Digital Storm HailStorm
PrintHexa-core system has its way with our benchmarks
When we introduced our new system benchmarks last month, we thought it might be at least six months before review machines began stomping the holy crap out of them. Unfortunately for us, Digital Storm couldn’t wait to pile it on. The company has unleashed a rig so damned powerful that we’re wondering if our new benchmarks and zero-point system aren’t already obsolete.
But what would you expect of a rig named HailStorm Black Ops Edition that’s equipped with Intel’s new hexa-core Core i7-980X CPU? The Core i7-980X normally clocks in at 3.33GHz, but Digital Storm pushes the CPU to 4.4GHz, with the help of an impressive dual-radiator and large ID hose water-cooling system. For graphics, the company combines three Radeon HD 5870 cards, which have been clock-bumped as well, thanks to the beefy water-cooling. Along with the CPU and GPU cooling, Digital Storm water-cools the chipset and voltage regulators on the EVGA X58 Classified motherboard. We still haven’t reviewed one of these EVGA boards, but its selection by several high-profile OEMs is making us want in on that action. Get the hint, EVGA? We should also mention that for the amount of hardware the HailStorm packs, it’s one of the quietest machine’s we’ve tested.
A single second-gen 160GB Intel X25-M combined with two 1.5TB Seagate Barracudas handle all storage matters. A massive 1,500W Silverstone PSU runs the whole show. There are other amenities such as a Sound Blaster X-Fi Titanium Fatal1ty Champion soundcard, an LG Blu-ray combo drive, and 6GB of DDR3/1600 bearing the Digital Storm brand. The case is Corsair’s killer 800D enclosure with a custom high-gloss paint job. If we had to ding the machine for anything, it’s that the paint job, while nice, certainly isn’t the caliber of those found on Falcon Northwest’s or Smooth Creations’ PCs.
Despite a full rack of hardware and off-the-scale performance, the HailStorm is amazingly quiet.
Even though our zero-point rig is no slouch—a Core i7-920 overclocked to 3.5GHz, with a Radeon HD 5970 and Intel G2 SSD—the HailStorm smashed it to pieces in the benchmarks. In our Sony Vegas Pro 9 video-editing test, the HailStorm was a shocking 45 percent faster. In MainConcept Reference 1.6, the HailStorm achieved a 46 percent faster encode. And in the photo arenas of Lightroom 2.6 and ProShow 4, the HailStorm turned in scores that were 24 percent and 27 percent faster, respectively. Our Radeon HD 5970, the most powerful card on the planet, was no match against the HailStorm’s three Radeon HD 5870s, which bested our rig by 83 percent in STALKER: CoP and 75 percent in Far Cry 2.
You can see why we’re ready to start crying about our smashed and shattered benchmarks. If the first performance rig we test can make such a mockery of our tests, we can only look forward to further humiliation. Sigh.
So, what’s not to like? Two glaring things about the HailStorm make it less than perfect. The first is the rig’s weight. We’ve actually hurt our backs lifting previous Digital Storm systems and this one is just as heavy. Let’s just say you should plan to have help unpacking your new rig. The second imperfection is also painful: the price. At $7,818, the HailStorm ain’t no big-box impulse buy.
But that’s always been the story, hasn’t it? To get this kind of benchmark-crushing performance, you have to pay to play. The HailStorm makes it well worth it.
Digital Storm HailStorm
Hexagon
Six-core processor; quiet; tri-CrossFireX!
Pentagram
Weighs as much as a small car--costs as much, too.
9
Specifications
| Processor | Intel 3.33GHz Core i7-980X (overclocked to 4.4GHz) |
| Mobo | EVGA Classified X58 |
| RAM | 6GB DDR3/1600 in tri-channel mode |
| Videocard | Three ATI Radeon HD 5870 in CrossFireX |
| Soundcard | X-Fi Titanium Fatal1ty Champion |
| Storage | 160GB X25-M Intel SSD, two Seagate Barracuda 7200.12 1.5TB hard drives. |
| Optical | LG Blu-ray combo drive, Lite-on 22x DVD+R |
| Case/PSU | Corsair 800D / Silverstone 1,500W PSU |
Benchmarks
| Zero Point | Digital Storm HailStorm | |
|---|---|---|
| Vegas Pro 9 (sec) | 3,049 | 2,103 |
| Lightroom 2.6 (sec) | 356 | 286 |
| ProShow 4 (sec) | 1,112 | 873 |
| Reference 1.6 (sec) | 2,113 | 1,450 |
| S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: CoP (fps) | 42 | 77.0 |
| Far Cry 2 (fps) | 114.4 | 200.6 |
Our current desktop test bed consists of a quad-core 2.66GHz Core i7-920 overclocked to 3.5GHz, 6GB of Corsair DDR3/1333 overclocked to 1750MHz, on a Gigabyte X58 motherboard. We are running an ATI Radeon HD 5970 graphics card, a 160GB Intel X25-M SSD, and the 64-bit version of Windows 7 Ultimate.
