Digital Storm Core i7-965

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