My new computer

I am so happy to finally have saved enough money to buy my first real gaming computer. After checking out all options I have settled on DS. I was worried about ordering a comp online as I have never done so before. I checked out -----------, -------------- and -----------, but no of them offered the Customer Service that DS did. That was a big selling point to me. I don't know a lot about fixing/problem solving if something were to go wrong and I wanted to head that off before I needed it. DS has a very nice community from what I have read on the forums here, and as it stands right now I am happy to be a part of it. I feel sure that WoW and Archage will run just fine with this set up. lol.


I have got my first email today that Stage one has been completed and that has me really stoked, but I have just one problem. I noticed on a previous email that my address was wrong. I called today to try and set the record straight. I know I will hear from them soon, but if not I hear Alex is the go-to guy here :)

Here is a listing of my dream computer :

Chassis Model: Special Deal Hot Seller - Corsair Obsidian 550D
Exterior Finish: - Standard Factory Finish
Trim Accents: - Standard Factory Finish
Processor: Intel Core i7 4790K 4.0 GHz (Codename Devils Canyon) (Unlocked CPU) (Quad Core)
Motherboard: GIGABYTE G1.Sniper Z97 (Intel Z97 Chipset) (Onboard Creative Sound)
System Memory: 16GB DDR3 1600MHz Digital Storm Certified Performance Series (Highly Recommended) (Hand Tested)
Power Supply: 750W EVGA SuperNOVA
Expansion Bay: - No Thanks
Optical Drive: DVD-R/RW/CD-R/RW (DVD Writer 24x / CD-Writer 48x)
Storage Set 1: 1x SSD (128GB Samsung 850 PRO)
Storage Set 2: 1x Storage (1TB Western Digital - Black Edition)
Storage Set 3: - No Thanks
RAID Config: - No Thanks
RAID Card: - No Thanks
Internet Access: High Speed Network Port (Supports High-Speed Cable / DSL / Network Connections)
Graphics Card(s): 1x NVIDIA GeForce GTX 980 4GB (Includes PhysX)
Sound Card: Integrated Motherboard Audio
HPC Processor: - No Thanks
Extreme Cooling: H20: Stage 2: Digital Storm Vortex 120mm Radiator Liquid CPU Cooler (High-Performance Edition)
H20 Tube Color: - Not Applicable, I do not have a FrostChill or Sub-Zero LCS Cooling System Selected
Chassis Fans: Standard Factory Chassis Fans
Internal Lighting: - No Thanks
Airflow Control: - No Thanks
Chassis Mods: - No Thanks
Noise Reduction: Noise Suppression Package Stage 1 (Optimized Airflow & Fan Speeds Only)
LaserMark: - No Thanks
CPU Boost: Stage 1: Overclock CPU 4.0GHz to 4.4GHz
Graphics Boost: - No Thanks, Please do not overclock my video card(s)
Memory Boost: - No Thanks, Please do not overclock my memory
OS Boost: Yes, Disable and tweak all of the non-crucial services on the operating system
Windows OS: Microsoft Windows 8.1 (64-Bit Edition)
Recovery Tools: Windows Recovery Toolkit (Bundled with Windows CD)
Virus Protection: FREE: McAfee AntiVirus Plus (1 Year Service Activation Card) (Not Pre-installed) ($35 Value)
Office: - No Thanks
Game: - No Thanks
Display: - No Thanks
Surge Shield: - No Thanks
Speakers: - No Thanks
Keyboard: - No Thanks
Mouse: - No Thanks
NVIDIA SHIELD: - No Thanks
Branded Gear: - No Thanks
Priority Build: - No Thanks, Ship Within 10-15 Business Days After Order Is Successfully Processed
Warranty: Life-time Expert Care with 3 Year Limited Warranty (3 Year Labor & 1 Year Part Replacement.


I know it's not much by some standards but with my budget I think it's pretty awesome. There were one or two more things I wish I could have added but budget restrictions have held me back, for now

EDIT: Competitor names removed - Alex

Edited by Alex - 29 Dec 2014 at 2:41pm

Tyvm bprat22. This was a huge step for me :)

TY Alex! I look forward to years of fun with this rig

Yeah! My rig passed the Stage 7QA Check!
Now for the hard part: the "waiting for it to arrive"... lol!

My rig arrived! The box looked to be in good shape at first walk around.


