HP Blackbird is a Voodoo in disguise

THE FIRST SPY pics have emerged of the latest Voodoo-HP collaboration, codenamed 'Black Bird'. While we heard a few details about it last week, these are the first interior shots showing the new cooling system and system config.

You can see the pics over at Kylie's digs here.

The system has a TEC-style CPU cooler with a couple of chunky pipes disappearing under the hood in some kind of strange conductive arrangement. We're told that higher-priced models will feature full-on liquid cooling for both the CPU and GPU. The system's case is designed to work on 'thermal chambers' where one set of components doesn't impact upon another - much like Apple's Mac Pro design.

The system features the PSU at the bottom of the case, with air intake provided by a raised footing to allow for bottom-in airflow. Five removable hard disk caddies sit at the front of the machine with air blowing over them through the front panel. Structural integrity is ensured with a massive metal brace that closes over the side of the machine, thus ensuring there will be no case window action.

The motherboard in this system appears to be Asus, with Corsair Dominator RAM and GeForce 8800 graphics cards. The system will support overclocking and a completely open BIOS - none of the Dell lock-down antics we have come to expect.

The exact spec will obviously vary depending on pricing, but expect it to range from $2500 to $6500. Can the HP/Voodoo combination beat Dell/Alienware to the mainstream gaming punch? We look forward to finding out. µ