Falcon Northwest Tiki 2018 Evaluate
Falcon Northwest Tiki 2018
“The Falcon Northwest Tiki continues its predecessors’ legacy of high quality, model, and horsepower.”
Highly effective internals
Compact construct
Distinctive construct high quality
Glossy design
Glorious guarantee
Paint job has momentary odor and scratches simply
Misaligned USB ports on high
The unique Falcon Northwest Tiki was certainly one of our all-time favourite gaming PCs. We cherished its compact kind issue, highly effective internals, and distinctive exterior design. Meaning the 2018 mannequin has some huge sneakers to fill.
The newest model of Falcon Northwest’s ultra-compact gaming options an Intel Core i7-8700Ok processor, an Nvidia GeForce GTX 1080 Ti graphics card, 32GB of RAM, and a 2TB SSD. All for the not very low worth of $three,500. Let’s see the way it stacks up towards of the most recent and best gaming PCs available on the market — and most significantly, let’s discover out if it earns that pricetag.
Glossy, shiny, and compact
Simply wanting on the Falcon Northwest Tiki, it’s instantly obvious that this isn’t your common gaming PC. As a substitute of a large tower with a giant open window wanting right into a gaping maw of cables and LED lighting, the Tiki presents a modern, compact silhouette. It’s small, meticulously engineered, and extremely well-built. However there’s extra to its visible design than you may suspect.
The Falcon Northwest Tiki isn’t only a brightly coloured PC, it options an automotive paint job that offers the entire exterior a singular sense of depth. Up shut, and underneath brilliant lights, the paint turns into luminescent and a bit of metallic, glowing like a sports activities automobile on a summer time drive. However watch out, the automotive paint job behaves precisely like an precise automobile’s paint job. It could chip and scratch a lot simpler than low cost plastic or regular coated-steel PC circumstances do. And there’s a little bit of an unlucky aspect impact: The odor.
The Tiki’s paint job continues to treatment and harden and consequently it offers off a little bit of an disagreeable chemical odor.
Proper out of the field, the Tiki’s paint job continues to treatment and harden and consequently it offers off a little bit of an disagreeable chemical odor — like an auto physique store. It’s not noticeable except the Tiki is in a closed room with poor air flow, or in case you get actually near it, but it surely’s positively there. Through the time we had with the Tiki, the odor did finally wane to the purpose that you might solely odor it by getting actually near it, but it surely’s one thing you need to be conscious of in case you go for the automotive paint job. It seems to be nice, but it surely does have a draw back.
Port issues
The Falcon Northwest Tiki options all of the ports you’d count on out of a gaming PC, with a regular I/O plate within the again, and a pair additional USB ports up high alongside the vertically-oriented optical drive. Every little thing is straightforward to succeed in, and proper the place you’d count on it. With one tiny exception.
Tomas Patlan
To be clear, this exception is probably going simply an oversight, not a giant deal in any respect, however whenever you’re paying $three,500 for a PC, it’s not unreasonable to count on a sure diploma of perfection. The issue is the highest USB ports. The I/O panel right here was not fully mounted to the highest plate of the case, so whenever you attempt to use both USB port on high, you’re mainly pushing the entire I/O panel into the pc. It’s not a very good look.
That mentioned, it’s a straightforward repair, all we needed to do was open it up and screw the I/O panel to the highest of the case. Nonetheless, as we talked about, it was a bit of disappointing however nowhere close to a deal-breaker. That is nonetheless an exceptionally well-built laptop in each different respect.
Compact, however not cramped
Contained in the Falcon Northwest Tiki the very first thing you’re prone to discover is how clear and compact all the pieces is. Keep in mind, this can be a very small PC, it has a slim form-factor that might mainly match inside any of our different testing PCs right here within the workplace — with room to spare. The internals within the Tiki are organized with precision, all the pieces’s fastidiously fitted collectively, as a result of there’s not a variety of room in there. Regardless of the dearth of additional area within the inside it doesn’t really feel cramped — simply dense.
