Boutique Systems [Bolt II]

[Stonep11]

Hey guys!

 

FIRST OFF: DO NOT JUST SPAM "WHY DON'T YOU BUILD A PC YOURSELF?" IF I COULD GET A CASE WITH THE LAYOUT OF ONE OF THESE OR THE FEATURE SET AT THIS SIZE, I WOULD.  THE CLOSEST I HAVE SEEN IS AN NCASE M1, WHICH I AM WAITING TO HEAR BACK FROM THE COMPANY ABOUT, BUT THEY ARE PRETTY MUCH ALL SOLD.

 

     So I have been following the Bolt system for the last year.  I almost got a Bolt system, but a good amount of reviews complained about difficult upgradeability, poor thermals, and loud PSU turned me off.  So needless to say, when the Bolt II was announced, I read all about it and checked the website for a release everyday.  I have loved everything I have seen about it.  It is beautiful, quiet, powerful, small (or at least as small as it can be), and highly upgradeable.  Well, today the Bolt II came out, and I am very disappointed.

     Nothing had changed about the performance or anything, that is not what bothers me, it is the price.  I know a custom built, boutique system will be more expensive, I was ready for it to be more expensive, I realize they hand build, test, and sculpt these beautiful machines, but when I configured the build I was interested in... I was shocked.

     I configured this build: GO here http://www.digitalstormonline.com/loadconfig.asp Enter this ticket number 921268

     So basically a GTX780 with a 4770k, not quite a $2710 machine thought (this build isn't even with the Maximus VI Impact or any big extras)

    

     I was so surprised, I did some research.  Now, PCPartPicker is obviously not perfect, but it is a good estimate, and using it, I tried to mirror the Bolt II build I had configured: Signifigantly cheaper at $1711, which I expected, but not that big of a difference.

 

     Now of course, it is hard to account for everything Digital Storm adds, from straight up construction, 72 hour testing, Hydrolux controlling, custom case, lighting, and the incredible customer service and support, but $1000 is a huge gap to cover all of that.  I was still curious, so I decided to compare to another boutique systems builder and their SFF offering, the Falcon Northwest Tiki.

 

     To compare I had to go to the higher end for each, and I came up with these too, as similar as possible builds:

          Digital Storm-  Go to http://www.digitalstormonline.com/loadconfig.asp Enter 921280

          Falcon Northwest- See below, can't get a link


System Details

Chassis
Tiki - Standard Black
Chassis Logo Insert
White Light
Chassis Base
Granite - Absolute Black
Power Supply
SilverStone® 450 Watt SFX
Motherboard
Asus® Maximus VI Impact
Processor
Intel® Core™ i7 4770K 3.5GHz
Processor Overclock
Processor Overlock - Tiki
Processor Cooler
Asetek® Liquid Cooling - Tiki
Memory
1866MHz 2x4GB (8GB)
Video Card
NVIDIA® GeForce® GTX 780Ti 3GB
Sound Card
On-Board Audio
Networking
On-Board Ethernet
Operating System Drive
Crucial® M500 SSD 240GB
Data Drive 1
Western Digital® Green™ 2TB
Optical Drive
Slot-Load DVD Writer
64-Bit Operating System
Microsoft® Windows 8.1
USB Rescue Drive
USB Rescue Drive
System Documentation
Falcon Northwest Manual
Warranty
3 Year Warranty - Tiki

Shipping Options
UPS Ground : 59.04
UPS 2-Day : 153.45
UPS Overnight : 237.60
USPS (APO Only) : 225.00
UPS 3 DAY : 90.00

Total System Price: $2,773.00

 

 

     So even compared to another, notoriously overpriced boutique manufacturer, the Digital Storm Bolt II is incredibly overpriced.  I am disappointed, I was really excited for the Bolt II and this huge markup is a bit too much for me to accept, looking at you @digitalnav

 

So, in closing, message me if you find any errors I made in my configurations and I will update this post.  if you know any major reason, please post it! 

So let me all know what you think!

[_ASSASSIN_]

wtf is with the font?

[Stonep11]

wtf is with the font?

What is the standard font on the site?  I copied something into the post and it got all messed up so I just set to Times New Roman.

