I recently bought my first DS computer. I did a ton or research before deciding to use them and paid particular attention to the forum comments about their customer service. So I took the plunge and placed the order. When the unit arrived, it turned out the liquid cooler had leaked everywhere. A quick call to customer service and my unit was picked up the next day and returned. DS then not only replaced the leaking unit, they upgraded it. When I again received my new computer, one other slight problem presented itself- the CD/DVD burner was DOA. Another quick call to tech support and a simple problem was easily fixed. I am very happy with this computer and tech support. Having recently spent MANY hours on the phone with a DELL tech somewhere in India, I can tell you it was a pleasure to deal with DS. I would buy from them again without reservation.

I'm afraid that I am going to be a bit repetitive, but I had a great experience with Digital Storm. I learned about them from an advertisement in Maximum PC magazine, and went to their website and their forums to learn more. They offer a great product for a good price, and seem to be very concerned about client satisfaction and service. The ordering process was very simple (based on a configuration recommended by a very good forum community), and the only hard part was waiting for the computer to be built and shipped. DS kept me informed of the process the whole way via email updates and the computer arrived safe and sound when it was supposed to. The computer ran smoothly from the first time I pressed the power button. There was a minor driver problem which their technicians took care of straightaway. I feel very secure that if future problems develop, they will be taken care of very efficiently. I can highly recommend this company (and have already done so it to a friend). I could blather on about all the specifics of ordering, processing, etc, but suffice it to say, my total experience has been great.

Wrong components were mailed first, but the problem was swiftly resolved. Decent value when it comes to prices and selection for "upgrade" components. A+ customer service.

This review was modified by its author, GHartman86, on 7/31/09 8:32 PM.

First time buyer from Digital Storm. I am very pleased with the product and service from D.S. I originally requested 3-day delivery. My plans changed however and I had to be out of town in three days, so I quickly contacted D.S. after they already shipped it and asked if they could change it to overnight delivery. They immediately contacted Fed-Ex and had it changed. I received the computer the next day and in excellent condition! So far the computer works great and I would definitely encourage anyone to buy computers from D.S. with peace of mind.

On Saturday July 25th, I placed an order for a Corsair P256 SSD. My hard drive is dying fast and I need a replacement ASAP, so I paid more than $65 for overnight shipping. Ridiculous for the weight and size of the thing but it was the only place I could find one in stock.. or at least I thought it was in stock due to the website explicitly saying so. I also posted on their help boards wondering how fast processing time normally was. I said I figured it would not get looked at until Monday, but should I expect it Tuesday then. I received a prompt, though vague, reply stating that if the drive was in stock and processing was completed on Monday then I would get it on Tuesday. Then LATE MONDAY NIGHT I get an e-mail telling me that my order was canceled because the drive was not in stock.  
 
This is not acceptable. They should do a better job keeping track of their stock and updating their website accordingly. In fact, as I type this their website STILL says the drive is in stock. They haven’t even bothered to update even after this ordeal. Especially since their staff acknowledged on Saturday that I had placed a rush order, this should never have happened. I am now at least another week away from a working computer. I will never attempt to buy from Digital Storm again. Their prices aren’t even the best. I just needed something quickly, and in that they let me down.  
 
I don’t know that this company is dishonest. Indeed I have never actually completed a transaction with them. At least they canceled the order instead of keeping my money for a long period of time. What I do know is that they don’t keep their website up to date and if you are in need of prompt accurate service, you should look elsewhere.  
 
7/28 - They have removed the Corsair SSD from their website altogether.  
 
7:57pm 7/28 - I've gotten several e-mails and several phone call attempts from DS. Obviously they monitor this website. They said they just happened to go out of stock the same day I ordered (which was 7/25) and they offered me a 5% discount and free shipping on an OCZ drive (exact model not specified). I told them I wasn't interested because OCZ had recently done a press release about their soon to be MSRP drops plus the Colassus release, and I was holding off on purchasing an SSD now. They offered 5% and free shipping to any future purchase. I pretty surprised at how personal and persistent the communication has been. They're prob a local company somewhere with a big online website, because that's the only kind of company that follows up this well with communication. I still don't know if I will ever use the offer, if the price on something I'm interested in ends up being competitive then I would do it. I'll go wherever the price is right as long as the company is legit. I do think they are a legit company. My only concerns are just about availability and turn around times, since obviously their website is not automatically updated to reflect changes in stock, since it took about 72 hours for their website to reflect the current supply. I think that if someone's not in a total time crunch, there'd be no reason not to consider this company. I'm trying to be very fairy here. I know that mistakes happen, but it's just that discounts can't fix extra time without a working computer.

