Entered CNET Catalog: 01/14/2009
SKU: KY688AA#ABA
Manufacturer: Voodoo Computers
Product summary
The good: Unique, polished case design; easily accessible interior; solid performance for its price; amazing power efficiency; strong features assortment.
The bad: No expansion card upgrade path; chokes on more demanding games at higher resolutions; no 5.1 analog audio outputs.
The bottom line: HP's Firebird 803 brings the influence of its Voodoo PC acquisition to the mainstream with a compelling design, admirable power efficiency, and strong bang-for-the-buck. What it lacks is any sort of graphics upgrade path. For some, the limited upgradeability kills the deal. For those still interested, this PC offers a complete gaming PC with conversation-piece design.
Editors' review
- Editors' Choice: Yes
- Reviewed on: 02/21/2009
We suspect many hard-core PC gamers will be turned off by the HP Firebird 803 ("with VoodooDNA", according to the official product name) because it lacks upgradeability. Fair enough. For everyone else who might consider spending $2,099 on a gaming desktop, you will find it awfully hard to turn away from what this PC has to offer. The spiritual kid brother to HP's Blackbird 002, the Firebird brings some of that high-end system's modular design elements down to a more refined scale. It also makes a statement of its own with remarkable power efficiency and strong performance and features for its price. Assuming you can get past the restricted upgrade path, the Firebird 803 will meet or exceed your expectations for an upper midrange gaming PC.
If you're unaware of the meaning behind "VoodooDNA" referenced above, the Firebird is the product of HP's 2006 acquisition of boutique PC vendor VoodooPC. Since then, VoodooPC's CEO Rahul Sood (now HP's CTO of Global Gaming) has been charged with reinvigorating HP's game PC efforts, the first product of which was the high-end Blackbird 002. The Firebird is the second.
Like the Blackbird, the Firebird features a unique, accordion-style chassis, with the main body supported by a cantilevered base. The benefit of this design is increased airflow to the inside of the system by allowing air to come up from the bottom. This feature is no longer unique to HP's PCs, but no other desktop chassis that we've seen uses the same dramatic design.
Even though the Firebird is similar in design language to the Blackbird, this new system is much smaller and easier to maneuver. In part, HP reduced the bulk of the chassis by planning for a smaller set of internal components and sticking with more plastic and lighter metal on the Firebird's exterior than that of the Blackbird. But HP also opted for a 350-watt external power supply for the Firebird, which helps keep the system weight in check.
In addition to its smaller profile, the Firebird also maintains a minimalist aesthetic on its front and rear panel. The Blu-ray drive slot, a hidden media card reader, and the power and reset buttons are the only features on the front of the case. The back is covered in ports that all sit flush with the back panel, each in a purpose-cut spot accompanied by the appropriate symbol, with no color-coding. While the Firebird might lack some of the user-friendliness of color-coded ports and front-side USB inputs, we can't deny the polished, Mac-like visual effect of the simplified design.
We mentioned the lack of upgradeability right at the start of this review, and when you pop open or remove the Firebird's hinged side panel and get a look inside you'll see what we mean. The memory and hard drives are both easily accessible (although you only get two slots for each), but instead of even a single 1X PCI Express, the motherboard presents you with a pair reflective metal blocks, each connected to its own liquid cooling tube.
These blocks are in fact the Firebird's graphics cards. Rather than use a traditional expansion card design, HP opted for Nvidia's MXM graphics card packaging, most common to laptops and all-in-one PCs. The benefit of MXM is that it's a much smaller design than traditional expansion cards, and geared for power and cooling efficiency. The trade-off is expandability. If you're brave enough, you can go digging on sites like MXM-Upgrade for DIY upgrade kits, but for the most part MXM never took off as a consumer-side upgrade path. You aren't likely to find an MXM-format card for sale at Newegg, and the alternatives are daunting for all but the most dedicated enthusiasts.
