Falcon Northwest Mach V 2800+ DV

WHAT'S HOT: With its candy-apple red case and brushed aluminum front panel, this gaming system is as good-looking as it is quick. Outfitted with a 2.25-GHz Athlon XP 2800+ CPU and a whopping gigabyte of DDR-333 SDRAM, it garnered a PC WorldBench 4 score of 132--one of the fastest systems running Windows XP Home Edition we've tested to date.

The system's power is complemented by a 128MB ATI Radeon 9700 Pro video card with 128MB of memory, and 22-inch NEC MultiSync FE2111SB monitor--a perfect combination for gaming or movie watching. The Mach V earned impressive numbers in our high-end gaming tests, with fast frame rates even at a demanding 1600-by-1200 resolution. And the monitor displayed bright colors with crisp details in our image quality tests.

Audiophiles should be pleased when they hear the Klipsch ProMedia 5.1 speaker set (five satellites and a bass unit). It includes a center speaker for rounding out the sound from all of the channels. Paired up with the Creative Labs Audigy sound card, the speakers sent out powerful bass and crisp, clear treble notes in our audio and DVD movie tests.

Other high points include twin 180GB hard drives and a front-panel, 4-in-1 media reader that takes Memory Sticks, CompactFlash, SmartMedia, and Secure Digital card storage media from digital devices like MP3 players and digital cameras. The system also has a near glut of optical drives--three to be exact: DVD-ROM, CD-RW, and DVD-RW. (The one drawback--possibly--is that there are no open external drive bays left.)

WHAT'S NOT: Not uncommonly for Falcon Northwest's top-of-the-line machines, our test configuration came with a staggering $5245 price tag. Though it came loaded with the hardware essentials for a multimedia PC, a nice addition would have been a few games to take immediate advantage of the system's terrific graphics performance.

WHAT ELSE: For connecting USB-enabled devices, the Mach V has four USB 2.0 ports--two up front and two on the back of the case. The system also has one FireWire port up front and three in back for connecting digital camcorders, hard drives, or other high-speed devices that use that interface.

Our system came with a Logitech wireless keyboard that has eight hot-keys and a large volume control wheel, as well as a hefty bundle of video editing software: Pinnacle DV 500 DVD, Ulead Video Studio 6, and Adobe Premier 6.5 (with separate manuals for each).

The interior is spacious and neat inside, but adding an adapter to an open PCI slot could be tricky due to a vertical rail that blocks full access. Each slot has a large thumbscrew and the opening is too small to conveniently get at them, so you must remove the rail for upgrades.

UPSHOT: We'd be hard pressed to think of anything we'd add to this quick, powerful, jazzy-looking tower. But a price tag that's over $5000 is tough to swallow.

SUMMARY

Falcon Northwest Mach V 2800+ DV $