Dreadnought: My Digital Storm Experience

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There comes a time in every real man’s life where they
decide they need to move up in the world in terms of computing power and has
arrived for me. I had previously been a serious or what I would consider to be
serious PC gamer. I drifted away from gaming on a PC around 2006 and since that
time I have been getting my gaming jollies on an XBOX 360. I went to college
and bought a Toshiba Qosmio in 2005 and that has been my only PC since that
time.

Enough, however, was enough and it was time for me to get a
gaming rig that did not make me feel physical pain whenever I used it. The
Qosmio overheated terribly and parts of it actually melted. I felt this was a
disgrace to modern computing and after much soul-searching I decided that the
time was right for a new PC.

My first instinct was to go to Alienware and have them build
me a nice computer. This turned out to be far too costly and so my gaze turned
elsewhere to other companies that offered to build custom computers at a
cheaper cost. After doing some diligent research on these other companies I was
not happy with what I read of opinions from their customers and I decided to
look elsewhere in my quest for a quality gaming PC.

Somehow, perhaps by fate, I stumbled upon reviews of Digital
Storm and most of them were overwhelmingly positive. I had many questions that
others looking for new computers also had and to my great joy and relief those
questions were answered thoroughly. By lurking and studying I had determined
precisely what I wanted in my new computer and I am certain that if I had the
motivation to ask the questions myself, the great community at the Digital
Storm forums would have answered me in kind.

System Configuration:

Chassis Model: Special Deal Hot Seller - Cooler Master 942 HAF X

Exterior Finish: - Standard Factory Finish

Trim Accents: - Standard Factory Finish

Processor: Intel Core i7 3930K 3.2GHz (Unlocked CPU for Extreme Overclocking)
(Six-Core)

Motherboard: ASUS Sabertooth X79 (Intel X79 Chipset) (Features USB 3.0 and SATA
6Gb/s)

System Memory: 16GB DDR3 1600MHz Digital Storm Certified Performance Series
(Highly Recommended) (Hand Tested)

Power Supply: 800W Corsair GS (Dual SLI Compatible)

Expansion Bay: - No Thanks

Hard Drive Set 1: Operating System: 1x (180GB Solid State (By: Intel) (Model: 520
Series)

Set 1 Raid Options: - No Thanks

Hard Drive Set 2: Multimedia\Data: 1x (1TB Western Digital Caviar (7200 RPM)
(Model: Black Edition)

Hard Drive Set 3: Backup\Misc.: - No Thanks

Optical Drive 1: DVD-R/RW/CD-R/RW (DVD Writer 24x / CD-Writer 48x)

Optical Drive 2: - No Thanks

Internet Access: High Speed Network Port (Supports High-Speed Cable / DSL /
Network Connections)

Video Card(s): 1x NVIDIA GeForce GTX 680 2GB (Includes PhysX)

Add-on Card: - No Thanks

Sound Card: Creative Labs Sound Blaster Recon3D Fatal1ty Professional 5.1

Extreme Cooling: H20: Stage 2: Digital Storm Vortex 240mm Radiator Liquid CPU
Cooler (Extreme-Performance Edition)

H20 Tube Color: - Not Applicable, I do not have a FrostChill or Sub-Zero LCS
Cooling System Selected

Chassis Airflow: Standard Factory Chassis Fans <b></b>

Internal Lighting: - No Thanks

Enhancements: - No Thanks

Chassis Mods: - No Thanks

Noise Reduction: - No Thanks

LaserMark: - No Thanks

CPU Boost: Stage 2: Overclock CPU 4.5GHz to 4.8GHz (Requires Pro/Deluxe/Sabertooth
Motherboard)

Graphics Boost: - No Thanks, Please do not overclock my video card(s)

Memory Boost: - No Thanks, Please do not overclock my memory

OS Boost: FREE: Yes, Disable and tweak all of the non-crucial services on the
operating system

Windows OS: Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium (64-Bit Edition)

Recovery Tools: Windows Recovery Toolkit (Bundled with Windows 7 CD)

Virus Protection: - No Thanks

Office: - No Thanks

Game: - No Thanks

Display: - No Thanks

Surge Shield: - No Thanks

Speakers: - No Thanks

Keyboard: - No Thanks

Mouse: - No Thanks

External Storage: - No Thanks

Exclusive T-Shirt: FREE: Digital Storm T-Shirt - Black (Large)

Priority Build: - No Thanks, Ship Within 10-15 Business Days After Order Is
Successfully Processed

Warranty: Life-time Expert Customer Care with 3 Year Limited Warranty

Sub-Total: $3,012.00

That is the build that I ended up with and I am hoping that
it will be everything I want in a gaming PC and more. I have gone through all
the stage updates and right now my computer should be just days away from
arriving at my doorstep. The waiting for delivery has been the absolute worst
part of my experience thus far with Digital Storm and it seems downright rude
for them to not have the capability to teleport my computer to me.

