Falcon Northwest Talon
Falcon Northwest Talon
2:40

Falcon Northwest Talon

Desktops
[ Music ] >>[background music] Hi I'm Rich Brown, Senior Editor for CNET.com. Today we're gonna take a look at Falcon Northwest Talon. This is an upper midrange gaming system and it's exciting because it's the first PC we've seen with the newest version of Intel's Core i7 CPU's. You can see this is mostly an all black case so it will go pretty much anywhere. It's nice and sturdy aluminum. Open up the front panel and you can see a Blu-ray drive and a media card reader down here. And what's maybe not so obvious is that behind this vent right here, you can take it off and there's a fan underneath and you can get right at the hard drive base. Now the drives slide out, you can put the hard drives in from the front. It makes it very easy to add or upgrade hard drives. We also like that the fan has no wires and it's just an electrical contact in there. It makes it nice and easy to take this part out and not have to hassle with making a connection. So around the back it's pretty straight forward. You see two graphics card here, all DVI video outputs. You've got a ton of USB ports on the back as well as analog audio, a couple kinds of digital audio output as well as ESAT and FireWire for fast external data connections. So inside the casing you'll see a few cool features. One thing we like in particular is the foam here in the side panel that helps keep the noise down. So we're right into with the new Intel chip here and there's a few things to know. Now with this new chip comes a completely new socket interface which means the way the chip plugs into a motherboard. That means it will hold the motherboard design behind the CPU as well. Now it's good because the new Core i7 chip is supposed to be a more affordable part. Now the new Core i7 chip itself has most of the performance of the older model but the motherboard has lost a few features along the way. So the biggest difference comes by way of the memory. If you recall, the old Core i7 had a triple channel memory interface which means that the ram you would plug into the motherboard you'd do in batches in three. Here's it's only a dual channel and it still uses DDF3 but you can see there's only four landslides here. That means the memory in the system isn't quite as fast as with the older, higher end Core i7's but for most consumer applications and mainstream games, you're really not going to need all that extra memory bandwidth that the older version had. Now despite the small fan, falcon is still over clocked the CPU going from 2.83 gigs out of the box all the way up to 3.39 so it's a pretty nice boost in performance with no added fee by way of extra cooling hardware so it's basically extra speed for free. Now for the rest of the components in the PC from the pair of video graphics cards to the solid state hard drive as well as a 1 terabyte storage drive, it's pretty much what we expect to find in this price range and overall this is a very aggressive mainstream, upper mainstream gaming PC. Over the next few months we'll see more vendors adopt Intel's new Core i7 chip as well as its lower end Core i5 . But for now Falcon Northwest is come out of the gate with a very strong gaming rig. So I'm Rich Brown, this is the Falcon Northwest Talon. [music]

Up Next

Macintosh 40 Years Ago Compared to Vision Pro Today
240125-site-one-more-thing-mac-40-and-vision-pro-2

Up Next

Macintosh 40 Years Ago Compared to Vision Pro Today

Apple Debuts 24-Inch iMac With M3 Chips
apple-unveils-new-24-inch-imac-with-m3-processor-mp4-00-00-08-12-still001

Apple Debuts 24-Inch iMac With M3 Chips

Trick or Treat? Apple's 'Scary Fast' Mac Event Makes Us Jumpy
scary-fast-apple-event-clean

Trick or Treat? Apple's 'Scary Fast' Mac Event Makes Us Jumpy

First Look: Apple Mac Pro and Mac Studio
macstudiomacpro-00-01-50-22-still002

First Look: Apple Mac Pro and Mac Studio

Hands-On Acer Aspire S Series
acer-thumbnail

Hands-On Acer Aspire S Series

Microsoft Introduces Surface Studio 2 Plus
surfacestudio

Microsoft Introduces Surface Studio 2 Plus

Mac Studio Review: Testing Apple's New Desktop for Creators
yt-mac-studio-review-v1

Mac Studio Review: Testing Apple's New Desktop for Creators

Meet the Mac Studio and Mac Studio Display
yt-mac-news-reax-w-dan-v1

Meet the Mac Studio and Mac Studio Display

Mac Studio and Studio Display Priced With Low and High-End Options
mac-studio-and-studio-display-pricing-00-00-02-18-still002

Mac Studio and Studio Display Priced With Low and High-End Options

Apple Introduces M1 Ultra Chip for New Mac Desktops
apple-unveils-m1-ultra-chip-00-00-20-07-still001