| HP Firebird 803 | Dell XPS 625 | |
| Price | $2,099 | $1,499 |
| CPU | 2.83GHz Intel Core 2 Quad Q9550 | 3.0GHz AMD Phenom II X4 940 |
| Motherboard chipset | Nvidia MCP7A | AMD 790X |
| Memory | 4GB 800MHz DDR2 SDRAM | 4GB 800MHz DDR2 SDRAM |
| Graphics | (2) 512MB Nvidia GeForce 9800S graphics cards | 512MB ATI Radeon HD 4850 |
| Hard drives | (2) 320GB 5,400 rpm hard drives | 500GB, 7,200 rpm |
| Optical drive | Blu-ray drive/dual-layer DVD burner | dual-layer DVD burner |
| Networking | Gigabit Ethernet, 802.11b/g/n/ wireless, Bluetooth | Gigabit Ethernet |
| Operating system | Windows Vista Home Premium 64-bit SP1 | Windows Vista Home Premium 64-bit SP1 |
We haven't reviewed a gaming PC right at $2,099 lately, so we've opted to compare the Firebird directly against the most recent one we've covered, Dell's XPS 625. Given the $600 price difference, we obviously expect more from the Firebird, and it delivers in features and in performance, as you'll see below. The key thing to point out is that there's very little in the Firebird 803 that we'd want to change out of the box. Even though it's small, it's not really a living-room PC, so you may not have any interest in the Firebird's wireless networking or Blu-ray capabilities. The $1,799 Firebird 802 lacks those extras, but it also has a slower quad-core CPU and smaller hard drives.
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Rendering Multiple CPUs | |
Rendering Single CPU |
As you can see from our performance charts, the Firebird 803 is a completely capable desktop. It sits exactly where it should compared to other PCs in its price class, outperforming the less expensive Dell, and falling behind the Acer, Maingear, and Velocity Micro systems that all cost more. The multitasking test puts the Firebird behind its competition most dramatically, but considering that those systems are aggressively overclocked, the Firebird 803 has nothing to apologize for. We were afraid the 5,400rpm laptop hard drives might adversely affect its performance, but instead this system will handle every mainstream application you throw at it.
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1,920 x 1,200 | |
1,280 x 1,024 |
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1,600 x 1,200 (high, 4x aa) | |
1,280 x 1,024 (medium, 4x aa) |
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1,920x1,200 (DirectX 10, 4x aa, very high) | |
1,440 x 900 (DirectX 10, 4x aa, very high) |
Our gaming tests do a better job of showing the Firebird's limitations. On even our high-resolution Unreal Tournament 3 test, the Firebird scored well above 100 frames per second. This indicates that for most current and near-future generation gaming titles, you should expect playable performance with decent image quality. For more demanding games, particularly more recent first-person shooters, you may have to compromise on the image quality, especially at high resolutions. We're not surprised this system had difficulty on our Crysis benchmark, and the Far Cry 2 test is probably more indicative of higher-end titles, even if it is more forgiving. On that game you can see that the Firebird came in right under 50 frames per second on our 1,440x900 test, so if you have a 19-inch LCD or smaller, you're in luck. Go up to a 24-inch display at 1,920x1,200 and things get choppier. Dropping the anti-aliasing, the overall image quality, or both, will usually improve the situation, but we'd expect better gameplay in general at lower resolutions.
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Hard-core PC gamers will likely scoff at the idea of sacrificing frame rates for power efficiency, but given the general capabilities of the Firebird 803, its power consumption compared with other gaming PCs in its price class is nothing short of amazing. Whether the system is powered on but idle, or struggling to get through our Crysis benchmark, its power consumption was almost half that of the Dell XPS 625, and more than three times less than Maingear's most recent X-Cube desktop (the Acer systems both went back to their respective vendors before we could test them). If you swap this system in for a traditional upper-mainstream gaming rig, we expect you'd see a noticeable drop in your annual electric bill. And as added bonus, in addition to its great power efficiency, the Firebird is also whisper quiet.
We went over the internal expansion limitations earlier, but you actually get a minor reprieve in that regard by way of an Express Card slot on the back of the Firebird. Again relying on laptop standards, by providing an Express Card slot, HP opens the door to adding a TV tuner, a sound card, or other extras not included in the system's core configuration. For the ports next to the card slot, highlights include an HDMI out, two eSATA ports, an optical S/PDIF output, and six USB 2.0 jacks. Of some concern is the single stereo audio output. If you have digital speakers, a digital receiver, or you intend to run the audio out from the HDMI port, you're fine for surround sound, but analog 5.1 or 7.1 speaker owners are out of
User opinions
Select a User Opinion to view: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11out of 11 user reviews
Great when it works.
Pros: - Fast
- Good graphics
- Great looking
Cons: - Have been through three power bricks
- Now returning computer to HP for repair.
- Not enough USB ports.
out of 11 user reviews
Terrible System
Pros: Good customer service and support
Good warranty
Saves the hassle of DIY
Cons: Too expensive, the above extras not worth the premium
Higher quality liquid cooling systems can be had for about $100
Just glimpsing at the system specs of the Firebird, any PC enthusiast will tell you how horribly overpriced the system is. The specs are not clear, it doesn't even specifiy the specs of the RAM which is not an uncommon practice by many retailers to hide low quality parts.
