Digital Storm Grinding my gears

[3ddummy]

So, I don't know what to do with my ~$4500 very large paper weight. I've never posted here before so sorry if I'm in the wrong place entirely but reddit and Digital Storm themselves are not helping me very much. I purchased a Digital Storm PC around October, and I knew the wait time would be even longer with the current pandemic, so I wasn't upset it took so long to arrive. What I was upset by was the fact that although the machine appeared to be in near mint condition upon arrival, I have had problems with stability since day one. The PC randomly reboots even while on idle, it seems to "ghost boot" whenever I turn on just the power supply, and I can't get through a single game of Modern Warzone, although I primarily just use the PC for my 3d art and it cannot handle simple geometry sometimes. My machine has an RTX 3090, an AMD 3900XT w/ AIO cooler, 64gb ram and a 1000W Silverstone gold rated PSU (Digital Storm Branded apparently?). Since I use the machine for work and needed to render some shots, I attempted to take the panels off myself to investigate and to my horror I found cables bent, pinched, and twisted to the point that if I straightened them out my machine sometimes wouldn't power on, the cables are definitely causing some of my issues. I contacted them about 2 weeks ago (after already speaking to them about this issue about a month before another issue started) but guess they lost my phone number. Then, because I'm so damn lucky, the next day the AIO began making a horrible crunching, grinding noise and I called all day long, only to be put on hold and never got to speak to anyone before they closed. The next day, after dealing with low end customer service telling me they can't do anything (ALSO telling me they tried to call 4 times, repeated my phone number to me correctly, but I confirmed none of the numbers that called me that day where them) and that I should expect a callback any day now. So another few days pass and with no technical support attempting to reach me, I got a direct number to a tech named Caleb from a previous ticket he had helped me out with(same issue, but we thought it had been resolved), who was extremely professional even when I was lacking. So, Caleb was great but now I'm dealing with someone else named Ken, and he is also extremely professional, but I feel like I'm being tossed around to cover themselves because my machine is so horribly thrown together. I expect cables to be scuffed and even possibly folded over, but some of my cables appeared to be sanded down, right where they would push on the side panel. It almost looks as if they sanded just enough of the wires down to get my machine to close properly, even though I had noticed the side metal panel was slightly bulged upon arrival. Also, EVERY SINGLE person I spoke too tried to heavily suggest something happened in shipping, which could happen, but this doesn't excuse the fact that I HAVE NOT been able to contact them for 2 weeks, plus the box it came in wasn't really banged up at all. In my opinion the builder didn't care about who opened this machine up next, or whether or not the machine would stand the test of time. I do have the RMA pictures that my techs have requested, but my machine is currently in a box awaiting to get approval for RMA (They told me to pack it up BEFORE I'm even approved for an RMA? does this sound right?) so I can post them if you like, but I don't necessarily feel like unpacking my whole machine again. I thought it was odd my tech told me NOT to take the side metal panel off even though that is where the sanded cables can be seen. I get the feeling they are going to try and pin it on me for the poor wiring even though my tech instructed me to do some rewiring to troubleshoot. I just feel like I'm not getting what I paid for, and I feel very taken advantage of, not only by being tossed around and not getting any straight answers, but this seems incredibly shady to me. I've heard a lot of good and bad about them and at this point I just want a machine that runs so please no "I told you so", I've heard it enough. All I can ask from this community is what that hell I should do, I considered a partial refund (15% taken out for restocking) but that is still almost $600 I lose from their incompetence. They offered to pay shipping for RMA, so thats good but I've been waiting all day for a response and I need to get back to work asap, plus I expected a machine that was tested thoroughly. What should I do? Call more tomorrow? Try to directly contact a manager? I'm at a loss that this company, filled with "tried and true" PC builders who test every machine, let this ~$4500 brick slip through the cracks. I'm not an incredible tech wizard, but I had built a PC in highschool and I expected a machine from Digital Storm that was put together better than a 15 year old with limited funds. well, that's my rant/inquiry. What the hell should I do?

 

Link to pictures and video requested by digital storm:

https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1X7UZDe8dVDV7U8zEhXH7sSkbsfbatzFW

 

 

Thanks in advance.