Pull off the aspect and also you’ll instantly have entry to the graphics card, the motherboard, RAM, and the M.2 slot. There’s an inner stabilizing bracket that partitions off a number of the different inner parts — just like the wiring for the highest USB panel — but it surely’s there for a very good motive. It retains the case steady and holds all the pieces in place throughout delivery. So, in case you pull it out for some at-home cleansing or repairs, keep in mind to place it again in case you ever must ship your Falcon Northwest again for repairs.
There’s actually not a lot to say in regards to the internals right here that pictures don’t illustrate extra clearly. Simply take a look at how all the pieces is specified by there. The water-cooling unit on the processor has simply sufficient slack to comfortably let down the aspect panel cable administration is tight, environment friendly, and purposeful.
Six core showdown
The Falcon Northwest Tiki options an overclocked Eighth-generation Intel Core i7-8700Ok, which is a processor you’re going to see fairly typically in high-end gaming PCs like this one. It’s fast, highly effective, and nearly the most effective you will get within the i7 vary. Not like its i7 predecessors within the sixth and Seventh-generations, the i7-8700Ok is a six-core processor, slightly than a quad-core processor. Meaning for this processor era Intel has determined to cram extra cores onto the chip as a substitute of simply rushing up the cores which are there. The tip outcome? This factor is quick.
Taking a look at the way it stacks as much as the identical processor in a distinct machine, it’s clear that the Intel Core i7-8700Ok is fast on its ft in single core efficiency and multi-core efficiency. It simply eclipses the efficiency we bought out of the AMD Ryzen 1800X within the Velocity Micro Raptor M60 and demonstrates substantial beneficial properties over earlier era processors.
The Falcon Northwest Tiki managed to crunch a 4K video encode in simply over three minutes.
For many video games, you’re not going to see the Core i7-8700Ok do a lot of the heavy lifting, however you’ll discover when you’ve gotten about 1,000,000 browser tabs open with Excel and Phrase working within the background. The i7-8700Ok does a wonderful job of maintaining with you throughout on a regular basis productiveness duties.
For an instance of the blink-and-you’ll-miss-it velocity we bought out of the i7-8700Ok, we simply have to have a look at the Handbrake benchmark. The Falcon Northwest Tiki managed to crunch a 4K video encode in simply over three minutes, placing it simply forward of the identical processor within the Origin Millennium and a full minute forward of the AMD Ryzen 1800X.
Fast and faster
The Falcon Northwest Tiki ships with an enormous 2TB SSD in its M.2 slot — the one that matches SSDs the scale of a stick of gum. Given the Tiki’s high-end pedigree, it solely is smart that it could be outfitted with a luxuriously massive and lightning-quick SSD, and the included Intel 760P M.2 SSD doesn’t disappoint.
Taking a look at how the 2TB SSD performs towards a few its friends one factor is abundantly clear: SSDs have change into extremely fast. Taking a look at learn speeds, all three of those PCs managed to hit upward of two,500 megabytes per second. The Velocity Micro is available in first with 2,876 MB/s, simply forward of the Tiki’s 2,867 MB/s.
Given the Tiki’s high-end pedigree, it solely is smart that it could be outfitted with a luxuriously massive and lightning-quick SSD.
Taking a look at write velocity, issues decelerate a bit with the Tiki hitting 1,504 MB/s — which remains to be extremely quick particularly contemplating the Intel 760P is quadruple the scale of the SSDs within the Velocity Micro M60 and the Origin Millennium. Talking of which, the Velocity Micro Raptor M60 took the lead with 2,042 MB/s, to the Origin Millennium’s additionally spectacular 1,972 MB/s.
In observe although, the Falcon Northwest Tiki could be very quick — fast sufficient that it’s not going to gradual you down in on a regular basis use. Its expansive space for storing plus its unbelievable efficiency make it a wonderful alternative for a compact gaming PC just like the Tiki.
