HP Blackbird 002: Back in Black
by Jarred Walton on September 12, 2007 12:00 PM EST- Posted in
- Systems
General Application Performance
We don't have any current performance results from any other computers besides the Blackbird 002, so rather than a bunch of charts we thought we would just quickly summarize things in a table. These are applications that are generally very responsive to increases in CPU performance - 3D rendering and video encoding. All other factors like memory speed, bus speed, and any other components are the same in both test configurations, so this will give you a good idea of exactly what a 57% overclock to a Core 2 Quad processor can get you. We don't expect any of these applications to actually increase performance linearly with CPU clock speed, but they might come close.
The above applications represent some of the poster children for quad-core processors and increased CPU clock speeds. ITunes is only able to utilize two processor cores right now for MP3 encoding, but it still responds well to increased clock speeds and improves by 55%. Cinebench R10 manages a 54% speed up, while Windows Media Encoder shows a slightly smaller 52% performance boost. DivX improves the least, increasing total performance by 40%. Considering the large amount of memory bandwidth that's needed in that particular benchmark, we would imagine the front side bus and memory are handicapping performance. Keep in mind that other than Cinebench, none of these applications come anywhere near keeping the CPU at 100% use across all four cores. DivX 6.6 averages around 60% and Windows Media Encoder is around 75%.
One video encoding benchmark that we really wanted to include is QuickTime H.264 encoding. We have seen on other systems that the latest 7.2 version of QuickTime does much better at H.264 encoding, in terms of the time it takes as well as CPU utilization. Unfortunately, we were unable to get QuickTime to work properly on the Blackbird 002. CPU utilization hovered at around 35%, and we invariably encountered an error saying the QuickTime movie export stopped responding about 15-20% through the conversion process. (We also had one blue screen when attempting to start an H.264 encode.) This was not a problem with the overclocked processor, however, as we encounter the same error when running the CPU at 2.33 GHz. Our best guess is that this is somehow related to the motherboard BIOS, but whatever the cause we have to chalk this up as one more quirk with the prototype Blackbird we were sent.
Update: It seems we were wrong about QuickTime. It's not the Blackbird, the BIOS, or anything else; the problem is QuickTime and Vista not getting along well. (This also explains some odd results I've noticed on other systems over the past couple weeks.) Right now, QuickTime appears to be completely broken on Vista, at least with certain movie types. Our test movies won't even play properly on any system we've tested, and the encoding results are erratic. If anyone has a good alternative that is relatively easy to set up, drop me a line! (x264 encoding would be great, but I would really like a straightforward process that doesn't involve a bunch of extra steps - i.e. Gordian Knot is more complex than I generally care to deal with.)
We don't have any current performance results from any other computers besides the Blackbird 002, so rather than a bunch of charts we thought we would just quickly summarize things in a table. These are applications that are generally very responsive to increases in CPU performance - 3D rendering and video encoding. All other factors like memory speed, bus speed, and any other components are the same in both test configurations, so this will give you a good idea of exactly what a 57% overclock to a Core 2 Quad processor can get you. We don't expect any of these applications to actually increase performance linearly with CPU clock speed, but they might come close.
| Application Performance Comparison | |||
| HP Blackbird 002 | HP Blackbird "Q6650" | %Increase from Overclock |
|
| Cinebench R10 XCPU | 13035 | 8457 | 54.13% |
| DivX 6.6 (Seconds) | 46 | 64.5 | 40.22% |
| Windows Media Encoder 9 | 31 | 47 | 51.61% |
| iTunes 7.4.1 MP3 (Seconds) | 24.5 | 38 | 55.10% |
The above applications represent some of the poster children for quad-core processors and increased CPU clock speeds. ITunes is only able to utilize two processor cores right now for MP3 encoding, but it still responds well to increased clock speeds and improves by 55%. Cinebench R10 manages a 54% speed up, while Windows Media Encoder shows a slightly smaller 52% performance boost. DivX improves the least, increasing total performance by 40%. Considering the large amount of memory bandwidth that's needed in that particular benchmark, we would imagine the front side bus and memory are handicapping performance. Keep in mind that other than Cinebench, none of these applications come anywhere near keeping the CPU at 100% use across all four cores. DivX 6.6 averages around 60% and Windows Media Encoder is around 75%.