 

PS - I don't really want to go the refund route as I don't think the availability of an RTX 3090 founder edition is good enough to risk loosing the one I currently own. Any thought would be appreciated, and if I don't get approved for RMA tomorrow I'll post pictures of the sanded cables (unless someone thinks I shouldn't for some reason? Just want the build quality I expected for the price and I don't know the best way to prove I received the machine in this condition).

 

EDIT: I also forgot to mention the psu 12V line swings between 11.6V and 12.1V on idle, which they have said is normal, but as the gpu intense load is completed (like a render), the line fluctuates a liiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiitle bit more. 

i put this in a reply below also, sorry im new here.

[MarvintheParrot]

Sorry, to hear that. I would try to contact a manager immediately about the problem.

 

It sounds like a RAM issue, which is very common. You should try each and every DIMM slot (RAM slot) with each and every RAM stick

 

If that does not work, then it might the cables, but I have never heard of a problem with cables. Depending on the PSU, it should be very easy to install new cables ($30-$50 USD)

 

I would also try to make sure each cable is in correctly, make sure that they can't come out once in, and check the AIO cables as well.

 

 

I hope you find a fix!

[3ddummy]

1 minute ago, jsugarman2005 said:

Sorry, to hear that. I would try to contact a manager immediately about the problem.

 

It sounds like a RAM issue, which is very common. You should try each and every DIMM slot (RAM slot) with each and every RAM stick

 

If that does not work, then it might the cables, but I have never heard of a problem with cables. Depending on the PSU, it should be very easy to install new cables ($30-$50 USD)

 

I would also try to make sure each cable is in correctly, make sure that they can't come out once in, and check the AIO cables as well.

 

 

I hope you find a fix!

Thanks, I have checked the PSU cable connections to the mobo and gpu multiple times so I don't think that is the problem. I had asked one tech if it could be ram and he said it was highly unlikely? I was just surprised by how everything was so extremely pinched and poorly routed. All of the cables seem to be in tension all the time and they are all zip tied down. I didn't want to cut them as I'm scared they will pin the poor wiring on me, therefore deny my RMA for everything. It really just seems they got my machine to just barely run consistently then shipped it out, rather then testing it or even just doing a quality control check. I also forgot to mention the psu 12V line swings between 11.6V and 12.1V on idle, which they have said is normal, but as the gpu intense load is completed (like a render), the line fluctuates a liiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiitle bit more. 

[3ddummy]

21 minutes ago, 3ddummy said:

So, I don't know what to do with my ~$4500 very large paper weight. I've never posted here before so sorry if I'm in the wrong place entirely but reddit and Digital Storm themselves are not helping me very much. I purchased a Digital Storm PC around October, and I knew the wait time would be even longer with the current pandemic, so I wasn't upset it took so long to arrive. What I was upset by was the fact that although the machine appeared to be in near mint condition upon arrival, I have had problems with stability since day one. The PC randomly reboots even while on idle, it seems to "ghost boot" whenever I turn on just the power supply, and I can't get through a single game of Modern Warzone, although I primarily just use the PC for my 3d art and it cannot handle simple geometry sometimes. My machine has an RTX 3090, an AMD 3900XT w/ AIO cooler, 64gb ram and a 1000W Silverstone gold rated PSU (Digital Storm Branded apparently?). Since I use the machine for work and needed to render some shots, I attempted to take the panels off myself to investigate and to my horror I found cables bent, pinched, and twisted to the point that if I straightened them out my machine sometimes wouldn't power on, the cables are definitely causing some of my issues. I contacted them about 2 weeks ago (after already speaking to them about this issue about a month before another issue started) but guess they lost my phone number. Then, because I'm so damn lucky, the next day the AIO began making a horrible crunching, grinding noise and I called all day long, only to be put on hold and never got to speak to anyone before they closed. The next day, after dealing with low end customer service telling me they can't do anything (ALSO telling me they tried to call 4 times, repeated my phone number to me correctly, but I confirmed none of the numbers that called me that day where them) and that I should expect a callback any day now. So another few days pass and with no technical support attempting to reach me, I got a direct number to a tech named Caleb from a previous ticket he had helped me out with(same issue, but we thought it had been resolved), who was extremely professional even when I was lacking. So, Caleb was great but now I'm dealing with someone else named Ken, and he is also extremely professional, but I feel like I'm being tossed around to cover themselves because my machine is so horribly thrown together. I expect cables to be scuffed and even possibly folded over, but some of my cables appeared to be sanded down, right where they would push on the side panel. It almost looks as if they sanded just enough of the wires down to get my machine to close properly, even though I had noticed the side metal panel was slightly bulged upon arrival. Also, EVERY SINGLE person I spoke too tried to heavily suggest something happened in shipping, which could happen, but this doesn't excuse the fact that I HAVE NOT been able to contact them for 2 weeks, plus the box it came in wasn't really banged up at all. In my opinion the builder didn't care about who opened this machine up next, or whether or not the machine would stand the test of time. I do have the RMA pictures that my techs have requested, but my machine is currently in a box awaiting to get approval for RMA (They told me to pack it up BEFORE I'm even approved for an RMA? does this sound right?) so I can post them if you like, but I don't necessarily feel like unpacking my whole machine again. I thought it was odd my tech told me NOT to take the side metal panel off even though that is where the sanded cables can be seen. I get the feeling they are going to try and pin it on me for the poor wiring even though my tech instructed me to do some rewiring to troubleshoot. I just feel like I'm not getting what I paid for, and I feel very taken advantage of, not only by being tossed around and not getting any straight answers, but this seems incredibly shady to me. I've heard a lot of good and bad about them and at this point I just want a machine that runs so please no "I told you so", I've heard it enough. All I can ask from this community is what that hell I should do, I considered a partial refund (15% taken out for restocking) but that is still almost $600 I lose from their incompetence. They offered to pay shipping for RMA, so thats good but I've been waiting all day for a response and I need to get back to work asap, plus I expected a machine that was tested thoroughly. What should I do? Call more tomorrow? Try to directly contact a manager? I'm at a loss that this company, filled with "tried and true" PC builders who test every machine, let this ~$4500 brick slip through the cracks. I'm not an incredible tech wizard, but I had built a PC in highschool and I expected a machine from Digital Storm that was put together better than a 15 year old with limited funds. well, that's my rant/inquiry. What the hell should I do?

 

Link to pictures and video requested by digital storm:

https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1X7UZDe8dVDV7U8zEhXH7sSkbsfbatzFW

 

 

Thanks in advance.

 

PS - I don't really want to go the refund route as I don't think the availability of an RTX 3090 founder edition is good enough to risk loosing the one I currently own. Any thought would be appreciated, and if I don't get approved for RMA tomorrow I'll post pictures of the sanded cables (unless someone thinks I shouldn't for some reason? Just want the build quality I expected for the price and I don't know the best way to prove I received the machine in this condition).

EDIT: I also forgot to mention the psu 12V line swings between 11.6V and 12.1V on idle, which they have said is normal, but as the gpu intense load is completed (like a render), the line fluctuates a liiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiitle bit more. 

[MarvintheParrot]

11 minutes ago, 3ddummy said:

Thanks, I have checked the PSU cable connections to the mobo and gpu multiple times so I don't think that is the problem. I had asked one tech if it could be ram and he said it was highly unlikely? I was just surprised by how everything was so extremely pinched and poorly routed. All of the cables seem to be in tension all the time and they are all zip tied down. I didn't want to cut them as I'm scared they will pin the poor wiring on me, therefore deny my RMA for everything. It really just seems they got my machine to just barely run consistently then shipped it out, rather then testing it or even just doing a quality control check. I also forgot to mention the psu 12V line swings between 11.6V and 12.1V on idle, which they have said is normal, but as the gpu intense load is completed (like a render), the line fluctuates a liiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiitle bit more. 

I don't know much about PSU's, but I do know that the RAM issue is not that rare, I would check that out. I am sure that there are many simple videos on youtube on how to do it.

[3ddummy]

I'm might try this out tomorrow if I don't get any answer from a tech, like I said I would love to have a machine that is stable so I can get work done. But, at the same time I want to get what I paid for and at this point I feel like I'm building this PC myself which is what I wanted to avoid in the first place.