Eclipse level 2 (old level 4)

Greetings,

I ordered the Eclipse level 2 at the beginning of the month and have had it for a little over two weeks now. I was first considering the Vanquisher because of the overclock cpu and z97 mobo. To my surprise this computer also comes with the same cpu and a z97 mobo even though the select screen says h97. Because I wanted to be able to travel around with this computer easier, I chose this one.

The computer shipped quickly because it was a prebuilt system, but customer service was very helpful to fulfil any requests I made. Being able to get stage updates helped ease the hardest part of this whole process of waiting for it to come after ordering it. http://www.digitalstorm.com/forums/smileys/smiley18.gif

The computer was shipped UPS and came quickly. The box was a little beat up from the shipping process. I opened up the box and pulled out my sexy new machine. I actually like the RVZ01 case. There was something rattling around inside the case. http://www.digitalstorm.com/forums/smileys/smiley4.gif I opened it up and was able to get it out. I had lost where it went, so I'm not exactly sure what it was, but I'm thinking it might have been a little plastic part of the case because the computer booted up just fine.

Which brings me to the computer itself. This is the first time that I have owned a SSD and man does it ever boot fast. I would say it only took 10 seconds to get into windows. My old laptop was taking at least 5-10 minutes to boot up and be able to function. I wasn't a huge fan of the hexagon desktop background, but I quickly remedied that by getting the black hole background on the website. DS did a great job putting this computer together and had all the wires tied up.

I've priced out the parts and DS does not have a huge mark up on this computer. The fact that this comes with a 4 year labor and 2 year parts warranty gave me the incentive to buy rather than build. The extra hundred or so that gets me the warranty and a tested machine that runs smoothly is a great deal.

I've only played two games on it so far which is Heroes of the Storm and Diablo III. Both of those aren't demanding games. The cpu was at a comfortable 57 degrees or so. While idling it stays at 32 degrees or so. That was one thing I was worried about with the overclock. DS did a great job of overclocking the machine without putting much heat stress on it. I'm very pleased.

With that said, because DS let's you upgrade your computer without voiding the warranty, I decided the first thing I was going to do was add a different than stock cooler to the cpu. Therefore I added a Zalman cnps8900 to the system. It now idles around 27 degrees and was playing my games around 48 degrees. See picture below http://www.digitalstorm.com/forums/smileys/smiley7.gif



I also replaced the case fan over the GPU with a red led fan. I added a second one in the empty slot next to it. Unfortunately, when I was going through the bag of screws that came with my computer, they didn't have anymore of the black case fan screws. Therefore, adding the extra fan I had to use the silver screws that came with the fan. I also replaced the other fan with the silver ones so it would match. Adding the fan has actually lowered the heat of the GPU card as well which wasn't a concern in the first place. I think it looks pretty sweet. I've added a picture below.   http://www.digitalstorm.com/forums/smileys/smiley3.gif



The only problem that I have with this computer is the fact that it only comes with a digital storm certified PSU. It actually looks like a really cheap PSU. I've heard that a PSU could potential fry your whole computer. I'm not too worried at this point because I have the 2 year parts warranty. But I'm thinking about getting the Silverstone 450W gold SFX PSU when the warranty gets closer to expiring. Plus, I've seen builds with that that can make the cable management even better.

I'm very happy overall with this machine and would definitely purchase from DS in the future!

Me too, first Eclipse sighting for me as well!

Thanks for the review, and the pics! ... May you have many happy years together.   

Thanks everyone! Apparently, just dragging and dropping the emoticon didn't work.