An Updated Hailstorm Review

First off thank you for taking the time to read this updated review

Well i have decided to do an updated review on my hailstorm build. This past summer i had to RMA my build because of debris in the loop i never found out what the debris was caused from but DS fixed it up. That being said while DS had my rig there were other problems, the original plan was for them to clean the debris in the loop, and then i also had them install Quick Disconnect fittings so i will have an easier time working on the loop in the future.

The biggest frustration in this whole process was i wanted them to mod my case by cutting out the bottom HDD cages and cutting an intake hole in the bottom of the case so the 240 rad could lay face down sucking cold air from the bottom of the case. After extensive emails between Alex and others at DS they told me that they could go ahead and do this, that there would be no problem. A couple days latter i got pictures of what they had done and i was in shock. Instead of doing what i told them to do for the mod they drilled holes in the bottom of the case without contacting me at all. Come to find out in a latter email after they already did the drilling that they said my temps were fine and i did not need my original mod that i wanted them to do and they drilled holes for better airflow. This was totally not acceptable and i made sure that they fixed there mistake.

The frustrating part was not being contacted by anyone and then being told they did something totally different in the end i just had them replace the bottom and leave the radiator as is on account of i needed the machine in time for me to leave for school and they were running out of time. The other bad experience of this situation is that DS mounted 2 more fans on my 240 rad, now i do not know what they were thinking when they mounted these extra fans i got the rig thinking that they had installed them correctly in a typical push pull configurations as you can see in my pics the white radiator fans are in a push configuration but DS installed the fans behind the radiator in a push config also. Effectively negating the cooling power of the radiator as hot air is just being pushed back through the radiator where it then sits in the bottom section building up the temp inside my case so the 1 and only intake into the main part of the case is just pushing very hot air into my case causing the temps in my loop to skyrocket i have just now disconnected the fans DS installed and will see if that helps with the temps. I wont be able to fix there mistake until i completely drain and break down the loop as that is the only way i can remove the radiator. All in all my experience with DS has been average to say the least. This will be my last gaming build that is built by others besides myself. I respect DS but i would rather enjoy building my next rig and now every detail of what is being done to it.

Performance wise this thing is powerful i have a stable 4.7 ghz OC that i had to do on my own because i was not satisfied with the way DS originally overclocked my system to 4.5 using 1.4 vcore which was way way too high. My graphics cards have since been overclocked to 1280 mhz clock and 7 ghz memory. This rig will be powerful for some time.

My next plan for this build is to scrape this case pick me up a caselabs sth10 and build my ivy bridge e rig into this, So in conclusion i will be using my DS rig for parts for my new build.

Here are some new pics guys.

http://i1265.photobucket.com/albums/jj520/tju76/Computer%20Pics/2013-01-02_10-09-19_961_zps77ead631.jpg

http://i1265.photobucket.com/albums/jj520/tju76/Computer%20Pics/2013-01-02_10-07-10_869_zps94d322b7.jpg

http://i1265.photobucket.com/albums/jj520/tju76/Computer%20Pics/2013-01-02_10-09-31_769_zps6e0d747d.jpg

http://i1265.photobucket.com/albums/jj520/tju76/Computer%20Pics/2013-01-02_10-09-50_286_zpsc110164e.jpg

http://i1265.photobucket.com/albums/jj520/tju76/Computer%20Pics/2013-01-02_10-10-22_885_zpsee13f4cf.jpg

http://i1265.photobucket.com/albums/jj520/tju76/Computer%20Pics/2013-01-02_10-10-05_925_zps2c667a0f.jpg

http://i1265.photobucket.com/albums/jj520/tju76/Computer%20Pics/2013-01-02_10-10-52_864_zpsabe59e99.jpg

Thank you for posting your feedback. I'm happy to see the completed build.

Me and tju76 went back and fourth a few times via email to confirm items, even to the point of creating drawings and confirming items. The team did additional mods that tju76 originally did not request but they thought he would like, which once I showed tju76 and he did not like them, we made what ever changes back to ensure he was happy with his custom requests.

At times, such incidents can occur when dealing with unique special requests, however, in the end, we do strive to make sure our customers receive exactly what they would be happy with before units leave our facility.

tju dont let some miscommunication get you down. Your picky just like me. Its got to be a certain way or its not acceptable. Went through the same thing but different issues. My issue was the way they ran my water hoses. DS ran them east and west. I made them run them north and south. Over and over till they got it the way I wanted it. Its the end result that counts. You have an awesome rig . Congrats.