"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."
"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. "
"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 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!!!"
"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."
"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. "
"I just ordered our 2nd Falcon. My wife bought me our 1st Falcon ~6 years ago for a birthday present, and I couldn't have been happier with either the machine itself or the service Falcon Northwest provided.
Recently, our 1st Falcon's motherboard gave out, so I called their tech support. About a 6-year-old machine that hasn't been under warranty for over 3 years. Not only did the tech support guy provide help when he didn't have to, he realized that I knew my way around the innards of a machine and didn't talk down to me.
I can't possibly recommend a company more highly than Falcon Northwest. Their goods and services come at a premium, to be sure, but I have not once regretted the purchase or the price. They have earned my repeat business, and I'll continue to sing their praises, as well.
"
"Terrible Service!!! I have owned a Falcon NW computer now for approximately three weeks and generally love it. It's a beautiful system; well made and fast. I chose Falcon NW after seeing and experiencing some horror stories with other computer makers and deciding it was worth premium price for the peace of mind that if something went wrong, I'd have a quick resolution. WELL, DON'T BE FOOLED! Falcon NW's tech support does not have the option of holding for a rep. You leave your number and you get a call back...EVENTUALLY! Most return calls took 24 to 48 hours. And if I wasn't available because I was at work or driving or something else, then too bad. I had to call back and leave another message. For a fairly minor issue, it took a WEEK before I managed to actually speak with someone! And I was at the airport between flights! Can you imagine what it would be like to have a actual serious problem with your premium price system and wait a week for it to be addressed? I love Falcon NWs computer but after this experience, I would never buy from them again. Be forwarned! "
" I ordered a Mach V computer for gaming. I had bought 2 boutique computers elsewhere before this one--my last I purchased from a small online boutique. Which went out of business a year after my purchase and took the warranty with it. And then the computer's liquid coolant leaked and I had a small electrical fire in my computer case. So this time I decided to go with an established company and after doing some research, decided on Falcon Northwest.
I had a good idea what I wanted but the Falcon Northwest sales rep helped me with some advice. In fact, when I said I was in no hurry, he even suggested I wait a month or so until some Vista driver bugs worked themselves out. I thought that was pretty nice--who knows if I would have changed my mind?
The build time was quoted at being about 3 weeks. I received my computer in a little more than two weeks. The only problem I had with the process is I did not get the email I was supposed to get the day it shipped out. But that was of no consequence.
So far, everything works great. The computer worked fine straight out of the box, and I have had absolutely no problems with Vista--yet. All in all, I'm quite happy with Falcon Northwest. I have not had to use really what is one of the main reasons I bought from them--their reputation for customer service when there is a technical problem. And hopefully, I won't have to!"
"I was in the market for a high end PC and I came across Falcon after doing some research.
I placed an order on 13th Feb 2007 my PC was dispatched on 21st March 2007.
PC specs :
SILVERSTONE ICON ALUMINUM CHASSIS
SILVERSTONE 850 WATT "ZEUS" POWER SUPPLY
MSOFT WINDOWS VISTA ULTIMATE - 32BIT
NFORCE 680I SLI MOTHERBOARD
INTEL CORE 2 EXTREME QX6700
SANYO-DENKE H2O CPU COOLER
CORSAIR TWIN2X2048-8500C5
8800GTX NVIDIA GEFORCE 8800GTX 768MB PCIE x 2
CREATIVE LABS X-FI SOUND CARD
WD RAPTOR 150GB 10,000 RPM SATA x2 RAID 0
SONY DRU-830A PATA DVD+-RW
SONY 1.4MB FLOPPY DRIVE - BLACK
After emailing Falcon I was contacted by Warren Bowdoin who helped me choose the right pc. He was very knowledgeable and was very prompt in answering all my questions.
The PC arrived with a folder explaining how to set up the PC. It even has a couple of pages which shows that the pc had been through testing.
I have had the pc for a month or so and it performs flawlessly. Its fast, windows vista is just amazing on this PC its a major upgrade from XP. The graphics when I am doing on-line gaming are beautiful.
My Mach V is the best PC I have ever owned and I will certainly order from Falcon in the future. They are a very professional company which make great pcs. I recommend them to anyone in the market for a high end pc.
"
"From the day I ordered to the day I recieved I knew I was in for something special. My Mach V arrived in the mail, and I've had a grin ever since. No problems with FNW, computer is flawless. Will buy from them again.
Jacob Thornley took me through the buy process and made sure I had all the components I wanted and needed. Made justifying the price tag easier to do.
