ODE: V2 Lvl 3 review

Well, I got it, as the subject says. My ODE V2 actually arrived about a month ago, and I wanted to mess about with it before posting a review. Which I did. So here's the review.

First, my old rig. I built it about 10 years ago. And I loved it. Its lasted that long, yes. Upgraded video card and power supply but that's all I've had to do with it and I thought it ran games pretty well. I play A LOT of games. Skyrim, Fallout, X-Com...if its out for the PC I either own it or have played it. I am a strictly PC gamer. I have an X-box 360 but its only use is for Netflix and Red Dead Redemption. I've been a PC gamer all my life. My first computer was an Apple IIe. My first game, Wizardry. I upgraded to an Amiga a few years later. At the time, it was THE gaming system. It had a whole 1MB of RAM in it, and it was HUGE. You had to shove it into the bottom of the keyboard (which was also the computer) and the cover bulged out so it always sat kinda wonky. I actually miss that computer. Bards Tale I, II, III. Full Metal Planet. Swords of Twilight and Speed Ball. Great games. I digress...

So yeah, my old rig I thought was good. It played Skyrim on maxed settings, I could play Samurai II Total War with a decent groove. Not great, but definitely playable. But my son wants a computer and so I figured fine, ill use my tax returns, get myself a new rig and give him my old. It was a toss up between the ODE V2 Lvl 3 or the Bolt. I was REALLY tempted by the Bolt. So much so that it took me an addition week before I was set on the ODE. I don't know if the Bolt would have been a better choice, but I don't care. I f**king love my ODE. I mean, f**kING LOVE. Excuse my language, but sometimes, as in this time, the only way to adequately express how you feel is to just let loose. And I f**king love my new computer.

It took them about ten days to get it to me. Perfect. I expected three weeks. I had been tracking the package so I knew when it should arrive and it was almost as exciting as the birth of my daughter. Is that bad? I don't know, but its the truth. Don't get me wrong, if my house was on fire id save my daughter first but I would go back in for the ODE next. So I run out to the drive, snow on the ground and im barefoot. Guy looks at me like im kinda insane which, under the circumstances is justified. He let me wheel the MASSIVE box in and I took it from there. I have pics of all this. I tried to get one of the truck guy with the box, like waving and smiling but he wasn't into it. Whatever.

So yeah, Im in love. The guys and girls at DS are amazing. I stated that my old rig was decent but I didn't know what good was until now. Im running Skyrim maxed with the ENB mod (and about 100 others) and a bunch of high rez graphx mods and it looks like a f**king photograph. It blew my mind. I had to wake up my girl to show her...which pist her off until she saw how amazing it looked. She went right back to bed and all but she was still impressed. Im running Samurai on maxed out settings. Crashed it once but it hasn't happened since. Tomb Raider is maxed out and looks awesome. I can finally play Far Cry 3 (too much lag on my old rig) and THAT is maxed out as well. Put it this way, every game im throwing at the ODE V2 Lvl 3, the computer is eating it up, laughing at me and asking for more. So far it has been able to take it all. And its simply a gorgeous machine. My old rig looks like someone vomited a bunch of wires and a motherboard into a case. The ODE is a work of art. So pristine and pretty. The ONLY complaint I have, and I only mention this to show how trivial a complaint it actually is, is that the front dust cover is kinda bent. It sticks out a bit. And I figure I can fix that on my own. I really cant say enough good things about this, so I will stop now. And end it with a sincere thank you to the DS team that put this together. You guys rock. For anyone on the fence about buying a DS rig. Do it. Its a huge jump, I agree. The money, its a lot (though if you do your research, anything comparable you would build on your own, your only saving about 100-200$)but its probably the best buy Ive...ever made? Probably. I have no regrets thus far.

Added a pic of the ODE running Skyrim as well. Wanted people to be able to see how incredible it looks on this rig.

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Welcome to the forums! Congrats on your ODE! Nice Review! 

Also, Bonus Points for Watership Down.

Nice review! Thanks for sharing! Great pictures!