Spy Photos

Been around on and off since the creation of the site and forums, Kyle is a no nonsense dude, but in all fairness to both sides:

1. people if you talk shit you might get the smack period.

2. Kyle loves to smack, quite unfairly I might add. I dont think a. many other people so unjustly ban/boot/oust people at a moments notice than Kyle and I have known him longer than 10 years I say this in the most unbiased way or b. that Kyle respects most people on the site flat out, I dont think we ARE viewed as customers we dont directly pay the bills at least thats how it seems he views it.

As a side note I think he does put up with a LOT of shit from people on the site but there is NO loyalty here none, 5 minutes 10 years matters not piss him off your done.

Read about the stuff and leave or talk and risk losing your "priveledges" end of story, high risk low reward.
 
mashie said:
I have never understood the point of a touchscreen LCD on a HTPC case.
Click to expand...

It is mostly for people who use projectors. They do not want to waste projector lamp life just to change settings in Windows, or update things, etc.

The touchscreen allows them to do the needed maintenance items.



Yeah, most people have no need for them.
 
Slash3 said:
The slick willies at TweakTown have posted up a blurb about BFG's new line of HTPC style systems.

http://www.tweaktown.com/news/10852/bfg_to_display_its_first_full_gaming_pc_at_ces/index.html

Includes a nice pic of the entire case, albeit still one taken in the dark without a camera.

;)

Place the case up high and you can't reach the dock. Put it down low, you can't operate the touchscreen.

Hm....

Also seems to have gained the fast-becoming-ubiquitous sealed watercooling system, presumably the Asetek found in the HP Blackbird and others.

Can't wait to see what's on the inside.
Click to expand...

HTPC? Why would I want a case which sits vertically to go with all my horizontal home theater components?

If they wanted this to be a HTPC case, it would lay sideways, so it blends in with the other components.

Still, nice looking case, all in all.
 
I KNOW what this is.

It is the new NVIDIA 295 aka gtx260x2. It is so friggin big they decided to put an LCD on it to monitor the 2 240mm fans on it.
 
cybrsage said:
HTPC? Why would I want a case which sits vertically to go with all my horizontal home theater components?

If they wanted this to be a HTPC case, it would lay sideways, so it blends in with the other components.

Still, nice looking case, all in all.
Click to expand...

That is the first thing I thought also. Why did they make a HTPC vertical.

As for the fount mounted LCD, it could prove to be useful. While yes, you normally do sit away from the tv, that would be no different than the display on a DVD player or stero and its buttons. You could have it display information about what if playing and give you your play, stop, eject, menu, fast forward... buttons. If actually playing a disc of some type you would have to insert it and take it out. So it would be nice to have some functionality there on the front.
 
I agree with the why make an HTPC vertical comments, seems odd.

To me, as others have stated, it seems like it will be a high end PC with an Ipod dock. I think the LCD screen appears to be a Windows Sideshow type device. Nothing ground breaking but it is a nice feature if they get a nice interface done up for a touch LCD...

http://www.sideshowdevices.com/
 
There's another posting up at Tech Report as well.

http://techreport.com/discussions.x/16162

Basically a bizarre GTX295 + GTX285 Core i7 setup with a sealed liquid cooling, aux screen and a dock. So... yeah, pretty much what everyone expected.

I have to question the use of that GTX285 for PhysX, though. It almost looks like they're doing it because the driver allows them to, not because it is rational or in any way advantageous to a person in possession of their faculties. :confused:
 
From the front page:

BFG TECHNOLOGIES UNVEILS PHOBOS™ -- STUNNING NEW HIGH PERFORMANCE GAMING/HOME THEATER SYSTEM

Phobos features innovative touch panel LCD with Performance Control, upcoming BFG NVIDIA GeForce GTX 295 Graphics Cards, Liquid Cooling Solutions from CooIIT, and Intel Core i7 Processors

Come by the NVIDIA Booth at CES to see Phobos: South Hall 4 #35352
Lake Forest, IL – January 5, 2009 – BFG Technologies, known as a leading supplier of premium power supplies and 3D graphics cards, is excited to announce its first line of complete gaming and multimedia PCs, called Phobos. These sleek hand-built, high performance machines were designed with the "Graduated Gamer" in mind. This audience is looking for all the performance associated with a high-end gaming system, but none of the hassle related to building and servicing such a system. As a result, Phobos is sold with complementary Concierge Service which includes expert in-home installation and a six month follow up maintenance visit.

"Phobos was designed for gamers and media enthusiasts who demand top of the line performance, but may not have the time, desire, or expertise to build or maintain a high end system," said John Malley, senior director of marketing for BFG Technologies. "Our Concierge Service ensures our systems meet those high expectations-delivering Unbelievable Performance without monopolizing our customers' time."

