Review of Lynx Custom Build!

On July 17th I ordered 2X Lynx Custom Builds and on September 4th they arrived. The machines themselves were roughly $2,000.00 USD a piece so $4,000.00 all in. First will be the system specs and after will be a detailed review.

System Configuration:
Chassis Model: Digital Storm Lynx
Exterior Finish: - Standard Factory Finish
Trim Accents: - Standard Factory Finish
Processor: Intel Core i7-10700K (5.1 GHz Turbo) (16-Thread) (8-Core) 3.8 GHz
Motherboard: ASUS Prime Z490-P / MSI Z490-A Pro (Intel Z490 Chipset) (Up to 2x PCI-E Devices) (No SLI Support)
System Memory: 16GB DDR4 3200MHz Digital Storm Performance Series
Power Supply: 600W Digital Storm Performance Series (Supports up to an NVIDIA RTX 2070 GPU)
Expansion Bay: - No Thanks
Optical Drive: - No Thanks
Storage Set 1: 1x SSD (500GB Digital Storm Performance Series)
Storage Set 2: 1x Storage (2TB Seagate / Toshiba / Hitachi)
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 GeForce RTX 2060 SUPER 8GB (VR Ready)
Sound Card: Integrated Motherboard Audio
Add On Card: - No Thanks
Extreme Cooling: H20: Stage 1: Digital Storm Vortex Liquid CPU Cooler (Single Fan) (Fully Sealed + No Maintenance)
HydroLux Tubing Style: - Not Applicable, I do not have a custom HydroLux liquid cooling system selected
HydroLux Fluid Color: - Not Applicable, I do not have a custom HydroLux liquid cooling system selected
Cable Management: Premium Cable Management (Strategically Routed & Organized for Airflow)
Chassis Fans: Digital Storm Performance Series (RGB Fans)
Internal Lighting: Remote Controlled Advanced LED Lighting System (Multiple RGB Color Modes)
Airflow Control: - No Thanks
Chassis Mods: - No Thanks
Noise Reduction: - No Thanks
LaserMark: Option Not Available
CPU Boost: Stock Factory Turbo Boost Advanced Automatic Overclocking
Graphics: - No Thanks, Please do not overclock my video card(s)
OS Boost: - No Thanks, Please do not tweak the services on the operating system
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 10 Home (64-Bit Edition)
Recovery Tools: USB Drive - Windows 10 Installation (Format and Clean Install)
Virus Protection: Windows Defender Antivirus (Built-in to Windows 10)
Office: - No Thanks
Mouse Pad: - No Thanks
Display: - No Thanks
Surge Shield: - No Thanks
Speakers: - No Thanks
Keyboard: - No Thanks
Mouse: - No Thanks
Branded Gear: - No Thanks
Priority Build: - No Thanks, Ship Within 15-20 Business Days After Order Is Successfully Processed
Warranty: Life-time Expert Care with 3 Year Limited Warranty (3 Year Labor & 1 Year Part Replacement)

BACKSTORY: As previously stated I ordered two of these builds for my wife and her brother. Typically I build my own rigs but with time constraints as well as daily responsibilities I chose to use Digital Storm. I did not choose them lightly it was based off some word of mouth and from tech figures such as Linus and some streamers. Before making the purchase I did reach out to the company to get an idea of what the wait time would be and was told by two different reps that due to COVID I should expect 20-25 business days instead of the pre-listed 15-20 business days which roughly translates to 5 to 6 weeks overall.

EXPERIENCE: My experience with Digital Storm is definitely not one that I will forget anytime soon. It is comprised of botched ship dates, outright being lied to by customer service, getting 3 different stories from 3 different Digital Storm employees and having a fantastic conversation with a rep who fed a customer excuses/problems instead of solutions. The two machines came with two codes for "Death Stranding" worth roughly $90-100.00 as part of an Nvidia giveaway for buying 2060 or better GPUs. Neither code I have received is valid because the date of activation is past due. The codes were only redeemable before July 29th and Digital Storm did not send me my codes till August 31st a full 33 days after the deadline ended even though I ordered and paid July 17th well within the deadline.

QUALITY: The quality of the product is at the end of the day all that really matters. I could walk into a diner and have the server be rude and cuss me out, as long as the food I ordered was top notch it would even out somewhat. I can not say the Quality of Build that I received balances out the utter disappointment the customer service was. For starters the cable management does look neat and tidy at first glance however a few of the cables were too tight and actually pulling on the correlating plugs on the board itself. I had to go into the back and cut away their zip ties and give some slack to a total of 3 cables that were way way too tight. Under magnification the SATA ports plug was nearly pulled off the board from the tension. The AIO CPU liquid cooling system was installed incorrectly. For my personal rig that I built myself I custom did an open looped system so I'm not too familiar with AIOs. Even though I am not familiar I could tell something just didn't look right. The send and return lines were on the bottom of the radiator and the Pump/Block was at the top of the line. I know that closed loop systems do have some form of slight evaporation over time and eventually bubbles/air pockets do form. I did a lot research looking over tech vidoes and diagrams by all major producers and found my concerns were valid. In all AIOs the proper way of installing them is tubes up so any air bubbles move away from the Pump and get trapped in the radiator. Air bubbles reaching and staying in the block can cause the pump to fail which can cause your CPU to overheat and possibly be damaged by it. So after fixing a few of the cables being too tight I had to reinstall the AIOs to the accepted proper way. I had to do all of this on both machines. There were a few screws on the board that were loose but this can be chalked up to shipping and the vibration caused by being transported. I do have to say the system itself is insanely quiet so kudos to that.

SUMMARY To put it bluntly all the praise and high recommendations about Digital Storm did not match the experience with customer service to the overall quality of the finished product itself. The customer service was terrible and the most important thing being the quality of the finished product was lacking. It looked to have been built by someone who was either unfamiliar with proper techniques/practices or just didn't care. Now to be fair my case could be an isolated one and 99% of their customers do not experience what I have experienced. I could just be that 1% that fell between the cracks. All I have to go on is what I went through.

RECOMMENDATION: There is no way in good conscious I could ever recommend Digital Storm to anyone I like or care for in any capacity. I myself will never be using Digital Storm for anything else. If something goes wrong with the machine I'll just fix it myself at this point. The giant tower you see next to the machine is my build (granted the case is a little dirty, it's hard to keep it clean with a 4 year old constantly touching it but trust the inside is immaculate) and if I were to open it up and compare both machines you can instantly tell which one was done with proper working knowledge/care and which one wasn't. Not to mention my massive rig was built for near the same price I paid for this mess and it has higher quality parts, better cable management and a fully open looped liquid cooling system with 2 reservoirs, 2 radiators cooling the Ram, CPU, GPU and etc.

FINAL WORDS: For anyone looking to get a gaming PC I can not stress enough that if you have any mechanical prowess whatsoever to just build it yourself. Not only will you save money but you can order the parts and have it built in a week or two instead of waiting two months for substandard results. The pictures attached are the date of received and not after I made the vital fixes to the AIOs or Cables.