Digital Storm Vanquish 4 Review

Our Verdict

The Digital Storm Crush 4 delivers excellent gaming functioning in a meaty pattern that makes upgrading easy.

For

Strong gaming and CPU operation
Hassle-gratis upgradability
Compact design with customizable lighting
Attainable price

Against

Bulkier than competitors

Tom'southward Guide Verdict

The Digital Tempest Vanquish iv delivers excellent gaming operation in a compact design that makes upgrading easy.

Pros

+
Potent gaming and CPU performance
+
Hassle-free upgradability
+
Compact design with customizable lighting
+
Accessible price

Cons

-
Bulkier than competitors

Premium gaming performance doesn't ever have to come up at an extra-premium toll. Take the Digital Storm Vanquish 4, which packs a powerful Nvidia GTX 970 graphics card and a speedy 6th-generation Intel Core i7 processor into a bundle that's both compact and easy to upgrade. The Vanquish 4 ($1,599 as tested, $899 starting) isn't the sleekest or slimmest gaming PC we've played with, merely it'south one of the all-time values out there in terms of operation for the cost.

Blueprint

The Beat 4 boasts a compact sense of fashion that'due south signature to Digital Storm PCs. This modest belfry is laden with front-facing arrow markers throughout its gray plastic exterior, which, combined with its exposed cooling fans in the forepart, made me feel similar the desktop was gearing up to send a controlled explosion of awesomeness my way. It's not quite as thin or elegant as Digital Storm'due south college-cease Bolt 3, but it's certainly no eyesore.

It wouldn't exist a Digital Storm desktop without some exposed guts, so it's only natural that the Vanquish's side console sports a small window that lets you come across its core components in action. The PC's external backlighting can be customized to glow in various shades of red, blueish, green and yellow, and there's no shortage of cool lighting effects. You tin opt to accept the lights slowly fade in and out, or, if you really want to show off, trigger a dazzling multicolor lite testify with the included remote.

While relatively compact, the 17.3 x 21.7 10 viii.3-inch Crush isn't exactly going to slide into your amusement eye. Slimmer machines such every bit the Alienware X51 and Maingear Drift volition do a better task blending into the living room.

Ports and Upgradability

The Vanquish's port layout is as plug-and-play as they come, with two USB 3.0 ports and both headphone and microphone jacks in the front. In that location'south likewise a DVD-R/RW drive.

In the dorsum, yous'll find an Ethernet port, 2 USB ii.0 ports, two USB 3.1 ports, a reversible USB Type-C port and two PS/2 inputs for those clinging to their former-school mice and keyboards. The PC sports line-in, line-out and microphone jacks for your audio needs, as well as HDMI, DVI and VGA connections for video. If yous need more monitor ports, you tin can plug correct into the HDMI, DisplayPort and DVI ports located directly on the Vanquish'southward GTX 970 graphics card.

More: Best Gaming PCs

The Vanquish is designed to exist hands upgraded over time, and doing so is a breeze. After twisting off a paw screw on the rear of the machine, it simply took me a few seconds to slide off its side console in lodge to access its core parts.

What's in the Box

The Vanquish ships with a loaded accessory box, which includes commuter discs, a remote for controlling the system'south lighting and a surplus of video cables. Our item Vanquish 4 configuration includes an impressive three-year warranty, though your coverage will vary depending on which model you pick.

Gaming Performance

You can confidently crank modern games to high settings on the Crush 4, thanks to its Nvidia GeForce GTX 970 GPU with 4GB of VRAM. The open up-world stealth action of Metal Gear Solid V played wonderfully on the PC at 2560 x 1440 with graphics set to high, allowing me to ride through the desert on horseback and gun down enemy soldiers at a slick 60 frames per second.

The Vanquish tore through the GPU-taxing Metro: Final Light at 1080p, running the game at a blistering 170 frames per 2d on depression settings and a highly playable fifty fps on high. Our GTX 960-powered Alienware X51 ($1,999 as tested) trailed the Trounce on both fronts, turning in corresponding frame rates of 119 and 28 on low and high settings.

Every bit far equally constructed benchmarks go, the Vanquish scored 2,787 on the 3DMark Fire Strike Ultra examination. That more doubles the X51's mark of 1,131.

Overall Performance

The Beat 4's sixth-generation, four-GHz Intel Core i7-6700K processor and 16GB of RAM give the PC plenty of power for more than just gaming. The Beat never buckled under the workload I put information technology through, fifty-fifty as I watched multiple Twitch streams, downloaded a game in Steam and did some piece of work in Google Docs ─ all while running Metallic Gear Solid 5.

Digital Storm's PC scored 18,890 on the Geekbench 3 overall performance test, surpassing the 6th-generation, Core i7-6700K-powered Alienware X51 (16,625), while coming upwards short of our 20,847 gaming desktop average.

The Beat out proved its productivity mettle on our spreadsheet exam, where it matched twenty,000 names to addresses in 2 minutes and 52 seconds. That'south faster than the X51's 3:06, every bit well as our 3:12 average.

Afterward twisting off a manus spiral, information technology took me just a few seconds to access the Beat'southward cadre parts.

The Shell's 250GB SSD chewed through our file transfer test, copying four.97GB of mixed media at a zippy 221 MB per second. That breezes by the X51's 256GB SSD (60.5 MBps), simply fails to height our 243-MBps average.

Configurations

If you're looking to spend less than $ane,000, the Vanquish 4'south Level 1 configuration costs $899 and includes an Intel Core i5-6500 processor, 8GB of RAM, Nvidia GTX 950 graphics and a 1TB, seven,200-rpm hard bulldoze. The $1,099 Level 2 config ups the graphics to GTX 960 and adds a 120GB SSD likewise as CPU air cooling.

More than: Alienware X51 Review

Shelling out $1,349 for the Level 3 model gets you an Intel Core i5 6600K processor, stronger GTX 970 graphics and a 250GB SSD. Finally, the $one,599 Level 4 model that nosotros tested ups the graphics to a GTX 980 and the RAM to 16GB.

Bottom Line

Don't be fooled by its unassuming design or fairly accessible price tag ─ the Digital Tempest Vanquish 4 ($1,599 as tested, $899 starting) is a large-league gaming PC. This small tower's GTX 970 graphics carte and 6th-generation Core i7 processor can breeze through modern games, and the PC'south painless, tool-free upgradability makes it a machine you lot tin can build on for years to come.

Those looking for something sleeker and more living-room friendly might want to check out the latest Alienware X51, which supports an optional graphics amp for actress-strong GPU performance. But while the X51 starts at a cheaper $649, you'll have to pay closer to $2,000 but to get performance that'south comparable to our $1,599 Vanquish four. Overall, Digital Storm's entry-level PC is ane of the best you tin go far its price range.

Mike Andronico is Senior Writer at CNNUnderscored and was formerly Managing Editor at Tom's Guide. When not at work, yous can usually grab him playing Street Fighter, devouring Twitch streams and trying to convince people that Hawkeye is the best Avenger.