NEWS & REVIEWS
PC Mag Names the Falcon Talon "Best of the Year" for 2024
Our Threadripper Pro equipped Talon made PC Mag's Best Products of the Year list, winning Best Business Desktop/Workstation of 2024! "screamed past even other expensive workstations in our testing" "runs quietly, has a 3-year warranty, and is built with exceptional quality."
What's the best PC setup for game developers?
Which CPU is better for game development in Unreal Engine: a Falcon Northwest Talon featuring a 64-core AMD Ryzen Threadripper 7980X or a custom built gaming PC with an Intel Core i9-14900KS? In this video the late, great Gordon Mah Ung and Will Smith put that question to the test in custom made benchmarks, but also covers everything else game developers should keep in mind like up-time, customer support, and scalability.
Our liquid-cooled 64-core Threadripper Pro beat Dell & HP's 96-core systems at PC Mag!
"Falcon Northwest routinely impresses us, but this Talon workstation takes it to the next level..."
It's rare you see head-head PC competitions with $100,000 worth of hardware in a benchmark battle. It's even rarer when you see a 64-core system sweep 12 of 13 benchmarks against 96-core systems! But our Talon did just that. PC Magazine was blown away, awarding it 4.5/5 stars and Editor's Choice: "Showcasing the company’s expertise in cooling and motherboard configuration, the Talon challenges mainstream 96-core Threadripper Pro workstations using only a 64-core chip for thousands of dollars less. Beyond that, multiple upgrade options, meticulous hand-built quality, an excellent standard warranty, and Falcon’s attentive support make the Talon an easy Editors' Choice award winner for high-end workstations."
XDA names Falcon Northwest one of the "Best Custom PC Builders of 2024"
"Great for high-end custom builds that stands out, Falcon Northwest is one of the most popular names in the industry, churning out some really high-end and high-quality custom PCs for those who want the absolute best systems that stand out from the mainstream options"
"This particular company has been around for decades, and is known to dish out some of the best custom PCs on the market, that not only look great and perform well, but are also very different from the conventional builds that are offered by many others "
"The Falcon Northwest Talon is an exercise in unbridled craftsmanship and maximized PC performance.”
Digital Trends checked our Talon with the latest Intel Core i9-14900KS CPU & Nvidia GeForce 4090, and came away impressed:
"The Talon is glorious."
"The Talon is immaculate. When it comes attention to detail, precise cuts, high-end materials, and cable management, there’s hardly anything else like it on the market. The black mid-tower case uses a very thick, 4mm metal with a cool, smooth touch. It’s not just the materials and build quality that make this so impressive though. It’s the attention to detail. It’s the thoughtfulness behind its everyday usability. "
Level 1 Techs reviews our RAK with the 96-core Threadripper!
An over-the-top RAK configuration had Wendell Wilson from Level 1 Techs amazed at the possibilities of what a system like this could accomplish in the right hands:
“This is probably the kind of workstation on which general artificial intelligence is going to be invented. There’s going to be a sole proprietor billion dollar company, and this is what the founder of that company is probably going to use. Something like this- they’re not renting something in the cloud. This is the 3rd Falcon Northwest system that I’ve reviewed that makes me question everything because it is so well built, so small, and quiet for what it is.”
PC World names the FragBox the "Best Desktop PC of 2023/2024"!
PC World's annual Best of the Year article on the best hardware and software they'd seen as 2023 wrapped up said of the FragBox: "This year, I had the pleasure of testing the single best desktop PC I’ve ever touched". "The Falcon Northwest FragBox epitomizes why you buy a boutique custom PC. It packs extreme power into an unbelievably small, cool, and quiet custom chassis, while Falcon Northwest’s warranty, buying experience, and Windows/software setup is second to none."
This award was the cherry on top of their full FragBox review, where it scored a perfect 5/5 stars and Editor's Choice!
"It’s not often that a system integrator, quite frankly, shocks the sh*t out of me."
YouTube tech channel JayzTwoCents was impressed by our Talon mid-tower. We sent this one loaded with the latest for Jay to evaluate our case design, features, and thermal performance.
Jay said: "...with Falcon Northwest the more I’ve taken a look at their products the more I’m just continuously being slapped upside the head with the realization of the level of detail that goes into some of this stuff.”
"I’m hugely impressed with what they’ve been doing out there. It’s hard to be impressed these days. I think we’re all just so jaded and negative about so many things. But to see an SI that’s doing enthusiast level stuff to the minute details… Talon: I’m impressed.”
Level 1 Techs checks out a FragBox: "It is really darned impressive."
