Theme

Merry Christmas,
Casey

Blackbird Desktop Images and Vista Themes

I know I promised to put these images up, but I just realized that I don't have server space that isn't mission critical on which to host them. I will see what I can do about putting up a private web space to host this stuff on. Besides I am sure I can find other uses for it as well.

Please bear with me...

Casey

Sooo,,,,,,

It is now week three with my new Blackbird DE, and I am quite satisfied with the system. Although I am a little puzzled by HP's lack of follow up on 'The Orange Box' question. I've asked about the shipping date for the software, but I haven't heard anything back from the support team.

On another note, I still have two Blackbirds, the other one has yet to be shipped back. Still waiting on shipping labels.

Casey

Oh Noze .. He Posted!!

My apologies for not posting any content sooner, but I have been a busy little beaver these past couple of weeks. We are in the middle of a bit network roll out here at work so everything has been focused on making sure it all works like its supposed to.

The Blackbird is doing well, but I haven't purchased any new games recently. It has been doing a stand up job of network monitoring. ;)

Cannis

3DMark06 Scores (No Pics, It didn't Happen)

I ran a 3 test series on the new blackbird and came up with an average performance of 16,440. Which is a small gain over the air cooled 8800's in the pre-production system.

/Casey Annis

New HP Blackbird 002 Dedication Edition Has Arrived

I wanted to post an update!

The replacement unit for the pre-production model of the Blackbird has made it to my front door. This system is very sleek and has some refinements that the other unit was lacking. The paint job is more polished, and the LED accent lighting is much nicer and much much brighter than on the pre-prod model.

This new unit is lacking the Aegia PhysX card, and the Blu-Ray Re-Writer/HD-DVD Drive, but I was being very optimistic when I was hoping for these additions in the replacement unit. The Blu-Ray drive is a $393.00 upgrade from the base price and the almost $200.00 for the Aegia PhysX card. I didn't expect HP to toss them in the deal..

After I get a chance to get the drives configured again, I will run the new 3DMark 06 tests to see if the scores have changed any.

Regards,
/Casey

I'm Baaaaack!

Ok I am now back from Nassau, Bahamas; however I haven't had any more news on the Blackbird shipment. I am going to write HP after the Holiday and figure out what is up.

/Cannis

Greetings From The Bahamas

Hey There Readers!

Greetings from North Eleutreha Bahamas!... I've been here since Saturday afternoon working on some video surveillance equipment. I wanted to drop a line and let you know that I will be posting more regularly once I get back to the States. As is my access to the intarwebz is very sporadic at best. So if you don't hear anything out of me within five days or so, send a rescue party because we've been lost at sea.

Just Call Me Gilligan...

On A Three Hour Tour,
Casey

The Verdict Is In... New Dedication Edtion being shipped.

Hey There Readers,

The official word is in for the winners of the Federated Media Blackbird Sweepstakes, after a phone call from Chris Sutton at HP GGD we now know the outcome.

Chris informed me of what happened over at HP to cause the delay in the support process, but all that has been straightened out and Chris will be taking charge of our Blacbird builds and will be sending out new Dedication Edition systems for us. They will be cross shipping the units and we get to keep our HDD's from the pre-production units. Hooray .. no new data swapping to be done.

This also means that I get to put out some new 3DMark06 scores becasue of the Liquid Cooled 8800 Ultras. Woot Cickles!!!!!

One of my readers has been having some issues with his Blackbird DE not wanting to play Crysis or CoH, so I will relay here what I told him in an earlier comment.

When I started out trying to install the Crysis MP Beta, and the SP Demo I was having the same issue until I downloaded the latest beta drivers from Nvidia's website.

So before you think about sending back the sytem just give the beta drivers a whirl. They have been running extremely well for me.

Thanks,
Casey

Ahh The Dulcet Tones of Top Notch Support

At the risk of sounding like a Fan Boi, I am going to have to sing the praises of the HP Global Gaming Division's support staff, and their crew. If you have been reading along you will have no doubt noticed that I haven't been using a final production version of the Blackbird 002. This was due to a shipping error which just happens sometimes. To make the long story short, I have been working with HP, and Federated Media to help straighten this out for myself and the other two winners in the contest.

