I7/X58/GTX480 System Review

Having bought my system for the impending launch of Diablo 3 in June of 2010 (lol) with the game finally out I decided it was time to write up a review for my DS rig.

Pics:







I7 930 2.8ghz OC'd to 3.8 on a EVGA X58 SLI LE with 6gbs of 1600mhz DS ram. 750W PSU. GTX 480 GPU. I later added a SSD, 2 chasis fans, and an aftermarket gpu cooler (zalman 3500zf?) myself.

The good:
This PC has ran everything I have thrown at it well. Two years later, it is holding up against time impressively. As in, I'm still running games that I buy on max settings with no issues. I keep my house at 80 degrees and temps are good (although the reference cooler on the GTX480 is gone now). This rig has received a surprising amount of compliments, even from people who are not PC enthusiasts for both its aesthetics and speed. The way the computer was shipped was very nice, and I was thankful to find they had also sent unused modular cables, cd's and manuals.

The bad:
I ran into two issues when the PC got here. The first being that the included Mini HD adapter could not actually be plugged into the back of the card. Probably poor manufacturer's design and not DS's fault, but it was still frustrating. The adapter was simply too wide and my solution was makeshift to say the least (I shaved down the rubber to make it fit next to where the chasis juts out from the I/O panel.

My second issue was that I received a Zotac GTX480 as opposed to the EVGA I had opted for, for a couple additional bucks. When I called customer service and told the person I spoke with she told me a Zotac card cost the same amount as an EVGA. I didn't want to argue about it only to end up sending my card back.

Other thoughts:
It would be nice to know the specs on the RAM I got (like intended timings and manufacturer). Also a sheet showing original BIOS settings compared to how DS ended up configuring them would have been helpful to me personally.

All in all my DS rig has been fantastic and treated my very well. I would recommend a Digital Storm computer to anyone who wants a custom PC but is not interested in building it themselves. Thanks for the great computer, 9/10 overall buying experience.