Wendell at Level 1 Techs is more known for covering uber-workstation hardware than gaming focused builds, so could we impress him with our FragBox Small Form Factor with a mere mortal RTX 4090 + Intel i7-14700K loadout?
"It is very portable. It is very luggable. And essentially no compromises on performance. It is really darned impressive. Very compact build, but very quiet, and very capable cooling. Surprisingly capable cooling."
"Once again Falcon Northwest has seriously impressed me with the build quality, the no-compromises performance, and the little smart features they’ve put into their case. It really is something else."
PC World checks out ALL of our desktops!
Ever wanted to see how our small systems compare to our larger ones, with a human for scale? PC World has seen many Falcon systems over the years, but never one of each of our latest, all on the same desk at the same time. Adam Patrick Murray gives you a brief tour of each system and how they compare.
Braethorn checks out a Talon
“What makes a product good? What makes it special? Does it stand out? Does it change things? Does it break the mold? Well what if it made the mold in the first place… and then broke that mold?”
YouTuber Braethorn checked out the new Intel 14th Gen processors in his custom-printed Talon.
FragBox wins Editor's Choice at PC Perspective
“There is something really special about the overall experience with a Falcon Northwest PC. It’s really the attention to detail that won me over. From the meticulous cable management, quality component selection and unparalleled enclosure design and construction – I mean honestly who else is using extruded aluminum? These systems really are on another level.”
RobeyTech's dueling Tikis
"These have travelled all over the United States, and in some cases the world, with me and they hold up quite well."
RobeyTech has two great looking Tikis - one we UV-printed in our "circuits" theme with his logo and with intel+Nvidia loadout, and a second with an AMD Ryzen & Radeon loadout, custom-modded by Blue Horse Studios with a one-of-a-kind Starfield theme. Which one does he like better?
“The RAK is awesome”
Serve The Home (STH) checked out our RAK rackmount loaded with the latest Intel Xeon 56-Core CPU, liquid cooled and loaded with 128GB of DDR5-6000 MHz ECC RAM. Not only was STH amazed at the speed, they were blown away by how quiet the RAK is: "Bryan was setting the [RAK] system up, doing b-roll and that kind of stuff and he literally ran into my office and said ‘oh my gosh this thing you won’t believe it, it is so quiet!’ It is way quieter than I thought it would be. That is awesome when you consider just how powerful this system is.”
"Falcon Northwest sort of hits it out of the park again. This is the difference when you have an enthusiast that owns the company designing stuff."
After checking out our FragBox a few months ago, YouTube tech channel JayzTwoCents got his first look at our Tiki micro-tower. Stuffed with the new ASUS ProArt RTX 4080 graphics card and an AMD Ryzen 7800X3D CPU, Jay was impressed by Tiki's cooling and acoustics, and the quality of the metal used in Tiki's unique design. "This is true engineering from the ground up." "This is the level of detail that I absolutely love about Falcon Northwest."
"this machine is so nice that I feel like I’ve been putting together systems wrong for years. "
Wendell Wilson from Level One Techs has seen just about every high-end server & workstation ever made. But he'd never seen our new Intel Xeon-W (a.k.a. "Sapphire Rapids" platform) overclockable Talon workstation! Wendell had many nice things to say about the system, such as "Now fourteen or fifteen thousand dollars for a system like this might sound insane, but have you actually priced a system like this from somebody else like HP? This system is actually cheaper and better. The warranty is probably better and the support is definitely better."
DRX wins Editor's Choice
MMORPG.com checked out the new DRX and scored it a 9.5, awarded it Editor's Choice, and heaped adjectives on it: "...using the DRX is sublime. The display is engrossing. " "the gaming experience is nothing short of tremendous." "The DRX delivers. It’s a reinvention and a refresh of one of the most unique laptops on the market and is better than ever."
Slashgear names Falcon Northwest Best Custom Gaming PC Builder!
Tech news website Slashgear published an article titled "Custom Gaming PC Builders Ranked Worst To Best".
It was a long nerve-wracking scroll down the list starting at #10, but we love their conclusion!
Talon wins "Best Gaming PC of the Year" from PCMag.com!
PCMag.com reviewed almost 2,000 products in 2022, and only 85 of them (including our Talon, Tiki, & FragBox PCs) won their Editor's Choice award. In their annual "Best of the Year" round-up, Talon was awarded "Best of the Year"!
"...the Talon is the pinnacle of what a mid-tower can be, and easily claims our Editors' Choice award among high-end gaming PCs."
