PC components keep getting self-aggrandizing . And hotter .
If you go to configure themost badass gaming PCfrom a reputable arrangement constructor like Falcon Northwest , you ’ll acknowledge that they ’re even big than they used to be . That ’s true of the Falcon Northwest Talon , which has long been one of our favorite boutique gambling PC . Yes , it has grown and is now packed with the most powerful parts possible : the Core i9 - 14900KS and RTX 4090 .
The Talon has no less finesse than before , though . It stay a recession computer , but the strength of the company ’s coming to PC building are on display perhaps more than ever before .
Pricing and configurations
Unlike some of its competitor , Falcon Northwest does n’t sell pre - configured PCs . Everything is build - to - order and amply customizable , which is the consuming strength of the company . But it ’s also what make it so expensive . Companies like Maingear or Origin sell tinny , preconfigured exemplar that permit starting prices as low as $ 1,199 — albeit for fairly modest build .
Falcon Northwest ask the opposite advance . The cases are designed in - mansion and expend the high-pitched - quality cloth possible . There are no cheap options here , with starting cost for the mid - tower Talon coming in at $ 3,596 . Again , that ’s thestartingprice , which comes with just an RTX 4060 , Intel Core i5 - 14600 K , and 32 GB of RAM . In term of the GPU in particular , that ’s a evenhandedly entrance - storey machine . To put thing in perspective , you could bribe theHP Omen 45Lwith an RTX 4080 for hundreds of dollars less than an RTX 4060 Talon . The Omen is one of ourfavorite gaming desktops , so keep that in mind .
Even more than other boutique system integrators , Falcon Northwest does n’t even offer brassy mid - tower designs . Digital Storm , for example , has the entry - level Lynx , but they also have the Lumos and the Velox . The Veloxis the faithful comparison to the Talon , but it ’s over a thousand dollars cheap than the Talon when similarly configure .
With all that said , the Falcon Northwest Talon is as expensive as it gets . My contour amount with the Intel Core i9 - 14900KS and Nvidia RTX 4090 — and those parts ai n’t tatty in and of themselves . But Falcon Northwest is sell them for middling Price . The troupe charges an extra $ 1,530 to bound from the PNY RTX 4060 to the Nvidia RTX 4090 . A quick look around online will reveal that you ’re getting the RTX 4090 for a decent price .
Even with prices dropping on the RTX 4090 over the retiring months , Falcon Northwest is still selling it to you for cheaper than elsewhere .
Specs
Obviously , Falcon Northwest sent me the most bedeck - out edition of the Talon imaginable . And to be dependable , if you ’re pop off to buy one of these system , there ’s no reason not to go for something more expensive . You ’re already paying the agiotage of working with Falcon Northwest for even the cheap version of the Talon as is .
So yes , my configuration come with an RTX 4090 and even a Core i9 - 14900KS , putting the full price at $ 6,217 . That ’s about as expensive a personal computer as you’re able to buy — and belike more than you even realized you could spend .
Design
The Talon is immaculate . When it comes tending to detail , accurate cut , eminent - end materials , and cable system management , there ’s scarcely anything else like it on the securities industry . The black mid - tower case uses a very wooden-headed , 4 mm alloy with a cool , smooth touch . It ’s not unlike the intuitive feeling of a Hydro Flask feeding bottle — and I mean that as a compliment . Very few cases dare to habituate material this agiotage .
It ’s not just the cloth and make quality that make this so impressive though . It ’s the attending to detail . It ’s the rumination behind its everyday serviceableness . It ’s the tiny smear for your digit at the bottom of the glass venire . It ’s the punctilious cable management that is not just organized but also commodious for switch or adding component . Or consider the prominent metal clod on the bottom that makes it worthy to more safely sit on carpet . And peradventure most significantly , it ’s the deliberate design of the thermals .
None of that is to say this is a particularly flashy design — at least not these days . Compared to some of the more profligate and eye - catching figure out there , the Talon is a bit more old - school . It utilise matt front and top panel , and although mine came with normalize glass side panel , you could also choose for aluminum walls for a perfect corner face . In a world where everything is mesh , methamphetamine hydrochloride , and to the full lucid , the Talon looks quite a scrap like a established mid - tower PC . And that make gumption because although I have n’t reviewed this peculiar version of the Talon until now , it ’s been around for quite a few years .
All that to say , there are certainly some reason to be concerned about a box like this in terms of thermal . With the whole front cover and top , you might don there ’s not enough air flow total in . But this is Falcon Northwest we ’re talking about . It recognise what it ’s doing . There ’s less mesh and hollow and melodic phrase intake than you ’d expect , but according to its own prototype , fuddled and more precise control of air flow resulted in down temperature than with a bunch of surplus air intake . Falcon Northwest ’s solvent is much more subtle . The front panel has comic strip of interlocking and is undefendable underneath — but that ’s about it externally .
You ca n’t speak about the Talon ’s design without talking about key jobs . Our review unit of measurement did n’t have anything customized alfresco of the little Digital Trends logo at the bottom of the front panel . Of course , Falcon Northwest is expert at produce high-pitched - end , tradition rouge jobs that no one else can do . I ’m estimate that most masses wo n’t choose for one , as a more minimalist look is more the tendency .
talk of which , you should know that the brightness - up Falcon Northwest logotype is featured prominently on both the front control board and the CPU ice chest . That ’s not so unusual for prebuilt systems , but the Falcon Northwest logo is n’t exactly pernicious . It feels noticeably quondam - school . That feels unfortunate for a system this customizable , and I in reality would have preferred the modernised troupe logo found on the fan . Even if you were to get this entire organization custom - paint to a particular theme , there ’s no getting around the falcon .