I am eagerly awaiting the arrival of my PC and testing just
how patient I can be because going into a medically-induced coma until the
delivery date was not an option for me.

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Scientist Members Profile Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Newbie Joined: 16 Sep 2012 Online Status: Offline Posts: 3	Quote Reply Topic: Dreadnought: My Digital Storm Experience Posted: 16 Sep 2012 at 3:53pm
	There comes a time in every real man’s life where they decide they need to move up in the world in terms of computing power and has arrived for me. I had previously been a serious or what I would consider to be serious PC gamer. I drifted away from gaming on a PC around 2006 and since that time I have been getting my gaming jollies on an XBOX 360. I went to college and bought a Toshiba Qosmio in 2005 and that has been my only PC since that time. Enough, however, was enough and it was time for me to get a gaming rig that did not make me feel physical pain whenever I used it. The Qosmio overheated terribly and parts of it actually melted. I felt this was a disgrace to modern computing and after much soul-searching I decided that the time was right for a new PC. My first instinct was to go to Alienware and have them build me a nice computer. This turned out to be far too costly and so my gaze turned elsewhere to other companies that offered to build custom computers at a cheaper cost. After doing some diligent research on these other companies I was not happy with what I read of opinions from their customers and I decided to look elsewhere in my quest for a quality gaming PC. Somehow, perhaps by fate, I stumbled upon reviews of Digital Storm and most of them were overwhelmingly positive. I had many questions that others looking for new computers also had and to my great joy and relief those questions were answered thoroughly. By lurking and studying I had determined precisely what I wanted in my new computer and I am certain that if I had the motivation to ask the questions myself, the great community at the Digital Storm forums would have answered me in kind. System Configuration: Chassis Model: Special Deal Hot Seller - Cooler Master 942 HAF X Exterior Finish: - Standard Factory Finish Trim Accents: - Standard Factory Finish Processor: Intel Core i7 3930K 3.2GHz (Unlocked CPU for Extreme Overclocking) (Six-Core) Motherboard: ASUS Sabertooth X79 (Intel X79 Chipset) (Features USB 3.0 and SATA 6Gb/s) System Memory: 16GB DDR3 1600MHz Digital Storm Certified Performance Series (Highly Recommended) (Hand Tested) Power Supply: 800W Corsair GS (Dual SLI Compatible) Expansion Bay: - No Thanks Hard Drive Set 1: Operating System: 1x (180GB Solid State (By: Intel) (Model: 520 Series) Set 1 Raid Options: - No Thanks Hard Drive Set 2: Multimedia\Data: 1x (1TB Western Digital Caviar (7200 RPM) (Model: Black Edition) Hard Drive Set 3: Backup\Misc.: - No Thanks Optical Drive 1: DVD-R/RW/CD-R/RW (DVD Writer 24x / CD-Writer 48x) Optical Drive 2: - No Thanks Internet Access: High Speed Network Port (Supports High-Speed Cable / DSL / Network Connections) Video Card(s): 1x NVIDIA GeForce GTX 680 2GB (Includes PhysX) Add-on Card: - No Thanks Sound Card: Creative Labs Sound Blaster Recon3D Fatal1ty Professional 5.1 Extreme Cooling: H20: Stage 2: Digital Storm Vortex 240mm Radiator Liquid CPU Cooler (Extreme-Performance Edition) H20 Tube Color: - Not Applicable, I do not have a FrostChill or Sub-Zero LCS Cooling System Selected Chassis Airflow: Standard Factory Chassis Fans <b></b> Internal Lighting: - No Thanks Enhancements: - No Thanks Chassis Mods: - No Thanks Noise Reduction: - No Thanks LaserMark: - No Thanks CPU Boost: Stage 2: Overclock CPU 4.5GHz to 4.8GHz (Requires Pro/Deluxe/Sabertooth Motherboard) Graphics Boost: - No Thanks, Please do not overclock my video card(s) Memory Boost: - No Thanks, Please do not overclock my memory OS Boost: FREE: Yes, Disable and tweak all of the non-crucial services on the operating system Windows OS: Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium (64-Bit Edition) Recovery Tools: Windows Recovery Toolkit (Bundled with Windows 7 CD) Virus Protection: - No Thanks Office: - No Thanks Game: - No Thanks Display: - No Thanks Surge Shield: - No Thanks Speakers: - No Thanks Keyboard: - No Thanks Mouse: - No Thanks External Storage: - No Thanks Exclusive T-Shirt: FREE: Digital Storm T-Shirt - Black (Large) Priority Build: - No Thanks, Ship Within 10-15 Business Days After Order Is Successfully Processed Warranty: Life-time Expert Customer Care with 3 Year Limited Warranty Sub-Total: $3,012.00 That is the build that I ended up with and I am hoping that it will be everything I want in a gaming PC and more. I have gone through all the stage updates and right now my computer should be just days away from arriving at my doorstep. The waiting for delivery has been the absolute worst part of my experience thus far with Digital Storm and it seems downright rude for them to not have the capability to teleport my computer to me. I am eagerly awaiting the arrival of my PC and testing just how patient I can be because going into a medically-induced coma until the delivery date was not an option for me.