More like this
28
Comments
RogueXx
January 27, 2012 at 3:56am
I don't know why they did that. It looks REALLY bad and fragile. How is that even held up? They could have done a lot better like with what my builder did for me. I of course got the 360mm on top, but they used one 120mm radiator in back and another 120mm radiator on bottom instead. Overall, it's looks a lot nicer, and it cools my Tri SLI GTX 580's perfectly. Only downside is that it is HEAVY, if you get something like this plan to keep it in one spot "FOREVER", lol. Overall, I'm happy with the computer I got from Ironside Computers, and it cost a lot less then what Digital Storm wants. I honestly don't really see the justification to go with a company like Digital Storm when they send a review unit like that.
PGleo86
June 05, 2010 at 5:37pm
These are the things that make my 2.1 GHz Athlon 64 x2 w/ ATI Radeon HD 3200 obsolete
Life is like a box of chocolates, except you can't eat life.
My deviantART: http://pgleo86.deviantart.com
thetechchild
June 25, 2010 at 5:58pm
Budget PCs today (total cost of 800 USD) w/ monitors, keyboard, or mouse, make a 2.1 GHz Athlon x2 w/ ATI Radeon HD 3200 obsolete. Bumping the cost down to $600 matches your rig pretty well...
A more accurate line: These are the things that make everybody's rigs, excluding DSHS owners, obsolete. As the zero point comparison shows.
Anyways, this things is so much overkill, it's ridiculous. Awesome-sauce filled ridiculous-ness. With Chuck Norris superpowers on the side.
WayneW
May 04, 2010 at 6:06pm
Who cares about the paint job, weight, or the so-called ugly rediator(I think it looks tough)?
I'm jealous as hell!
Digitalstormpc
April 08, 2010 at 11:37am
I just wanted to drop by and respond to some of the comments.
Rear Mounted Radiator:
The reason for the rear mounted radiator is because this system has two separate dedicated liquid cooling loops. One for the processor and chipset/voltage regulators, and another one for the three video cards. Both the processor, memory, and video cards had all been overclocked. Load temps on the processor are around an impressive 65'C under Prime95 at 4.4GHz.
Shipping Damage from Rear Radiator:
We are aware that there are concerns of possible shipping damage, and to prevent that, we've invested in a massive foam molding machine. Each system that comes with this high-end cooling system receives a custom foam mold that takes shape of the entire exterior and interior of the chassis. In addition, we also provide our customers with a discounted upgrade to a Wooden Crate for ever safer shipping.
Rear Radiator Placement:
I agree as well that it isn't the best visually appealing place to put the second radiator, however, we weren't able to find another location to mount it. If you guys have any suggestions, we're free to hear them and improve our product.
Warm Regards,
Rajeev Kuruppu
Digital Storm
Director of Product Development
Dunimas
May 05, 2010 at 6:09am
I have this same case and put a Feser Single 120mm Radiator on the back inside which cools the water from my proc and nb/sb/mosfets just fine. I used two Scythe Kaze slim fans for a push-pull set-up. Maybe that would be an alternitive to triple stacking fans outside the case. The Feser radiator is a bit larger than most normal radiators, but I didn't have any problems setting it up and it performs excellently. The slim fans really helped (12mm thick each), so 2 of them are thinner than1 normal 120x25mm fan. They also each spin at 2000rpm so the air flow is really good.
I also noticed that the Corsair Obsidian case doesn't have the best air flow intake to outtake ratio, so I turned the rear radiator to suck inward that way my top triple raditor set up on top exhausts all the hot air. I noticed the air flow was much better when I did this.
My Core i7 930 runs at 4.3 Ghz with an idle temp of 29c and 100% load of 50c (Intel Burn-In), and my dual 480 gtx's run OC'd at 900 Mhz with ambient temps of 40c and 48c full load.
Not sure if that helps or not, but that's what I ended up doing.
::.Dunimas.::
optionboy16
May 05, 2010 at 1:54am
is why Digital Storm is a BBB A+ vender. I was seriously thinking about getting a DS pc late last year, but I opted to build my own. The real deal breaker for me was shipping...I live in Alaska. I plan on moving down soon, and the next time I need a newer pc, I'm going Digital Storm. As for the rear mounted raidator, I'm a lazy nerd, and my computer will never move. Ever. So that's not an issue for me. And for the price? I said this many times before....You can get good customer service, or cheaper products, you can't have both! Plus, they have many decent rigs under 2k. That's more my price range. I know if anything fails, or I have any kind of issue, I will be taken care of. Nice rig DS! Keep up the Pwnage!
DingeR
May 04, 2010 at 1:52pm
You could cut out the bottom hard drive cage and install a radiator there pulling air from below the case like the PSU. However, I see nothing wrong with the radiator mounted to the back like you have it now.
My other suggestion is to custom sleeve the power cables. Black always looks sharp or color matching the water tubing would look good.