This review was modified by its author, angelicvoices, on 7/28/09 10:30 PM.

The best value and the best products in the personal computer market. Great deals great sales. They had my computer built and shipped and a timely manner and were just straight balling on everything. Great customer service.

I was looking to replace my 5 year old PC and considering building my own or buying a Barebones and adding all the missing components and software. I enjoy gaming but my favorite game is Quake Live which is not demanding. In any event, I wanted a good processor, a decent  
GPU and at least 3GB of RAM.  
 
As I priced and researched the Barebones at Tiger, I realized the components were not current generation and by the time I added a GPU and software and a HD and perhaps an optical drive, they really were no bargain.  
 
While researching on Tom's Hardware I saw an ad for Digital Storm ("DS"). One one of their prebuilts was ideal in terms of components, software and price. The PC came with a Windows 7 upgrade (and no software bloat). The MOB (Intel X58) can be expanded to 6GB of RAM and a second GeForce GTS 250. I was pleased to see the package included a crossfire video card link if I decide to add another card.  
 
Shipping from CA to MA was not a problem and the computer arrived with no damage. DS uses a rigid foam inside the case to keep the video card from shifting during shipping. The computer is accompanied by a 3 ring binder with plenty of supporting material. You can request a wooden shipping crate for an extra fee on custom built units.  
 
One thing that got me interested was the customer forums at DS. I suggest you monitor these before deciding and you will quickly learn about the type of company DS is.  
 
Well, at the end of the day, the machine booted with no problems and it has been smooth sailing. Vista has worked fine for me. I spent $1,100 and the PC came with a three year warranty, and an image CD in the event I ever have that fatal crash.  
 
My only complaint - my Quake Live gaming has not improved much. Must be me! I highly recommend this company.  

After spending several months researching for a new desktop and coming away empty-handed I stumbled across a Digital Storm advertisement. As I made my way to their website and eventually their forums, I was amazed at the welcoming atmosphere and a general attitude of helpfulness. After realizing Digital Storm provided the best combination of performance and value on the market my mind was quickly made up. With the help of their incredibly helpful staff I was able to come up with an awesome configuration that exceeded all of my needs. Regular updates were sent providing information on the build and also the thorough testing process. I was quickly contacted about any problems encountered so they could be quickly solved. Overall, the experience was the best I’ve ever had buying a new desktop: the staff were very helpful and knowledgeable without being overbearing and the ability to customize my pc anyway I wanted insured the BEAST turned out exactly how I wanted – jaw dropping.

I have purchased my first Digital Storm computer, after convincing my son-in-law to do the same. We have purchased 10 or more computers - always from Dell - over the last number of years. Perhaps they've grown too big, but they no longer have the customer service, drive to make optimal gaming machines, and the great one-on-one technical expertise that we see at Digital Storm. Digital Storm is now my computer maker of choice, and I will continue purchasing from them. Very impressed with their options, their selection of quality components and all the 'personal touches' they put into every machine.

This review was modified by its author, ags76, on 7/15/09 11:27 AM.

(NO REGRETS)i was looking to have a gaming pc built looked around at many builders and settled on DS.I hand picked my components and had my pc in my posession in 10-12 days. i have nothing but good things to say so far about DS.while i have only had this pc for a week its run like a dream straight out of the box not one problem , in the few times i have spoken to people at DS (RANDY,ERIC)i found them to be polite ,careing and very professional.if i ever need to buy another gaming pc DS would and will be my first choice and only choice.

