Falcon Northwest Mach V Ultra 5950

The Mach V 5950 Ultra's name hints at supersonic speed--appropriate for a rig aimed at hard-core gaming fanatics. The solidly constructed steel chassis, whose front panel has a wave-like design, comes loaded with a cornucopia of high-end components.

Topping the list is the 2.2-GHz Athlon 64-FX 51 CPU, AMD's consumer-level 64-bit processor; paired with 1GB of DDR400 memory, it earned a mark of 139 on PC WorldBench 4. Of the three machines we've tested that were equipped with this processor, the 5950 Ultra posted the lowest score; but the difference from top to bottom is a negligible three points, and this machine is among the five fastest PCs we've ever tested.

More impressively, in our toughest graphics tests, the system achieved the highest frame rates to date in both Return to Castle Wolfenstein and Unreal Tournament, at 1600 by 1200 resolution and 32-bit color depth. We did have to update video drivers for the GeForce FX 5950 graphics board, however, to correct the blocky, gray figures and bleached-out textures we saw in Return to Castle Wolfenstein at resolutions above 1024 by 768. The system's 19-inch NEC MultiSync FE991SB-SK flat-screen CRT displayed rich colors on photos, games, and DVD movies.

Gamers craving immersive sound will get an earful with the Mach V's Creative Audigy2 ZS sound card and Klipsch ProMedia 5.1 Ultra THX speakers. In our audio tests, we heard taut bass notes, clean-sounding trebles, and nuances in sound that smaller speaker sets can't reproduce.

The Ultra 5950 is also well-equipped for video editing, with an 8X DVD-R/RW/+R/RW drive and Pinnacle Studio 8, a full-featured video editing suite. The system has a whopping five FireWire ports--two up front and three on the back-- for connecting digital camcorders and other peripherals.

Decked-out gaming machines usually carry a stratospheric price, and this one is no exception. As configured, our review unit costs $4495. If you add other extras and customize the case with a laser-etched logo or custom paint job, you'll end up paying over five grand.

As well-stocked as this system is, we expected a few more extras at this price, such as a memory card reader or an externally accessible audio drive, both of which the competing Alienware Aurora Extreme provides.

Falcon Northwest's documentation includes separate manuals for each component, plus a black binder containing the company's own benchmarks specific to each system.

Upshot: The decked-out 5950 Ultra delivers superlative graphics performance and outstanding audio, but its high price will scare off all but the most dedicated gamers.

Mick Lockey