It’s been virtually 20 years since HP bought the boutique pc maker VoodooPC, bolstering each its gaming and design choices. And in 2009, that buy bore fruit: The firm’s “Blackbird” design was refined right into a super-powered, super-modular microtower referred to as the Firebird 803. On the newest PCWorld YouTube video, we’re joined by VoodooPC founder Rahul Sood (presently CEO of Irreverent Labs) for a private tour of this extremely distinctive desktop design.
Despite being extremely compact and that includes a number of elements designed for laptops, the Firebird is designed to be modular in each method, with simple consumer entry to all elements. That contains the twin cell graphics playing cards, a pair of Nvidia GeForce 9800S GPUs in SLI. Both MXM playing cards had been slotted into the motherboard underneath large watercooling blocks, virtually like outsized RAM DIMMs, user-accessible with no soldering.
The distinctive case deserves some consideration. Despite visually resembling the Blackbird, it’s a whole customized design integrating a laptop computer energy provide for a comparatively tiny inside quantity, although at present the slot-loading Blu-ray drive appears a little bit dated. Around again you’ll be able to see relics like Firewire and eSATA ports.
Sood had hoped that the Firebird could be the primary in a collection of designs targeted on modularity and consumer customization, together with a doable collaboration with LEGO on a full DIY build-a-PC package. Alas, HP went in a distinct route, switching to extra typical desktops and modern laptops for the Voodoo sub-brand. Today, the Firebird’s reliance on MXM cell graphics playing cards and a customized liquid cooling setup means your improve choices are restricted, even in the event you can observe one down in working order.
But arguably, the Firebird’s very existence impressed a brand new era of small kind issue PCs that refused to compromise on gaming efficiency. For extra deep dives on the historical past of pc design, subscribe to PCWorld on YouTube.
Author: Michael Crider, Staff Writer
Michael is a former graphic designer who’s been constructing and tweaking desktop computer systems for longer than he cares to confess. His pursuits embody folks music, soccer, science fiction, and salsa verde, in no explicit order.
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