2/5

posted Feb-02-2012

"One of my clients (with too much money) purchased a Mach V about 6 month ago. About 4 weeks ago it started crashing.
Im an it professional and i understand that things break, even nice expensive once, that's not an issue here at all. The issue is that it has now been just over 4 weeks and the computer still has not been fixed.
I spent the first week on the phone with their tech support trying to troubleshoot the issue, even though it was obvious that the motherboard was at fault after the second day. Falcon would not send the board to me but instead made me ship the machine to them to have the part replaced.
Then it turned out that the Rampage board was not in stock so now they are replacing it with a lower end one. Once again i get the fact that things like this happen but when you pay $12000 for a computer wouldn't you expect to have it fixed a bit faster. Faster then 4 weeks at least.

Side note. They are using high quality parts, best of everything, which drives up the price. If you don't know anything about computers, ask someone who does. Chances are you don't need a machine this powerful. My computer was under $1500, all parts bought from new egg. Im able to run Battlefield 3 with ultra settings in online play, no issues at all. Video card stays nice and cool in mid 60 to low 70. Game play is very smooth. So once again ask someone who knows if you don't.


"

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1/5

posted Jul-18-2011

"I ordered a fragbook from Falcon almost two years ago, with an extended 2 year warranty and it was running fine until the port for the AC power jack cracked. I've emailed and called their "Live Support" repeatedly to only have my questions and concerns met with silence. So much for a 5 Star company..."

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5/5

posted Apr-03-2011

"Recently, I have bought a Falcon Mach V, with the Icon 2 case. I bought my Falcon with all of the below components. Although I have only had it for a very short time, I can say this - it's fast. Unbelievably fast.

It can manage a mind boggling 98 frames per second while on Crysis 2, played on 3 23" screens, in high definition and in 3D. All I can say to that is wow.

Not to make anyone jealous, but check out my system's specs below (given to me by Falcon themselves, and each one verified by me).

System Details

Router
DGL-4500 Xtreme N Wireless Router

External Storage
Drobo & 4x 1TB 7200RPM HDD

Chassis
ICON2 - Black Anodized

Chassis Logo Insert
White Light

Chassis Fan Kit
Performance Fan Pack

Power Supply
1200 Watt Modular

Motherboard
Rampage III Extreme

Processor
Core i7 Extreme 990X 3.46GHz

Processor Cooler
Mach V Liquid Cooling

Processor Overclock
Mach V Processor Overclock
(Overclockd processor to 5.48 GHz after turbo boost)

Memory
24GB (6x4GB) 1600MHz DDR3 (Also overclocked - new speed of 1880 MHz and bandwidth of 2000 MHZ)

Video Card
GeForce GTX 590 (3072MB)

Video Card 2
GeForce GTX 590 (3072MB)

Monitor
3x 23" 1920x1080 & 3D Vision Kit

Sound Card
X-FI Titanium Fatal1ty Champion

Headset
G35 Surround USB

Speakers
Logitech Z-520 2.1 26 Watt

Networking
Extreme N USB

Keyboard
Logitech G-19

RAID Controller
9260-8i & 8x 256GB SSD

Hard Drive
256GB - SSD - 6GB/S

Hard Drive 2
256GB - SSD - 6GB/s

Hard Drive 3
256GB - SSD - 6GB/s

Hard Drive 4
256GB - SSD - 6GB/s

Mouse
Cyborg R.A.T 7

Optical Drive
10x Blu-Ray Writer

Optical Drive 2
10x BluRay Writer

Media Reader
Internal Media Reader

64-Bit Operating System
Windows 7 Ultimate

Office Software
Office Professional 2010

Warranty
3 Year Warranty - Parts and Service

Surge Protector
APC Performance SurgeArrest

USB Flash Drive
USB 3.0 Raid Drive 128GB


Falcon is the best a man can get. Brilliant staff, no fuss. You choose your pc, they contact you, you tell them how you want the next stage to be like. Simple.

