falcon northwest

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Falcon Northwest Talon (Intel Core i7)

Falcon Northwest was first to ship us a PC with Intel's new mainstream Core i7 CPUs, and based on this $2,495 Talon configuration, we can say that Intel has met its goal of enabling system builders to sell fast PCs at lower prices than they could previously. Falcon Northwest has...

Tags: Intel Core Microarchitecture, TALON, Falcon Northwest

Product reviews 2009-09-08

Falcon Northwest FragBox 2 (Intel Core i7)

When we last left the FragBox 2, Falcon Northwest swore up and down that its small-form-factor gaming PC wouldn't use Intel's Core i7 chips due to a lack of compatible, appropriately sized motherboards. Based on this new, $3,261 version of the FragBox 2, which does indeed come equipped with a...

Tags: Consumer electronics, DVD, FragBox 2, Falcon Northwest, Intel Core Microarchitecture

Product reviews 2009-04-03

Falcon Northwest Mach V (Intel Core i7-965 Extreme Edition)

As it often does, Falcon Northwest has provided with an ultra-high-end PC as a showcase for Intel's latest high-end desktop CPU. This $8,028 Mach V comes with the latest and greatest of everything and provides a useful benchmark of the performance we can expect to see from boutique gaming PCs...

Tags: Desktops, Games, Intel Core Microarchitecture, Falcon Northwest, PC, Intel Corp., hard drive, Mach V, game

Product reviews 2008-11-06

Falcon Northwest FragBox 2 (Intel Core 2 Quad Q9650)

With Intel's new processors just a few short weeks away, it's hard to get that excited about spending $4,000 or so on a high-end gaming PC now. That doesn't mean that we can't appreciate what Falcon Northwest has done with its highest-end FragBox 2. Thanks to a pair of Radeon...

Tags: Video cards, Processors, Falcon Northwest, FragBox 2, graphics, Intel Corp., Intel Core 2 Duo

Product reviews 2008-10-14

Falcon Northwest Mach V (Intel Core 2 Extreme QX9770)

Falcon Northwest's latest Mach V ($6,957, as reviewed) remains true to the company's reputation of high performance and best-of-breed craftsmanship. But for a few exceptions, its parts offerings remain on the cutting edge, and its smart system building philosophy results in outstanding performance. If your goal is to build the...

Tags: Processors, Memory, Intel Corp., Falcon Northwest, Mach V, Intel Core 2 Extreme QX9770, Intel Core 2 Extreme, Intel Core 2 Duo

Product reviews 2008-05-29

Falcon Northwest FragBox 2 (Intel Core 2 Duo E8400)

Falcon Northwest's FragBox line has always been quirky, even among other gaming PCs. This newest iteration of the FragBox 2 is no exception. By introducing a preconfigured approach to selling its small form factor desktop, Falcon Northwest is able to make this $1,499 gaming system an awfully compelling bargain. As...

Tags: Processors, Games, Network technology, Microsoft Windows Vista (Longhorn), Intel Corp., Falcon Northwest, FragBox 2, Intel Core 2 Duo

Product reviews 2008-04-02

Falcon Northwest Mach V (Intel Core 2 Extreme QX6800)

We've stayed away from the $6,000-plus gaming PCs for awhile, largely because the shift to Windows Vista has thrown the high-end PC market into a state of uncertainty. Still, we agreed to review this Mach V from Falcon Northwest because the company sent us a configuration with two long-rumored but...

Tags: Desktops, Processors, Consumer electronics, DVD, Falcon Northwest, Intel Core 2 Extreme, Intel Corp., PC, Intel Core 2 Duo

Product reviews 2007-07-26

Falcon Northwest Mach V (Intel Core 2 Extreme QX6700)

Of the next-generation game systems we've seen recently, none has performed as well on our game tests as Falcon Northwest's Mach V. Similar PCs are by no means slow, but if your goal is showing off frame rates, Falcon Northwest turned in the fastest scores. Like its competition, the Mach...

Tags: Games, Processors, Intel Corp., Intel Core 2 Duo, Falcon Northwest, Mach V, game

Product reviews 2007-01-26

Shuttle XPC P2 3700g

The Shuttle XPC P2 3700g is the newer, Intel version of the AMD-based XPC P2 2700 model we reviewed earlier this year and adds a couple of important upgrades. First, the P2 3700g features Intel's Core 2 Duo processors, which our tests show improve overall performance. Using the same chassis...

Tags: Desktops, Processors, Shuttle, Maingear, power supply, Falcon Northwest, card, SFF, graphics

Product reviews 2006-11-20

Falcon Northwest Mach V (Intel Core 2 Duo)

With the release of Intel's new Core 2 series CPUs, a handful of systems are hitting the ground running on the day of launch. Two of them, the Falcon Northwest Mach V and the Dell XPS 700, share a nearly identical price, but there are marked differences between them. The...