Phobos is designed with the highest-end components available, featuring the Intel® Core i7 965 Extreme Edition 3.2GHz Processor, two upcoming BFG NVIDIA® GeForce GTX 295 Graphics Cards, and CoolIt® Contained Liquid Cooling Solutions to keep both the GPUs & CPU cool during the fiercest of gaming battles. BFG Tech also outfitted Phobos to serve as a home theater command center by choosing Windows® Vista Ultimate with Media Center, including four hard drive bays, offering RF remote and TV tuner with DVR functionality, a front slot-loading Blu-ray Disc® drive, the option for 5.1 or 7.1 surround sound audio cards, and an integrated iPod®/iPhone® syncing dock.

FULL SPECS BELOW
Phobos is as impressive externally as it is internally, offering Refined Aesthetics and an innovative design. Its sleek black gloss finish and hidden cable management makes Phobos look at home in the living room, next to a flat panel TV and high end audio components. BFG Tech's ground breaking touch panel LCD with performance control further sets Phobos apart from every other system in its class. The panel provides users with a System Status Overview-a real time snapshot of the processor, memory, network, and storage data. Phobos owners can also make real-time performance adjustments based on desired use (Auto/Quiet/Max), monitor the capacity and health of internal storage devices, display and control audio and video files, and more.
For more information about Phobos, visit www.bfgsystems.com after January 8, 2009 or contact PR representative Mark Olson at 305.576.1171 x17 or [email protected]. For additional information about BFG Tech please visit www.BFGTech.com.



About BFG Tech
BFG Technologies is a privately held U.S. based supplier of premium power supplies and 3D video cards based on award-winning NVIDIA graphics technology, and a manufacturer of high end gaming/home theater systems. BFG Tech is dedicated to bringing the latest high quality, high-tech multimedia products to PC and gaming enthusiasts at competitive prices. Like the company's target customers, many of BFG Tech's employees are gamers and PC enthusiasts, and they strive to provide hardware and marketing that reflects the company's passion and excitement for the latest technology. www.BFGTech.com
Phobos™ System Specs

Phobos has three conveniently pre-configured high-performance systems that can be used as a starting point:

• Phobos Performance (from $3,000)
• Phobos Advanced (from $5,000)
• Phobos Elite (from $8,000)

Please visit www.bfgsystems.com after January 8, 2009 to see what specific options are available in each version.


'PHOBOS ELITE' STANDARD CONFIGURATION*

• Upcoming BFG NVIDIA® GeForce GTX 295 Graphics Cards (x2 for Quad SLI®)
• BFG NVIDIA GeForce GTX 285 for Dedicated PhysX™ Processing
• Intel® Core i7 965 Extreme Edition 3.2GHz Processor
• CoolIt® Contained Liquid Cooling Solution (GPU&CPU)
• MSI® Eclipse SLI Intel® X58-based Motherboard
• Patriot® 6GB PC3-12800 1600MHz DDR3 Memory
• 4x Western Digital® VelociRaptor 300GB Hard Drives
• Slot Loading Blu-ray® Super Multi Optical Drive
• BFG LS-1200 1200W High Efficiency Power Supply
• Auzentech X-Fi Prelude 7.1 Sound Card
• Integrated iPhone®/iPod® syncing dock
• Unique 8" Interactive Touch Panel LCD
• In-Home Set Up Included with Every Phobos Purchase

*Based on current configuration at the time of printing. Specifications and available options subject to change. See www.bfgsystems.com for updates.
Click to expand...
 
I'd understand the price a bit better if they had those speedy Intel SSDs for storage, or came with that 2880x900 monitor, which is priced at $6500.

Or if there was a warranty to ensure it wouldn't be outdated in two years time and worth a third tops of what the components cost now ie free upgrades.

But those $20k+ cameras are worth the money though that's for sure!
 
So basically its old school Alienware x10? Hmmm...don't know how I feel about this. On the one hand I would never buy one myself but on the other hand there are a bunch of busy rich people out there with no time to tinker with their PCs.
 
Can I buy the case + LCD screen / system?

I can put the rest together myself :) Or is it an All-Or-Nothing aproach?
 
RadCliffeX said:
QFT maybe they can make an exception and do a review of this. It sure would be worth a read!
Click to expand...
Yea I agree. They don't need a fancy label to review a pre-built system.

EricZBA said:
So basically its old school Alienware x10? Hmmm...don't know how I feel about this. On the one hand I would never buy one myself but on the other hand there are a bunch of busy rich people out there with no time to tinker with their PCs.
Click to expand...
YUP! I was forced to buy an alienware(before dell) setup for someone cause they wanted to spend the money and they liked the fancy case. But yes there are people with money that likes to play with high end stuff but doesn't like to set it up.
Elf_Boy said:
Can I buy the case + LCD screen / system? I can put the rest together myself :) Or is it an All-Or-Nothing aproach?
Click to expand...
Haha, sure you can buy just the case, system, and LCD. I bet it'll still be $6K though, heh.
 
sumofaguy said:
Been around on and off since the creation of the site and forums, Kyle is a no nonsense dude, but in all fairness to both sides:

1. people if you talk shit you might get the smack period.

2. Kyle loves to smack, quite unfairly I might add. I dont think a. many other people so unjustly ban/boot/oust people at a moments notice than Kyle and I have known him longer than 10 years I say this in the most unbiased way or b. that Kyle respects most people on the site flat out, I dont think we ARE viewed as customers we dont directly pay the bills at least thats how it seems he views it.