Expensive? Yes, but God is it worth it. Quality. Speed. Beauty. The Falcon Mach V is more than worth the money, in every way possible."

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5/5

posted Feb-08-2011

"As an owner of a Mach V my advice is to avoid this company like the plague. Of course when working this is a nice rig. However, pray pray pray and pray some more that it does not break down. I don't quite know who is reviewing their service standards, but they are abominable. You will wait days, literally, to even speak with someone about your issue. And heaven forbid, if any hardware needs to be replaced. Because whatever they decide to send you will probably be old technology by the time they get around to sending it to you.

To date, the following hardware items have needed to be replaced:

Hard Drive
Disk Drive
Sound Card
Motherboard

This is is my personal experience. I have never worked with a vendor who felt like they were doing me a favor by selling me their product. Do yourself a favor and avoid Falcon Northwest no matter what.

Read more: http://news.cnet.com/8301-17938_105-20029549-1.html#ixzz1DOj1ywE2

2/10/11

An update. After the service management at FNW reviewed my service history, they very graciously have offered to update hard drive, mobo, storage and ram to current configurations. This is a move that separates average companies from great ones. I will be recommending Falcon Northwest to any serious gamers I meet. I am changing my ratings to reflect this."

This review was modified by LouAsheby on February 10 2011 12:07:31 PM

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5/5

posted Aug-14-2010

"I ordered the Talon recently and simply put it's an out standing machine. Very well built and all the components are exactly as ordered. Before I decided to go with Falcon I spent a lot of time searching resellerratings, The BBB and other reviews. Falcon Northwest really stood out from the rest especially when I realized they have been in business 10-15 years longer than the others I considered. Falcon is one of the few companies offering a killer system under $2500. The wiring is perfection. I was a little concerned about freight since I live all the way across the country and the unit would take five days by standard freight. However it was well boxed in a suspended air filled plastic. It's a bit hard to describe but the computer is packed very well. After mine arrived the extended warranty prices were dropped and I added that with out any problem. FNW has been fast to respond to all my email and phone questions.
I do have one minor niggle. No coffee cup or coffee was included. LOL"

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5/5

posted May-18-2010

"I have been using a Falcon Fragbox for last 6 months. Although this is a gaming computer, I bought it for its small size to keep in my small radiology office. The computer was used exclusively for work, specifically for radiology diagnosis using 3D reconstruction, and dictating radiology report using Dragon Naturally speaking. Overall, this is an excellent system for the price. No more Dell for me after getting two lemons in Dell 690 worstations with twin Xeon processors (extremely slow, worse than a sloth). Only issue with this Fragbox is the noise from the fan. It is constantly humming, but not so loud to affect my dictation.
Jacob Thornley was my sales rep, and he was very helpful. He kept me updated about the progress of the build (somewhat long).
The goodies that came with the machine are nice, although I do not care. I needed a workhorse in a small form factor, and that is what I got. "

This review was modified by Mansur on May 18 2010 10:46:14 PM

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5/5

posted Apr-14-2010

"I finally stopped ordering from "the others" to save a few hundred bucks and got my latest top-of-the-line rig from Falcon. I am a IS professional with responsibilty for millions of dollars of infrastructure every year. NOTHING comes close to the Mach 5 I received from Falcon. No crap-ware, no blue screens, no instabiliby... just massive speed and cool-running bliss. The box came reasonably over-clocked and runs like a charm (4Ghz on top of stock 3.33). I OC'd it to the heavens and it didn't run into instability until I reached some truely crazy numbers (4.8Ghz). Unbelievable build quality. They even accomodated my brand request on hard-to-find video cards.

After receipt, I had 3 VERY technical questions and submitted them to Falcon tech support. 2 of 3 were answered on the spot, the 3rd (regarding SSD TRIM updates) had to wait until the support person could reseach the answer... and guess what... HE CALLED BACK WITH THE ANSWER the next day. This is, in my experience, the best you can get.

DO NOT HESITATE to pay the extra couple of bucks to get the best... and don't try to build it yourself if you think you can match Falcon (only about 5% of enthusiansts can (IMHO)).

