Why You Can Trust CNET Falcon Northwest Tiki (Core i7 3770K) review: Falcon Northwest Tiki (Core i7 3770K)
The Falcon Northwest Tiki takes an expensive, ostentatious stab at a gaming slim tower.
Who remembers that Fred Armisen and Scarlett Johansson Marble Columns "Saturday Night Live" skit?
Falcon Northwest Tiki (Core i7 3770K)
The Good
The Bad
The Bottom Line
The granite base on the bottom of the Falcon Northwest Tiki might not be to everyone's aesthetic taste, but there's no denying the technical and design achievement behind this slim tower gaming desktop. Should you spend $2,783 for it? With competing systems out there that offer more-flexible and more-powerful graphics card configurations in a similar price range, it's hard to recommend the Tiki unless you are unwaveringly attached to its slim-tower design.
The Tiki is the boutique PC answer to the mass-market-leaning
Falcon Northwest borrows heavily from the Alienware X51 here, adopting a similar slim-tower design in the Tiki, and the same full 3D card connected via a PCI Express daughter card. It also seems to have improved on Alienware's concept.
While the X51 has a massive 330-watt external power brick, the Tiki has an internal 450-watt power supply, as well as liquid cooling hardware. Liquid cooling is important, because it helps Falcon Northwest manage internal temperatures well enough that it can overclock the Tiki's third-generation Core chips. Alienware doesn't overclock. It also doesn't charge over $1,800 for any configuration of the X51. The Tiki starts at $1,870 or so. Our review unit will cost $2,793 when Falcon starts taking orders at the end of June.
That brings us to the granite base. However innovative the interior, the overall design of the Tiki is taller and narrower than the X51. That means it's top-heavy, and prone to falling over. The solution, Falcon Northwest has decided, is to include a custom cut-and-polished piece of granite that you can screw into the bottom of the unit.
I will not disagree that the granite serves its functional purpose. It also makes the Tiki look like an employee-of-the-month award, at least with the light-gray version included in our review unit. Falcon offers a black option that might look better. You also don't need to use the granite at all.
| Falcon Northwest Tiki | Alienware X51 | Maingear F131 | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Price | $2,793 | $999 | $2,999 |
| Motherboard chipset | Intel Z77 | Intel H61 | Intel Z77 |
| CPU | 4.3GHz Intel Core i7-3770K (overclocked) | 3.0GHz Intel Core i5-2320 | 4.7GHz Intel Core i7-3770K (overclocked) |
| Memory | 8GB 1,866MHz DDR3 SDRAM | 8GB 1,333MHz DDR3 SDRAM | 8GB 1,333MHz DDR3 SDRAM |
| Graphics | 2GB Nvidia GeForce GTX 680 | 1GB Nvidia GeForce GTX 555 | (2) 2GB Nvidia Geforce GTX 680 |
| Hard drives | 256GB SSD, 2TB 5,400rpm Western Digital hard drive | 1TB 7,200rpm | 60GB Corsair Accelera SSD, 2TB 7,200rpm Seagate hard drive |
| Optical drive | Blu-ray drive | dual-layer DVD burner | dual-layer DVD burner |
| Operating system | Windows 7 Home Premium (64-bit) | Windows 7 Home Premium (64-bit) | Windows 7 Home Premium (64-bit) |
A potentially larger problem for the Tiki is that it can't support two graphics cards. I say potentially because many gamers might not care. The Geforce GTX 680 card in our review unit can play any game on the market at 1,920x1,080-pixel resolution with reasonably high, if not maxed-out, image quality. That's all the PC many gamers will need.
Then again, the larger, still-trim
I imagine some of you are in the market for the best slim-tower gaming PC you can find, regardless of price. This is that system. But I'd be willing to bet that most gamers shopping in this price range will prioritize 3D frame rates above most other features, even if that means a larger case. That argues for the dual card-capable Maingear as the better way to spend your $2,800 to $3,000. The Tiki is a reasonable value, but you won't be able to overcome its single graphics card limitation.
(Shorter bars indicate better performance)
(Shorter bars indicate better performance)
(Shorter bars indicate better performance)
(Shorter bars indicate better performance)
(Longer bars indicate better performance)
 | Rendering Multiple CPUs | | Rendering Single CPU |
The Falcon Northwest Tiki performs reasonably well on our benchmark tests for its price. The 4.3GHz overclock setting is stable, but also on the more conservative side, likely due to air flow and cooling restrictions of the smaller case. Maingear turned in a faster overclocked Core i7 3770K chip, hitting 4.7GHz, and the ensuing performance boost helps keep it above the Tiki, but not by such a large margin that it earns an overabundance of bragging rights.
