Falcon Northwest Talon Performance Gaming Desktop PC

Jun 5 2009 - Falcon Northwest's Talon desktop is their less expensive performance gaming desktop computer system. It offers some solid performance thanks to the very reputable name brand components that are used to construct the system. It is also one of the few performance systems that gives 6GB of DDR3 memory in the base configuration. The problem is that the system is so much more expensive than comparable systems from other vendors that it just doesn't make much sense for consumers to consider unless they must have a system with the Falcon Northwest name on it.

Jun 5 2009 - Falcon Northwest's Talon is their more affordable performance gaming system. I guess the company isn't quite sure what affordable really means as this system is a good deal more expensive than similarly equipped systems from their competitors. Much of the cost can be attributed to the fact that Falcon uses all high quality, name brand components. Of course, building a system from these same parts on your own will likely save you hundreds of dollars.

The Talon has been updated to use the new Intel Core i7 processors with their built-in memory controllers. Unlike many companies that use 3GB of memory, Falcon includes 6GB of PC3-8500 DDR3 triple channel memory that is double what most companies offer and will allow the system to run smoother with the Vista operating system. This gives it strong overall performance.

Falcon Northwest has thankfully upgraded the hard drive on this version from the previous 250GB to a more reasonable 500GB size. This is still fairly small for desktops in this $1700 price range. It is possible for consumers to upgrade the drive but this just adds to an already expensive price tag.

One disappointment for the Talon is the graphics. The previous version used the ATI Radeon HD 4870 graphics card. In their new low cost configuration, they have switched to the "new" NVIDIA GeForce GTS 250 graphics card that is really just a new label on the previous 9800 series card. The result is a bit of a downgrade for the graphics. Expect to be able to run 3D games in 1680x1050 without issue and some running up to 1920x1200.

What the Talon really comes down to is cost. It is just too expensive for what the consumer gets and only those that really want a system with the Falcon Northwest name on it should really consider it.