While it has been a lengthy process, it has been a rewarding glimpse into the support and marketing aspects of a sweepstakes such as this. It has been interesting working with the HP GGD, and I am happy to report that they have been extremely helpful throughout the entire process.

I hope to be able to report the details of the outcome shortly. I want to speak with HP first and make sure the details are confidential.

Regards,
/Casey

Anyone that is Curious..

The HP Blackbird 002 configurator is working on http://hp.com/blackbird site now.

For those with bottomless pockets the maxed out config came in at $9,103 Dollars as I had it configured.

/Casey

The Move to North Carolina is Done

It occurs to me that I mentioned on other sites and not here that I was going to be offline for a few days whilst I relocated for a new position in North Carolina. So uhmm yeah I have moved and I was offline for a few days. My Bad!...

Any way I am back and as soon as I get my recording gear set back up I will finish my audio blog. Stupendious .. yeah I know .. but don't let it go to my head.

The Blackbird traveled very well, no loose components, extra surprising if you have ever driven through Kentucky on I-40. I will post again later today.

Thanks,
/Cannis

Ahh: Crysis MP Beta Footage

Hmmm .. What to say..

Fory anyone who has been wanting to see what Crysis would look like on the HP Blackbird, here is a small sample of meaningless wandering through Beta Island out of combat. I chose an empty server so I could run around and demonstrate the environment with out constantly showing you how badly I play FPS games. I've always been more of an RTS/RPG player so no laughing at my a) driving ability, b) uncontrollable straffing.. ;)

Video: http://stage6.divx.com/user/canniscam/video/1810360/Crysis-MP-Beta-Footage

Custome Blackbird Desktop Wallpaper by mnemonicsyntax

(Click Image For Full Size)

Reader mnemonicsyntax created his own custom Blackbird Desktop and wanted to share it. So I have linked it in for all to enjoy.

Great Job mnemonic!

Cannis

Coming Later Today!

I know I promised Crysis footage days ago, but it's been rather hectic around here as I am getting to ready to switch jobs, and move out of state. However it will have slowed down a bit today, so not only will I post the Crysis MP Beta footage, I will also put up Edition 2 of the Podcast. I still need to write Edition 2, but it shouldn't be hard now that I actually have some hands on with the HP Blackbird 002. I will review the Pre-Production model that I received in error, and discuss options for different OC profiles.

You may have noticed the 3Dmark Scores in the previous post, and I must say I am quite pleased with the score. I know they aren't the best, but then again I don't ever plain on putting a LN2 cooler chamber on my QX6850. That is the only way to crank out a 29,000+ 3D Mark, or at least I think it is. I am not the world's OC authority.

It is possible to bring this CPU up from 3.00Ghz per core to a not so paltry 3.5Ghz just by adjusting the CPU multiplier, and that is without touching the core voltage. By adjusting the voltage to 1.45 Volts with a 10x multiplier you can get a stable 3.7Ghz from this chip. Not too shabby. I haven't been brave enough to try it myself, but I will reference the online resources where I have been doing my research. I will also make sure to add the elusive show links this time, I sort of blew it off last time.

G'night,
Cannis

3DMark 06 Scores

Here are my 3DMark06 scores for the Blackbird:

Resolution: 1024x768 AA Off

Non-SLI Test:







































SLI-Test:

Crysis MP Beta Footage

I have the Crysis MP Beta downloaded and running. Looks Sweet!.. I FRAPS'd out some footage last night but I haven't encoded it yet. I will do that this evening while we are out and about for Halloween.

P.S. I will also post my 3dMark06 scores tonight as well.

Cheers,
/Cannis

Some Game Footage: World of Warcraft

thought I should put up some game footage, this footage comes from teh pre-production model of the Blackbird 002. The durring this session SLI was disabled, mainly because World of Warcraft has limited SLI support. The video was captured with FRAPS, and encoded in DivX at HD1080p Quality using Virtualdub.

