Falcon Northwest Mach V Reviews (Desktops)

No expense was spared for the Mach V: Its 3.2-GHz processor is overclocked by 800 MHz, and the machine packs three Nvidia GeForce GTX 280 cards running together

Pretty quiet. Go ahead, run everything at once while you try to hack the NSA: You've got 8 GB of RAM. Combination Blu-ray and HD-DVD drive. The best all-around PC of the bunch

Load times are quick, but those drives won’t help games play any speedier. Airbrushed aluminum case ain't exactly pretty. You can game faster for half the price

We're beginning to see a pattern here. It works like this: Turbo-charged gamer rigs get into the hands of reviewers; write-ups discuss gaming, but also comment on how the machines are perfect for other tasks; accountants and admins across the country...

Gaming specialist Falcon Northwest has put together another fast, well-designed machine, but the 80GB of hard drive space is somewhat skimpy for video authoring.

Because the DIMM and PCI Express slots are filled, there isn't much extra expansion room here, but about the only people likely to be disappointed by this are über-users who prefer discrete sound cards for their surround gaming. There's a bit of room...

Excellent chassis design, internal components. Delivers outstanding gaming and productivity performance

Case is on the bulky side. Benefits from a dedicated power supply or UPS. Rear-panel ports are inconveniently located

Loaded with the latest Intel Core i7 Extreme Edition processor, the Falcon Northwest Mach V (Core i7-3960X) is yet again on the top of the heap.

Keep in mind, you'll need to use a screwdriver to add extra hard drives, unlike newer desktops like the Maingear Shift and Gateway FX6831 (stay tuned for our review). I like the drive upgrade sleds that the Maingear and Gateway desktops use, since hard...

Speedy performance. Eyefinity multi-monitor setup. Less expensive than class leader. Sound-deadening material. 12GB of memory

Pricey. Only one graphics card. Blu-ray reader only. Upgrades are not tool-less. Could use a cardkeeper. Smallish solid state drive

The Falcon Northwest Mach V (Core i7-980X) is a hardcore gamer's dream. Three monitor Eyefinity support wraps the gaming experience around the player. It's pricey, but worth it if you want an immersive gaming experience.

You can't truly appreciate the paint job on Falcon Northwest's Mach V unless you can fondle it. We mean it—you just can't comprehend how damn smooth the paint is without lovingly stroking your hand on the side of this beauty as if you were a...

The smoothest paint job we've seen in a long time; damned fast

Expensive; an SLI rig will never beat a tri-SLI config

We have to note, however, that the Digital Storm rig costs about $400 more than this Falcon. Still, when each price tag is pushing $7,000, it’s hard to snivel over a few hundred bucks. The Falcon Mach V is the sexier beast, though; and make no mistake:...

Who came up with the concept of a vertically oriented motherboard that positions the graphics cards upright so the tremendous heat they generate vents straight up?

A quad-core that can almost run with the hexa-cores

16GB of RAM is a bit overkill

Overall, the Mach V is a solidly designed, solidly spec’d machine with no holes that we can see. Yes, it might lack the sex appeal of the uber-machines we’ve encountered lately, but it’s a lot more down to earth in pricing, too.