My guess is that a big portion of the of the $2,000+ price tag for the Blackbird goes towards customer service and support (or maybe just fat profits).
If you shop around you can find much better parts for lower prices. For example you could buy parts from newegg and assemble a Core i5 system for $1,300 which will come with a fairly 'modest' HD 4890, 4GB of G.Skill Ripjaw RAM, a good motherboard, Bluray, a much better PSU, etc. Or if you don't like shopping online, you can go to the local MSY which will give you similar prices, and they will build the system for you for a small fee.
Such a system would not only be much faster out of the box but would also overclock very nicely. And it would cost about $1,300. If you feel utterly insane you could match the price of the Firebird and get an additional SSD and a HD 5870 for graphics which is 2 generations ahead and by far faster than the puny GeForce 9800 in the Firebird.
Bottomline: Even a slightly tech savvy person would never consider such a system at that price level. You can get much better for much cheaper if you shop smart.
out of 11 user reviews
It is a great PC.
Pros: It's fast and quiet
Cons: It's and Intel and not AMD which is better
out of 11 user reviews
Fast, neat, bad power supply
Pros: Case design is sweet. Liquid cooling is reliable. Video scores decent. Price in 3Q 2009 Acceptable. Great performance. HDMI, eSATA, etc.
Cons: 350W external power supply is not powerful enough and fails within a few months of purchase. Completely proprietary.
out of 11 user reviews
Fast little machine with issues
Pros: Its fast, compact, HP support is good.
Cons: DVD rom failure rate 2 for 2, power supply faillure rate 2 for 2, no expandability, getting ahold of tech support sucks.
out of 11 user reviews
Extremely Overpriced
Pros: It should boot into windows.
HP has good warranties.
Cons: Overpriced
Overpriced
Overpriced
Overpriced
out of 11 user reviews
A great game machine for Mac users.
Pros: Of any of the Windows computers I've used this is by far the easiest no-brainer to set-up and install, and it looks very sharp. I am also impressed by the low power usage.
Cons: Windows Vista. Well, that's not really related to to the product but that's the thing I didn't like about it.
I also like the style. I'm a creative/artistic type and Apple has always tried to incorporate style into its Macs while most Windows machines. I've never minded having my sleek Macs visible to company in the main room but Windows machines have always been very clunky and mechanical looking (the ones you buy in the store, that is). Why do you think they use Macs in movies? Because they look good when you blow them up to 6-feet high on a screen!
Anyway, this machine is kind of like Star Trek meets Battlestar Galactica from the side. The front profile makes it look almost like an abstract scultpure of female sexuality (seriously, take a look!).
Anyway, It works, it's easy, I didn't need ANY adapters or new cables or anything. I love it.
out of 11 user reviews
A glimpse of the future of the PC. Saves energy.
Pros: It's cutting edge, energy efficient technology. Looks good, easy to set-up, and spouse friendly. The payback on electricity savings makes the $2000 price much more palatable.
Cons: No front USB port. Not available in stores, I think it would sell well in stores.
Before you make a snap judgment on this review or the machine by making an ?apples-to-apples? comparison to ?this or that other machine? pause and take a deep breath. Put on your ?Science? glasses for a minute. There is no other machine like this at the moment. Comparing this machine to a typical gaming PC is kind of like comparing a hybrid car to a regular car or a Tesla to a Dodge Charger.
The liquid cool Firebird represents a dramatic leap in home PC technology. It?s a glimpse of the future. It?s ultra efficient and ultra quiet. It?s finesse. I have no doubt that HP indulged Rahul Sood in this project because they realize the technological significance of the work. They want to learn how to make the PCs of the future. PCs that will get an Energy Star lable and be as trouble free as a Play Station.
Add to that that because it?s designed with ecology in mind it is likely to provide most gamers with a nice payback in electricity savings (more on that later).
The Firebird is as close to "plug and play" as any Windows machine has ever been. It?s very simple to set up set-up and is immediately compatible with the vast majority of devices out there. When my new 803 arrived, I unpacked it and scanned the back.
HDMI, check. Fiber optic digital, check. I set it down next to my 42? LCD HDTV, plugged the power supply in, the HDMI cable to the TV and connected the fiber optic cable to the surround receiver. I pulled the plastic film tabs out of the back of the keyboard and the mouse and connected it to the network. Then I booted it up and it was ready to go. The Bluetooth mouse and keyboard worked immediately. It took a couple of minutes to ?set itself up? and after a few tweaks to the desktop I was ready to go.
