Shipping & Stages

As I understand it, you enter Stage 1 when your credit is approved. You enter Stage 2 when the 3 day testing phase begins. Stage 3 is when DSO hands your system over to UPS. So, under normal circumstances you'd spend 5 days in Stage 1 and 3 days in Stage 2, then you're out the door. Lately, DSO has been taking a few days longer to get through the build process.

I have been on stage I now since September 7, 2007 (today is September 22, 2007), however when I called I was told that the system has been through a three day test without the liquid cooling installed (liquid cooling both the CPU and GPU).  Of course I am getting antsy, the rig costs out at $6300 including monitor and I had hoped that I would get it before I returned to work so I could play on it a bit without the kids around.  October 1st, 2007 is when I go back to work and I just am not expecting to see my rig until after that. 

I guess what I am saying is that the rig can be mostly built and fully tested if you have opted for liquid cooling because their is a major hold up on the liquid cooling blocks for the 8800 Ultras.  This is not DSs fault, but it is entirely possible to be in Stage 1 for 10 days or longer.  BTW, I am so eager to get this rig that I sprang for overnight shipping when it is finished.  If they don't get it finished by about Wednesday next week I am going to cancel the next day shipping because then I don't care when I will get it, as I won't have time to use it very much for quite a while. 

Well I intended to play Bioshock and Crysis for sure.  My main game right now is Everquest II and it would be nice to be able to crank up the graphics settings to full out all of the time. It is a very pretty game when all graphics are maxed but my AMD 2800+ and 6800 really chugs hard when I have settings to max.

Nope not a millionaire.  Unfortunately, we had probably the worst disaster that can befall a family.  My wife of over 10 years died on August 25th, 2007 and we received some insurance money.  I also have two young sons one 4 and one 7 so I am now a single and grieving dad.  She was only 36 years old when she died of complications from metastatic melanoma.  Of course I have not upgraded my PC the entire time she was sick, and I decided that an upgrade this big would have a highly distracting quality to help me get through this intensely difficult grieving process.  

Anyway enough about the sad stuff, this beast's "recipe" follows:

Digital Storm Desktop 39243 1

Case: Digital Storm Twister ULTRA (Black Anodized Aluminum Finish)

Power Supply: 1200W Thermaltake (8800 GTX SLI Compatible) (Silent Toughpower Edition)

Processor: Intel Core 2 Quad (TwisterBoost Enhanced) QX6800 Extreme 3.33GHz (1333MHz FSB)

Motherboard: nVidia 680i Core 2 Quad (By: eVGA) (nForce 680i SLI) (A1 Revision)

Memory: 4GB DDR2 Corsair at 1066MHz Dominator (Dual Channel) (Extreme-Performance)

Floppy / Media: Sony 1.44MB Floppy (Black Edition)

Hard Drive 1: 500GB (Western Digital / Seagate) (16MB Cache) (7200 RPM) (SATA)

Hard Drive 2: 500GB (Western Digital / Seagate) (16MB Cache) (7200 RPM) (SATA)

Raid Option: - No Thanks

Optical Drive 1: DVD-ROM/CD-ROM (DVD Reader 16x / CD Reader 40x)

Optical Drive 2: DVD±R/RW/CD-R/RW (DVD Writer 20x / CD-Writer 48x) (LightScribe Edition)

Network Card: High Speed Network Port (Supports High-Speed Cable / DSL / Network Connections)

Modem: - No Thanks

Video Card: 2x SLI Dual (nVidia GeForce 8800ULTRA 768MB (By: eVGA / Asus) (PCI-Express)

TV Tuner: - No Thanks

Sound Card: Creative Labs Sound Blaster X-Fi XtremeGamer (Up to 7.1 Channel) (Recommended)

Physics Card: - No Thanks

Cooling: Liquid Chilled CPU & Video Cards (TwisterBoost Overclocked) (Artic Blue Liquid)

Case Lighting: Blizzard Internal Lighting (Blue Edition) (Cold Cathode Tubes)

Round Cables: - No Thanks

User Manual: Personalized Platinum Digital Storm Binder (Includes Paperwork/Benchmarks/CDs/Manuals)

Windows OS: Microsoft Windows XP Professional (Includes Service Pack 2)

Restore Kit: Digital Storm Specialized Recovery System (DVD Image Based)

Protection: - No Thanks

Office: - No Thanks

LCD Display: Samsung 24 inch (Widescreen) (Black) (High-Performance Gaming Display)

Surge Shield: - No Thanks

Speakers: - No Thanks

Keyboard: Microsoft Multimedia Desktop 2.0 (Multimedia Keyboard + Optical Wheel Mouse)

Mouse: - No Thanks my keyboard comes with a mouse

Warranty: 3 Year Platinum Care Extended Parts & Labor Warranty

Support: Lifetime Toll-Free Platinum Care Technical Support

I am a Linux nut to boot.  Since I want to have the compatibility of Windows XP, the stability of Linux, and of course Direct X 10 I intend to triple boot Win XP(32 bit), Ubuntu 7.04 (64 bit) and Windows Vista (64 bit edition).  The only thing that I hate about this is the $260 that I spent for an OS that really isn't ready for prime time (Win Vista). 

Chris        

There just are not words for the first part of that post that would be meaningful coming from a stranger, but my heart goes out to you and your family.

My computer is in Kansas as of yesterday - should get here as promised on Tuesday unless it left without being scanned, in which case it should be here tomorrow. 

Order Status:

Stage 2: (Production: Installation & Testing) Your system is undergoing the exclusive Digital Storm quality control process. This stage includes the installation of the operating system, drivers and any applications that are specific to the system you ordered. Our Digital Storm Integration Technician will also install any demos, benchmark utilities, and burn-in software necessary to correctly monitor your systems performance throughout our burn-in process. Afterwards, we perform a series of grueling tests that push the hardware components in your system to the very limit. This Stage is especially important because it is here where the system either excels or fails. If it does fail, our Digital Storm technicians will identify any problems and replace them before we ship your computer system. If the computer system still does not pass our tests, we will then re-build it with a new batch of components. Estimated Shipment Date: 3-5 business days (Mon-Fri) from 9/23/2007 (Note: This is only an estimation. If problems are encountered during testing, we may have to hold your order for a few more days to ensure you receive a rock-solid stable problem free system.

This is what it said.  I have been checking the site about three times daily.  The status did not change until sometime after noon on Sunday.  I guess somebody is working Sundays to get this done, now I feel awful as a good Catholic :(

Oh man!   I have to be impressed by your work ethic, but I hope that people are still getting to spend time with their families (the highest good).

The extra hard work will bring great rewards to all of Digital Storm.......wait till all these PC's start hitting the world, everyone that hasnt will likely upgrade with this company. Be prepared...........