1080 Ti Battle Royale
The great factor in regards to the Nvidia GeForce GTX 1080 Ti is that it’s nearly at all times a powerful graphics card. It doesn’t matter what system it’s in, this little factor will run nearly any recreation at max settings, and nearly any decision — in 4K, 1440p or 1080p. To be truthful, it ought to run this properly, it’s at the moment the top-of-the-line gaming graphics card — except you’re stepping up into Nvidia’s skilled lineup of GPUs designed for 3D animation or one thing. However for gaming it’s onerous to do higher than a 1080 Ti, and the Falcon Northwest Tiki demonstrates that fantastically.
Taking a look at 3DMark, you may see how the 1080 Ti on this machine stacks up towards comparable builds. The Origin Millennium, certainly one of our favourite gaming desktops, options not one however two GTX 1080 Ti graphics playing cards working in SLI. The Velocity Micro Raptor M60 contains a single GTX 1080 Ti, In our 3D Mark outcomes, the Falcon Northwest Tiki landed proper within the center, simply forward of the Raptor M60 and simply behind the double-GPU Origin Millennium.
It’s about what we’d count on out of the GTX 1080 Ti, it seemingly carried out barely higher than the cardboard within the Raptor M60 because of the pure variations you get from card to card, even once they’re the identical make and mannequin.
Shifting on to our first batch of real-world outcomes, there are some fascinating issues occurring underneath the hood within the Falcon Northwest Tiki. First, Civilization VI, you’ll discover that the Falcon Northwest got here inside only a few frames per second of the Origin Millennium regardless of its twin GPU setup. There are a pair causes that might be. One, it’s seemingly Civilization VI doesn’t really want to leverage the ability of a two GPU setup, and two, the marginally faster processor within the Falcon Northwest (due once more to pure variations between processors of the identical sort) seemingly pushed it forward since Civilization VI is a little bit of a CPU-intensive recreation.
Taking a look at the remainder of our testing suite, it’s clear that you simply’re not going to have any bother in any respect working video games at 1080p on the Falcon Northwest. It sailed by means of Battlefield 1 at Extremely settings, hitting 185 FPS on common, simply barely behind the Origin Millennium, and fairly a bit forward of the Velocity Micro Raptor M60.
The 1080p outcomes set the stage for what we find yourself seeing additional up the dimensions at 1440p. At this decision, video games regarded nice and continued to run properly on the Falcon Northwest. In Battlefield 1 as an example, we hit a mean of 143 FPS at ultra-high settings. Even in Deus Ex: Mankind Divided we noticed 70 FPS with all of the settings maxed. That’s spectacular contemplating Deus Ex has a foul behavior of bringing highly effective methods to their knees at greater resolutions.
Which brings us to 4K. The Falcon Northwest Tiki is a really costly gaming rig so absolutely it shouldn’t have any drawback working video games at 4K, proper? That’s really right. The GTX 1080 Ti, and all the opposite contained in the Falcon Northwest, managed to maintain up and hit clean, playable framerates in all of our testing video games.
Taking a look at Deus Ex: Mankind Divided, the Falcon Northwest hit 74 FPS on common with all of the settings maxed. Stepping all the way down to Excessive, it hit 48 FPS. In each circumstances it was simply barely behind the Origin Millennium’s twin GPU setup, illustrating simply how far you may go on a single GTX 1080 Ti with the fitting supporting .
That is an distinctive machine.
In a much less demanding, however barely better-looking recreation, Battlefield 1, the Falcon hit a powerful 74 FPS at Extremely element in 4K. So so long as you don’t want an ultra-high FPS for a 144Hz monitor, the Falcon Northwest Tiki will be capable to sustain with 4K video games moderately properly.
