Bolt 3 unboxing and review

After waiting much too long my Bolt 3 finally arrived:



Unboxing went quickly, so it was time to finally get a good look at my new computer. So many accessories:



This included manuals for the all of the hardware

Here is a front view:



The right side:



And the interior with a nice view of the 16GB of RAM and the GTX 980 graphics card:



All of the cables were nicely dressed. I opted for the blue tubing because DS was out of the red.

Here is a rear view:



and another view of the power supply and Swiftech:



One final photo of the system running:



Time for a mini-review...the primary use for my computer is to support my ham radio hobby. I am very active in software defined radio and weak signal digital modes (JT9, JT65, etc.). This requires fast processors, multiple cores and plenty of memory to process the signals received by the transceiver. The Bolt 3 with the Intel i7 4790K CPU meets my needs completely and take up less desk space than my old system.

For storage, I went with a Samsung 250GB and a 1TB 850 EVO. Say good bye to spinning disks and hello to fast boot times

When I am not playing radio, it is time for gaming
I've only had time to install Witcher 3 and Elder Scrolls Online. The latter runs really well with all graphics settings at max on my 1920X1200 monitor. I am really glad I opted for the GTX 980 graphics card, but it is odd to see the fans not turning when the card is idle

Speaking of fans, the Hydrolux software is nice and allowed me to easily make adjustments to keep the system nice and quiet when not in use. My only complaint is DS really needs to display the temps in Celsius instead of ‎Fahrenheit.

In summary:

Originally posted by Meller Nice review. Is there not a way to change the units of measurement for the temps? Given that I've never actually laid hands on the Hydrolux software, I'm actually very clueless as to everything you can actually do with it. If you can't, I do find it odd that DS wouldn't display temps in the industry standard. I mean, yes this is America and all... but even here in the US, us geeks have moved over to the World wide use of Celsius in terms of PC temps.

Thanks!

No, there does not appear to be any way to change the display from F to C , but perhaps Alex will chime in with a solution (hint, hint)

The Hydrolux software allows you to control the fan speeds (auto/quiet/extreme) and view the temps for the CPU, GPU, HDD, chassis, etc. as a nice graph.

We're looking to change it in the new version.

Nice rig! I'd like to see this case in white w all that blue.

Edited by 21QZ - 08 Jun 2015 at 3:36pm

Fantabulous! Awesome sauce! That's a beauty right there... thanks for the review.

Now, get back to Skellige... Ciri needs you!

Thanks DS for including my review in the Customer Reviews forum

Looks like your new beast will do everything you hoped it would.  Congrats!  The new Bolts really do look beautiful.  


I do have to ask GoBruins, did your Bolt come wrapped in a fabric bag?


Edited by Dakota Red - 12 Jun 2015 at 1:57am

Hi there!

How are the temps? Idle and gaming for the CPU and GPU?

Thanks!

...and here is after playing Echo of Soul for awhile:

So awesome! Great temps. Thanks again for showing us :) Appreciate it.