I originally discovered Digital Storm on Attack of the Show's Gadget Pr0n, where DS's rig outperformed the others, at a lower cost. But then in researching the company, I immediately became impressed with more than just the performance and price. They're the best of what once made Dell popular. Fully customizable PC's, US-based support, bottom dollar prices not much different than NewEgg, etc. But then the other details completely won me over. Warranteed overclocking, open architecture components, and burn-in stability and quality testing, just to name a few. As if that wasn't enough, after the order, DS continued to please. Their build times were fantastic, and although it tortures you in that good way, the constant updates on the build process both keep you posted on the progress, and also show the nearly obsessive attention to detail...something I love to see when it comes to my beloved PC! They finish off the experience with extremely thorough packaging, customized binder and restore DVD's (good luck even getting a simple restore DVD at all anymore with the big name companies...), extremely tidy wiring and build details, and even all the spare parts from each hardware component. I haven't had to contact support for anything since my PC arrived immaculately, but I have nothing but praise for Digital Storm. I've recommended them to all my family and friends and I really don't see how you could do any better with another company.

The following is, more or less, the entire story concerning my purchase from Digital Storm, including much unnecessary, yet somewhat relevant, information which may, hopefully, prove useful to someone. I have attempted to maintain some degree of flow and coherence throughout, but I fear that these aspects may be lacking in some areas. Also, I had to do a fair amount of trimming due to the 5,000 character limit.  
 
I don't think there's anything I can say about Digital Storm that hasn't already been said. Their work is excellent, and they show what appears to be a genuine desire to satisfy their customers and to work out any problems that may arise, if they are given this opportunity. I chose to buy my new machine from them because they truly appeared to be the best of all the other builders I looked into, and they were able to offer everything I was looking for in a new machine. Here is what I think of the two other builders I have actually dealt with before, for purposes of comparison:  
 
Alienware  
They offer decent products for some of the best prices among popular builders, but, as you may hear, especially on the Digital Storm forums, their customer support is lacking. I know this from experience as well, as it was quite a hassle to redeem the rebate on the laptop I bought from them 4 years ago. You may want to think of them as somewhere in between true high-end builders and commodity machine distributors like Dell.  
 
Falcon Northwest  
My previous favorite builder. I have nothing bad to say about them, and if you are looking for a highly customized paint job to showcase your machine, I can think of no builder more appropriate to go to. However, their builds tend to be a bit pricey. My new Digital Storm machine replaced the Falcon Northwest desktop that served me very well for years, even though it was a low-end model. If I had been willing to spend more money from the start of my search for a new machine, I likely would've gone with Falcon Northwest and looked no further. I am, however, glad that I did look further.  
 
Here are the reasons I decided I definitely wanted to buy a machine from Digital Storm, aside from the many glowing reviews I saw both here and on the Digital Storm forums:  
 
-They offered a case (the Antec 900, but they now offer the 902 instead) which would've been my pick if I had built my own system instead of buying one. This was, to me, a big plus at first (although I ended up choosing the Cooler Master HAF 932, and I'm glad I did as it's a wonderful case).  
-They offer the relatively new Core i7 CPUs, which I hadn't known much about and wasn't even considering buying until I saw that Digital Storm offered them, and, upon learning more about them, I decided I'd be willing to spend more than I had originally intended to get a Core i7-based system. (It appeared to me that Digital Storm was among the first builders to begin offering and working with the i7 extensively.)  
-They will overclock the hardware themselves if you want. This is a great value, first of all, because you can save money on a lower-end processor and overclock it beyond the stock speeds of far more expensive processors. What's more, their overclocking work is of course covered under their warranty. This brings us to-  
-The standard warranty is 3 years. Coupled with their tech support, which is lauded by many, your machine is well-protected for quite some time.  
-There are more different options offered on configurations than I've seen with other builders. One that I particularly like, which as far as I've seen isn't offered by many builders, is the option to set up a RAID with your HDDs. Like overclocking, this is something I could probably manage myself, but I'd rather have them do it so I can be assured it's done right and covered under warranty.  
-A couple of last notes: the expanding foam they use to secure the components inside the case for shipping is great, and I would've been very unsettled if my machine were shipped across the country with the large, heavy CPU cooler supported by nothing but its mounting fixture. Also, the cable management they are capable of is impeccable. I was somewhat saddened when I had to undo some of their neat and tidy work to install new components in my machine.  
 