Oh yeah... sending free samples to me is always welcome.
niten
April 07, 2010 at 2:21pm
Am i seeing things or am I correct in saying that there is both an internal (top mounted) three fan radiator as well as an external two fan radiator? If this is the case, why did they decide not to mount some fans underneath the three fan (internal) radiator to exhaust through and out the radiator?
I like the reservoir's front panel.
wlballplayer
April 07, 2010 at 8:45am
that radiator looks funky. what way is the hot air and cool air going? i hope that bottom fan on the radiator isn't throwing heat back at the graphics cards.
big_montana
April 07, 2010 at 5:52am
And let's not forget to add in the cost of an electrician to come out to your house and add a new circuit that will be able to run this power hungry beast. Your typical 15 amp circuit can only handle 1440 watts, this is rocking a 1500 watt PSU, and we have yet to take into acount a monitor, photo and laser printer, cable modem, wifi router, lighting, and most likely a second PC as well.
pbalstar
May 04, 2010 at 6:04pm
This is not for the poor, or average, or well off. This computer is for the rich. Most rich people have big homes. Most big homes have 20 amp circuitry and most normal homes have 20 amp circuitry atleast going to a laundry room. Got extension cables?
jpmurph1
April 07, 2010 at 5:12am
yeah its nice, i am a speed,function guy as opposed to looks, but 7 grand is a lot of money to shell out, then again if your rich it deosnt matter does it, i am happy with all my self built very fast machines, and in six months someone will come out with something even better all ways around
kevaskous
April 07, 2010 at 3:55am
And now sporting the following AWESOME FEATURES!!!
A rear mounted cooling system that will SURELY;
Break off either during shipping or really anytime pressure will be applied.
Fans that will warp under the strain, make noise and eventually die prematurely.
Easily damaged external parts to guarantee eventual system failure.
Your shiny(not really but still nice) case that will surely warp under the weight overtime aswell.
Yea so....................wait for it....................
.............................not buying it.
WardTheSteak
July 02, 2010 at 5:37am
Go into DS forums and you will see none of the complaints you just listed for people that have the same chasis and liquid cooling setup. There has been a few bendings during shipping on a few occasions due to the non-upgrade to the crate plus the combination of horrible shipping guys. The box looked like it went through a warzone, and still all that happened was minor bending of the radiator. Then, that's when the great customer service kicks in, they actually take care of their customers. But none of the warping issues or dieing you described has happened so try to read about things before you make negative assumptions.
jetbruceli
April 06, 2010 at 10:44pm
Well I think this is an amazing machine. However I will stick to my Notebook with
Core 2 Quad 6700 @2.66
2x 9800m gt sli
4 gb ram with 1.5 tb (3x 500gb)
It still does the job and when I finally build my own, I want it to be the best.
AntiHero
April 06, 2010 at 7:28pm
Why is there a three fan stack on the double rad? Also, why bother with a double rad if you have a triple? The watercooling is overkilled with radiators. What is the actual weight? I guesstimate it at about 80 or so pounds.
Dippndots
April 06, 2010 at 5:39pm
that rear radiator setup might be the ugliest thing i've ever seen though
hogkill
April 06, 2010 at 8:01pm
Yes. They should have definitely stuck the radiator which is required to cool the beast down in a less noticeable place, like the front, the top, or maybe one of the sides. Clearly MPC readers care more about looks than benchmarks, and all orient their computers with the back side facing forward.
Danthrax66
April 06, 2010 at 9:05pm
Yeah we are for real that looks horendous and I would never buy a boutique pc you can do it ayourself for less and make it look better. And yeah from a boutique pc company looks are more important if I'm gonna pay 5000 for a pc it better look good and not have something on it that will break during shipping.
Toryj
April 08, 2010 at 11:55am
Digital Storm makes nice computers. But this one just seems so lazy in design. I can understand if they needed to space the rear radiator out. But using 3 fans to do it is just...well lazy. They could have made a bracket, or like someone else said, mounted it on the side. But grabing 3 fans and bolting them on the back as a spacer is something I would expect a Noob to do. And for 7+K, you have got be kidding me. Nice try,but bad form.
Connect with MaximumPC
Featured Content
The gang discusses the GTX 690, Trinity, Ivy Bridge, Amazon, big-box stores, MMOs,...
This month's issue
Feature
Build a PC On Any Budget
Feature
Cloud Services Showdown
How-To
Encrypt Your External Drive
Build It
Upgrade an X58 Rig
Most Commented Articles
Latest Max PC Tweets
- maximumpc: Original RickRoll Video Returns to YouTube After 24-Hour Copyright Hiatus http://t.co/MaH9Sxyy2 days 8 hours ago
- maximumpc: Corsair has decided not to go forward with its $78 million IPO, citing weak equity market conditions http://t.co/A5a4DAzj2 days 8 hours ago
- maximumpc: Want to work at Maximum PC? Our Online Managing Editor, Alex, is moving away, so we need a new one. http://t.co/9Z7JCh0E4 days 6 hours ago