bprat22 Members Profile Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List DS Veteran Joined: 08 Jun 2011 Online Status: Offline Posts: 5110	Quote Reply Posted: 16 Sep 2012 at 4:09pm
	Hi Scientist..... Congrats on a real nice rig.

Tidgxor Members Profile Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List DS Veteran Joined: 17 Sep 2010 Online Status: Offline Posts: 3253	Quote Reply Posted: 16 Sep 2012 at 4:26pm

	Mr. Bojangles: 2 Years, 5 Months - And Going Strong!

Scientist Members Profile Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Newbie Joined: 16 Sep 2012 Online Status: Offline Posts: 3	Quote Reply Posted: 17 Sep 2012 at 3:05am
	Thank you! Double thanks to bpratt for all the helpful advice you have given to so many others on these boards which helped inform me as to what I wanted in my own build! I was a bit curious about getting another video card later on for an SLI experience but would it be a waste if I was only using one monitor?

bprat22 Members Profile Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List DS Veteran Joined: 08 Jun 2011 Online Status: Offline Posts: 5110	Quote Reply Posted: 17 Sep 2012 at 5:38am
	Glad we could help. For a single 24" monitor at 1920x1080 a single 680 should be great, unless you want to play certain games like Metro 2033 at Ultra settings and stay 60 fps at all times. Thats extreme gaming and for most games and even turning like aa down just a bit you are good to go. Good luck.

retirednavysnipe Members Profile Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Groupie Joined: 06 Apr 2012 Online Status: Offline Posts: 218	Quote Reply Posted: 17 Sep 2012 at 7:21am
	Congrats on the PC and welcome to the Digital Storm forum family.
	Hailstorm Black Ops I7 3930K 4.5GHZ 16GB 1600MHZ ram 2 x GTX 680 120 GB SSD, 1 TB hardrive Fully liquid cooled CPU, GPU and chipset.

Orange7 Members Profile Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Senior Member Joined: 24 Apr 2012 Online Status: Offline Posts: 757	Quote Reply Posted: 17 Sep 2012 at 7:39am
	Congrats!
	DS xm15 Stage 4 i7-3820 (2.7GHz/3.7GHz) 16GB 1600MHz DDR3 GT 630, 1GB 240GB Intel 520

Alex Members Profile Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Admin Group Digital Storm Supervisor Joined: 04 Jun 2012 Online Status: Offline Posts: 11035	Quote Reply Posted: 17 Sep 2012 at 11:36am
	Glad to hear and welcome as well to the community! Let us all know how it is and post pics too!


Asangard Members Profile Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List DS Veteran Digital Storm Live Chat Rep. Joined: 21 Aug 2009 Online Status: Offline Posts: 1115	Quote Reply Posted: 17 Sep 2012 at 1:51pm
	Hi Scientist, Welcome to the forums. That is a great rig you ordered. You even got the free T Shirt. We would love to see pics of it when you get it.
	All evil comes from within, Not from Without, Therefore, the 1st step on the Holy Warrior path, Is to recognize thyself as thy 1st enemy.

Scientist Members Profile Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Newbie Joined: 16 Sep 2012 Online Status: Offline Posts: 3	Quote Reply Posted: 19 Sep 2012 at 8:13pm
	Thank you all for your encouraging words! My computer arrived yesterday and I am convinced that the people at Digital Storm are time wizards. The wait for delivery seemed to take forever and was a special kind of torture that the Inquisition would be proud of. However, upon receiving my computer it is as though I have woken up from a deep, prolonged sleep into a brave new future with incredible technology. Forgive me, the pictures were taken with my iPhone. The massive box in which my computer was packed with care: The inside of the box containing a FREE T-Shirt, some cables, wheels, my owner's manual (with certificate of authenticity that now authorizes me to look down upon all other less technologically advanced humans) and lots of stickers: The main course, my lovingly packaged PC: The mug shot: The profile with the juicy insides: This picture is of my new PC in my computer corner and I also hope it will send a message to encourage people to actually measure and not guesstimate when it comes to seeing if your Digital Storm computer will fit where you hope for it to. I'm not complaining though; I would much rather have this wonderful machine next to me than hide it away under a desk. My experience with Digital Storm has been everything I had hoped it would be and more. I could not be happier with my computer and the pristine condition it arrived in and the obvious care and diligence that was taken in assembling and shipping it. Kudos to everyone at Digital Storm for striving for and achieving excellence in what you all do and hooking a customer for life. If anyone out there is thinking about ordering from Digital Storm, I can't encourage you enough to do so. Thanks again to everyone on these forums for being extremely helpful and thanks to Digital Storm for making spending money feel so good.

