Customization Options
Clicking through to "Customize Now" presents the list of configurable options, which are fairly standard across the different platforms. The options list could be overwhelming at first, but they provide a link to Live Chat as well as a telephone support number. Component choices are quality items. A number of customization areas stand out to us. Automotive paint finishes are possible, as is common with high-end boutique systems, but interior and trim painting is also available, which is not widely offered. Water-cooling on both the CPU and GPU(s) is offered, along with side window fans, CPU, GPU, and Memory overclocking, as well as "Windows Boost" which disables and tweaks non-crucial OS services.
All of these are great options for customers in this price range, and this is precisely the kind of customization we often refer to when suggesting what people are looking for in a high-end boutique system builder.
Speaking of customization, there's nothing worse than not having enough information about an upgrade to make an informed decision. What does it actually look like? What kind of benefit will I really receive? These questions often go unanswered by poorly implemented or lacking "More Detail" links on ordering websites. Not so at Digital Storm. Observe some examples:
 |
 |
They provide detailed, high-resolution photos of not only the product, but also the system with the product installed. They also give details on installation, simplistic comparative ratings of the amount of "Cooling Power", and the noise level difference between options. This purchasing system should be a model for all other suppliers.
Some of the upgrades are rather pricey, while others are positive bargains, such as CPU overclocking (air) for $45 and internal memory card readers for $13. The overclocking options, in particular, are where customers can derive a lot of added value while incurring no risk since they are under warranty. While the CPU and GPU options are great, we're a little disappointed that a memory boost is $55 and only available with a fan kit installed. We'd like to see both a cheaper memory overclock option without the kit, and discounted bundle options (e.g. both CPU and GPU).
Digital Storm also allows customers to purchase a selection of games that will be preinstalled, updated, and tested on the system prior to shipping.
Other boutique vendors offer this service too, and we think it's great for gamers who can immediately fire up favorite games upon delivery and start enjoying their new system. Warranty coverage is 3 years, parts and labor, with lifetime technical support. Prominently featured is a video displaying the "Digital Storm Difference".
 |
This insight into the build and test process (including the "72-hour" stress test performed on every system: 24 hours focusing on CPU, 24 on GPU(s), and 24 on memory) is pretty cool. However, it's not a substitute for actually seeing evidence that your specific system underwent this testing. The binder provided by Digital Storm (shown later in this article) does include a signed "Certificate of Ownership" and a generic quality checklist, but it does not bear any resemblance to the sheet shown in the screenshot above with tester checkmarks against items and real numbers written in for system performance checks. We feel copies of these sheets should be included in the binder. Also, as we've said in other articles, having a few actual performance numbers provides the consumer with a baseline of how their system operated when it was built.
A brief list of Pros and Cons regarding the website layout and content is as follows:
Pros
- Website easy to find
- Good array of component choices
- A large number of unique, customized options available
- Fantastic descriptions of cooling options and other information
- Prominent support information
- Shipping calculator and fairly reasonable rates
Cons
- Pricier than some other suppliers
- A couple of website quirks
- Owner's binder could be improved with a few more additions
Facebook
Twitter
RSS
52 Comments
View All Comments
san1s - Tuesday, May 19, 2009 - link
red coolant, black + red evga classified x58 and red + black dominator gt ram...I would be proud to show off that system, no matter if its prebuilt or not
rbarone69 - Tuesday, May 19, 2009 - link
It's actually better for the consumer and the company that the margins are higher. This incentives the company to work hard to support the customer and keeps them in business for the term of the support. Overclocked watercooled systems tend to require more hands on and support than the average rig and if the margins were thin then the customers to support engineer ratio would be much different. I'm glad to actually see gross margin calculation although it *may* hurt their sales to the people who think it's "too high" because support is not of any value until you need it.Although for the budget minded, of course building one is going to be cheaper, but if you're time is of any value and building computers isn't "fun" then this is a great deal with an acceptable margin.
Wow on the performance benchmarks! It's sad that it's so loud but I'm sure it'll keep a bedroom warm on a cold winter day.
I do have to say after seeing this I'm going to check them out. I'm tiered of dealing with Dell and my homebuilt systems that tend to be a time sink.
Thanks and keep up the great work on these reviews!
Tyler Lowe - Tuesday, May 19, 2009 - link
I purchased my system from Digital Storm about 2 years ago now. At the time I purchased my system, their entry level systems started at around $699. It's a bit of a shame to see that more entry level customers will simply be priced out of the opportunity to experience the build quality that goes into a Digital Storm system, but I could understand why a builder would abandon those price points.A few things have changed since I bought my system aside from the price range of the systems for sale. For one thing, My owner's binder did have basic benchmark scores hand recorded by the technician running the stress testing and benchmarks. So I guess you might consider the current owner's binder a bit of a step backward from the point of view of the author of this article. On the other hand, they have dome some nice things to dress it up. In particular, that certificate of ownership definitely falls into line with the things they do to help make their customers feel special.
The website has improved dramatically over the past couple of years. Those info links are something that was steadily being improved on during the time I was active on their community forums and it looks like they have really made some progress with the format of their site. The fact that the system configurator does not alert the potential buyer to incompatible selections or incomplete builds, is something that the management at Digital Storm had once been very keen on implementing in their site. I'm a little surprised to see that has yet to come to pass.
The accesories bundle hasn't changed much, but that internal packing material is something that I had hoped to see them adopt and even suggested it a couple of times on their forums. Looks like they were listening to those of us that suggested improving the internal packaging to protect against shipping damage. That is one thing I will say about Digital Storm- they really do listen to their customers. Even if it takes months for the ideas suggested to be formed into some sort of action, if something a customer suggests makes sense, odds are, that suggestion in some form will see implimentation.
When it comes to the interior, if nothing has changed, customers shelling out $1200 can expect that same sort of ultra clean build as someone spending $8,000. That's something that I always admired about the company. No customer is an unimportant customer, and entry level builds recieved the same level of care as the high ticket items.
I have seen several reviews of Digital Storm systems on multiple sites over the past two or three years now, and one thing that never really comes across in those reviews, is what it is like to be a Digital Storm Customer. If a reviewer went through the entire buy process, they would quickly understand why even those that had minor issues give this company such high marks. You get taken care of, no matter what, and you are made to feel special by their customer service reps and community of fellow customers.
I would not recomend them to anyone that already has the skills (and time) to plan and build a system with decent cable management, and the knowhow to overclock it, but for those that do not, and have the means, I really do not have a problem recommending them based on my experience there.
Matt Campbell - Tuesday, May 19, 2009 - link
Thank you for the feedback - we love to comments from real customers.ertt - Friday, August 27, 2010 - link
<a href="http://wholesales-wedding-dresses.com/tea-length-w...ertt - Friday, August 27, 2010 - link
http://wholesales-wedding-dresses.com/tea-length-w...ultraseksy - Tuesday, March 13, 2012 - link
Free SMS Text Messaging and Business Bulk SMS Solutions http://www.sendfreetext.infoultraseksy - Monday, March 19, 2012 - link
<a href="http://www.incase-mate.co.uk/">in case mate</a>ultraseksy - Monday, March 19, 2012 - link
http://www.myplussizelingerie.co.uk plus size lingerie http://www.maternityclothes4u.co.uk maternity clotheshing that got me really infuriated was the additional Video Card. Again, I was told the card was an additional $500+(I don't remember the exact price
ultraseksy - Monday, March 19, 2012 - link
http://www.sendfreetext.info send free text http://www.uktrollbeads.co.uk uk troll beadsEven though I was amazed at the increase in cost, I was ok with just getting the additional Video Card through the upgrade center without the additional warranty.