With a PC this highly effective popping out so near the discharge of the brand new HTC Vive Professional, you is perhaps asking yourselves, how properly does it deal with VR video games? That’s a straightforward query to reply as a result of we used this overview mannequin to energy the HTC Vive Professional throughout our overview for that product, and the Falcon Northwest Tiki was greater than as much as the problem. With its GTX 1080 Ti and highly effective Core i7 processor, we by no means skilled stuttering, lag, or framerates dipping under 90 FPS throughout whereas working brand-new VR video games like Mage’s Story.
The newest Falcon Northwest Tiki completely lives as much as the legacy of its predecessors, delivering high-end efficiency, design, and construct high quality at a premium worth. Aside from the minor points we encountered, there’s not a lot to complain about right here. That is an distinctive machine. Nonetheless, let’s break it down and ensure it actually earns that $three,500 price ticket.
Is there a greater various?
There are definitely cheaper options available on the market, getting a gaming desktop with these specs wholesale or from a distinct retailer would most likely prevent some money. However you’d be hard-pressed to discover a gaming desktop that’s as well-built, highly effective, and with such above-and-beyond tech assist as you get with the Falcon Northwest Tiki.
One of the best various to a Falcon Northwest Tiki, may simply be a barely completely different Falcon Northwest Tiki.
The Origin Millennium we utilized in our check comparisons is extra highly effective, with two GTX 1080 Ti graphics playing cards working in SLI, but it surely’s additionally a couple of thousand dearer. The Velocity Micro Raptor M60 might be outfitted with nearly an identical specs for about the identical worth, however you’ll find yourself lacking out on the killer engineering and construct high quality you get with the Falcon Northwest.
The great factor about shopping for from a customized PC builder like Falcon Northwest, is that you’ve got a ton of choices accessible. The Falcon Northwest Tiki is out there in dozens of various configurations, With the identical Eighth-generation chipset as our overview mannequin, the Tiki begins at simply $2,437 with a GTX 1060.
It’s also possible to decide up the Tiki with an X99 chipset, in case you’re excited by certainly one of Intel’s high-end 18-core i9 processors. Level is, the Falcon Northwest Tiki might be custom-made all the way down to the smallest particulars relying in your price range, so the most effective various to a Falcon Northwest Tiki, may simply be a barely completely different Falcon Northwest Tiki.
How lengthy will it final?
It’s fairly uncommon gaming PC’s guarantee is noteworthy in any approach, however the Falcon Northwest Tiki is an exception. Our Falcon Northwest Tiki shipped with a three-year restricted guarantee overlaying producer defects and elements and labor.
You additionally get one yr of Falcon In a single day Service, which suggests if at any level your system develops a critical situation that may’t be solved by way of technical assist, Falcon can pay to have your laptop shipped in a single day to the Falcon restore amenities, after which overnighted once more to get it again to you in a well timed method. That’s fairly spectacular, and it’s positively above and past what you’d get going with a much bigger producer like Dell or HP.
The Falcon Northwest Tiki will seemingly final lots longer than your common gaming PC, partly due to the aforementioned Falcon In a single day service. Secondly, the Tiki ships with highly effective that’s at the moment the top-of-the-line for gaming PCs. It’s going to be some time earlier than the 1080 Ti begins to point out its age, even as soon as Nvidia’s subsequent collection of graphics playing cards find yourself hitting retailer cabinets. Simply take a look at how lengthy the 980 Ti has remained related.
And third, this factor is constructed like a tank. It is perhaps small however it’s dense. The case is strong steel and constructed to final, likelihood is your Falcon Northwest Tiki will outlast many of the different electronics in your life.
Must you purchase it?
That is at all times the trickiest query for luxurious computer systems, and the Falcon Northwest TIki positively falls underneath that class. It’s onerous to not suggest the Tiki, and for that motive we positively assume you should purchase it in case you’re out there to spend money on a high-end gaming rig. This factor will final a very long time, and it’s one of many best-built gaming desktops we’ve had come by means of our workplaces in latest reminiscence — even when it does have a couple of minor downsides.