The FRAPS application was limited at 50fps for recording purposes, World of Warcraft was setup to use maximum settings with all performance enhancements turned off.

If you wonder why I never hit execute, it's becasue I forgot to put it on the bar for the new mod I am trying out on the Blackbird.

Video after the Jump...
/Cannis

P.S. I wanted to note that my average framerate in WoW is about 190fps when SLI is disabled, when enabled it gets locked between 60fps and 70fps .. I play with SLI on usually, but for demonstration purposes I have turned it off. 60fps is more than playable in WoW.

---

ok more like a hop...

Video Link: Stage6

Click on the full screen widget to view at full encode...

Two Birds With One Stone!

Since I have this blog site, and it was already here as a chronicle of my experience with the Blackbird; I figured I could also try out something I have been looking at for quite a while.
I recently enabled Google Analytics on this site, may I say... Wow! .. That is one killer data farming app for a free product. I have always been a fan of the projects coming out of Google, but this is one of the best that I have seen so far.

For starters, I really didn't expect so much traffic information to be included in a free product. I love the fact that you can set reporting goals for traffic levels.

I also didn't expect to have really any traffic to speak of since I am not a professional writer and very little journalistic experience.

Thanks to All of You for Reading!
Casey

HP Support and Federate Media Deserve Kudos!

Brendan from HP Blackbird Support, and Matt from Federated media deserve kudos for working so hard on the mishap with the shipping. They have been very patient with me, and have kept me in the loop as much as possible. I really appreciate this kind of dedication to the customer, if they can treat a non-paying customer this way, imagine the support you will get if you purchase a Blackbird 002.

Thanks Guys!
Cannis

Pictures of the Blackbird 002

Ok I know I promised these days ago, so I thought I would buckle down and actually get them posted here. I was hoping to hold out for some better pictures but apparently my knack for photgraphy isn't so much as a knack as complete lack of skill.

So I hope you can enjoy these, and I will try to get some better images while these soak in. If you have any questions or comments please either drop me an e-mail or a comment here and I will get back to you as soon as possible.

On a different note, apparently there was some confusion revolving the Blackbirds that were sent out as prizes and it may require me to send my unit back for replacement with a retail unit As it was said to me by a source from HP the units we received were intended to be returned to HP Headquarters, and I was supposed to receive a retail ready unit with all of the "bells and whistles".

I would like to compliment HP's Staff on their courtesy and superb customer service even for lucky son-of-a-guns like me who didn't actually buy their system. Kudos HP!

I couldn't be happier with the service I have recieved and the even the pre-production machine is a sreaming beast of system.

The overall experience with this contest has been extremely positive, I hope that their is a repeat performance in the near future.

Here is a overall view of my Blackbird's Innards...

The flash fill on my camera is crappy, but since I have all CFL lights in my house the image looked much worse with out the flash. I will see what I can to about borrowing my friends 6MP camera to take the next round of photos.

I figure most people won't be happy unless I post a close up of the internals so here is my attempt at just that. Please be gentle, I have a very fragile ego.. ;)

Posting From The Blackbird Now!

Well the Blackbird arrived today around 2:30 CT, and I took it to work with me to check it out in our lab. We also have a shipping department there so if it was going to be DOA , I could just flip it and send it back.

As it turns out there were some minor issues with the machine starting up, but this was resolved when we realized the LED Lights on the back of the case need to be switched to the off position before the Asus Stryker Extreme mobo will boot. We figured this out the hard way because the machine I received had no manuals, no OEM information, no Warrant information, no service labels, and no restore media. I was a little under-whelmed by the lack of support media, and I thought that HP could have done a better job by supplying these bits along with the machine.

The system itself has been extremely responsive, while ripping a DVD to backup, watching Ben Hur on Netflix streams, and surfing the web the machine was doing just fine at 7% CPU usage.

My version of the machine came with an Aegia PhysX card installed as well as the two NVIDIA 8800 Ultras. A BlueRay/HD-DVD/RW combo drive and a slot loading DVD-RW.

Another slight disappointment was the lack of liquid cooling on the GPU's, but the system doesn't seem to be lacking at all in heat dissipation.

