Falcon Northwest Upgrades the Mach V With AM2

About Falcon Northwest

A case badge shows who owns each Falcon System (I wish I could keep it!)

Nestled in the heart of Jackson County with vast orchards and covered bridges dating back to the late 1800's, Medford, Oregon is home to some peaceful scenery, rivers overflowing with fish, and Falcon Northwest. As a regular reader of Tom's Hardware, you might wonder why we get as many systems as we do from Falcon. To dispel any thoughts of conspiracy theories, we don't have anything to do with Falcon on any level. The answer is simple: the company is the role model that many other enthusiast PC builders look up to; they are considered the elite of the elite.

Falcon is the oldest enthusiast system builder, one of the most knowledgeable, and one that caters to some of the largest names in Hollywood - the likes of Robin Williams and the cast of Ocean's Eleven. More than that, the company lives on the edge of PC limitations. Not that all of its systems are overclocked - in fact, most are shipped out stock - but if you do want your hardware pushed further all you need to do is ask them to crank it up. Falcon has the experience and the technical expertise that makes it an excellent launch partner for new hardware releases. Companies like AMD, Asus, ATI, Intel and Nvidia all strive to have Falcon Northwest on their lists of partners when they debut a new enthusiast product.

No matter how good a system is, UPS and FedEx may get your package there on time but not necessarily intact. We have seen time and time again systems that were fine before shipping that ended up DOA (dead on arrival). This is where the warranty comes into play, and Falcon's is unlike any other in the industry. For the first year, if the system needs to come home to the workshop, Falcon will ship the system overnight in both directions. In years two and three they will ship it back overnight to the customer. In some instances the system was back in the customer's hands within a few days. Some cases are tougher than others and could take longer, but when the problem is solved, it will be back the next day.

This leads us to the phone call. Falcon will let you configure a system on its website, but it will also talk to its consumers. If you are about to make a multi-thousand-dollar investment in a hardcore PC you had better be treated like the pinnacle of consumers. During one of our mystery phone calls into Falcon's customer line, we spoke with Warren, who was both professional, courteous and personable. We spoke about a possible purchase and he sent me an email (to a dummy account, so they didn't know who it was) with a configuration that would fit the situation.

We talked about hardware and he even talked down some items I said I might want. I looked down at the phone and over 45 minutes had passed with talk of computers and games. That is the kind of service I feel people are entitled to! The best part is that no matter when or what number I call from, I get the same type of treatment.