EVGA X58
I7 975 Extreme
4Mhz OC
Water cooled CPU
12GB DDR3 PC3-10600 Crucial RAM
2x ATI R5970 2GB DDR5 X11 XFX running crossfire
2 Corsair Solid-state drives (128 and 256)
2 WD 1GB spinnning drives
Creative X-FI Titanium Fatal1ty Champion
2 LG CD/DVR
Win 7 - 64-bit"

This review was modified by agauger on April 14 2010 10:46:06 PM

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5/5

posted Feb-03-2010

"This is my second rig from Falcon Northwest and lets suffice to say that it is the coolest, the sweetest and the most unbelievable computer that I have ever seen!!! BAM!!! It got here on time, encased in packaging that the Lost Ark of the Covenant would have been proud of... And the goodies!!! Ya got to love the goodies!!! I'm the goody man now, baby!!! Coffee cup, Falcon Northwest coffee with a wicked T-shirt and a massive leather case (with an embroidered Falcon on it) that has all my discs and manuals and burn-in stats. All of this was extremely personalized and orderly. My rig had absolutely no crap on it whatsover when it got here; early, I might add! But the light-up falcon, laser etched on my case is like getting the last Doritto in the bag >>> mmmmmmmmmmm!!!
And oh yeah, thanks for having the card that everyone wants and no one has; the Ati Radeon 5970!! YES, VIRGINIA, IT ROCKS!!!
And so do you, Falcon Northwest!

*EDIT* 3/12 Well, I was pretty euphoric when I originally wrote this review and time has not sobered my opinion of Falcon Northwest and their rigs. I have been running my games continuously with resolutions of 2048 x 1536, with the eye candy cranked all the way up, for over six weeks now and I still have yet to have any problems of ANY kind!!! NO CRASHES!!! NO BLUE SCREENS!!! NO FREEZES!!!
NO PROBLEM!!! I'm gaming Mass Effect 2, Dragon Age, and Wolfenstein but I'm seeing nothing but gorgeous graphics and buttery smooth gameplay; I'm so happy that its almost beyond words!!!
And the rig itself sits on my desk like a monolithic phallus of craftsmanship and beauty... Its startlingly quiet as its liquid cooled (LCLS). Its freaky when I've been gaming for five hours and I'm feeling pukey and spent but my rig is cool to the touch by the intake. Dwell on that... Gaming Masss Effect 2 (full load) at 2048 x 1536 for over five hours and the aluminum by the intake fan is actually COLD to the touch!!!
I have an MSI motherboard and they are board partners with ATi so my two essential components are by the same manufacturer. This must help to explain the unreal stability of the overall experience.
I came back to resellers to not only fanboy, but to encourage anybody who is on the fence, as to where to buy their dream machine from... You can buy from the new brand of boutique seller, which is typified by the sweatshop mentality of the modern American industrial park. You'll spend less and you might get a decent rig. But buy a Falcon and you now own a meticulously crafted work of art that will make the little hairs on the back of your neck stand up everytime that you game on it. Falcon Northwest is the best. They've always been the best. And they keep getting better!!! ;)
Why settle for less? Go ahead. Reach for that top shelf up there! You won't be sorry... BAM!!!"

This review was modified by Vicmas38 on March 12 2010 01:37:03 PM

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5/5

posted Sep-24-2009

"Let me start by saying - I DON'T CARE HOW MUCH I COULD HAVE SAVED BY BUILDING IT MYSELF!! I'M NOT INTERESTED IN USING MY VALUABLE TIME TO BUILD MY OWN PC!! Buying a prebuilt system was great!!! No worrying about drivers, bios updates, compatibility, installation, faulty parts, setting up the O/S, etc. Plus, I wasted NONE of my time. Time, not the money, is what's important to me.
Sorry about that, it's just that when I was searching all the forums/reviews etc. for a good high end PC builder, I was so sick of seeing someone asking who to use and then fifty nimrods had to reply with "build it yourself" or "you'll save $200 buying the parts from Newegg". I guess it's hard for some to read and understand English and also accept the fact that there are actually people out here that don't care how much some things cost. To me it's like building a really fast car. It might be faster and cheaper than a Ferrari, but it's still not a Ferrari, if you know what I mean.