While running Ghost Recon 2: Advanced Warfare, the visuals were stunning, and the PhysX card really lights the game up.

While ripping a DVD from my collection, (28 Weeks Later) I was impressed by the speed of the rip at 76% quality, with an excellent time of 27:07 with menus and alternate audio tracks as well as subtitles.

Keep in mind I was also streaming video and making use of flash video which is typically CPU intensive while ripping the DVD.

I have some pictures that I will load either later this evening or tomorrow at the latest.


Regards,
/Cannis

Woot!

The Blackbird will arrive today, so here I am waiting for it. I should be at work but FedEx lied to me about the arrival date. Tomorrow I would have been able to wait for it with out my managers being miffed. I had asked off in advance just in case no one would be here to wait for it. Meh!

The Blackbird Should Arrive Tomorow!

The posts have been a little bit behind because of the weekend, and yesterday was Monday so it was a little busy. I wanted to post a little update today before all of the stuff that gets posted tomorrow.

Regards,
Cannis

New Podcast Feature! - First Episode

No frills and very few thrills.. but hey it's my first episode.

/Casey

It has Shipped!

I just received a notice from Diane at Wikia.com and I spoke with FedEx customer support the Blackbird has been shipped and should arrive next Wednesday.

Woot!
<3 For The BB

/Cannis

Le Sigh...

I've never been any good at this whole patience and waiting thing.\

I hope it gets here by Halloween, it would be cool to use it for our yearly party and gaming marathon.

/Cannis

Bummer.... The Blackbird has yet to ship.

I just received an e-mail from Dianne at Wikia, Inc. and the system was still sitting where she left it on Friday .. It didn't go out. Bummer!

I guess I will wait for another couple of days.

Oh and the extra weight does not yield from the addition of a monitor, but apparently the Blackbird comes in a world class shipping crate to help protect the system during shipment. From what I gather it is reusable. I hope it has wheels!

So no monitor for me, I guess I will have to save up and buy one of the 3o" monsters from either newegg.com or hp.

/Cannis

It is Tuesday... No further shipping updates ;(

Well,

It is Tuesday, the day before the scheduled delivery of the HP Blackbird, and no further updates from FedEx have appeared in my in-box. I hope this is a glitch in FE's rather limited tracking site, and not an indication that the box has yet to leave California.

I will wait and see, tomorrow will be an interesting day.

/Cannis

Just Got back from my camping Trip...

The suspense of waiting until Wednesday is going to kill me. I want to see this bad boy ... Not sure how I am going to make arrangements to receive it since it will arrive while I am supposed to be at work.

Guess I will have to wait and see.

/Cannis

Shipping Notice Recieved!

Ship date: Oct 11, 2007
Estimated delivery: Oct 17, 2007
Reference: FM Blackbird
Weight: 112lbs


Hmmmmmm? Why So Heavy ... the unit only weighs 72 lbs .. could it be something extra...

Skydrty - Another HP Blackbird 002 Winner!

The winners list is out for the rest of the contest, I've listed them below!:

Cannis
Mr Macadoo
Skydrty

SKYD said...
DUDE I can't believe i won one of these It's perfect timing too. My current computer decided to crash on me last week I think its the CPU or the memory i'm not sure, but with current situations I wouldn't be able to do anything about it until next month. But hooray I actually won something worthwhile for a change.I guess i will have a chance to find out where they hid the DVD drive when I get it.P.S. cant wait to play Halo 2, Far cry, Quake 4, Doom 3, Quake Wars and of course F.E.A.R. on itAnd When I get it I will probably host a Lan party on it the first day, dunno what game probably one of the halo games or quake 3 or 4I will post it here when I decide
October 12, 2007 12:32 PM

The Blackbird Commeth

I just heard from Matt Jessell over at Federated Media, the HP Blackbird 002 will ship on Monday. The anticipation builds...

/Cannis

HP Blackbird 002 Contest from Federated Media - Winner!

