![]() You get some very basic documentation with the FragBox 2, along with a standard one-year warranty with paid overnight postage to and from the company. In his company's defense, Falcon Northwest president Kelt Reeves told us, "We learned a long time ago the market for $3,000+ PCs is practically insulted by bundled shovelware." We would have liked to see at least a 90-day trial version of some virus software. The excellent Logitech MX3100 wireless-keyboard and laser-mouse combo came included as well, although we'd submit that wireless mice aren't up-to-snuff for hard-core gaming just yet because of the faster transfer rate of a wired connection.Įxcept for a few game demos, the Falcon Northwest FragBox 2 comes with little in the way of preloaded software. A FireWire port and two USB 2.0 ports sit conveniently up front. Plenty of ports dot the back of the case, including an S/PDIF digital-audio connector and a DVI port. A host of fans keeps this puppy cool, and unfortunately, the system is quite loud. The cramped interior space limits access to the hard drives, the optical drive, and even RAM however, cables are neatly routed around the sides to maximize airflow cooling. If you remove the five Phillips-head screws and open the FragBox 2's case, you'll find three free PCI slots and two free memory slots, along with a generous 520-watt power supply. The signature feature of the first FragBox 2 we looked at, the swooping handle on the top of the case, is present in this configuration as well. You can opt for a $365 custom automotive paint job to turn the FragBox 2 into a personalized fashion statement pass on this option, and you'll get the standard black case seen on our test system. ![]() The case features two side windows with ominous blue neon lighting up the system's guts. Larger, smaller, and slower LCDs are also available on the FragBox 2's online configurator.Īs for aesthetics, the Falcon Northwest FragBox 2 looks the part of a killer LAN-party gaming system. Off-axis viewing was also shockingly good, and we appreciated the telescoping stand. ![]() The excellent menu system features a little four-way joystick for navigation and provides a simple way to fine-tune the monitor, including four user-configured presets. Shadows appeared deep and dark, and we observed no hitching during fast-paced gaming. With an 8-millisecond response time and a 1,280x1,024 native resolution, the MultiSync will serve you well whether you play games or watch movies. You might also consider that during a recent visit to Alienware's Web site, we configured a bleeding-edge notebook PC (admittedly with a generation-old graphics chip) for $3,500.įalcon Northwest bolsters the FragBox 2 with a fantastic 19-inch NEC MultiSync 1970GX LCD monitor, which represents $580 of the $4,600 price. It's worth noting, though, that the Polywell costs about $2,000 less. It didn't win on every 3D test, but on our Half-Life 2 1,024x768-resolution benchmark, the FragBox 2 beat the Polywell Poly 939n4 Dual X2 by 10 frames per second, which is impressive, since the Polywell's GeForce 7800 GTX card came overclocked. But against single-3D-card systems, the FragBox 2 fared better. The FragBox 2 can't compete with a dual-graphics-card SLI system, as our benchmarks make plain. ![]() But due to its small-form-factor case, its performance is limited compared with that of a full-size desktop with breathing room for overclocking and two graphics cards.Ĭompared with the Velocity Micro Gamer's Edge DualX, a similarly priced full-size desktop with a slightly overclocked Athlon 64 FX-57 CPU, the FragBox 2 fell short by 14 percent on CNET Labs' SysMark 2004 test. The Falcon Northwest FragBox 2 definitely delivers the performance goods overall, providing strong productivity numbers and some killer 3D frame rates. The FragBox 2 also features serious gaming chops, thanks to a 256MB Nvidia GeForce 7800 GTX graphics card.
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