DigitalStorm BlackOps: Almost Too Fast
by Dustin Sklavos on December 29, 2010 12:45 AM ESTThe BlackOps in Practice: Build, Noise, Heat, and Power Consumption
So what is it like to actually use the DigitalStorm BlackOps? The system is obscenely powerful, but there are chinks in its armor that prevent me from being too excited about it, and I'm not talking about price. Machines like this are already priced past the point of reason and don't exist to produce bang-for-the-buck; they cater to customers who simply must have the best and most powerful desktop they can afford.
The first item on my list is basically the same complaint I've had about other pre-overclocked machines from boutique manufacturers: lazy overclocking. I'm starting to wonder if these towers come with water-cooling standard not because of its superior performance, but because it allows them to just dump a bunch of voltage into the processor, set the clocks high, and call it a day. DigitalStorm is guilty as sin for this: the overclock is achieved with 1.32V on the core, and the processor doesn't idle. Instead, the i7-950 just runs at 3.83GHz all the time. When you're paying this much for a tower, it would be nice to see a more finely tuned overclock than this because it plays hell on idle power consumption and results in a tower throwing more heat into the room than it needs to. When we get to those power numbers, you're going to see what I mean.
My second issue is kind of a silly one but it bears mentioning: there's no eSATA anywhere on this tower. eVGA's motherboard doesn't have an eSATA port (or any digital audio for that matter), making it a questionable choice for such a high-end machine. My personal tower—which cost maybe half as much to build, if that—shouldn't run circles around a computer like this in terms of connectivity.
Third and final complaint: while I'm glad DigitalStorm splashed out on the cooling and especially the case (the SilverStone Fortress really is a sight to see), I do feel like they cheaped out a bit on the memory and power supply. You can order a 1.2 kilowatt Corsair power supply but it'll cost twice as much as the one in this build. Likewise, I would've liked to see a better brand of memory than A-Data. A-Data's stuff works fine and the BlackOps was perfectly stable in testing, but I'd like to see a more reputable/performance oriented brand.
So, how about that power consumption? As it turns out, not so good. The DigitalStorm BlackOps idles at about 240 watts at the desktop. NVIDIA has made great strides in keeping idle power consumption low on their high-end cards, but that processor idling at such a high voltage and clock is a killer. When placed under different loads, I saw a peak consumption of about 660 watts. That's not horrible given what's in the tower, but I'll put it another way: while the BlackOps was running, I never turned the heater on in my apartment.
For comparison's sake I ran the same tests on my tower. I have an i7-930 overclocked to 3.6GHz, but it idles at 2GHz and the voltage drops. Likewise, I'm running a single AMD Radeon HD 5870 instead of a pair of GeForce GTX 580s. My idle consumption is 190 watts, which seems high until you realize I have three screens connected to the 5870 that keep its clocks up. Under the same load the BlackOps was tested with, my tower only consumes 320 watts. It's nowhere near as fast in games, but nonetheless it draws less than half the wattage the BlackOps does. Given that kind of power consumption, how does the BlackOps fare in terms of managing heat?
Really well, actually, and the smart case design (along with Corsair water-cooling and the improved coolers on the GTX 580s) keeps both thermals and noise down to reasonable levels. The iBuyPower Paladin XLC with SLI 470s generated far more noise under load than the BlackOps does. Of course, the BlackOps is doing a much more efficient job of dissipating all that heat...right into your living room. I can't stress that enough, a computer this powerful that draws this much current is going to noticeably increase room temperature. That's fine in the winter months, but when summer comes you may find a machine like this hitting your power bill from two sides: consumption on its own, and the air conditioning required to keep your living space habitable.
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Shinobi_III - Wednesday, December 29, 2010 - link
3600 bucks and you only get one SSD drive, one hard drive, a measly 6gb ram from a complete crap brand, noname DVD burner and one low end built in sound card?I don't mind built in sound, but there are better brands. Like Analog Devices.
transmitthis - Wednesday, December 29, 2010 - link
I was drawn in by the nice image of a good looking system with 3 GPU's and dedicated Water Cooling...But that's not what you reviewed at all, how about using a lead image that more closely reflects the article?