Anyhoo, I looked at systems from Falcon Northwest, AVADirect, Puget Systems, ABS, Vigor Gaming, VooDoo(HP), Alienware, CyberPower, IbuyPower, XiComputer, addict, Digital Storm, ABS Computers and several others. I ended up ordering a Mach V from Falcon Northwest. Here's my config:
SILVERSTONE ICON ALUMINUM CHASSIS
SIDE PANEL WITH WINDOW FOR ICON CHASSIS
COLD CATHODE LIGHT KIT - BLUE
SILVERSTONE 1200WATT MODULAR PS
ASUS P6T DELUXE I7 X58 MOTHERBOARD v2
INTEL CORE I7 975 EXTREME 3.33GHZ
ASETEK CPU WATER COOLER X1
CRUCIAL 2GB(1X2GB)PC3-10600 1333MHZ (6GB)
CREATIVE X-FI TITANIUM FATAL1TY PRO PCIE
LG 22X DVD+-RW BLACK W/L-SCRIBE SATA
ATECH FLASH XM-5U V2 MEDIA READER
NVIDIA GEFORCE GTX 295 1792MB PCIE
WD VELOCIRAPTOR 300GB 10KRPM SATA
MSOFT VISTA ULT 64 W/WINDOWS 7UPG COUPON
(I also added two 1TB WD HD's after I received the system from them)

The whole purchasing experience was fantastic. I mainly dealt with Brian Kubli at Falcon. He answered all my emails very quickly and also was very professional and knowledgeable when I spoke to him on the phone. As my job requires extensive travel, I only had a small window of time available that I could be home to accept delivery of the system. He made sure that my system arrived on the exact date that I asked for. That was priceless to me. Also, there was no high pressure sales crap. What turned me off to some of the other builders was the fact that right after I spec'd and saved a system on their site, I received an email asking me when I was planning on purchasing the system . I didn't like that at all.

The system came packaged securely in a box that utilized this neat system where it is suspended between these two sheets of heavy plastic, one on the top, the other on the bottom. It kinda floats on air when it's in the box. The system keeps the PC far away from any of the sides and holds it very securely. I uncrated it, plugged it in and was immediately impressed with the backlit Falcon head on the front of the case. To me, it's one of the coolest things I have ever seen. It booted right up and has been running excellent ever since. I also like the fact that there was no extra software installed. Just a full version of Windows and basically nothing else. All driver discs, cables, programs etc. that came with the various components was also present. I honestly didn't think I would be getting all that stuff so it was a pleasant surprise.

The system is just gorgeous. The workmanship is outstanding. And boy, it's f***ing fast!!!! I absolutely love it! The only issue that I had was that the cold cathode light was inop. Only half of it would light up. I emailed Brian about it and he put me in touch with one of the service techs. The new light kit will be here today. Their service is just outstanding. In fact, I can't remember the last time I was treated so good as a customer by ANY vendor.

Truth is I've always wanted a Mach V. Back in the days when I was building my own stuff, I would just go on their site and drool over the old "Bragging Rights" systems. Now I have one and I couldn't be happier with it. Falcon is one of the oldest custom pc builders out there and they have stuck to their customer service tenets all along. I respect them for that and they will have all my future business.

If you're looking to for excellent quality, craftsmanship and peace of mind in your next custom PC purchase, go with Falcon Northwest...you will not be disappointed. Call them, talk to them and you'll see what I mean."

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5/5

posted Oct-03-2008

"The customer service people at Falcon Northwest were very helpful, patient and informative. I have had my Falcon Mach V for two weeks. The quality of the workmanship is amazing and is demonstrated by the flawless performance and incredible speed of my Mach V. "

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