Black OPS HailStorm ReviewPost Date: 2011-05-08 |
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PGS ![]() Newbie ![]() ![]() Joined: 25 Apr 2011 Online Status: Offline Posts: 16 |
![]() ![]() ![]() Posted: 08 May 2011 at 6:51pm |
As mentioned in another post, I recently ordered one of these:
System Configuration: Chassis Model: Special Deal Hot Seller - Black OPS HailStorm Edition Exterior Finish: - Standard Factory Finish Trim Accents: - Standard Factory Finish Processor: Intel Core i7 Extreme Edition 990X 3.46GHz (Six-Core) (Extreme Performance) Motherboard: ASUS Rampage III Extreme (Intel X58 Chipset) (Features USB 3.0 and SATA 6Gb/s) System Memory: 12GB DDR3 1600MHz Digital Storm Certified (Highly Recommended) (Hand Tested) Power Supply: 1000W Digital Storm Certified (Dual/Triple/Quad SLI Compatible) (Silent Edition Highly Recommended) Expansion Bay: - No Thanks Hard Drive Set 1: Operating System: 1x (2TB Western Digital (7200 RPM) (64MB Cache) (Model: Black Edition WD2002FAEX) (SATA 6Gbps) Set 1 Raid Options: - No Thanks Hard Drive Set 2: Multimedia\Data: - No Thanks Hard Drive Set 3: Backup\Misc.: - No Thanks Optical Drive 1: Blu-Ray & DVD Writer/Reader (Burn + Play Blu-Ray & DVDs) (12x BD-R) (Lite-On iHBS112) 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 590 3GB (PhysX) (EVGA Classified 03G-P3-1598-AR) Add-on Card: - No Thanks Sound Card: Integrated Motherboard Audio Extreme Cooling: H20: Stage 3: FrostChill Cooling System: CPU Only H20 Tube Color: Blue Tubing with High-Performance Fluid (UV Lighting Reactive) Chassis Airflow: Upgrade Chassis With LED Performance Fans (Blue) (Up to 6 Fans) Internal Lighting: Internal Chassis Lighting System (UV) (Creates Glowing Effect for H20 Tubes) Enhancements: - No Thanks Chassis Mods: - No Thanks Noise Reduction: Noise Suppression Package Stage 2 (Optimized Airflow & Fan Speeds with Noise Dampening Material) CPU Boost: Stage 3: Overclock the processor between 4.2GHz to 4.6GHz (Requires i7 990X Processor) Graphics Boost: - No Thanks, Please do not overclock my video card(s) Memory Boost: - No Thanks, Please do not overclock my memory OS Boost: - No Thanks, Please do not tweak the services on the operating system Windows OS: Microsoft Windows 7 Ultimate (64-Bit Edition) Recovery Tools: Windows Recovery Toolkit (Bundled with Windows 7 CD) Virus Protection: - No Thanks Office: - No Thanks Benchmarking: - No Thanks Pre-Install 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 (Xtra Large) Priority Build: Please Prioritize: Ship Within Four Business Days After Order Is Successfully Processed Warranty: Life-time Expert Customer Care with 3 Year Limited Warranty ____________________________________________________________ Reason for buying: I wanted a system that would allow me strong performance in both 3D modeling/animation and gaming. I do Autodesk Maya as a hobby, and after using the Mac version for years, I finally realized that the Windows version seems to work better. As for gaming, I do mostly Microsoft Flight Simulator X, as the shoot-em-up games tend to make me feel carsick. ![]() I discovered Digital Storm after cancelling a similar order with one of their competitors back east. That competitor (hint: their name is a synonym for "beginning") apparently builds quality systems, but I was not willing to tolerate their lack of communication long enough to actually own one. So after reading many fine reviews on this site, I decided to order from DS. The ordering process had one hitch: They really REALLY take the utmost in precaution if you want the system sent to somewhere other than your billing address. In spite of the fact that my office is registered as a valid shipping address with my credit card company, DS still wanted faxed copies of my credit card and a personal ID. In this age of identity theft, I was reluctant to do this, but they assured me that the documents are shredded as soon as they are inspected. (I really hope so.) Anyway, I do appreciate their due diligence in this regard, in spite of it being a pain. Once my order was approved, the status went from Stage 1 to Stage 5 within a couple of days. I of course jumped right to Stage 8. (Don't we all.) When Stage 5 started to show signs of not progressing to Stage 6, I pinged Alex and asked him to poke around. He responded promptly and told me that they were putting the system through its paces. I reminded him that I had selected the 4-day build, and I think he went and gave Thanh a motivational speech, because my system did in fact ship on the 4'th day. I selected the wooden crate option, and when it arrived at our office loading dock on Monday, I was blown away by its size and construction. The FedEx lady said "Here's your dead body" as she wheeled it off of the truck. When I finally got it home that afternoon, I said some bad words, as I had forgotten to charge my screw gun. ![]() ![]() Anyway, I finally got the computer upstairs into my office, removed the protective foam that is inside the enclosure, plugged everything in, and fired it up. The Bios immediately reported the overclock of 4.42 GHz, and WIndows 7 booted without issue...which is how it has performed from day one. This machine scores quite well when running Cinebench. It doesn't totally kill my 2-year old 8-core Mac Pro, but it does edge it out by a couple of points...which is not bad considering it has 2 less cores. And Flight Simulator X runs beautifully with all settings cranked to full. The overclock is rock-solid in terms of stability. The only issue I have had is with one of the LED fans on the top of the case. The light on the middle fan sometimes gets brighter for a few seconds, then goes back to matching the others. It can be a little distracting...if anybody has any suggestions, please let me know. My guess is that it has something to do with the wiring. I may call DS next week about it. Unless one of you tells me it's normal. To summarize, my experience with Digital Storm has been extremely positive. The staff is polite and very responsive, and as a company, they do what they say they are going to do. When you really need information, Alex is right there to help. I would not hesitate to recommend DS to anyone, and this is big coming from me, as I tend to be pretty critical at times. (Just ask the people I work with.) ![]() So on to the pictures: ![]() ![]() ![]() |
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maxyme ![]() DS Veteran ![]() Joined: 14 Aug 2010 Online Status: Offline Posts: 1514 |
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wow great looking rig. and the 990x wow nice.