Tags: Processors, Intel Corp., Falcon Northwest, Intel Core 2 Duo, CPU

Product reviews 2006-07-14

Velocity Micro Raptor 64 DualX (AMD Athlon 64 FX-60)

Velocity Micro's Raptor line of gaming systems are proven performers, and the new Raptor 64 DualX is no exception. Driven by AMD's new dual-core Athlon 64 FX-60 processor and a pair of powerful GeForce graphics cards, this pricey ($5,395), overclocked system is built for speed. It couldn't quite match the...

Tags: Processors, Raptor, Falcon Northwest, Velocity Micro, Velocity, AMD Athlon 64, AMD Athlon, Advanced Micro Devices Inc.

Product reviews 2006-02-08

PC Gamers Know It's What Inside That Counts

Falcon Northwest has been a leader in the PC gaming world since it opened its doors in 1992. Falcon Northwest to offer gamers more than one option when choosing components, each of the company's offerings still has to be first rate. Falcon Northwest's Talon systems have been nearly 100-percent pre-configured...

Tags: PC, Hitachi Ltd., Falcon Northwest, Storage, Games, Hardware, Personal Technology

Case studies

Additional Resources

Asus Essentio CG5270-BP004

Editors' note: This review is part of our 2009 Retail Laptop and Desktop Holiday Roundup, which covers specific fixed configurations of popular systems found in retail stores. The Asus Essentio CG5270-BP004 bears a striking resemblance to a young teenager trying too hard. With its oversized, canted case, it's easy to...

Tags: ASUS

Product reviews 2009-11-24

Dell Studio XPS 8000

Dell's Studio XPS 8000 offers an attractive chassis and mostly up-to-date features. Its configurations start as low as $699, but our $1,329 review unit is a solid upper-midrange performance desktop that will play games and handle more demanding digital media tasks with little difficulty. For the very price-performance conscious, both...

Tags: Dell Computer Corp., Studio XPS 8000, Intel P55, Dell Studio XPS 8000, motherboard

Product reviews 2009-11-10

Velocity Micro Edge Z30 (Intel Core i7)

We've written about Falcon Northwest's new Core i7-based gaming PC, and now Velocity Micro gets a turn to showcase Intel's new mainstream-priced desktop chip. Our Velocity Micro Edge Z30 review unit comes in at $1,349 and features an overclocked Intel Core i7 860 chip. It also outperforms a pricier Dell...

Tags: Desktops, PCI, Velocity Micro, Velocity, Edge Z30, Velocity Micro Edge Z30, desktop, Intel Core Microarchitecture

Product reviews 2009-09-10

Asus Essentio CG5290-BP007

Editors' note: This review is part of our 2009 Retail Laptop and Desktop Back-to-School roundup, covering specific fixed configurations of popular systems that can be found in retail stores.The $1,199 Asus Essentio CG5290-BP007 stands out from the rest of our back-to-school PCs because of both its price and its intentions....

Tags: Blu-ray, Desktops, Games, Microsoft Windows Vista (Longhorn), Network technology, Asus Essentio CG5290-BP007, Asus Essentio, ASUS

Product reviews 2009-08-04

Digital Storm 950Si (Intel Core i7)

The $3,636 950Si is the first PC we've reviewed from Digital Storm, and for the most part we've come away impressed. The system itself came with an overclocked, but more importantly stable Intel CPU, and but for a minor design flaw it seems competently built. Digital Storm could have pushed...

Tags: Storm 950Si, Intel Core Microarchitecture

Product reviews 2009-07-02

Shuttle XPC H7 5800

You can find plenty of small form factor gaming systems out there, notably from Falcon Northwest and Maingear, but the Shuttle XPC H7 5800 might be the smallest chassis we know of that still supports multiple graphics cards. As much as we credit Shuttle for loading up its small H7...

Tags: Video cards, Network technology, TV & Home Theater, Shuttle, XPC H7 5800, Shuttle XPC H7 5800, Shuttle XPC, Maingear X-Cube

Product reviews 2009-06-23

Building high-performance, luxury computers in a recession

When the world is caught in a global economic downturn, exactly how does one build a business around the fabrication of high-performance, luxury computers? I spoke with Chris Morley, chief technical officer of Maingear Computers, to find out. When it comes to external...

Tags: Desktop, PC, Recession, High-performance, Gaming PC, Laptop Computer, Computer, ZD, Games, Notebooks, Personal Technology, Hardware, Notebooks & Tablets, Andrew Nusca

Blog posts 2009-06-23

AVADirect Custom Gaming PC

A dirty secret of gaming PC reviews is that vendors frequently try to submit systems with aggressive overclocking that they won't actually sell because of poor reliability, but that will last long enough to score well on our benchmarks. Imagine our skepticism when this $2,900 AVADirect Custom Gaming PC showed...

Tags: Network technology, PC, AVADirect Custom Gaming PC, gaming PC

Product reviews 2009-04-23