[Sors]

That case is NOT worth $1000,  And the rest of the things you said they add are also not worth $1000.   Seems to me like a good way to throw away money.

[Stonep11]

That case is NOT worth $1000,  And the rest of the things you said they add are also not worth $1000.   Seems to me like a good way to throw away money.

I agree, I could see the building, warranty, support, custom parts, and case all being a $500 markup (still high), but the way it is right now is too much.

[Blade of Grass]

Wut

4770k and 780TI on a 450w PSU? Hope there's no overclocking.

[target39]

Next time when pasting, use Ctrl+Shift+V.

[target39]

Wut

4770k and 780TI on a 450w PSU? Hope there's no overclocking.

It can work. The PSU has a peak output of about 550W, and it can sustain it for quite a long time, if the PSU doesn't get too hot.

[PillowSmoke]

Just no. You can get something much better and sexier for the same or even cheaper price tag.

[Stonep11]

Next time when pasting, use Ctrl+Shift+V.

Thanks for the tip, fixed in OP

[Stonep11]

Just no. You can get something much better and sexier for the same or even cheaper price tag.

Please suggest cases, because it is the form factor that is my main interest in these cases.

[Enderman]

you should see if an m-itx formfactor self build would be small enough

you can get small cases like the corsair 250d or other small cheap cases

[Stonep11]

you should see if an m-itx formfactor self build would be small enough

you can get small cases like the corsair 250d or other small cheap cases

They are getting better, but many mITX cases are still just a bit bigger than I would like.  I am really looking for something in this slim form factor.

[Almercenary]

They are getting better, but many mITX cases are still just a bit bigger than I would like. I am really looking for something in this slim form factor.

Hook a high power laptop into a monitor and get a good kb+ mouse? That's all I can think of if Itx is to big, or get a hadron if you like the look of it

[Stonep11]

Hook a high power laptop into a monitor and get a good kb+ mouse? That's all I can think of if Itx is to big, or get a hadron if you like the look of it

I am not a big laptop fan, but the Hadron has been one of the few cases that has seemed to be doing it right.

[Blade of Grass]

It can work. The PSU has a peak output of about 550W, and it can sustain it for quite a long time, if the PSU doesn't get too hot.

PSU are rated for their continuous output amout. A 780TI and 4770k plus the rest will probably use about 450w. If he over clocks, then he'll be over drawing his power supply and it could shutdown (overcurrent).

It doesn't matter if it's peak output is 550w, that's the PEAK output, it won't be able to stably output that over long periods of time.

If it could, then it would be rated for 550W, not 450w.

[Jvagle875]

How important is form factor to you? Buy what makes you happy. If you really do love a case, buy it. You don't want to regret your purchase decision in order to save a few bucks. Have you looked at this case? http://www.silverstonetek.com/raven/products/index.php?model=RVZ01&area=en Linus did a review on it as well. Or AsRock m8?

[atrash]

Why choose a k-series cpu in a H87 motherboard?

[Stonep11]

Why choose a k-series cpu in a H87 motherboard?

You can overclock on am H87 board, it just isn't as easy, and you don't get enough lanes for SLI.  Plus, Digital Storm does the overclocking up to 4.4 anyway, so I wouldn't feel the need to push past that.

[applebook]

Almost everyone here will suggest a custom build for less money.

 

You can overclock on H87, but why would you want to if you have the budget?

[digitalnav]

If you guys are going to compare prices as opposed to building it yourself, this system is obviously not for you.

It's an entire custom PC that was designed from the ground up, those man-hours do not come free.

[target39]

PSU are rated for their continuous output amout. A 780TI and 4770k plus the rest will probably use about 450w. If he over clocks, then he'll be over drawing his power supply and it could shutdown (overcurrent).

It doesn't matter if it's peak output is 550w, that's the PEAK output, it won't be able to stably output that over long periods of time.

If it could, then it would be rated for 550W, not 450w.

Understand that a 780TI with a 4770K will only draw ~450W when running at full load, 100%CPU, 100%GPU. A system running at full load with a 4770K overclocked to 4.2GHZ at 1.25V will only use up about 482W. The PSU can handle those 32 extra watts just fine, continuously.