(Longer bars indicate better performance)
| 1,600 x 1,200 (high, 4x aa) | | 1,280 x 1,024 (medium, 4x aa) |
(Longer bars indicate better performance)
| 1,920x1,200 (DirectX 10, 4x aa, very high) | | 1,440 x 900 (DirectX 10, 4x aa, very high) |
(Longer bars indicate better performance)
| 2,560x1,600 (DirectX 11, very high) | | 1,920x1,080 (DirectX 11, very high) |
(Longer bars indicate better performance)
| Extreme (1,920x1080) | | Performance (1,920x1,080, 16x AF) | | Entry Level (1,680x1,050) |
The bigger loss for the Falcon comes on our gaming charts. Again, anyone with a single 1,920x1,080-pixel-resolution monitor would be happy with these frame rates. The advantage for the dual card Maingear and the
At least the Tiki can say that it obliterated the Alienware x51 slim tower. The x51 is a competent gaming PC for its price, but in absolute terms, the Tiki ran away with the victory in its slim-tower subcategory.
One other advantage for the Tiki over the Alienware x51 is that Falcon Northwest made sure the Tiki has plenty of room for hard drives. The x51 only supports a single internal drive. With its 3.5-inch slot, and its pair of 2.5-inch drive bays, the Tiki can accommodate up to three hard drives. Falcon Northwest sent only two in our review unit, but you can add a second solid-state drive either post purchase, or on the Falcon Northwest configurator.
That drive-bay vacancy represents the only expansion room you get in the Tiki. The graphics card takes up all of the available card expansion, and both memory slots came occupied as well.
Falcon Northwest also pushed harder than Alienware on connectivity options. On the back of the Tiki you get four USB 3.0 ports, along with four standard USB 2.0 inputs. Falcon also includes two eSATA ports, an S/PDIF audio output, and a set of analog jacks to support 5.1 audio out. On the graphics card you get two DVI outputs, and full-size DisplayPort and HDMI jacks.
For service and support, Falcon Northwest still has some of the best policies in the industry. The Tiki nets you three years of parts-and-labor warranty coverage as its default plan. Falcon also offers free shipping to and from its offices for repair. Phone support is not 24-7, but lines are open from a still-generous 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. PT, seven days a week, and are staffed by an entirely in-house support team.
Conclusion
You could argue that the slim-tower case design is better suited for a modest gaming system like the Alienware x51, and that it would only stifle a more ambitious configuration. I would counter that Falcon Northwest has demonstrated with the Tiki that there is room to innovate within the constraints of the slim-tower chassis. The Tiki's integrated power supply, its liquid cooling hardware, its overclocked CPU, and its impressive hard-drive real estate all illustrate my point.
That does not mean this system is for every fat-walleted gamer. If you value 3D performance over space savings, Maingear's F131 is a better fit. But if you want the best gaming system you can cram into a slim-tower chassis, the Falcon Northwest Tiki makes a strong case for itself. For that customer, this is the first PC I'd recommend.
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System configurations:
Falcon Northwest Tiki (Intel Core i7 3770K)
Windows 7 Professional 64-bit; 4.3GHz Intel Core i7-377K (overclocked); 8GB 1,866MHz DDR3 SDRAM; 2GB Nvidia GeForce GTX 680 graphics cards; 256GB solid-state hard drive; 2TB 5,400rpm Western Digital hard drive
Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit; 4.7GHz Intel Core i7-3770K (overclocked); 8GB 1,600MHz DDR3 SDRAM; (2) 2GB Nvidia GeForce GTX 680 graphics cards; 60GB Corasir Accelera solid state drive; 2TB 7,200rpm Seagate hard drive
Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit; 3.0GHz Intel Core i5-2320; 8GB 1,333MHz DDR3 SDRAM; 1GB Nvidia GeForce GTX 555 graphics card; 1TB 7,200rpm hard drive
Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit; 4.6GHz Intel Core i7-3770K (overclocked); 16GB 1,600MHz DDR3 SDRAM; (2) 2GB Nvidia GeForce GTX 680 graphics cards; (2) 60GB Corsair Force GT solid state drives; 1TB 7,200rpm Western Digital hard drive
Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit; 4.9GHz Intel Core i7-2700K (overclocked); 8GB 1,333MHz DDR3 SDRAM; (2)1.28GB Nvidia GeForce GTX 560 Ti graphics cards; (2) 60GB Intel solid-state drive; 1TB 7,200rpm Hitachi hard drive