Falcon Northwest
Encyclopedia
Falcon Northwest is a personal computer
manufacturing company located in Medford, Oregon
, USA which was founded in 1992 by its current president, Kelt Reeves. The company began its existence focusing on high-end systems for Flight Simulation. In 1993 Falcon Northwest bought out Bay Engineering, who served CAD
application users, and continued to serve those customers for several years.
, and it chooses not to outsource any of its operations. Falcon Northwest's operations are mostly restricted to online and telephone orders, as the company has not signed any distribution deals with any major retailers.
Falcon Northwest’s system lineup began with the Mach V series and slowly expanded over time. The Mach V models were built with components that Falcon Northwest believed to offer the highest performance in PC games. In 2000, the company added the Talon line at a lower price than the Mach V line. Later, the company brought out the FragBook line of laptops. Falcon Northwest also offers a small form factor
(SFF) PC called the FragBox, a miniature system intended for LAN parties
. For customers looking for something a little more personal, Falcon Northwest provides custom professionally-painted cases.
Falcon Northwest's magazine advertisements over the years have usually consisted of game art and its characters surrounding one of their systems. Their ads have included games such as Half-Life, Unreal
, Alien vs. Predator, and MechWarrior
, among many others. Their earliest advertisements played off the company's Falcon name and related it with the F-16 Fighting Falcon
fighter plane, perhaps relating to the Falcon
series of simulations. Many of the company's ads are available for viewing on their web site.
The company has occasionally had customized hardware made specifically for its machines. One example was the Falcon Northwest Special Edition Maxi Gamer Xentor 32, an upgraded NVIDIA RIVA TNT2 Ultra
3D accelerator card. It wasn't simply overclocked, however. The card used special low-latency RAM and hand-picked accelerator chips.
and MAINGEAR
.
, an online magazine geared towards the PC hardware enthusiast and PC gaming communities. HardOCP received a system from Falcon that performed less than optimally, with noted instability, and reported these findings to their reader base.
In the exchange that followed, Mr. Reeves disputed HardOCP's findings. He cited that HardOCP had come forward and publicized incorrect claims with questionable objectivity with regards to which piece of hardware was the true cause of the instability. Reeves stated that both he and HardOCP had initially assumed that the problem lay with the motherboard but upon further analysis discovered that the video card was at fault. Falcon Northwest's quality assurance testing included 14 hours of looping the 3D graphics benchmark 3DMark 2005
in an 85°F (29°C) room. Upon receipt of the returned system, it could no longer complete that test without crashing. Falcon Northwest offered to repair the system and send it back to HardOCP for testing, but the magazine refused this solution, stating that it could interfere with the anonymous testing process.
Personal computer
A personal computer is any general-purpose computer whose size, capabilities, and original sales price make it useful for individuals, and which is intended to be operated directly by an end-user with no intervening computer operator...
manufacturing company located in Medford, Oregon
Medford, Oregon
Medford is a city in Jackson County, Oregon, United States. As of the 2010 US Census, the city had a total population of 74,907 and a metropolitan area population of 207,010, making the Medford MSA the 4th largest metro area in Oregon...
, USA which was founded in 1992 by its current president, Kelt Reeves. The company began its existence focusing on high-end systems for Flight Simulation. In 1993 Falcon Northwest bought out Bay Engineering, who served CAD
Computer-aided design
Computer-aided design , also known as computer-aided design and drafting , is the use of computer technology for the process of design and design-documentation. Computer Aided Drafting describes the process of drafting with a computer...
application users, and continued to serve those customers for several years.
Operations
Falcon Northwest maintains one facility located in Medford, OregonMedford, Oregon
Medford is a city in Jackson County, Oregon, United States. As of the 2010 US Census, the city had a total population of 74,907 and a metropolitan area population of 207,010, making the Medford MSA the 4th largest metro area in Oregon...
, and it chooses not to outsource any of its operations. Falcon Northwest's operations are mostly restricted to online and telephone orders, as the company has not signed any distribution deals with any major retailers.
Falcon Northwest’s system lineup began with the Mach V series and slowly expanded over time. The Mach V models were built with components that Falcon Northwest believed to offer the highest performance in PC games. In 2000, the company added the Talon line at a lower price than the Mach V line. Later, the company brought out the FragBook line of laptops. Falcon Northwest also offers a small form factor
Small form factor
A small form factor is a computer form factor designed to minimize the volume of a desktop computer. For comparison purposes, the size of an SFF case is usually measured in litres. SFFs are available in a variety of sizes and shapes, including shoeboxes, cubes, and book-sized PCs...
