The HP Blackbird 002 Exhilaration Edition ($6,590 direct) surpasses the original Blackbird 002 on the game grid, and because it uses the same beautiful case it still looks great. It's got new "guts," with one of the latest Intel Core 2 Extreme QX9770 processors and GeForce GTX 280 SLI graphics. Though it's still fast, the system I tested didn't fly quite as high as its similarly priced rivals.

The Blackbird's chassis is still a marvel of engineering. It perches high up on a "foot," so cooling air can flow up from underneath the case. The system's ribbed exterior is made from machined aluminum and is more solid than cases made from rolled and stamped plates. The Blackbird is a design statement that looks great amid a minimalist décor, yet will also stand out in a more cluttered environment. Along with its beauty, you get a functional coup: The case is amazingly easy to get into and service. Hard drives on trays are easy to replace, graphics cards are isolated and protected from shipping mishaps, and airflow is routed through the interior as efficiently as possible. (All of that forethought helped earn the Blackbird 002 an Editors' Choice award back in September 2007.)

Inside, the HP Blackbird 002 Exhilaration Edition sports a quad-core QX9770 processor, a pair of GeForce GTX 280 graphics cards in SLI configuration, and 4GB of 1,600MHz DDR3 SDRAM. These components make up the system's "Voodoo DNA," which is certified by a graphic inside the case. The fact that Voodoo had a hand in designing the Blackbird gives the system more gaming cred.

The Blackbird managed a playable 67 frames per second on Crysis at 1,280-by-1,024 resolution, and on World in Conflict it got 77 fps at 1,280-by-1,024 resolution (47 fps at 1,920 by 1,200). Crysis was unplayable on the Blackbird at 1,920 by 1,200. The system only managed a score of 29 fps—yet this is a vast improvement over older gaming boxes, which could muster only single-digit scores at the same high resolution. The Blackbird also proved a speedy multimedia machine, returning decent times on our video-encoding (Windows Media Encoder, 40 seconds) and photo-editing (Photoshop CS3, 27 sec) tests.

With the exception of the Crysis tests, the Blackbird placed last among six high-end quad-core gaming systems I tested along with it. (They range from a $4,095 compact rig to a $9,500 behemoth.) Why isn't the Blackbird scoring higher? Even though it has a liquid cooling system, the processor isn't obscenely overclocked like its rivals: The Velocity Micro Raptor takes a quad-core QX9650 processor all the way to 4.4 GHz. Also, the Blackbird has only two GeForce GTX 280 cards, while rivals use three. The bottom line is that while the Blackbird has the best case among the six and is fast compared with a nongaming PC, it still doesn't have the all-important bragging rights that a $6,500-plus gaming box should give you.

The HP Blackbird 002 Exhilaration Edition is a competent gaming system that will keep you fragging on the game grid. And it will definitely look beautiful on your desk. Your mood will change from exhilaration to exasperation when you sheepishly admit to your friends that this isn't the fastest gaming system on the planet—and reveal how much you paid for it.

Check out the HP Blackbird 002 Exhilaration Edition's test scores.

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