One video encoding benchmark that we really wanted to include is QuickTime H.264 encoding. We have seen on other systems that the latest 7.2 version of QuickTime does much better at H.264 encoding, in terms of the time it takes as well as CPU utilization. Unfortunately, we were unable to get QuickTime to work properly on the Blackbird 002. CPU utilization hovered at around 35%, and we invariably encountered an error saying the QuickTime movie export stopped responding about 15-20% through the conversion process. (We also had one blue screen when attempting to start an H.264 encode.) This was not a problem with the overclocked processor, however, as we encounter the same error when running the CPU at 2.33 GHz. Our best guess is that this is somehow related to the motherboard BIOS, but whatever the cause we have to chalk this up as one more quirk with the prototype Blackbird we were sent.
Update: It seems we were wrong about QuickTime. It's not the Blackbird, the BIOS, or anything else; the problem is QuickTime and Vista not getting along well. (This also explains some odd results I've noticed on other systems over the past couple weeks.) Right now, QuickTime appears to be completely broken on Vista, at least with certain movie types. Our test movies won't even play properly on any system we've tested, and the encoding results are erratic. If anyone has a good alternative that is relatively easy to set up, drop me a line! (x264 encoding would be great, but I would really like a straightforward process that doesn't involve a bunch of extra steps - i.e. Gordian Knot is more complex than I generally care to deal with.)
Facebook
Twitter
RSS
31 Comments
View All Comments
Sabresiberian - Monday, October 8, 2007 - link
Hewlett-Packard used to be synonymous with high quality small computing and scientific gear, but have become something less than that. It is nice to see them produce something that is once again aimed at the high-end market.I can understand why they didn't go with 64-bit, it's still early for that, but I agree it should have had 4GB ram. Easy to fix, but why should you have to fix anything in a $5500 system?
I'd buy one just to support HP's efforts if I could afford one :)
strikeback03 - Monday, September 17, 2007 - link
No idea how great this encoder is (video isn't my thing) but http://www.erightsoft.com/SUPER.html">Super claims to convert to H.264JarredWalton - Tuesday, September 25, 2007 - link
Seems to work fine, except it definitely doesn't support quad-core and possibly not even fully dual-core. :(Zak - Saturday, September 15, 2007 - link
Since when Radeon HD X2900 XT 1GB is the fastest card on the market? I'm confused. All reviews I read say that it's about as fast as 8800GTS 640MB. Because all that super fast memory doesn't give it any benefit since the GPU is lagging behind. It was beaten by 8800GTX and Ultra in all reviews, except for one game, I forgot which one. Can someone elaborate? I'm going to buy a new video card soon and I was intrigued by this card: 1GB of GDDR4 sounds impressive and the price is right. But then I started reading reviews and they cooled me off, this card is competing against 8800GTS, it's not even close to GTX or Ultra speed.Z.
wolfman3k5 - Saturday, September 15, 2007 - link
Regardless of what reviews say, because many reviewers are biased, I can tell you that I've tested a Sapphire HD2900XT 1GB GDDR4 and it's performance lies between a 8800 GTS 640MB and a 8800 GTX 768MB. Never mind touching the Ultra. Best bang for the buck is the MSI 8800 GTX, Anand will agree with me. Take care and good luck.JarredWalton - Saturday, September 15, 2007 - link
I'm not sure that I ever intended to give the impression that the HD 2900 XT 1GB is the fastest card on the market - in fact, at several points I specifically say the opposite. However, I'm sure that AMD CrossFire is merely an option and is not required. Obviously, the Dell 720 H2C comes out ahead in quite a few of the gaming tests, even with older drivers.
Also, a https://h20435.www2.hp.com/Default.aspx">"special edition" Blackbird went on sale today for $5500, and only 518 (don't ask me why 518!) will be made. That version includes dual 8800 Ultra cards and the Half-Life 2 "Orange Box" bundle, plus pretty much everything seen here. Not a bad price for the components, really, but still more than most people are willing to spend.
Zak - Sunday, September 16, 2007 - link
Thanks. I was just confused. I thought I missed something. Also, thanks to the other poster who replied. I will most likely get the 8800GTX then. 8800Ultra seems like a waste of money at $100 more. But I just got a 24" monitor, I may need all the graphics power I can get. SLI is out of question though, too expensive.Z.
JarredWalton - Saturday, September 15, 2007 - link
Apparently I messed up the link. Let's try that again:https://h20435.www2.hp.com/Default.aspx">HP Blackbird 002 Dedication Edition
Zak - Saturday, September 15, 2007 - link
I have to say I'm shocked to see this come out of HP, the most boring computer maker on the planet. The price is prohibitively high, but if I was on the market for computer of this grade I would very seriously consider this vs Dell or Alienware.Z.
Toronto699 - Thursday, September 13, 2007 - link
Blackbird Tech Support will be handled by Voodoo PC in Calgary Alberta Canada, Canadas Oil Capitol