Internals
There ’s plenty of way inside the Talon , enough to accommodate a large ATX motherboard and the monstrous RTX 4090 . Not all cases can agree the absurd size of that art carte du jour without making your internals whole inaccessible . But the Talon is right - become to squeeze it in , and even if you choose for a smaller GPU , you ’ll prize the special space . And in full term of size , it ’s still diminished than options like the Origin Genesis .
Despite that extra room , the internal thermals are fairly simple-minded . There are n’t a thousand fans in here , nor is it cover in RGB . The custom AIO 280 mm fluent ice chest is the only cooling system selection you could configure it with .
Internally , there ’s one fan below the GPU to draw in raw air , which cycles through the bottom intake of the RTX 4090 . The Talon also admit an extra fan on the back to pull hot air out of the GPU . All that might be surprising , specially reckon these hot components in spite of appearance . You ca n’t get more estrus than this .
But the relatively low number of fan also keeps things passably quiet . I was impressed that despite the peachy carrying out , the system never got excessively loud , which counts for a lot in my book of account . Falcon Northwest tunes and customize the whole thermal visibility closely to produce a well - equilibrize system . In fact , accord to thevideo post by JayzTwoCents , Falcon Northwest found in its own testing that push the CPU as heavily as potential did n’t always result in the best operation .
As for the GPU itself , you ’ll notice that it ’s mounted right to the figure with a metallic element square bracket . There is n’t even the slight ofGPU sag . That earn it a niggling trickier to trade out and elevate yourself but for a system like this , having a completed , refined scheme is more the idea . And this mounting is great for that determination .
Another thing Falcon Northwest does with the GPU is use modified connectors to make a safer link to theRTX 4090 . These are usingCableMod StealthSesnse 12 - volt cablesto make indisputable you ’re getting the most powerful ( and secure ) connection .
Performance
When you spend 1000 of one dollar bill on a microcomputer , you do n’t desire one that expect pretty . No , no — you want a PC that has the muscle to back it up . And really , what we ’re talk about here is cooling . Because if you configure this set of element in any microcomputer , it ’s going to perform “ well . ” Even a sloppily put - togetherprebuilt PCthat ’s thousands of dollars cheaper will put out high frame rate in games . I do n’t have a direct Malus pumila - to - apple equivalence here with these exact ingredient in another prebuilt organization , whether it ’s from a bigger microcomputer company like Dell or another system planimeter like Origin .
But yeah , given how good the thermals are and how fast these parts are , performance is unbeatable . Whether it ’s under full - tilt multi - core loads in contented creation or spikey tasks like game , the Talon is an absolute speed daimon . Under the 10 - mo accent trial of Cinebench R24 ’s multi - core benchmark , the Talon ’s CPU did rise up to 97 degrees Celsius — but remember this is a far heavier loading than normal covering and games .
Also , call back that the Core i9 - 14900KS is absolutely unfearing , and it is all on its own . The new flake is identical to theCore i9 - 14900Kin closely every way , except that it push frequencies higher , up to 6.2GHz , as claimed by Intel . The unmarried - essence score I saw in both Cinebench R23 and R24 is record - breaking compare to even the best contest from AMD .
As you may see above , you may recreate most games in 4 K at well over 100 frames per 2nd at max configurations . It takes a lot to stamp this animate being . The only true barrier I encountered was the Overdrive mode inCyberpunk 2077with DLSS turn off . I was only able to get 37 Federal Protective Service in 1440p . But really , track tracing just is n’t potential without upscaling , and that should n’t come in as a surprise . But the DLSS Balanced mode appear quite good , and you’re able to still get over 100 fps in 4K. It ’ll be a longsighted time before the eld starts to show on this set of component .
get the unspoilt of the good is in all probability important to those invest in something like the Talon , so I imagine configurations with the late and greatest silicon are the most popular option . I should say , though , that drop this to anRTX 4080 Superwould still be grand , as would downgrading to one of the cheaper Intel chip choice . You ’d certainly be cramming less into this case and generating less oestrus for the system to shell out with .
Is the Falcon Northwest Talon worth it?
The Talon is glorious . There ’s no inquiry about it . The craftsmanship is second to none and the performance is fantastic . Throw in the best warrant and support in the business , and you have a microcomputer that ’s desirable of its price .
But it ’s for a very specific audience . Normally , we talk aboutprebuilt PC versus building one yourself — with the benefit and downsides of both . But Falcon Northwest represents a third way — the most expensive way . It ’s a custom PC that you do n’t have to build yourself . It ’s not for DIYers . However , it has many of the upsides of a impost personal computer , in that you have tons of options for parts , and they ’re all accessible and upgradable .
As you may have venture , this is an increasingly niche demographic . PCs are easier to make than ever , and there ’s never been more imagination for cull compatible parts and work up your personal computer . Of all the PCs that the troupe offers , the Talon is perhaps the most exemplary of this . The smaller options , whether it ’s the Tiki or the FragBox , would ask a spot of science to make yourself — and , therefore , have a minute of a dissimilar demographic .
Even more so , there are prebuilt PCs with an RTX 4090 that are thousands of dollars chintzy than the Talon . There ’s no getting around that .
However , if you observe yourself in the ecological niche that want a high - end , powerful gaming personal computer and would rather pay someone to build it than buy it yourself , the Talon is as bounty as it gets .
