Digital Storm Takes on DIY; Its Prebuilt PC Costs $23 More

By Niels Broekhuijsen
published

Digital Storm goes right up against you and me, the DIYers who builds their own PC.

Digital Storm aims to end the debate between building a PC by yourself, or just buying a pre-assembled system. What Digital Storm did was to configure a machine, and then compare their price to that of exactly the same components from Newegg. In the end, the smallest difference in price was just $23; the biggest difference was $58. They mention that at this amount of difference, the decision is a no-brainer. This lineup of machines will be known as the VANQUISH systems.

The VANQUISH systems will always be pre-tested for at least 72 hours. Digital Storm will always keep an inventory of completed systems ready to ship out right after an order is placed so that you don't have to wait for the system to be built and tested.

"When we decided to take on the DIYers we knew we had to offer impressively built systems that could compete in terms of performance as well as price. For just $23-$58 more [we] were giving customers a fully optimized system featuring the latest chipset platform and next gen-graphics. This allows them to focus on demolishing the competition instead of worrying about the reliability of their PC," said Rajeev Kuruppu, Digital Storm's Director of Product Development.

Niels Broekhuijsen
Niels Broekhuijsen

Niels Broekhuijsen is a Contributing Writer for Tom's Hardware US. He reviews cases, water cooling and pc builds.

35 Comments Comment from the forums
  • Geoffrey Swenson
    Sure, the price of the components adds up only slightly more than their price, but very often I carry over at least one component, usually the case and sometimes also the power supply to the next computer. Most of the time the CD/DVD/Blueray from the previous computer also goes into the next one. That saves an addtional $100 or more, so it's still cheaper by far to build your own.
    Reply
  • nlreynolds80
    Not too shabby. While much of the reason I build my own is purely for the joy of it, it's nice to have an option if ever I need a quality build in a pinch.
    Reply
  • Immoral Medic
    Yeah, but I would never use any of those configurations at all as a gamer. Just look at them. If I'm putting $1400 into it, I would put more money on GPU as opposed to a 3770k. They are putting money in the wrong places in my opinion. So what if they are a few bucks away from a DIY PC. No real PC gamer would build these configurations.
    Reply
  • mousseng
    I guess it's a good thing DIYers don't just shop at Newegg. I priced out the $800 list, and apart from the appalling part choice it's $120 more than if you built it yourself. The $700 build is, likewise, $100 more (both including Windows, mind you).
    Even if the price difference was as they claim, I'd still take DIY over Digital Storm any day. I enjoy knowing what I'm getting, why I'm getting it, and having the ability say that I got exactly what I wanted.
    Reply
  • milktea
    Great for someone who is looking to upgrade their 10+ year old system, and who is too lazy to build their own system from scratch.
    By the way, DIY doesn't have to be a gaming system.
    I'm more incline to trust PC systems from these guys rather than from Newegg.
    Reply
  • TheMadFapper
    This is cool, but like someone else mentioned, I just like building computers myself more and having full knowledge/control over the components.
    Reply
  • CarolKarine
    kinda shitty GPUs for that price range. normally in my builds I trim the fat till I can get a 7870 in a 600$ build, cause, you know, the GPU is what really matters.
    Reply
  • DarkSable
    I was excited for this at first, because we'd have something to recommend to the people who refuse to build... Yeah, nope.
    Why in the world can prebuilt designers not understand what makes a computer good for their target audience?
    Reply
  • g-unit1111
    10717665 said:
    I was excited for this at first, because we'd have something to recommend to the people who refuse to build... Yeah, nope.
    Why in the world can prebuilt designers not understand what makes a computer good for their target audience?

    Simple answer: They have bottom lines and profit goals to make. We don't.

    Therefore they will sell a system that caters more to what they'll make on the dollar than what they feel is the best system for a given budget. I like this idea in that it will encourage more people to explore the DIY route but charging for customer service which should be included in the price of the product is not the best way to go about doing this, I feel.
    Reply
  • spartanmk2
    There's a point to DIY...you like to pick your own parts, use a few from your old system, and love to put it all together yourself.
    Reply