My First Review of my new DSO Rig

Ok, so I do not have the time to do a great review of my new rig as I am going out of town tomorrow, but here is the abbreviated version.

I ordered on about November third, started in stage one on the seventh.  It was a rocky road from there. Had to upgrade the case and go with Thermoelectric cooling as it was a fire pit.  Delayed it like mad.  I don’t blame DSO entirely as they are trying to custom build and I guess, unknowingly, I had stuffed to much rig into a Twister Pro case. Many hours on the phone with Alex and Kelly and Josh and Dave and we finally came to a compromise and got her working.  Alex answered every email I sent to him and reinstalled my confidence in the delays in the build.

Alex even called me several times and assured me they were all over it and must have told me 10 times that they wanted to send me nothing but the best rig possible.  He also knew that I was shipping out on a business trip tomorrow, the eleventh, for at least a week and as much as three weeks. I live alone and HAD to have this here today, the tenth.

Arrived today via DHL, I had it, in cooperation with DSO and with added cost to me, overnight shipped from DSO on Friday.

The rig arrived, as promised before 3 PM eastern time.  The fun than begun.

The exterior box was in good shape, only one dented corner and the exterior was dirty.  It was well sealed and had several fragile stickers on it. 

Once opened, it was VERY well packaged with custom fit foam.  Everything was perfectly packed and easy to unpack.  The book was nicely organized and I like that all of the extra component parts were included along with all of the manuals.

I pulled it out, and checked it all over. I could not believe my eyes as to what I had in my hands. This rig was like a 70, Hemi, Cuda.  She Screamed raw power both externally and internally.  Its visual appeal both excited and scared me! I have NEVER seen so many and such large fans on a computer!  And the purple liquid carried by clear garden hoses to tame this beast of a processor was just plain insanity!

 Not a single missing or loose screw. All of the components were still well seated.  Only one memory stick seemed very slightly loose.  I snuggled her up into the MB and then looked in the book, even though I know how to set up a computer, I followed all of DSO’s directions.

She fired up like a champ! And sounded like a 747 starting up! I then began the task of installing all of the router hard ware and software. Everything worked very smoothly. I then lugged this hulking beast upstairs and gingerly set her in my office.  Way too big to fit in my “desks” computer hole. So, she was placed loving next to my desk reserved just for my gaming adventures.

I spent the next several hours getting used to Vista will loading up my newly purchased Norton 2008, MS Office 2007 and a plethora of other basic programs and Windows Updates. I then installed my new Logitech Trackman mouse ball, my new Samsung SyncMaster 226BW, my new Razer Lycosa key board (ya, there are all the connections for it in a flip up panel on top of the case) and my Creative Labs 5.1 speakers.  EVERYTHING loaded perfectly and without a single glitch. Its like Vista and this rig were just waiting for this stuff to be hooked up!

So, now here I am.  I just loaded CRYSIS.  And, I went into the menu screen for the game. I hit the auto config button on the options menu to see what it would do, while crossing my fingers.  The next thing I know, within seconds, I get a “Warning, you have been set to very high”. Ya, that’s right kids.  This game, the recent killer of all rigs is telling me all settings are on VERY HIGH.  I also checked them.  Yup, maxed out!

So, if that is not a testament to the quality of this beast, nothing is.

To all of you there at DSO, thank you for my dream system.  It was a lot of money, some pain, but worth it over all.  You have a customer for life.

I will try to download and post some photos before my plane leaves tomorrow.

Tonight? I am pouring me a 25 year old scotch and logging on to Crysis.  It is time to put my hard earned and hard slaved over system to work.

Thanks to all at DSO for building me a visually and functionally killer rig.  Thank you for listening to me complain and holding my hand every step of the birth process of this beast.

More reviews to follow!

Oh, yes, Ed, you have said it all. I have just played the first few moments of Crysis and all I can must is a, WOW.  I can not believe this!