One of the Winner's of Federated Media's / HP's / blackbird.wikia.com's HP Blackbird 002 Contest has started a new blog that will detail his experiences with the new machine from top to bottom. There is currently only one post, but more are promised as the specifics start rolling in.

read more | digg story

The Best Way To Start Your New Day!

This Entry is Post Dated: 10/9/2007

Let me start off by saying Holy S**T, my hands are already shaking. After being on vacation for a couple of days I come back to civilization to catch up on the events around me. And what do I see in my inbox, a very very very very sexuh notice from Matt Jessell over at Federated Media Publishing. I read it once, then I read it again.... I must have been halucinating because he has told me that my entry at http://blackbird.wikia.com/ was randomly selected as the winner for the newest and sexiest machine from HP.. (you know the computer guys who bought Compaq and Voodoo) .....

I'm a computer geek, I spend all of my days working with routers, and firewalls, and hotspot captive portals, and I go home and I fool around with routers, firewalls, hotspot captive portals, and World of Warcraft. So there I am sitting on my arse watching some episodes of Diggnation that I had missed and browsing http://digg.com/, when I notice a small video in the upper right hand corner of the Digg interface. The clip grabbed my attention because it's highlight frame was a Gnome Mage just chillin and it looked like he was going to do something cool.

So I paused diggnation episode 116 ( creepy coincidence there ) and I play the little video and blow it up to full screen. It's not an uber cool/funny/roflcopter version of a WoW spoof, but a nifty way of introducing Joi Ito's announcement about the Sweepstakes being sponsored by blackbird.wikia.com / HP / and Federated Media Publishing. Apparently in what I consider to be the best way to score a new high end gaming rig, these fine folks were going to give away a new HP Blackbird 002 computer. Holy S**T!! .. Then I think to myself: WTF is an HP Blackbird 002 Computer. So naturally I did what all good geeks would do, I typed it into my favorite search engine... and low and behold .. my reaction. Holy S**T!!!!!. I figure I could do worse by not posting an entry, afterall the worst that could happen is that some one else gets a really nice gaming rig.

I sat and wondered about what I could possibly have to say about the HP Blackbird that wasn't already being spammed to the website. Sure it was 1337 u33R S@u[3, but there just had to be more too it. So I watch Joi's video again and bingo my topic was right there. Ito was worried about switching to a Windows Based Archetecture. What better way to point someone in a new direction than to gently note that WoW runs Schweeet under linux with Wine or Cedega. But I digress...



The Sexuh Beast Itself: http://www.hp.com/blackbird

I got one for free! I think I want to have Federated Media's and HP's love children, oh to all the guys over at http://blackbird.wikia.com/... I wish everybody could have gotten one. I really mean that, there were a lot of good articles posted that were ever so deserving. I hope you all get a chance at another one. Oh and for the other Two (2) winners, a great big Congratulations To Both of You!

The Winner Notice Text:
Greetings Cannis,You’ve recently submitted an article to the website blackbird.wikia.com.

This submission also made you eligible for the FM Blackbird Sweepstakes, to win an HP Blackbird 002.
I have the pleasure of telling your name was selected at random, and you will be receiving the Grand Prize, one HP Blackbird 002!Please fill out, sign and return the attached release document *to my attention* by no later than Sunday, October 14. Once we receive this signed document, we will work to ship the Blackbird to you as expeditiously as is possible. Thank you for your participation, and once again, congratulations — HP and Federated Media are confident you will enjoy your new machine!All Best,MattPS — Please notify me over email if and when you will be returning the filled out, signed document via fax. Thanks!.
.................................................................................
Matt Jessell
Specialist, Strategic Programs and Client SatisfactionFederated Media

There were some legal acceptance documents attached, and the general minutia that one must read and acknowledge about tax liability and such; however I didn't feel the need to post all of that here. I will be updating this blog as I get more information about the system and the delivery date.

I will be sure take some unboxing photos and some setup photos, and of course some photos of the beast doing some hard core gaming. Ubuntu Dual Boot FTW!!!!!!

So please stay tuned, and I will keep you all up to date.

Thanks,
Casey
Blackbird 002 Winner



P.S. HP Blackbird 002 PwnzJ00z