Digital Storm VS Self-built

Hello all,

I did an interesting price comparison of two PCs that are virtually identical - however one is configured through Digital Storm, and the other is what it would cost to order the parts on your own and build it yourself. I understand Digital Storm is a business and obviously they have to profit, not going to harp on that - but rather propose if the price difference worth it to you guys.

Here's the Digital Storm build:
digitalstormonline.com/comploadsaved.asp?id=792495

and here's the self-building list, through PCPartPicker
pcpartpicker.com/p/FI3X

Through Digital Storm the build would be $4477, and through building it yourself it would be $3694, an approximate savings of $782. Meaning that DS charges around 18% extra for their service.

Now, many of you would not want to build it yourselves, however you can actually call ahead of time to electronic stores near you, and they will actually assemble your entire computer for you, for a much cheaper fee. I called Fry's and they would do it for around $150. ($632 savings in the case of this build)

For you guys, is having the computer built by DS worth paying the extra money?

I'm just curious of the community's thoughts on this, so let me know what you think!

It is true they have the best customer service. Yes i believe having a computer built by DS is worth it. If something was to go wrong with your system they will help you no matter what unlike those other competitors. And as DomTheBomb said the community is awesome and the warranty is the best.

Edited by ArkansasWoman777 - 24 Feb 2013 at 7:20pm

Hi pugwest...welcome to the DS forums.    I don't think you really want some guy at Frys assembling your rig

I think you might read a bit more on these forums and you would end up answering your own question.        I'll indulge the question for you.    

If you were completely comfortable & experienced at building your own gaming rig for less money, and for taking responsibility to keep it running I suspect you would not be looking here now at DS.   We all felt the same.

Most of the "Verified DS Customers" here on the forums have bought less than stellar pc's from many other companies before and were unhappy with what we got for our money, or were frustrated with time-wasting tech support using bad English from some offshore country, or have built their own computers and know it's not simple or easy.       

I can assure you there are a wealth of folks here who are quite capable of building a rig...but they know they will never build as many gaming computers as DS techs do, nor have the same problem solving expertise or component experience that techs at DS have.    You get old fashioned craftsmanship and attention to detail from a DS built rig, and they are very comfortable dealing with demanding customers that have very high standards for looks, performance, fit & finish in a personalized gaming computer.    A DS rig comes with a warranty that is backed by the same Fremont, Calif people that built that PC.      These computers are thoroughly stress tested over several days to make sure what you get is as rock solid in performance as they can make it.     You get lifetime tech support of the rig...from the same people...in Fremont Calif...speaking English and with knowledge of gaming computers, overclocking complexities, and knowledge of what people do with high performance gaming PC's....

I have bought 3 DS rigs in the last 13 months.
Yup, it's worth it to buy your rig from Digital Storm.              

There's already been some good points posted in this thread. But one thing I would strongly consider if you go the Fry's route is their quality guarantee. Just about anyone can build a PC, it might sling errors, and crash all the time, but it's not too hard to throw one together. Do they cover any issues that arise, do they do any strenuous stress testing? If one of your pieces of hardware turns out to be bad, do you have to pay more?

I completely understand building it yourself. But I think if you are going to buy the parts and have someone else build it, then you need to do some thorough research into what they do, and do not guarantee.

Different configurations have different markups. For the lower end systems that require much less labor, and even some high end systems, the markup is much lower, such as on the ODE and Marauder lines.

generally 3500$+ systems, whether you build them yourself, or buy them, will require a lot of careful work to build, due to the number and expense of component, added lighting, and of course, high end water/sub zero cooling, and  raid configurations, etc.... Most people either can't, or don't want to put up with that on their own, and if you have that type of money to throw around on a tower, you probably don't care about extra gratuity, so long as the product comes out in perfect working order.

Most people who put their PC's together themselves are building 1400$ or less, simple, single mid range GPU, air cooled systems, using online parts guides. Those type of machines can be thrown together by most people in an afternoon and be fine for the average user. For someone who wants more, as in, more power, better parts, cooler looks, and peace of mind etc... getting a system from a premium builder like DS is often a better choice, unless your a super hardcore (you can often find these "hardcores" on various internet sites bad mouthing people who buy their systems prebuilt, instead of gaming on their supposed pride and joy's)


Edited by Defengar - 24 Feb 2013 at 9:18pm

Without Question the Warranty. What i like about DS is this
Things you can't get like there Aventum Case its built in house. Also there Bada$$ new Copper Nickle plated tubing. I have always built my own PC, with what high end parts cost it is so much better to have a very good Warranty on your parts.. I hated calling the Manufacture to get a new video card or a new motherboard.... I will pay thousands more to not have to deal with that BS. I would not get a high end water loop built at frys...

Just my thoughts,

Evil

You get what you pay for. After dealing with one cr*ptop after the other I'm finally getting one from DS and I'm thrilled about it. It's a killer warranty and great CS behind that higher price tag.