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Steam:pcmaster160
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Alex ![]() Admin Group ![]() Digital Storm Supervisor ![]() Joined: 04 Jun 2012 Online Status: Offline Posts: 16314 |
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@PGS,
Nice system! Thank you for the review and photos. I'm glad to hear that you love the system. In regards to one of the LEDs on the fan, I'm not sure what to exactly say to that, but, we can arrange for a replacement LED fan for you. You'll need our help to walk you through replacing it. It will take some serious effort, as you'll have to unmount all of the screws holding in the radiator. I'm not sure if you want to go through all of that for it, but, we'll help you out! |
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DST4ME ![]() DS ELITE ![]() ![]() Joined: 14 Apr 2008 Online Status: Offline Posts: 36758 |
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looks great very nice
![]() I wish you would have talked to us, we could have made a few changes to better it for you. Edited by DST4ME - 08 May 2011 at 7:53pm |
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PGS ![]() Newbie ![]() ![]() Joined: 25 Apr 2011 Online Status: Offline Posts: 16 |
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@Alex - Thanks for the offer to replace the fan. I'll get in touch with you guys this week to arrange that. And yes...I'm up to the challenge of replacing it myself!
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PGS ![]() Newbie ![]() ![]() Joined: 25 Apr 2011 Online Status: Offline Posts: 16 |
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@DST4ME - Thanks for the comment. I do plan to go multi-processor with the next upgrade, so I'll tap into your wisdom then. BTW, that picture of your rig taken from above at an angle: Coolest. Picture. Ever.
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DST4ME ![]() DS ELITE ![]() ![]() Joined: 14 Apr 2008 Online Status: Offline Posts: 36758 |
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Thanks we both have the same case, different colors, I like the blue a lot on yours, its nice and clean
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ablahblah ![]() DS Veteran ![]() ![]() Joined: 12 Jun 2009 Online Status: Offline Posts: 2312 |
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Nice rig, what fans are those though? They bear some resemblance to some Cooler Master fans I've used (L2R series), and they're the same fan, then the increased lighting of the fan is probably linked to the fan revving up to a quicker speed somehow (The LEDs on CM L2R series fans seem to be powered off the rotation of the fan blades themselves.),
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R4D4RPR00F
Core i7 920 @ 3.9Ghz Asus Sabertooth X58 EVGA GTX 570 Mushkin 6GB 1414Mhz |
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PGS ![]() Newbie ![]() ![]() Joined: 25 Apr 2011 Online Status: Offline Posts: 16 |
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@ablahblah - I'm embarrassed to admit that I'm not sure on the brand of the fans. They are whatever you get when you select "LED Performance Fans" when you order. I bet Alex could tell us...
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Alex ![]() Admin Group ![]() Digital Storm Supervisor ![]() Joined: 04 Jun 2012 Online Status: Offline Posts: 16314 |
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They are Cooler Master LED fans.
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PGS ![]() Newbie ![]() ![]() Joined: 25 Apr 2011 Online Status: Offline Posts: 16 |
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@Alex - Yup. I just came from Cooler Master's web site, and found some that look exactly like mine. It is odd that it's just one if the fans that does this...or does each one operate off of a separate sensor?
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Alex ![]() Admin Group ![]() Digital Storm Supervisor ![]() Joined: 04 Jun 2012 Online Status: Offline Posts: 16314 |
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I think it just has to do with the fan.
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rholyrag ![]() Senior Member ![]() ![]() Joined: 17 Oct 2009 Online Status: Offline Posts: 841 |
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Very nice! The blue lighting looks great!
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"What we do in life echoes in eternity" - Maximus from Gladiator
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Tidgxor ![]() DS ELITE ![]() The Kokopelli kid ![]() Joined: 17 Sep 2010 Online Status: Offline Posts: 13000 |
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Definitely agree with Rholyrag on this one! Congrats! ![]() |
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My Two Digital Storm Rigs: Mr. Bojangles (HAF-X, 2010) & Mrs. Bojingles (Bolt I, 2013).
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PGS ![]() Newbie ![]() ![]() Joined: 25 Apr 2011 Online Status: Offline Posts: 16 |
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@Tidgxor & rholyrag: Thanks! I find myself looking forward to nighttime so I can enjoy the blue lights. Kind of soothing, like a fish tank.
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Dsnewb210 ![]() Senior Member ![]() ![]() Joined: 01 Oct 2008 Online Status: Offline Posts: 972 |
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Nice looking rig man, I'm a sucker for blue lights :P
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950SI
965/4.0 Frostbite LC 6GB Dominator 1600mhz Rampage II Extreme Intel 160 320 Raid 0 GTX 285 SLI Dell 2408wfp/2407wfp Logitech G19, Razer Mamba Wireless Astro A40's Bose Companion 5 Speakers |
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PGS ![]() Newbie ![]() ![]() Joined: 25 Apr 2011 Online Status: Offline Posts: 16 |
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The red "Republic of Gamers" emblem on the mobo is also pretty cool...it pulses when the computer is in sleep mode.
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