Size doesn't matter. At least that's what
Falcon Northwest is saying with its latest entry into the micro-tower war, the
Tiki, which offers full-size tower performance in a teeny, tiny case.
Falcon
Northwest Tiki
In case you don't know, the microtower war
is the place to be right now. Traditionally, slim micro-towers (as opposed to
the typical Shuttle-style shoebox form factors) have been bereft of
performance. That all changed earlier this year when Alienware hit the market
with its X51 (reviewed in May). Just bigger than a typical first-generation
console, the X51's innovation was a desktop-class GPU and CPU for a decent
price. While groundbreaking, the X51 made some compromises, such as forcing you
to choose between a hard drive or SSD, and offering only midrange GPU options
(currently) and no ability to overclock.
The Tiki makes no such compromises, as one
peep at the spec sheet makes clear. The Tiki we received packs a 3.5GHz Core
¡7-3770K overclocked to 4.2GHz, two 512GB Crucial M4 SSDs in RAID 0, a 3TB HDD,
and a powerhouse GeForce GTX 680 card.
So how does the Tiki perform? Compared to
our newly minted zero-point reference system, it takes a back seat. As good as
Ivy Bridge is, a quad-core can't beat a hexa-core in multithreaded tasks: The
Tiki gets punched in its petite nose in our Premiere Pro CS6 test, as well as
in the x264 HD 5.0 runs. A single GeForce GTX 680 can't touch the GeForce GTX
690 in our zero-point, either. But it's not a total loss. The efficiency of
the newer 22nm Ivy Bridge cores comes through in our Stitch.Efx 2.0 and ProShow
Producer 5.0 benchmarks, which can't exploit all the threads in a hexa-core.
Given
its superb performance, the Tiki deserves to be placed on a pedestal – luckily,
it comes with one
More important, though, is how well the
Tiki does against the X51. We ran our older benchmark suite to find out, and it
wasn't pretty. The Tiki crushed the X51 in all of our performance tests by
double digits, and in one – Stalker: CoP – by triple digits. The Alienware X51
hit back in a very important benchmark, though: Wallet Mark 2012. Though far
slower in most benchmarks, the X51 weighs in at $950. The Tiki reviewed here
tilts the scales at $4,126. Falcon defends its price and says the config you
see here was picked to show off the full-tower capabilities of the micro-tower.
The company points out that the Tiki can be had in basic configurations for
$1,700, but if you want fangs-out performance (and cost) you can get that,
too. Plus, company officials say, the Tiki is aluminum and steel rather than
plastic and steel and comes complete with that cool-looking polished granite
stand.
The heavy stand, by the way, is designed
to keep the Tiki from tipping over, which can happen when systems get this
thin. Unfortunately, the stand and the airflow of the unit also mean it can’t
be run in a horizontal position, which is one of the most pleasing aspects of
the X51.
We were also quite keen on the X51's
support for Nvidia's Optimus technology, which seamlessly switches between the
integrated and discrete graphics. Only Alienware has that power-saving feature
today. In the Tiki's defense, though, the power efficiency of Nvidia's magical
GeForce GTX 680 lets the Falcon sip just 65 watts at idle, which isn't that
far from the X51's 50 watts at idle.
Yes, the Tiki wins on a lot of fronts, but
we honestly don't think the machine takes out its intended target. The X51's
price is mighty enticing, and the fact that it slides horizontally into a media
center cabinet makes it fairly unique. Still, we have to give the Tiki props –
it's the fastest tiny machine we've ever tested.
Benchmarks
Our current desktop test bed consists of a
hexa-core 3.2GHz Core i7-3930K 0 3.8GHz, 8GB of Corsair DDR3/1600, on an Asus
Sabertooth X79 motherboard. We are running a GeForce GTX 690, an OCZ Vertex 3
SSD, and 64-bit Windows 7 Professional.
|
Details
|
|
Price
|
$4,126
|
|
Website
|
www.falcon-nw.com
|
|
Pros and cons
|
|
Pros
|
Battleship the game: No-compromises
performance in a micro-tower.
|
|
Cons
|
Battleship the movie: Doesn't lay flat;
very pricey.
|
|
Specifications
|
|
CPU
|
Intel 3.5GHz Core i7-3770K 4.2GHz
|
|
Mobo
|
Asus P8Z77-i Deluxe
|
|
RAM
|
16GB DDR3/1866
|
|
Videocard
|
GeForce GTX 680
|
|
Soundcard
|
Onboard
|
|
Storage
|
Two 512MB Crucial M4 SSD, 3TB Western
Digital Caviar Green HDD
|
|
Optical
|
Two 512MB Crucial M4 SSD, 3TB Western
Digital Caviar Green HDD
|
|
Case / PSU
|
Custom / 450-watt power brick
|
|
Verdict
|
9/10
|
|
|
|