“The FragBox from Falcon Northwest: it’s pretty impressive.”
YouTube tech channel JayzTwoCents got their first look at a Falcon Northwest PC with our latest FragBox, packed full with the RTX 4090 & Intel Core i9-13900K. Jay's take: “The build quality on this… it doesn’t screw around.” and “This thing is really quiet.”
"This is my first time really doing anything with Falcon Northwest. It’s a brand I’ve definitely heard of over the years." “I’m impressed. I’m impressed with this whole setup. It’s definitely worth considering if you’re shopping for a small form factor.”
FragBox scores 4.5/5 stars and Editor's Choice at PC Mag!
"THE BOTTOM LINE: Precision engineered by Falcon Northwest, the small-form-factor FragBox gaming desktop delivers incredible performance and practicality in a compact, luggable design"
FragBox gets Editor's Choice at Hot Hardware
Hot Hardware took a look at the latest FragBox design, cooling the (literally) hottest components made: the 6 GHz Intel Core i9-13900KS & Nvidia RTX 4090. They lauded it for:
Impressive thermal management
Low noise levels
Premium fit and finish
Excellent warranty support
RobeyTech gets the first look at the all-new FragBox
"VERY impressed with the new Frag Box from Falcon Northwest! You are going to be hard pressed to find a whole package small form factor (as small as you can get with a 4090) PC that is as performant and quiet."
Gabe Newell: "So on my PC I have an AMD CPU, an Nvidia GPU, the PC's from Falcon Northwest..."
While accepting an award for the Steam Deck, Valve CEO Gabe Newell listed many of the variety of component brands in his Falcon Northwest PCs. "That interoperability, that compatibility, that openness that really enables products like Steam Deck."
As a system integrator, combining the right components from the best brands to meet our client's intended uses is what we do. Every client is unique, so every system we build is custom for them.
CNET names Talon "Best Gaming PC for 2023"
Serve The Home looks at Talon's performance as a workstation, and scores it 9.5/10!
Want to see how the new AMD Ryzen 7950X 16-Core CPU shreds its way thru professional apps like rendering, AI, and Adobe? Serve The Home reviewed this Talon for both their website & YouTube.
“just to kind of give you an idea of how quiet this system is, this system is actually rendering the rest of the video in 4K in Adobe Premiere while I’m sitting here speaking to you”
"The BEST PC prebuilt, hands down!"
Tech YouTuber and PC builder Justin Robey from RobeyTech knows PCs. Sometimes he builds several in a day on his livestreams. So we were honored by all the praise he heaped on the Talon in this video. "As someone who really likes to pursue quality, when you see something like this, it’s hard not to gush.”
PC World Tours the Tiki
1/2 of the crew from PC World's The Full Nerd podcast take a deep dive on the latest all air-cooled intel-based Tiki. Gordon Mah Ung gives some historical context on the micro-tower form factor, and Adam Patrick Murray compares it to several other Small Form Factor cases and even head-heads it against his personal SFF DIY build.
Tiki Gets a Perfect "10.0" & Editor's Choice Award from Wccftech
"The build quality shows next-level attention to detail in looks, form, and performance. While the cost of a computer of this caliber could scare some consumers off, the personalized customer service from Falcon Northwest and assurance of top-quality components for any need imaginable is worth the investment."
"Customer service is one of the best, rare in 2022"
"Punching above its weight and size, the Tiki proves why Falcon Northwest continues to be the trusted gaming PC builder for some of the biggest names in tech"
After giving a mega-loaded Talon 5 out of 5 stars & "The Best" award, Windows Central turned its sights to an all AMD-powered Tiki. Proving bigger isn't always better, the Tiki also got 5 out of 5 stars and their "Best" award!
"Despite its small stature, Tiki’s build quality is, as expected, exceptional. Like the bigger Talon desktop, Tiki benefits from Falcon Northwest’s industrial engineering expertise. Simply put, the Tiki isn’t built to last. It’s designed to outlast you."
"Falcon Northwest is still the leader in boutique custom gaming computers."
"The attention to detail is impeccable. The customer service is also incredible. The case is incredible. It just screams high quality. They even added a support mount for the graphic card which gives me peace of mind for stability and transit. Knowing the computer was rigorously tested and using only high-quality components, I had peace of mind knowing this computer will run anything I put at it for years to come. They take great care and detail into every part of the computer. Shipping was done brilliantly to protect the computer while in transit. If you want the best of the best, look no further. The 3 year warranty, great customer service and the well-rounded experience is worth the premium price. "
Windows Central gives Talon 5/5 stars and "The Best" award!
