Inside the top door are the removable media drives. There is a Mitsumi USB 2.0 floppy drive with a built in multi flash card reader that takes compact flash I/II, MicroDrive, secure digital card, multimedia card, Sony memory stick and SmartMedia memory devices. A DVD drive and dual-layer DVD burner make duplicating and backing up information a breeze.
After removing three speed screws from the back of the case, we move from the outside to the inside. The first impression upon looking inside is clean. Everything is put into place and there are no unsightly wires or cables running astray like we saw inside the Ultimate SLI Quad. Falcon believes in showroom quality on the outside and on the inside. If it is not worth having the hood open to show off the parts inside, what good is it?
The Mach V makes good use of airflow as a 120 mm fan draws air into the case in the front to cool the Western Digital 150 GB Raptor hard drives in a RAID 0 array. The Sanyo Denki San Ace MC Liquid CPU cooler has a life expectancy of 40,000 hours of service or 4.5 years of non-stop operation. With its low noise and strong cooling capabilities, Falcon takes its systems even further by overclocking. It is this special cooling that allows Falcon technicians to crank up the clock speeds of the Athlon 64 FX-60 CPU from 2.6 GHz to 2.8 GHz.
The system came with a mouse and keyboard. Falcon can even paint your peripheral devices to match your case. All things are possible if the cost to specialize is within your budget.
All of the software that comes with any of the components, such as the motherboard disk with drivers, is included, so the owner can reinstall or build a different system with his or her parts if they later upgrade their system several years down the road.
We liked how Falcon will install software or games if you send them in advance or purchase them from Falcon. Falcon says it tweaks the hardware settings to make sure you have the best gaming experience possible.
A recovery DVD also comes with the system so in case of that unforeseen catastrophe, pop the disk and abracadabra! The system is resurrected like new all over again, including the game settings Falcon installed for you (if you chose to have them set them up).
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The company's owner Kelt Reeves likes all of his customers to love their new system, and with each order, he includes a small note to all new owners along with a Falcon Northwest Logo mouse pad, t-shirt and coffee mug. A special blend of coffee from the Bean Forge called Falcon Fuel rounds out the gaming experience.