Apple Introduces M1 Ultra Chip for New Mac Desktops

Tech Shows

The Apple Core
apple-core-w

The Apple Core

Alphabet City
alphabet-city-w

Alphabet City

CNET Top 5
cnet-top-5-w

CNET Top 5

The Daily Charge
dc-site-1color-logo.png

The Daily Charge

What the Future
what-the-future-w

What the Future

Tech Today
tech-today-w

Tech Today

Latest News All latest news

New Xbox Leaked
240328-yt-xbox-leaked-image-v01

New Xbox Leaked

Hands-On with Ford's Free Tesla Charging Adapter
pic3

Hands-On with Ford's Free Tesla Charging Adapter

Apple and Meta Are Competing for Your Memories
screenshot-2024-03-22-at-17-41-16.png

Apple and Meta Are Competing for Your Memories

Nvidia's Project GR00T vs. Tesla Optimus: Competing Robot Strategies
240321-site-nvidia-project-groot-vs-tesla-optimus-v1

Nvidia's Project GR00T vs. Tesla Optimus: Competing Robot Strategies

What Google Gemini AI on the iPhone Could Look Like
240321-site-apple-and-gemini-ai

What Google Gemini AI on the iPhone Could Look Like

DOJ Sues Apple: Everything to Know About the Antitrust Suit
240321-site-doj-sues-apple-for-antitrust-on-iphone-v2

DOJ Sues Apple: Everything to Know About the Antitrust Suit

Most Popular All most popular

First Look at TSA's Self-Screening Tech (in VR!)
innovation

First Look at TSA's Self-Screening Tech (in VR!)

Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra Review: More AI at a Higher Cost
240123-site-samsung-galaxy-s24-ultra-review-4

Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra Review: More AI at a Higher Cost

'Circle to Search' Lets Users Google From Any Screen
circlesearchpic

'Circle to Search' Lets Users Google From Any Screen

Asus Put Two 14-inch OLEDs in a Laptop, Unleashes First OLED ROG Gaming Laptop
asus-preces-00-00-25-11-still003

Asus Put Two 14-inch OLEDs in a Laptop, Unleashes First OLED ROG Gaming Laptop

Samsung Galaxy Ring: First Impressions
samsung-galaxy-ring-clean

Samsung Galaxy Ring: First Impressions

Best of Show: The Coolest Gadgets of CES 2024
240111-site-best-of-ces-2024-1

Best of Show: The Coolest Gadgets of CES 2024

Latest Products All latest products

Hands-On with Ford's Free Tesla Charging Adapter
pic3

Hands-On with Ford's Free Tesla Charging Adapter

Nuro R3 is an Adorable Self-Driving Snack Bar
240320-site-nuro-r3-first-look-v1

Nuro R3 is an Adorable Self-Driving Snack Bar

First Look: The $349 Nothing Phone 2A Aims to Brighten Your Day
240304-site-nothing-phone-2-first-look-v3

First Look: The $349 Nothing Phone 2A Aims to Brighten Your Day

Best of MWC 2024: Bendable Screens, AI Wearables and More
240229-site-best-of-show-at-mwc

Best of MWC 2024: Bendable Screens, AI Wearables and More

This Concept Laptop from Lenovo Has a Transparent Display
240225-site-lenovo-translucent-laptop-concept-v3

This Concept Laptop from Lenovo Has a Transparent Display

Motorola's Rollable Concept Phone Wraps on Your Wrist
240225-site-motorola-rollable-concept

Motorola's Rollable Concept Phone Wraps on Your Wrist

Latest How To All how to videos

Windows 11 Tips and Hidden Features
240311-site-windows-11-hidden-tips-and-tricks-v2

Windows 11 Tips and Hidden Features

Vision Pro App Walkthrough -- VisionOS 1.0.3
VisionOS 1.0.3

Vision Pro App Walkthrough -- VisionOS 1.0.3

Tips and Tricks for the Galaxy S24 Ultra
240216-site-galaxy-s24-ultra-tips-and-hidden-features-2

Tips and Tricks for the Galaxy S24 Ultra

TikTok Is Now on the Apple Vision Pro
tiktok-on-vision-pro-clean

TikTok Is Now on the Apple Vision Pro

Get Your TV Ready for the Big Game: Super Bowl Setup Tips
superbowl-tv-settings-thumb1

Get Your TV Ready for the Big Game: Super Bowl Setup Tips

How to Use a Quest 3 Like the Vision Pro
240202-site-spatial-computing-on-meta-quest-3

How to Use a Quest 3 Like the Vision Pro