New Digital Storm Customer/Aventum X

Hello,
I am a brand new customer to Digital Storm and wanted to do this review for all new customers who are like me and on the fence of what brand to go with.

First, it is important to note that this is my first custom computer ever. I typically bought HP or Dell All-in-one computers to assist me with work projects and have never played games on a PC. I was looking for a PC that could allow me to open multiple different types of files on multiple screens without freezing up on me or crashing.

I did EXTENSIVE research on PC's and looked at Digital Storm, Origin, Xotic, CLX, iBuyPower, NZXT, Critical Error, and Corsair before I decided to go with Digital Storm. I must have configured over 100 PCs and noted their price points. The lack of youtube reviews of Digital Storm Aventum X did concern me. Also, when you google reviews you get a lot of bad ones first. But after reading the reviews, it seemed that most people were upset with the wait time and some were upset that they voided the warranty by trying to "fix" it themselves. That led me to the conclusion that as long as you don't mind the wait and as long as you don't tinker with it until you call their tech support, you should be ok.

I placed my order end of August 2023 and received my PC end of September. That was way faster than I was expecting based upon reviews I had seen. I never contacted Digital Storm about times my computer would be shipped out, I DID contact them to upgrade my RAM which they did for me and it came with the correct items.
After configuring 100's of PCs with all these vendors, I noticed that Digital Storm wasn't really that much more than other places. I had no problem shelling out a couple hundred dollars more for what i considered top of the line. I even priced building my own using a site called pc parts builder or something like that. Ultimately, I would have saved maybe $600 but considered the fact that I have NEVER built a computer and so, the savings would not be worth it when I ran into problems i would not know how to fix.
i did see some forums and even Digital Storm themselves say that you shouldn't buy a PC that's so expensive if you are not going to use it but I think that's a ridiculous thing to say because you never know what you may get into later on.
I bought the Prime Motherboard ASUS z790P with 64GB RGB RAM, 2 TB Samsung Pro 980 SSD, NVIDIA 4080, 850 watts of power, with hard tubes clear liquid and CPU and GPU liquid cooled. After looking at many Digital Storm builds I liked the hard tubing better than flexible. I felt I didn't need the 4080 but the site only allowed liquid cooling on that size or higher so i selected it solely because I liked the look. I am glad i did.
The PC arrived expertly packaged and was not anything of what i initially expected. First, it was WAY bigger than i thought. It is really heavy too so me and my wife had a hard time getting it safely up the stairs and into the office. I wish Digital Storm offered white glove delivery because i definitely would have used that since I have a bad back.
I carefully unwrapped the computer and followed the instructions to the letter to ensure a smooth process of starting the system. This included filling the water reservoir. I was very happy to see that Digital Storm included two full bottles of the liquid I chose and i used one full bottle and a little of the second to completely fill the reservoir and let it cycle through.
After doing all the initial steps I turned on the computer and it worked like a champion. I don't even want to call it a computer, it is truly a work of art. Simply stunning in person and put together so well that I was immediately happy i chose Digital Storm.
I was able to open ALL files and even run media on this work of art with no problems AT ALL! Remember how i said that it was ridiculous to suggest that people do not buy a computer if they don't use it? Well, because I had all this power, I decided to download some games to see how they work and am now actively gaming on this computer. So now i use it for work and play. It runs games like Age of Mythology, Age of Empires IV, Star Wars Fallen order, Baldurs Gate 3 with absolute ease. I used to use my PS5 and Xbox for games but find myself in my office playing these games on this. It is simply wonderful and even though i hadn't intended to use it for games, it was nice that I COULD if I wanted to.
i ended up buying a 4TB WD Black 850 SSD and a Sabrent Rocket Heatsink to get more space. I wanted my original 2 TB only for the OS and software I downloaded (cinebench, armoury crate, icue, CPU-Z, GPU-Z, Samsung Magician, and WD Dashboard. i read and looked at enough gaming reviews to understand that these programs help you monitor your system. Admittedly I am still learning how to interpret the data but there are plenty of youtube videos for that. One note on Sabrent Heatsink, the screw they provide to mount it to the motherboard was way too small so i spent a lot of time finding the right one and just so you know Home Depot and Lowes do not carry them. I ended up going to a computer repair shop. I also bought a 10TB WD Black gaming HDD and put it in the slot that was provided by Digital Storm. One gripe about Digital Storm is that they do not tell you what slots are active. I initially installed in the bottom slot and worked my way up until i found the one that was active. This is a guess but I think that all 8 slots are not active because my ASUS Prime motherboard only has 4 sata connections but that is solely a guess.
My other gripe with Digital Storm is the RGB lighting. I have seen multiple picture of the Aventum X that has multi-colored lighting. The fans would be one color and the internal lighting they add would be another. But the lighting they gave me does not do this. I called them and they suggested I buy an after market controller and install it and it will do what i want. No thanks, I just learned how to install a SSD, heatsink, and HDD, not sure I can handle tearing apart the case and finding said controller, replace it, and connect the right wires to it. Anywho, it doesn't really bother my THAT much, it just would have been nice to have that option.
Overall, I just want to say that if you are on the fence DO IT. Buy this work of ART! I stare at it daily and just marvel at it. I am able to complete multiple tasks at once and have no problems at all. And now, I am even gaming on this puppy and am exploring new games i would have never played before (my next is cyberpunk). This was well worth the money, well worth the wait, and i have ZERO regrets.

Good heavens but those things are pretty. Just 'wow' all over the place.

As Alex has said, Thank you for sharing your review.

Agree with all. I think the single color is eye-caching and soothing.

Originally posted by hoserator Congratulations and welcome to DS. That is one very nice and good looking system. I love that color! Thank you for the great positive review. You might want to top off the reservoir (no need but....) and order some extra coolant now that it is available. Chances are that the system will last longer than one cool;ant "improvement" cycle and the new coolants might not be compatible. with yours. I have an Aventum running the same coolant for +5 years and still very clear. Enjoy!

Hoserator, the instructions said to fill the reservoir to 80% capacity. Do you think I should fill it all the way up? Any help is appreciated, as stated in my post, this is my first custom PC.

Thank you!

Wow! Now that is one nice machine.