Falcon Northwest Claims Fastest PC

News
By Aaron Heibert
published

Got deep pockets and the compulsory need for speed, and something custom that nobody else has without having to do it yourself? Then you’ll be familiar with the Falcon Northwest name.

Falcon Northwest is claiming it have the fastest system money can buy, and I believe it. The customized system comes with a pretty hefty price tag as well, $500 just for the custom paint job alone – which doesn’t make it faster, not even the ‘flaming’ paint job.

So what are the specs of this ‘Evel Knievel’ computer you say?

Intel Core i7-965 Extreme @ 3.79GHz
12GB of 1,066MHz DDR3 RAM
Dual 1GB ATI Radeon HD 4870-X2
1TB 7,200RPM Hitachi Hard Drive
80GB Intel X-25M Solid-state Drive
$8,028.00 price tag

So how does Falcon Northwest claim this is the fastest PC ever? Simple - it managed to score 60fps+ running Crysis on the highest possible settings using all the bells and whistles and DirectX 10 features. The unfortunate part is that running Crysis like this requires a lot of money — but definitely adds bragging rights to your belt. Although, shelling out a ton of money just to brag about Crysis isn’t probably going to get you compliments and praises.

Falcon Northwest has been in the high-end custom gaming system business long before other PC makers even considered the idea — since 1992 to be exact. The Falcon Northwest team has extensive experience in building very solid, very extreme (and expensive), gaming systems.

Falcon, like other similar firms, also offers its customers custom paint jobs that are oozing with quality but also come at a premium. These are not your standard spray paint jobs, powder coats, etc. Rather, the paints are professional grade automotive paint.

If you’re interested in seeing what you can piece together and see a price-tag that will blow your wallet up, head over to the Falcon Northwest system builder page here. We had fun playing with the system builder and its many options, seeing what money can buy. Don’t forget, if you have requests that don’t fit into the system builder, you can contact Falcon Northwest directly for customized orders.

Aaron Heibert
16 Comments Comment from the forums
  • iLLz
    Am I the only one who thinks that I can build the same damn PC for way cheaper? I know the CPU is $1000 alone but with case, drives, mobo, and items listed in the article I know it can be done...
    Reply
  • donkeypunch
    Of course you can iLLz. It's a pretty well known fact that you can always build your own box for much less than big chain companies, especially from the likes of Falcon Northwest, Alienware, etc. that wayyyyy overcharge on their up-pricing and you pay for the name. About the only big name builder that has prices pretty close to what you would pay on the egg is cyberpower but they're reputation has mixed reviews.

    Anyway, love the 12gigs of RAM. I was so used to dual channel RAM and sticking to either 2 or 4 sticks that it now seems strange to have to get used to 3 sticks on the i7 with the tri-channel. :D
    Reply
  • LAN_deRf_HA
    Every benchmark I've ever seen on Crysis with two 4870x2s has shown that a single 4870x2 is faster until you up the res to 2560x1600. This is a problem the GX2 had with quad SLI too, quad anything stinks below 2560x1600. Either their performance isn't as good as they claim or the 8.11 drivers have revolutionized Crysis quad gpu support.
    Reply
  • bornking
    What an incredible waste of money. You can buy a second hand BMW for that kind of cash. You can put a down payment on a house.

    I guess they have their niche.
    Reply
  • ravenware
    bornkingWhat an incredible waste of money. You can buy a second hand BMW for that kind of cash. You can put a down payment on a house.I guess they have their niche.
    Second hand b-mers are pretty cheap. You can get one for 2-3k.

    But yes an expensive build. What is really messed up is it could be faster and obviously more expensive.
    Reply
  • Luscious
    Only an 80GB SSD??? Lame! My notebook came with a 128GB SSD, runs Crysis maxxed out at 30fps and cost only half!
    Reply
  • ravenware
    LusciousOnly an 80GB SSD??? Lame! My notebook came with a 128GB SSD, runs Crysis maxxed out at 30fps and cost only half!
    The inclusion of the intel SSD was for speed not capacity.

    However; intel has released the X25-E with write access rating of 170MB/s as opposed to the 70MB/s of the X25-M.

    Using this drive would add another $100 at least to the build.
    They could also add 4 velociraptors in RAID0 to replace the 1TB 7,200RPM Hitachi drive. With an appropriate RAID card that would add about $1,500.

    What about sound? Are they just using onboard?
    Reply
  • zodiacfml
    hi ILLZ, i think you're way too late to know that everyone can build a system like this for less than half the price and a few can make that custom automotive paint job.
    yet, you can do that using spray paint cans and make a fake falcon northwest case.
    regarding four crossfire, you get it to beat a single 4870x2 every time, only when using the faster core i7 system.
    Reply
  • jonpaul37
    i would bet that i could build a faster Rig for $2,000 less, any takers?
    Ps, you would have to fund the build though... HAHA! Nicole Simpson can't rap!
    Reply
  • dunhas
    well, it says that runs maxed... I understand that as the max possible resolution (2560x1600), 8xAA (in game setting), very high settings (enthusiast for the warhead), 16xAF, running at 60fps+. Correct me if Im wrong.
    Reply