In the ordering and building process there were a couple of hiccups, but nothing that Digital Storm deserves any blame for. In dealing with these issues, I had multiple contacts with Digital Storm customer service staff, and they were always helpful and professional. They were just more pleasant do deal with than the vast majority of customer service representatives out there, even considering that they must have to put up with some rather unpleasant customers at times.  
 
With all that said, my machine is wonderful and I do not regret in the slightest my choice of Digital Storm. I would have no problem buying from them again in the future.  
 
The tl;dr version:  
You are highly unlikely to regret doing business with Digital Storm.

I was searching for quite a while trying to find a company that provided customized computer builds; one that satisfied my requirements for both quality and customer service. That being said, Digital Storm was the first company I actually purchased from. I joined the forums on their website to attempt to get a finger on the pulse of the customer base, and I was surprised again and again throughout my time there. The customers are simply dedicated to the company, and the reason for this becomes apparent after having some interaction with the customer service staff. Prompt and knowledgeable replies from both customers and staff lead to me being able to buy my perfect machine within the course of about a week.  
 
Digital Storm also deserves some bonus points for their efforts to please their customers. My situation was slightly different from the average purchasers; I am currently in Afghanistan, making constant communication somewhat difficult. The staff made every effort to make sure I had whatever information I needed along the way.  
 
Simply put, after hearing all the horror stories from people buying from other customized builders, I will continue to buy only from Digital Storm. A perfect purchasing experience leading to the arrival of my perfect machine.. You can't ask for a better experience. In my opinion they are the best at what they do.

This review was modified by its author, indirian, on 6/24/09 4:29 AM.

This is my first review, and I'm not really sure where to start, so i will start with the discussion process...  
 
so i had roughly 2500 towards a new PC, just the tower it self, and digital storm was already on the top of my list, but i (being a fairly responsible consumer when it comes to research) first looked threw a few other sites, and they just didn't offer both the things i was really wanting, and the things i really felt i needed when purchasing a truly custom gaming PC (the main being a 3 year standard warranty, when i say standard i mean that's included in price) and i had seen a feature of theirs in a show on g4 were they showed off their self proclaimed benchmark breaker (for a very reasonable price)  
 
so when i finally decided on purchasing from digital storm (which wasn't hard, because the things they promised are truly rare, well achieved, and appreciated by this customer.)  
so i started by going on their forums where, not only did i find very knowledgeable associates of digital storm, but also previous customers and fans. so i got my build with some help from their online forums, (the main process is, you just start a thread, tell them your price range, games you plan on playing, and screen size and rez you plan on playing on).  
and usually (in my case anyway) within a half hour i had a response with a very respectable build, they supply an order ticket link, you follow, and from their you can do some of your own customizing...  
 
so i finished my order, saved the ticket, about a week later did an online purchase (they ask that when you save a ticket, you supply a rough time line on when you will purchase (like a week, a month, more than 3 months) i assume so they can get everything prepared)  
 
so exactly a week later (5 business days) i received my new, beautiful, nicely protected machine (and i believe there were roughly 7 stages of the build/ship process, and when each is completed, they email you with your PC's progress)  
 
and after everything was said and done, i got a beautiful, custom, very capable gaming PC all for well under 3000 (i will say, that yes you could build your own PC for roughly 300-400 cheaper, but you don't get the expertise, the well done overclocking, the nice packaging, or the very reasonable 3 year warranty, which can be upgrade to up to 5 years, and you have life time online customer service and threw the forums ), i really could go on for hours with how happy i am with my new PC, but I'm afraid I'm not allowed that much space... but with all that said, i would recommend digital storm 100% to anyone wanting to purchase a new custom, well built gaming PC

Digital Storm is a fantastic company that prides themselves on their craftsmanship and customer service. Being a lifelong Dell customer, I was shocked at how clean and professional the inside of my DS computer was. Had one minor issue in the sound card but Randy was very helpful in fixing the issue.