Also, the user will not run the PC at full load 24/7. Like most people, he'll probably only reach 100% CPU and GPU load for about 1-5 hours a day when gaming or rendering. The computer will probably be off or be on idle when he's using non-intensive applications such as Google Chrome. When on idle, the computer will probably only consume about 200W at the most.

Even if he ran the overclocked system at 100% load all day, everyday, the PSU will have no problems supplying ~32W over its certified wattage.

[Blade of Grass]

Understand that a 780TI with a 4770K will only draw ~450W when running at full load, 100%CPU, 100%GPU. A system running at full load with a 4770K overclocked to 4.2GHZ at 1.25V will only use up about 482W. The PSU can handle those 32 extra watts just fine, continuously.

Also, the user will not run the PC at full load 24/7. Like most people, he'll probably only reach 100% CPU and GPU load for about 1-5 hours a day when gaming or rendering. The computer will probably be off or be on idle when he's using non-intensive applications such as Google Chrome. When on idle, the computer will probably only consume about 200W at the most.

Even if he ran the overclocked system at 100% load all day, everyday, the PSU will have no problems supplying ~32W over its certified wattage.

If he overclocks his GPU, it too would use more energy. Add in a harddrives, an SSD, some fans, lighting, a higher end motherboard, on top of the OCed CPU and GPU and you'd be around 500w. Sure, it may be able to output the additional power, but whether it's designed too, and should, is a whole different question.

 

IIRC someone did a test on a bunch of different PSU, and found that yes, some very well could output about 50w over their rating (that was the most I believe, none could do much more than that) before they failed the tests, while some couldn't even supply 50w under what they were rated for.

 

Just because you can run Windows 7 off 2GB of RAM, doesn't mean you should. 

[target39]

If he overclocks his GPU, it too would use more energy. Add in a harddrives, an SSD, some fans, lighting, a higher end motherboard, on top of the OCed CPU and GPU and you'd be around 500w. Sure, it may be able to output the additional power, but whether it's designed too, and should, is a whole different question.

 

IIRC someone did a test on a bunch of different PSU, and found that yes, some very well could output about 50w over their rating (that was the most I believe, none could do much more than that) before they failed the tests, while some couldn't even supply 50w under what they were rated for.

 

Just because you can run Windows 7 off 2GB of RAM, doesn't mean you should.

Who said anything about overclocking a GPU? Why would you overclock a 780TI with a stock cooler in a small case?

Point is, there's nothing wrong with running a 4770K with a 780TI off a rated 450W PSU, especially if it's the best option in a small enclosure. There is even room for a mild CPU overclock.

The analogy doesn't apply here very well. It's not only a matter of "can", it's also a matter of "being the best option". Yes, I know a better option would just to get a bigger case, but if someone really wanted a 4770K, and a 780TI in a very small enclosure, using the 450W PSU is the best option because it's small and can handle the load.

Also, running 2GB of RAM of Windows 7 is perfectly fine if all you plan to do is use Micrsoft Office, browse the internet and watch movies.

With an SSD, Bluray Drive, 2 120mm fans, an H100, 2 USB devices, 2 DDR3 RAM sticks at stock 1.5V, a GTX 780TI stock, and a 4770K OC'd to 4.2GHZ at 1.25V, the system will only consume 482W at full load. This PSU is not a run of the mill PSU, it's the cream of the crop for SFX. I've looked at in depth reviews of the thing. It's not going to cheap out and die at 50W under (400W), like you claim some did. Those PSUs must have been terrible. Trust me, it's not going to fail after consuming 50W over its continuous wattage rating, unless you get a model from a bad batch, which you won't since it'll be tested first by Falcon Northwest.

A company like Falcon Northwest would not advertise these parts if they knew it wouldn't be stable enough.

[Enderman]

They are getting better, but many mITX cases are still just a bit bigger than I would like.  I am really looking for something in this slim form factor.

where are you trying to fit it?

in a tv stand?

fractal design has a receiver sized full atx case that fits perfectly under a tv table (where receivers usually go)

its really nice, but im not sure where you intend to put it