"Falcon Northwest’s desktop builds are second to none, and no manufacturer – not even Apple – can match the company’s attention to detail."
"The Talon is impeccably crafted, meticulously over-engineered, and extremely powerful by design. Unlike some competing desktops, Falcon Northwest built the Talon from the ground up with its custom sculpted all-aluminum case, elegant cable management, and a thermal and cooling system that would make aviation geeks swoon."
"The Falcon Northwest Tiki is the perfect small-form-factor gaming PC."
Digital Trends reviewed the new 2022 Tiki, and gave it a perfect 5/5 star rating, Editor's Choice, and named it to not one but two "Best Desktops" lists! "Best mini gaming PC", and "Best gaming desktop for the living room".
"There isn’t another small form factor PC that walks the tight rope like the Tiki does, offering flagship power, a super small footprint, and thermal performance that rivals desktops two or three times its size."
"Considering that this computer is barely bigger than a box of breakfast cereal, its performance is more than impressive. "
Hot Hardware took a look at our new 2022 Tiki design, and gave it their "Recommended" award. Their summary:
Absolutely killer gaming performance
Impressively quiet given the speed
Compact size. Timeless, understated style
Industry-leading warranty and support
PC Mag Names Tiki "Best High-End Gaming Desktop"
PC Mag looked at the Tiki loaded with the new Ryzen 5800X3D & GeForce RTX 3090. It earned 4.5/5 stars, Editor's Choice, and made their Best Desktops of 2022 list!
"I have to agree with my colleague's review of the Tiki from way back in 2013: This is the perfect PC.
It’s just a whole lot better in 2022."
"The Falcon Northwest Tiki is hands down the coolest gaming PC I’ve ever had the good fortune of testing. It’s a small miracle"
"The small form-factor gaming PC is dwarfed by my own DIY rigs, and yet it packs more power and runs faster than my latest custom build. It’s nothing short of remarkable."
Rating 5/5
Read the full review
Tom's Hardware reviews the Tiki with AMD's new Ryzen 5800X3D
"The Falcon Northwest Tiki is a diminutive gaming PC with a ton of muscle. "
Read the full review
Tiki wins PC Perspective's gold award, again!
"I knew going into this review that the Tiki was small – but I didn’t expect it to be quite this small."
"Tiki is a fantastic gaming system with that perfect blend of aesthetics, quality components, superior construction, and expert assembly, that my previous experience with Falcon Northwest has conditioned me to expect. Oh, and it’s really, really small, too. This is a mini-ITX system that transcends the form-factor, and stands on its own as a fantastic, high-end desktop. "
PC World unboxes our 12th Gen "Alder Lake" Talon
"Who shops at Falcon Northwest? Richard Garriott, Gabe Newell & Tim Sweeney." The legendary hardware reviewer Gordon Mah Ung name-drops some of our gaming legend clientele as he unboxes our latest Talon. It's decked out in custom intel Alder Lake artwork and loaded up. And Gordon gives you the benchmarks to show you whether it's time to move to Windows 11 for your next Falcon.
Forbes reviews our latest Intel 12th Gen "Alder Lake" Talon
"even though new PC gaming platforms are undeniably exciting, all this freshly formed silicon practically pales in comparison to the care with which Falcon Northwest compiles its hardware. As you’ll read, the Talon’s guts are rather unrivaled at this point, but its the renowned Pacific Northwest company’s relentless dedication to quality that truly shines here."
Everything you need to know about an Alder Lake Falcon Northwest PC in 6 minutes
Hot Hardware's Keith May gives a fantastic summary review in this video of our latest Alder Lake Talon systems. A few benchmark tables to show you how the new Intel 12th Gen CPU stacks up against other options, some power draw numbers, and a great video overview of what a Talon system looks like on the inside. (note: custom outside art theme by intel is not standard)
PC Perspective reviews our first Intel 12th Gen "Alder Lake" Talon
"I won’t mince words. Falcon Northwest makes the best damn computer I’ve ever seen."
That about sums up their thoughts on the Talon. Their thoughts on the new Alder Lake platform took the form of a dozen benchmark charts where Intel proved they are back and ready to be in your next gaming rig!
Watch Jack Black unbox his new custom Talon
See Jack Black unbox his new custom Talon for his YouTube channel, Jablinski Games! Jack sent us an array of crazy graphics for us to UV print on his Talon, and it's one of the wildest looking systems we've ever made. It even made the Tenacious D themed PC we did for him in the 2000's look tame.
Two "Black" mugs!
