Digital Storm Velox Z270 Gaming Desktop Review

[Dani ♡]

 

With Intel’s Kaby Lake processors finally hitting the market, Digital Storm wanted to give us a look at one of its new Z270 gaming PCs. The Digital Storm Velox is an Intel Core i7-7700K and Nvidia GeForce GTX 1080-equipped, custom painted powerhouse with RGB LED fans and lights, and it’s not for the faint of heart or the low in cash. At $4,737, the Velox is one of the most expensive desktops we’ve had in our lab, and we’re about to find out if the performance and posturing matches the price, or if it’s all just hype and flashy lights.

The Digital Storm Velox has been redesigned, with many noticeable improvements over the previous version of the chassis, which featured an acrylic windowed panel that also had an air intake above it. However, the new custom-designed, forged-steel full tower case’s right side is all window, giving you a clear view of the interior hardware with its RGB LED lighting strip and case fans. The left side panel sports an air intake that lines up with the underside of the motherboard ILM, and the bottom of the case is elevated with a sleek black sub frame, allowing air to flow under the chassis. Furthermore, we were shocked at the system’s weight distribution; it was well balanced and made moving the device noticeably easier than some of our other recently reviewed machines, despite not having any handles and the additional GPU.

As with all right-sided window cases, the components are upside down compared to traditional (and more prevalent) cases with the components viewed from the left side. That alone makes the Velox unique, and its Apollo White custom paint job (for an added cost of $150) pushes the aesthetic even further with a sleek two-tone look. The glossy (yet not shining) finish is indicative of expert craftsmanship and care, and it stands out in a sea of common black left-sided cases. The previous version of the Velox had a rather large front-panel I/O, but the new chassis reduced it to two USB 3.0 ports, an SD card reader, audio in/out jacks, and a USB 3.1 (Gen 1) Type-C port capable of 5 Gb/s data rates. What’s more, the slots are all hidden behind the white-painted panel, blending seamlessly into the case. The only front-panel device that stands out against the white (besides the Digital Storm emblem) is the slim-tray DVD-RW drive, but even the black optical drive looks good in the two-toned case.

The rear panel is all black, except for the I/O and GPU ports. The motherboard features four USB 3.0 ports and four USB 2.0 ports, in addition to two USB 3.1 ports (a Type-C and Type-A), both capable of data transfer speeds up to 10 Gb/s. Onboard video output options from the motherboard are limited to an HDMI 1.4 and DisplayPort 1.2 interface, but who needs those when you have two graphics cards under the hood? The GPUs each sport an HDMI 2.0 and DVI-D port, as well as three DisplayPort 1.2 interfaces, and needless to say you’ve got plenty of options for connecting multiple displays. The side panels are thin (think poster board), light (again, poster board), and easy to remove, and they can be likened to a pair of breakaway pants (don’t inquire as to how I know that) – they come off with a simple upward tug. There are no hinges, screws, edges, or rails to line up. The case uses a unique locking mechanism to fasten the panels tight, with the main body sporting receptacles for the panels’ posts, which lock into place with a gentle tap or a little pressure once they are lined up.

Interior

Once inside, we’re greeted with an intimidating, yet easily accessible set of components that would make most enthusiasts squee tears of joy. A freshly minted Intel Core i7-7700K is overclocked to an impressive 5.0GHz using a 100MHz base clock and an all-core multiplier of 50. Curiously, most every other BIOS setting is on Auto, with the exception of the XMP memory profile and an adaptive voltage setting for the CPU that gets the chip up to speed with 1.36V of power.