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.

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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