The machine more than adequately powers current games running at 1080 wide-screen mode. And it does it efficiently. How efficient? Well the answer is: ?Amazingly.? It?s cool, quiet and it just sips electricity. Maybe the best news for the married crowd out there is that because of its sleek, understated and quiet design, the spouse may not mind having the Firebird sitting in the living room next to the entertainment center. You can even tune the color of the machines internal LED lights to coordinate with the interior decor.
Next, I plugged the computer into my Kill-a-Watt Meter ($25 from Amazon) and was amazed at how low the power consumption was. At idle the Firebird uses 67-72 watts. To test it at load, I loaded two instances of Stanford?s ?Folding at Home? (FaH) applications, both the CPU and GPU versions, and ran them simultaneously at ?Average? process priority. At load the Firebird uses only 124-133 watts. The power drops by about 7-9 watts when the HDMI feed to the monitor goes into standby.
How does that compare to, say, a Blackbird? Well, glad you asked. The friend who recommended the Firebird to me owns a Blackbird. The Blackbird consumes over 310 watts just sitting there doing absolutely nothing. At load, running two instances of FaH the power consumption jumped to over 500 watts. His particular machine pulled as much as 530 watts at ?load.?
So, what?s that amount to in electricity costs? Well, the average price of electricity in the US in November of 2008, according to the US Dept. of Energy was 11.5 cents per KW-Hr. If you?re a hard core geek like me, you leave your computer on all the time and it?s probably doing something while it?s sitting there.
At idle, the Firebird will cost the average consumer $70.33 in electricity over a year. The Blackbird, idling for a year, will consume about $311.36 worth of electricity. If you run distributed apps, like I do, the difference is even more dramatic: the Blackbird will cost you around $500 and the Firbird will raise your bill only by $130.
So, over two years, the Firbird has a $740 payback in energy costs. That makes the $2000 price tag a lot more palatable. Add to that that it's doubling as our Blue Ray player for the moment and I figure we can delay the purchase of DVD player for another year when prices will be lower.
Finally, I can sit in my lay-z-boy chair and check my e-mail and WoW auctions while the significant other knits or reads and doesn't mind. How much is that worth? Answer: Priceless.
Yes, I also agree that it's not the most "upgradeable" but 2 out of the last 3 times I decided to "upgrade" I ended up doing a rebuild. We're in the midst of a burst in GPU power. In 2 or 3 years we'll be buying 960 core GPUs and I'm guessing it will be time for a rebuild on most machines by then.
So, do you want to own a piece of the future? Would you pick a Prius over a Camry? Then this may be the PC for you.
out of 11 user reviews
No Upgrade
Pros: Sleek case
Cons: If I can't upgrade, it is useless to me
out of 11 user reviews
Great PC with some limitations
Pros: Well Its quiet and cool becuase the Quad core CPU and both graphics cards are liquid cooled. Its sleek and sexy-looking.
Cons: have to use laptop drivers which are never updated enough. Not upgradable. No over-clocking software included. And no higher end option to have an SSD. Ugly power brick.
Bottom line: this thing is awesome but the parts chosen could have been better. Especially considering this is a PC that you will ahve for years and never be able to upgrade. I would have to get the version with the sound card. And would want some kind of customization option. In addition I'd like to see more benchmarks on more games such as GTA4 and Company of heroes. with in game settings listed.
out of 11 user reviews
Overall - Recommend!
Pros: Great price! Very good performance and feature set. Relatively small footprint for a desktop.
Cons: Two 298GB (formatted) hard drives spin at 5400RPM; expect 7200RPM for the price. Would like option to ship with RAID 0 enabled.
The primary reason I was looking for a new computer was to update the four year old desktop and three year old laptop I was using as my home/travel computers. My main reasons for the purchase of this particular computer were (in rough order of importance): price, performance (speed in both processing and graphics), and technological relevance. I store all of my important data on shared network storage, so hard drive capacity was not important. The price of the Firebird 803 is very good for the performance and specifications. From the higher-end CPU and excellent graphics, to the very quiet (a whisper) liquid cooling, this computer has everything I wanted and even some of the things I didn't consider (adjustable colored lighting in three zones after a download from HP's support site!)
The only drawback is the hard drives' speed and configuration. Both 298GB hard drives (formatted, as shown in Explorer) spin at 5400RPM. I believe HP should have included 7200 RPM drives for the price. Also, the option at purchase to configure the drives in a RAID 0 configuration (performance) would have been nice. I would give the unit 5 stars for the faster hard drives, alone. I noticed an option in the BIOS to enable RAID, so I'm considering making the above modifications myself after researching upgraded hard drive options.
Overall, I'm very pleased with the purchase! I would most definitely recommend this unit to anyone looking for a quiet, powerful computer at a great price.