I did sacrifice some cardboard boxes to the shipping gods Snake, lots of it.. Maybe too much in fact.. lol.

The box had two big dents in the side, but neither one looked to have gone all the way through. But upon unpacking my hard drive was sitting crooked and was unplugged. The SSD was unplugged as well. Upon further investigating, with a very understanding and patient DS rep, one of the big plug in wires to the motherboard was unplugged.

I had to remove the hard drive completely and upon putting it back in I noticed a thick set of wires on the tray underneath was pushing up, causing the hard drive to set crooked. So I rearranged them so they were two trays down and everything fit perfect.

This all took about 3 hours to do. It took a lot of problem solving to figure out. When I plugged in my HDMI cable my monitor would not show the start up screen. It would just stay blank on the DS screen. Unplugging it seems to have solved the problem.
It wasn't until I was online and had hung up with the DS rep that I noticed it was 45 minutes after closing time. I am very thankful to her for staying with me during this very confusing time, I just wish I can remember her name.. lol.

Now I am up and running very well. I have yet to try it out with a night of gaming yet, but am looking forward to it.
I have some pictures to post of it upon arrival, I just need to dl them.

I have one question to ask. When I go into my System and Security and look at my system it tells me that my Installed Memory (RAM) is 4.00GB. I thought this is where it should show I have 16Gb of RAM. Am I wrong?

Thank you in advance for any answers

I don't know about system and security, but it should show 16 GB on bootup, unless the BIOS bootup screen is being skipped

dxdiag used to be helpful for seeing system info, but maybe that's long gone

And there's a number of monitoring tools in windows that can show you. I don't know where this stuff is in windows 8

This has some methods -
http://www.techpowerup.com/forums/threads/windows-8-how-to-see-processor-ram-specs.176964/

Congrats on your new rig and getting all the shipping bugs ironed out.  

Use CPU-Z to check the ram, under the memory tab.  It'll also give you the speeds and timings.    You can also use this tool to check your overclock if you wish.

You're not wrong about System.  My experience is that it does display the ram correctly.    Double check it with CPU-Z and if its still wrong then follow Snaike's suggestion to reseat all the ram sticks. 

Have fun.


Edited by bprat22 - 22 Jan 2015 at 7:27am

Ok, I removed both sticks of Ram and plugged them back in , and now I went from 4 to 8 gigs of Ram. Would this mean that one stick is damaged?

I understand, but I should have 16gigs of memory. System Memory: 16GB DDR3 1600MHz Digital Storm Certified Performance Series (Highly Recommended) (Hand Tested)
And I only have 8. And yes, it is hard to believe that it got this banged up during shipping. I expected better tbh.
I'm going to call Tech Support tomorrow and see if we can figure out whats going on with the memory. I'm so confused and out of my league trying to guess what could have happened.

Well I got my answer, which was not what I expected... lol.
It looks like it left the factory with just 8 gigs of Ram and DS is now shipping my other 8 gigs.
Well at least I know it wasn't further injured during shipping..lol

Originally posted by Yosha Well I got my answer, which was not what I expected... lol. It looks like it left the factory with just 8 gigs of Ram and DS is now shipping my other 8 gigs. Well at least I know it wasn't further injured during shipping..lol

Hopefully, a matter of simple human error. I have certainly made my fair share. Might be worth them looking at their process and trying to figure out how this was not checked.

I would probably not make this error when building my own PC. I would notice the boot amount, I am used to looking at it due to many years of looking at boot screens. I would like to hope they are better than I am building PCs.

I did realize modern BIOS does not show RAM amount like the old BIOSs did. Makes it harder to tell if your system RAM is correct.

But surely there should be a QA check to compare RAM against inventory. Even if there was, it's possible to miss such things. I have been in software development my whole life and missed many things. Some which resulted in customer issues.

It tells you how important it is to have an easy to follow process for things :)

Glad the fix is in the mail.

CPU-Z showing only 8gb told us you had missing ram.

Found it interesting the CPU radiator is on the rear vent. Is the exhaust fan for the case on top then?

Understood, but curious where the exhaust fan is? I would think you would need an exhaust fan beside the radiator's fan

Interesting. So that single 120mm plus fans are responsible for venting heat for the CPU and the case

"front fans blow any other heat out the case's vents"

You had me until that point. You said the flow was front to back, so I then assumed the front fan(s) did intake duty as normal