DigitalStorm Enix: Phenomenal Cosmic Power, Itty Bitty Living Space
by Dustin Sklavos on May 12, 2011 12:00 AM EST- Posted in
- Systems
- Intel
- Sandy Bridge
- SilverStone
- DigitalStorm
Conclusion: Too Hot to Handle
If we take the contentious processor voltage issues off the table, what we're left with is a remarkably powerful machine in a tiny enclosure. That's a testament to all parties involved: SilverStone's engineers for producing a case this size that can support a pair of NVIDIA GeForce GTX 580s, Intel's engineers for producing in Sandy Bridge a processor with a tremendously high overclock ceiling, and DigitalStorm's engineers for smartly assembling a system with these components that maximizes performance while being able to handle, however delicately, the incredible amount of power and heat generated by them.
That voltage is a bone of contention, though, that we really have to leave up to you, the reader. Common wisdom from browsing forums and looking at what other overclockers are doing suggests that 1.45-1.48V on the processor core is too high for long-term use, while DigitalStorm's engineers state that this is ideal for maintaining an overclock of this magnitude on a Sandy Bridge chip. Anand and I both felt that it was too high, but we don't have the data to really back that up (though DigitalStorm would have a hard time doing the same: Sandy Bridge has only been out for a few months, nowhere near long enough to produce long-term reliability data). But DigitalStorm is willing to warranty the unit for three years standard and stand behind their overclock for ten years, well beyond the useful life of an enthusiast processor. That's the best one can ask for.
Ultimately the Enix is in many ways an improvement over the last unit we reviewed from DigitalStorm, their BlackOps Assassin Edition. Using the SilverStone FT03, they're able to increase performance over that behemoth while cutting the form factor by nearly two-thirds. Noise levels and power consumption have gone up a bit, but performance is up with them. The Enix is the fastest machine we've tested yet and DigitalStorm's people seem genuinely interested in producing quality kit and backing it up with quality service. Given our point of contention, it would be difficult to recommend an award for the Enix, but if you're willing to take the risk—and DigitalStorm is—this tower could be a great choice for someone who wants a unique and powerful desktop machine.
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randinspace - Thursday, May 12, 2011 - link
I think his point was that they'll just give you what they value it at when it dies, which a lot of companies do in other industries now that products and parts don't stay on the market indefinitely.Although even if they decided on a flat $300 or so they should be covered by inflation, the profit they made off the rest of the unit as a whole, insurance, tax write-offs, etc.
fingerbob69 - Friday, May 13, 2011 - link
I don't know if US law is different to UK law in this regard but if the cpu was to die during the 10 yr guarantee period, in say year 9, then DigitalStorm would be obliged to replace it with an equivalent chip ...or better.As the customer, I would interpret that to be Intel's latest/last mid range release. So for example, if I had had a duff i7-750 in a DigitalStorm unit, with that chip having gone eol some years past, I would today be expecting a 2600k as replacement...which of course means a mobo change also as the two are integral to each other.
Belard - Saturday, May 14, 2011 - link
If you go back 5 years ago... the TOP Dog CPU was the Intel Core 2 Extreme X6800, which was about $500 USD.Today, a $60 AMD X2 bottom end CPU is just as fast and its a 1 year old CPU. So it takes about 3~4 years for a $500~900 CPU to be replaced by a $100 or less bottom end model.
Is there a typo, don't recall an i7-750. An i5-750, yes.
Common sense, they'd have to replace the board and maybe the memory too if an O/C CPU dies. I'm sure they'll be updating the BIOS with better controls ASAP still. If in 5 years, they need to replace the CPU, as long as its faster - even at $60, it'll be fair. With 16GB costing about $200 today, it should be about $20 in 10 years :)
LOL... you'll be OLD and saying "I remember the says when we had 2 core CPUs! Imagine that! Can't imagine how I got anything down with 3Ghz Quads"
Would warranty of the CPU cover the labor to replace it and the system board?
qwertymac93 - Thursday, May 12, 2011 - link
Hmm, dual 590s? trade those for dual 6950's and upgrade the SSD to a 240GB vertex 3, then we are talkin'.qwertymac93 - Thursday, May 12, 2011 - link
Meant 580, Not 590. Man, not having an edit feature sucks...MeSh1 - Thursday, May 12, 2011 - link
No peek inside?arthur449 - Thursday, May 12, 2011 - link
In Silverstone's FT03 manual, they strongly recommend removing the angled 120mm fan shroud under the video cards and mounting a pair of 80mm fans in its place when using two cards in Crossfire/SLI.Azfar - Thursday, May 12, 2011 - link
Err..i'm a bit confused looking at the optical drive bay. the conventional drive won't work at this slot type....right ?JarredWalton - Thursday, May 12, 2011 - link
Correct; you need a slot-loading slim laptop drive, which adds to the overall cost.Zap - Thursday, May 12, 2011 - link
It isn't too bad a cost for a combo drive. Try pricing out (or even finding these days) a slim slot load BD burner! Back when the Panasonic one was available, they were running close to $600 for just the bare drive!I did a quick price search and the Optiarc used in this DigitalStorm rig runs about $150. Expensive? Yes, however not exorbitantly so.