The quality is astounding... great wiring job, lots of attention to detail. All my games runs great at high resolutions.
Like I said, looking forward to upgrading in the future through them."
"Falcon Northwest is the premier maker of gaming pcs and their venerable reputation is well deserved indeed...
I was forced to abandon Alienware after the "ACME" of pc makers (DELL) bought them out earlier this year. Chewing poodle crap is more fun than dealing with this vendor so I took my business to the original gaming pc company and received the fastest machine that these weary old eyes have ever seen.
I learned what "boutique" treatment was all about as I received five star handling from A to Z. Getting decent customer support from most vendors is like finding a topless bar in Tehran but the folks at FNW are not only folksy and nice but AVAILABLE!
I used to think that my predator case was nifty and asthetically pleasing but now it looks like a red headed stepchild next to my Falcon. Guess I didn't know cases from shinola before now...
But what matters the most to me is that I got a raging, crack addled SCREAMER that is tearing through my games like a pickpocket at the SuperBowl. Oblivion brings most systems to their knees but my baby says, "PLEASE FOOL" and runs it like a saturday morning cartoon.
Lastly, it has become fashionable in the gaming community to buy a certain Canadian rig that is all show and no boat, if you know what I mean. FNW gives Americans an option to keep it real as luxury pcs are made here too... Just call the good folks in Oregon and see that some of the finer things in life still read, MADE IN THE USA!!! Way to go, Kelt!!! Eat your heart out Rahul...
I would also like to add that my rig arrived over eleven days early and despite the fact that UPS had obviously abused her, she ran like a charm straight out of the box... I have logged over ninety hours in Oblivion in just three weeks (that comes out to over thirteen per cent of my life) and my Falcon just begs for more! Murphy's Law in reverse?"
"All I can say is this is exactly what I wanted in a new computer and exactly what I expected from a custom computer company.
I am not rich, but I can afford some things extra and when I decided I wanted a top of the line AMD 4800+ dual core system with an Nvidia 7800 graphics card, I knew I wanted someone to build it for me and treat me as though I was important to their business. Sure companies build these systems all the time, but this is a special purchase for me.
After a terrible experience with Alienware which I had to cancel my order, I placed an order with Falcon. They promised they would ship the system by Sept 20 and shipped it shipped on the 19th, a day early.
I have it now, everything works as promised, (this thing is FAST!) I love it. I love the extra touches like the sticker with my name on it inside the case, the binder.
If you are looking for a custom high performance machine look no further. You will not regret a purchase from Falcon."
"Last May I ordered a fully loaded (dual video cards and hard drives, etc.) Falcon Mach V gaming computer. After spending a small fortune ($5700) and waiting 5 weeks, I was very disappointed and frustrated to find that the computer did not work when it arrived. It would not even boot to Windows.
I waited two hours for a Falcon technician to return my call and then spent another two hours on the phone with him trying to troubleshoot the thing. When I opened the cover, I saw that a plug/connector was not attached to one of the hard drives!
I sent it back to Falcon on a Monday, and they overnighted it to me; it was back on a Thursday. I was informed that a wire was found to be defective. This on a computer that supposedly had been thoroughly tested and checked out before it was shipped to me originally. I doubt the plug came off in shipping. Also, when I got it back, there were smudges on the aluminum case, and the cover had not been put back on correctly.
I should compliment the Technical department employees who facilitated the return and kept me informed every step of the way. However, I wrote the president of the (small) company a personal letter, and he did not bother to respond to it. I also believe that Falcon should have offered to compensate me in some manner for the disappointment and inconvenience. They did nothing.
The computer seems to perform very well now, and I expect that I will be happy with it. It is just so unfortunate that what I trusted would be a wonderful experience was marred by a problem that shouldn't have happened. I have always heard that Falcon was the pinnacle of gaming computer manufacturers. I wonder if their reputation is so well-deserved now."
"Just got my FragBook TL from Falcon Northwest today. I also sent it back today :(
It came in a nice looking briefcase. I ordered a midnight blue paint job, but when I saw it it had wax all in the crevices. Falcon NW said they use the wax to polish the automotive paint. Regardless, it wasn't removed and therefore took away from the aesthetic appeal. The LCD panel was coming apart at the bottom. Falcon NW told me to snap it back together which was easy enough, but still one had to question the workmanship. One of the programmable keys was stuck and one of the rubber feet fell off as soon as I picked it up. After the initial inspection I put it back in the box and shipped it back. Bummer
This wasn't what I expected from Falcon NW considering my Mach V was great. I sent Falcon NW a letter with my return and I hope they can work something out with my credit."