DigitalStorm BlackOps: Almost Too Fast
by Dustin Sklavos on December 29, 2010 12:45 AM ESTConclusion: Defining Excess
When dealing with a desktop like the DigitalStorm BlackOps, it's tough to figure out what kinds of conclusions to draw. Do you judge it based on the price? Well, the price is steep and probably past the point of reason for most users. So you judge it based on performance, right? Except the performance is generally commensurate with the price, with the real issue being whether or not anyone needs that much performance.
Given that I've been surviving fine with a single AMD Radeon HD 5870 gaming at 1920x1200, and this solution is capable of being more than twice as fast, you start dealing with benchmark results that border on being academic. With the BlackOps you can max everything out and then some. You really need much more than a WUXGA display before GTX 580 SLI becomes necessary; a 30" LCD or two would be just about right.
The complaints I'm left with are mostly the same as they've been with the other boutique desktops we've seen: lazy overclocking and corners cut. At least with the BlackOps the corners cut are mild ones, as the system is still perfectly stable and it's hard to cheap out too much when it comes to a 1.2 kilowatt power supply. DigitalStorm is willing to back the whole thing up with a three year standard warranty and lifetime tech support, too, so at least there's some peace of mind to be had there.
But the lazy overclocking remains an issue, and the fact that this tower doesn't idle the processor means it's always going to be drawing more power and generating more heat than it really needs to. That heat is bound to be a liability for some users, too, because while the case does a great job of keeping the components cool, all of that hot air is getting expelled into the surrounding environment. Bay area winters don't exactly redefine "cold," but the fact that I didn't have to run the heater while I was testing the BlackOps really should tell you something.
Of course, the flipside is that the tower is blisteringly fast. In many ways you really are getting what you pay for with the BlackOps, even if it may be far more than you thought you needed, and I can't stress enough how much I appreciate seeing a boutique build in such a nice case. Really this tower is going to be for users that are running either multiple monitors, 3D Vision, or both. If you think you can make use of all that power, DigitalStorm's tower becomes pretty easy to recommend.
The final catch is a familiar refrain by now: Sandy Bridge is right around the corner. The full scoop is coming up next week, so there's no point in jumping on a Bloomfield build today. Sandy Bridge may be more of a replacement for socket 1156 as opposed to the X58 and socket 1366, but outside of the hex-core Gulftown processors socket 1366 is nearing the end of the road as well. If you like the idea of the BlackOps Assassin, we recommend waiting for the inevitable Sandy Bridge variant that should show up in early 2011. Hopefully DigitalStorm will put a bit more finesse into overclocking that setup, and the unlocked K-series CPUs should be just the ticket.
Facebook
Twitter
RSS
76 Comments
View All Comments
Dug - Friday, December 31, 2010 - link
I agree. This guy has got to go. We can get half assed reviews from anywhere.Dustin Sklavos - Friday, December 31, 2010 - link
You do know we read these, right?Kaboose - Friday, December 31, 2010 - link
He probably hopes so, if you didn't what would be the point of posting?Belard - Wednesday, December 29, 2010 - link
Okay, for a TOP of the LINE game system...Win7-64 bit Home edition? I'd go with at least a pro but for about $40 or so for OEM difference, might as well go for the Ultimate, no? For $3200+... might as well have the top-end Win7 OS to boot.
Zan Lynx - Monday, January 3, 2011 - link
I picked Home 7 for my custom build. I looked at the features on the higher versions and couldn't see a single thing I needed.Nentor - Wednesday, December 29, 2010 - link
I used onboard sound once.You could hear the cdrom spin up through it, hear electrical noise from the videocard and numerous other sources and even instruments and vocals that SHOULD have been there in the audio were either inaudible or barely so. This was on a P35 Gigabyte board btw.
Bought a Xonar D2 not long after and never looked back. Seeing there is a market for $3600 machines without a HQ soundcard makes me weep.
Scootiep7 - Wednesday, December 29, 2010 - link
All other gripes aside, for $3500+ I would expect 8gb's of ram and a Blu Ray burner MINIMUM. And the hack job overclocking just rubs salt in the wound. Like Dustin says, wait for Sandy Bridge.Will Robinson - Wednesday, December 29, 2010 - link
The SLI 580s are a bit silly really,2 x HD6950s would have been a little more technically interesting and saved a considerable whack of money for (at least) a decent audio card,maybe Windows 7 Pro,more memory or even dual RAID 0 SSDs for some snappy fast desktop performance.Not a bad system I guess but its target audience is one I'm glad I'm not a member of...
VStrom - Wednesday, December 29, 2010 - link
If I'm going to pay that much coin for a boutique build, I'm going the Maingear route because of their customer service. There are no real proprietary parts to this build so any builder (boutique or joe user) could do the same. So all things being equal, customer service and warranty is what differentiates their inherent values. As another posted pointed out, DS doesn't exactly have a stellar customer service rep.Kaboose - Wednesday, December 29, 2010 - link
If you are spending 3.5k on a computer that is prebuilt then you probably shouldn't be. Going to newegg in quick 10 min look i pieced together a build with an i7-970, two GTX 580's, a 120Gb OCZ RevoDrive, 1Tb Spinpoint f3, 6Gb of corsair ddr3 2000 (cas 8), cooler master HAF X case, and a 1.2k watt antec PSU.$3,518.87
Comparing to our prebuilt here, this quick build will run circles around it in SSD performance, and general applications, Gaming as well, the i7-970 should overclock to 4Ghz easily with the liquid cooling (also in the budget) and the RAM can OC to 2200 easily. This build also includes windows 7 ultimate (apparently too pricey for the prebuilt here)
Overall for the build in the review it is a $2,753.86 computer with a giant price bump for the "Black Ops" moniker and a half assed OC. This exact build (or as exact as i could make it on newegg) was 2753.86 it has the same everything, case, (had to guess on the PSU as it was left out in the review), A-DATA RAM, graphics cards, CPU, motherboard ,card read, bluray, cd/dvd.....etc. i dont see any real gain in buying this over a custom built (at least with custom you can know what goes in it instead of whatever the company thinks you need. The only thing you gain is a 3 year warranty, however if you buy from respected manufacturers all of your parts should be under at least two year warranty. Lastly, even if you dont know much about computer and want a very high end gaming system (which this is to most people) you would be better off spending a month or two reading up and learning about computers and then building your own instead of buying this over priced gimmick.