We kicked off our testing with the venerable PCMark system benchmark, as well as the more game-oriented 3DMark 11 and the newest test by Futuremark: 3DMark Fire Strike. Over the years, Futuremark has made a name for itself with intense benchmarks that provide consistent results for comparing granular and big-picture performance.
For comparison purposes, we lined the Falcon Northwest Tiki against other SFFs that we have tested recently, including AVADirect’s Mini Gaming PC and Maingear’s Potenza Super Stock. We also added some larger desktop systems to the mix, like the Digital Storm VIRTUE and CyberPower’s Gamer Xtreme 5200, to give you a sense of how the small form factor Tiki stacks up against bigger rigs. As you’ll see, the Tiki handles itself just fine.
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Futuremark PCMark 7
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Simulated Application Performance
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PCMark 7
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PCMark 7 runs through the types of tasks your PC is likely to encounter during ordinary home and office use. It tests the system’s graphics capabilities as well, but it isn’t mean to test the limits of high-end, discrete graphics card. Look at PCMark 7 as an indicator of a system’s general usage performance. |
The Tiki’s PCMark 7 score was untouchable. It bested even the larger standard desktop systems. The score suggests that the Tiki is likely to be more than capable of handling your day-to-day computing needs. And given the GTX Titan in the system, general usage probably isn’t your priority – gaming is. So, onwards to the gaming tests.
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Futuremark 3DMark 11 |
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Simulated Gaming Performance |
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3DMark 11
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Although Futuremark’s 3DMark 11 has been around for several years, it still provides a good look at a system’s gaming capabilities. It's also handy tool for benchmarking machines that still run Windows 7. We ran this benchmark on the Performance preset, at 1280 x 720 resolution. If you download the free version of this benchmark, make sure you're using the Performance preset to avoid comparing scores that were run with different test configurations.
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With 3DMark 11, the Tiki finds a few competitors, but it’s still near the top of the chart. The rig pulls nearly even with the similarly-configured AVADirect Mini Gaming PC and is only decisively bested by CyberPower’s full-sized gaming rig.
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Futuremark 3DMark Fire Strike
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Simulated Gaming Performance
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3DMark Fire Strike
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The next test we ran was Futuremark’s newest: 3DMark Fire Strike is designed specifically for high-end gaming PCs like the Tiki. Because Extreme mode is geared towards systems that have multiple graphics cards in CrossFire or SLI configurations, we opted for Normal mode, which runs at 1920 x 1080.
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This time around, the Tiki pulled ahead of the AVA Mini PC, providing slightly better frame rates and a noticeably better overall score. The Fire Strike test is designed specifically for Windows 8 and for modern cards, so it’s an important test for current gaming systems.