As a side note I think he does put up with a LOT of shit from people on the site but there is NO loyalty here none, 5 minutes 10 years matters not piss him off your done.

Read about the stuff and leave or talk and risk losing your "priveledges" end of story, high risk low reward.
Click to expand...

You are 100% correct. You know better than to post here in a discussion forum. You are banned.
 
cybrsage said:
It is mostly for people who use projectors. They do not want to waste projector lamp life just to change settings in Windows, or update things, etc.

The touchscreen allows them to do the needed maintenance items.



Yeah, most people have no need for them.
Click to expand...

Clone mode completely breaks protected content so you're in wacky town if you want to do bluray or any premium cable stuff with cablecard. In this scenario you need an HDCP compliant secondary display with a 1:2 HDCP capable distribtion amp. I guess it would be OK for the HTPCer that just priates all their shit.

Integrated touch panel FTL, probably with abandonware drivers from some provider you've never heard of that stop working after the first OS update.
 
That cage blocking off the ports on the back is going to be a pain in the ass.

I am also hoping that the touchscreen is running beta software, since half the button presses either lagged or didn't do anything.

the popup media connectors while preserving the clean lines of the case will either always be open and full of wires, or the mechanical parts will break. So why bother?

lastly why are there internal USB and ethernet ports under the top? are they part of the touchsreen "computer"?

I would be interested in looking at the liquid cooling parts of the system built into the case. but its not [H]ard if you don't build it yourself.
 
MetalDwarf said:
That cage blocking off the ports on the back is going to be a pain in the ass.

I am also hoping that the touchscreen is running beta software, since half the button presses either lagged or didn't do anything.

the popup media connectors while preserving the clean lines of the case will either always be open and full of wires, or the mechanical parts will break. So why bother?

lastly why are there internal USB and ethernet ports under the top? are they part of the touchsreen "computer"?

I would be interested in looking at the liquid cooling parts of the system built into the case. but its not [H]ard if you don't build it yourself.
Click to expand...


Thought I'd jump in with some info directly... If you guys have any specific questions, I'll do my best to answer them.

First off, we certainly know that this is not a "do-it-yourselfer" system. That probably means it's not for most of the [H] readers, but who knows? Although we designed the case to hide the cables for aesthetic reasons, the base actually slides off quite easily to access the cabling should anyone need to. We think the target customer for Phobos won't be doing a lot of cable accessing once we've set it up for them.

Much to my chagrin, Ryan Shrout's video actually recorded an earlier version of the screen software, where the buttons were lagging a bit. We've already cleaned that up and by production, that screen will be fine. Both the case and panel PC software were protos at CES. Addressing an earlier poster about the software, we programmed that software from scratch here at BFG and it'll always be up to date. That's a full panel pc with a mini mobo, 200MHz ARM processor, running a Linux kernel, with nothing installed on the main OS. You can also power on and off the system from the touch screen, since it has dedicated power.

We did want to preserve the clean lines of the case, hence the pop up power/usb/media card reader. The parts for that are steel and I don't think it will break. There are also USBs on the back in the air intake and more by the I/O.

The USB and ethernet you saw on the inside behind the LCD is because that's a version of the panel PC that we haven't stripped off the extraneous items from the BOM yet. Production won't have those.
 
285 for Physx? Hell an 8800GT or 9800GTX would be overkill, thats just crazy there!!

And there are so many problems with the design. Biggest one, Touch screen? why? Youd have to get up and use it or turn it off so you can notice it while your watching a movie. Sure, use a remote, but then why have the touch screen? (as an HTPC) or, as a gamer rig, you'd have to keep it on the desk beside you so you could see the screen, Im assuming the angles arent the greatest, and then youd have this huge freaking box beside you and Im sure its not too quiet, not to mention many other problems. Seems like a WAY overdone alienware in a gimmicky case

by the way, did anyone read the realtouch article on the crunchgear link? I thought the BFG thing was crazy, but before I close the page, I looked right and, just ... wow...
 
The video was pretty cool and the display on the front of the Phobos seems pretty neat you can see all the cpu/thermal specs while it is running
 
its cool and all but with my pc always being on the floor um.. it would not be that easy or comfortable to use that touch screen.. i'd much rather just have an app that gives me the same info..
 
As for apps/mini-screens that do the same thing, check out Matrix Orbital 5.25" bay screens. You can get one pretty much the same size (3x 5.25"), and you can customize the OSD.
 
1194598704277.jpg



Kyle... your'e the man... and a message to the whiners.... jsut shut up.....
 
iGamer said:
1194598704277.jpg



Kyle... your'e the man... and a message to the whiners.... jsut shut up.....
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Hey I'll be the first to admit Kyle's in the right here, private forums and all that; but seriously dude I have a hard time hearing you with Kyle's dick hitting the back of your throat. . .:rolleyes:
 
well, since you did it. anyone buy one of these phobos rigs? just curious how its doing.
 
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