Digital Storm Vanquish II (Level 4) Gaming PC Review

We’ve seen our share of obscenely tricked-out systems as of late; rigs like the Maingear Rush and Epic Rush, the iBuypower Chimera 4SE FX Ultimate, and the Falcon Northwest Tiki (among others) are bursting at the seams with the hottest hardware, but of course, those systems typically have commensurate price tags.

None of the above cost less than $2,700, and the Maingear Rush drains the pocketbook at a whopping $8,393 as configured.

Digital Storm’s latest offering, the Vanquish II, take a completely different approach. It still has excellent components inside, but none is quite the top end. Performance will take a hit to be sure, but so will the cost.

As Digital Storm is wont to do, there are four base configurations of the Vanquish II. Level 1 costs a mere pittance (relatively speaking) at $699, while the Level 2 ($779) and Level 3 ($979) give users three Vanquish II systems to choose from under $1,000. It’s the Level 4 that we’re evaluating today, and at $1,259 the question is, did Digital Storm find the right balance of performance and price, or will the Vanquish II be a letdown?

Digital Storm Vanquish II Specifications & Features

First, let’s discuss what’s inside. The Vanquish II Level 4 sports a quad-core Intel Core i5-4590 which has been paired with an NVIDIA GTX 770 GPU (2GB), and there’s 8GB of DDR3-1600MHz RAM inside. Digital Storm put in a nice one-two storage combination of a 120GB Samsung 840 EVO SSD for strong OS performance with a 1TB Seagate 7200rpm HDD for extra capacity.

There’s a DVD-R/RW optical drive along with a 600W Corsair CX PSU. For cooling, DS went with an aftermarket air cooler and a handful of case fans. The system runs Windows 8.1 (64-bit).

As is its custom, Digital Storm included a handy binder full of all the pertinent driver and installation discs (including Windows) and documentation, along with a certificate of ownership. The company also offers quick shipping--72 hours from when you order your rig--and a solid 3-year limited warranty with Lifetime Expert Care.

Note that all of the components are off-the-shelf parts; Digital Storm is pushing the Vanquish II’s easy upgradability as a selling point. That is to say, there are no proprietary configurations or parts that would inhibit you from upgrading any given component.