As for the system, well its always going to be FTL with these bespoke systems, esp with the audience you have here Jarred
JarredWalton - Wednesday, December 29, 2010 - link
Dustin didn't have a good 300x198 size picture that I could use for the top image, so I went to the DigitalStorm site and grabbed their picture of the BlackOps Assassin. Sorry if the actual system doesn't match up to that picture, but I figured that looked better than a taken-in-his-apartment photo. :-)Deleted - Wednesday, December 29, 2010 - link
Even considering the convenience tax of a prebuilt and pre-overclocked computer, There is simply no justification for this price tag. If you were to go to Newegg.com and buy every piece here without combos, you would "only" pay around $2,700, including the OS. That leaves plenty of room for a pair of ZR24w or VG236H monitors.And this is without even mentioning the fact that every single item on this thing (except for the CPU and memory) is overpriced and underperforming. Even the case, which is the best air cooling case on the market, is crippled. They removed the AP181 fans, which are arguably the best case fans in existence, and replaced them with those cheap-looking red fans. It even looks like the dust filters are missing, although they may have just been removed for the photo.
I could make a faster rig than this, with a better overclock and three high quality monitors, for a little bit less, and it would take less than half a day of actual work. I guess I should go into business.
mlambert890 - Wednesday, January 5, 2011 - link
Exactly... Not being a smart ass, but all of the "I can build this for HALF!!!!!!!" crowd should do it, go into business and show how it's done. Put the money where the mouth is.softdrinkviking - Wednesday, December 29, 2010 - link
this build could run you like ~2600 out of pocket.so you are paying ~1000 for a warranty that you can't be sure they will honor. (BFG going out of business and shafting their customers on RMA's comes to mind)
i can understand that some folks don't want to put the time and energy into a build, but those are exactly the kind of people that won't want to deal with shady small companies that can't necessarily deliver what they promise. I mean, an extra grand above parts is expensive for the consumer, but it doesn't even begin to cover the kind of tech support they are inviting with the "high end build" market. Unless they sell like a gabizillion (i didn't make that up, it's a real number) of these things, but i seriously doubt it.
jensend - Wednesday, December 29, 2010 - link
Today's $3600 machine will be outperformed by next year's $750 custom build, and likely is only appreciably faster than today's $1250 custom build in a small handful of uses.Is it worth it? NO.
Why bother wasting your time on it?
mlambert890 - Wednesday, January 5, 2011 - link
By this logic nothing is ever worth it. Eventually "next years" $750 build would be crushed by 5 years from nows $200 mini PC.The gap between a $1250, $2650, and $3650 build is "minor" to YOU, but the areas where higher end builds do differentiate on performance are objectively measurable. Just because you don't care about those use cases doesn't make them worthless.
It's always really odd how so many folks want to use their own personal budget and usage constraints and restrictions as the basis as absolute value judgments:
"a Ferrari is only for losers with no brain and too much money because no one can drive faster than a Honda Civic and a Honda Civic can be over clocked faster than a Ferrari anyway!"
That kind of thing..
I think boutique PCs have their place and are worth reviewing. Folks aren't idiots for buying them or for wanting premium performance. If someone wants to buy rather than build more power to them. If someone want to build full premium vs budget, more power to them. I can't afford a Ferrari, but I still love them. Some people look at a Civic with envy from the bus. Objectivity is generally better for everyone.
wingless - Wednesday, December 29, 2010 - link
This kind of power lends itself to the idea that it is perfect for multi-monitor 3D gaming. For that use, it would not be excessively fast.How about we get some Multi-monitor and/or 3D gaming tests out of Anandtech when they review multiple GPU setups?
Speedye1 - Wednesday, December 29, 2010 - link
So the picture on the home page has NOTHING to do with this system. Would it have been to much to ask for a couple pics of said system? No digital camera or cell phone anywhere around? You better get a grip on this Anand, been a reader for along time, this review is trash.