Tidgxor Members Profile Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List DS Veteran Joined: 17 Sep 2010 Online Status: Offline Posts: 3253	Quote Reply Posted: 19 Sep 2012 at 8:44pm
	Nice pics!
	Mr. Bojangles: 2 Years, 5 Months - And Going Strong!

bprat22 Members Profile Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List DS Veteran Joined: 08 Jun 2011 Online Status: Offline Posts: 5110	Quote Reply Posted: 20 Sep 2012 at 12:25am
	Real nice. Enjoy.

Asangard Members Profile Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List DS Veteran Digital Storm Live Chat Rep. Joined: 21 Aug 2009 Online Status: Offline Posts: 1115	Quote Reply Posted: 20 Sep 2012 at 3:02am
	congrats on you new rig.
	All evil comes from within, Not from Without, Therefore, the 1st step on the Holy Warrior path, Is to recognize thyself as thy 1st enemy.

xii Members Profile Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Senior Member Joined: 25 Feb 2012 Online Status: Offline Posts: 921	Quote Reply Posted: 02 Oct 2012 at 8:32am
	Thats pretty sweet and I love that red carpet.

Alex Members Profile Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Admin Group Digital Storm Supervisor Joined: 04 Jun 2012 Online Status: Offline Posts: 11035	Quote Reply Posted: 03 Oct 2012 at 5:21pm
	AWESOME!


msharki Members Profile Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Newbie Joined: 02 Dec 2012 Online Status: Offline Posts: 5	Quote Reply Posted: 02 Dec 2012 at 4:39am
	It's interesting I happened upon your thread here. I just got my PC from Digital Storm. 99.9% the same build as yours, and I have a question for you... Does yours sound like a Harrier jet is about to take off? This thing is LOUD. Great performance though

bprat22 Members Profile Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List DS Veteran Joined: 08 Jun 2011 Online Status: Offline Posts: 5110	Quote Reply Posted: 02 Dec 2012 at 5:17am
	Hi msharki... If you have the Vortex 240 cooler without the 3 speed button on cpu cooler( H100) then ask DS to send you resistor pac short wire harness that mount between fan plugs and mobo header to slow fans down. If thats where the noise is from. They come on max rpm and might not need it. Hope this helps. Congrats on your new rig. Edited by bprat22 - 02 Dec 2012 at 5:18am

msharki Members Profile Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Newbie Joined: 02 Dec 2012 Online Status: Offline Posts: 5	Quote Reply Posted: 02 Dec 2012 at 7:35am
	Thanks man. It is the fans. I could strap one of these bay's to my head and take flight.

bprat22 Members Profile Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List DS Veteran Joined: 08 Jun 2011 Online Status: Offline Posts: 5110	Quote Reply Posted: 02 Dec 2012 at 7:38am
	They can be loud. Call DS and they'll fix ya up. Just check cpu temps after under stress to make sure the 3930k cpu with stage 2 oc if that's your setup stays nice and cool. Good Luck. Just thinking...check your accessory box for the 6 inch wiring harness's with resistor molded inside. You never know. Edited by bprat22 - 02 Dec 2012 at 7:42am

Alex Members Profile Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Admin Group Digital Storm Supervisor Joined: 04 Jun 2012 Online Status: Offline Posts: 11035	Quote Reply Posted: 02 Dec 2012 at 11:03am
	Yes, let us know! The HAF-X is normally a loud chassis due to the high-airflow design with massive vents everywhere.


Tidgxor Members Profile Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List DS Veteran Joined: 17 Sep 2010 Online Status: Offline Posts: 3253	Quote Reply Posted: 02 Dec 2012 at 11:48am
	My nearly silent HAF-X would like a word with you Alex
	Mr. Bojangles: 2 Years, 5 Months - And Going Strong!

Alex Members Profile Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Admin Group Digital Storm Supervisor Joined: 04 Jun 2012 Online Status: Offline Posts: 11035	Quote Reply Posted: 02 Dec 2012 at 12:37pm
	Ha! Definitely true, I did not meant to say HAF-X is usually loud all the time, but, it definitely can be on a large portion of builds due to all of the fan options.