(SFF) PC called the FragBox, a miniature system intended for LAN parties
LAN party
A LAN party is a temporary, sometimes spontaneous, gathering of people with computers, between which they establish a local area network , primarily for the purpose of playing multiplayer computer games. The size of these networks may vary from the very small to very large installations...
. For customers looking for something a little more personal, Falcon Northwest provides custom professionally-painted cases.
Falcon Northwest's magazine advertisements over the years have usually consisted of game art and its characters surrounding one of their systems. Their ads have included games such as Half-Life, Unreal
Unreal
Unreal is a first-person shooter video game developed by Epic MegaGames and Digital Extremes and published by GT Interactive in May 1998...
, Alien vs. Predator, and MechWarrior
MechWarrior
MechWarrior is the title of a series of computer and video games set in the fictional universe of BattleTech-Games:In these games, players take control of a single BattleMech and combat other BattleMechs, tanks, infantry, and more, from within the cockpit of their machine. A third-person alternate...
, among many others. Their earliest advertisements played off the company's Falcon name and related it with the F-16 Fighting Falcon
F-16 Fighting Falcon
The General Dynamics F-16 Fighting Falcon is a multirole jet fighter aircraft originally developed by General Dynamics for the United States Air Force . Designed as an air superiority day fighter, it evolved into a successful all-weather multirole aircraft. Over 4,400 aircraft have been built since...
fighter plane, perhaps relating to the Falcon
Falcon (computer game)
The Falcon line of computer games is a series of simulations of the F-16 Fighting Falcon fighter aircraft. The games were developed and published by Spectrum HoloByte...
series of simulations. Many of the company's ads are available for viewing on their web site.
The company has occasionally had customized hardware made specifically for its machines. One example was the Falcon Northwest Special Edition Maxi Gamer Xentor 32, an upgraded NVIDIA RIVA TNT2 Ultra
RIVA TNT2
The RIVA TNT2 was a graphics processing unit manufactured by Nvidia starting in early 1999. The chip is codenamed "NV5" because it is the 5th graphics chip design by Nvidia, succeeding the RIVA TNT . RIVA is an acronym for Real-time Interactive Video and Animation accelerator...
3D accelerator card. It wasn't simply overclocked, however. The card used special low-latency RAM and hand-picked accelerator chips.
Competitors
Falcon Northwest has traditionally competed with the luxury PC gaming niche companies such as AlienwareAlienware
Alienware is an American computer hardware subsidary of Dell, Inc. It mainly assembles third party components into desktops and laptops with custom enclosures for high-performance gaming. These products also support graphically intense applications such as video editing, simulation, and audio editing...
and MAINGEAR
Maingear
MAINGEAR is an American privately held boutique computer manufacturer headquartered in Kenilworth, New Jersey. MAINGEAR specializes in custom gaming computers, desktops, custom laptops, media center computers, and workstations which are built and supported in the United States.-History:MAINGEAR was...
.
Controversy
In 2005, Falcon Northwest's President, Kelt Reeves, had a heated exchange with HardOCPHardOCP
[H]ard|OCP is an online magazine that offers news, reviews, and editorials that relate to computer hardware, software, modding, overclocking and cooling, owned and operated by Kyle Bennett, who started the website in 1997.- Product Reviews :[H]ard|OCP is known for reviewing products and...
, an online magazine geared towards the PC hardware enthusiast and PC gaming communities. HardOCP received a system from Falcon that performed less than optimally, with noted instability, and reported these findings to their reader base.
In the exchange that followed, Mr. Reeves disputed HardOCP's findings. He cited that HardOCP had come forward and publicized incorrect claims with questionable objectivity with regards to which piece of hardware was the true cause of the instability. Reeves stated that both he and HardOCP had initially assumed that the problem lay with the motherboard but upon further analysis discovered that the video card was at fault. Falcon Northwest's quality assurance testing included 14 hours of looping the 3D graphics benchmark 3DMark 2005
3DMark
3DMark is a computer benchmarking tool created and developed by Futuremark Corporation to determine the performance of a computer's 3D graphic rendering and CPU workload processing capabilities. Running 3DMark produces a 3DMark score with higher numbers indicating better performance...
in an 85°F (29°C) room. Upon receipt of the returned system, it could no longer complete that test without crashing. Falcon Northwest offered to repair the system and send it back to HardOCP for testing, but the magazine refused this solution, stating that it could interfere with the anonymous testing process.