The Digital Storm Bolt 3 gaming desktop ($2,957 as tested) packs plenty of power into a stylish, small-form-factor (SFF) case and delivers the performance that gaming enthusiasts expect from more expensive systems. It's not quite as compact as some others in the category, but its lower cost will appeal to those who don't have the need to spend a mint on a gaming PC. The Editors' Choice Falcon Northwest Tiki (2015) still sets the bar for SFF gaming desktops, due to its super-slim design and blistering gaming performance, but the Bolt 3 is a powerful machine in its own right, and it's more affordable.

Design and Features
At 18.3 by 5.8 by 15.1 inches (HWD) and about 35 pounds, the Bolt 3 isn't exactly tiny, but it's definitely more compact than full-size gaming desktop towers like the Falcon Northwest Mach V (GTX 980). The Falcon Northwest Tiki is much slimmer and shorter at 14 by 4 by 13.75 inches, as are the Maingear Drift (14 by 4.25 by 15 inches) and the Origin Chronos (Titan Z) (15 by 4.25 by 14 inches), but the Bolt 3 still maintains a sleek façade.

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The case is fashioned of black, brushed aluminum, and the entire left side of the system is taken up by a clear plastic window. The window is screwed in at the corners, with the rest suspended about half an inch away from the edges of the front and back panels. The fasteners unscrew easily, which is how you gain access to the machine's interior. It also gives you a clear view of the hardware, including two yellow liquid-cooling tubes and the graphics card that's displayed prominently. A row of adjustable LEDS (set to white on our review unit) line the back wall and bottom of the case, thoughtfully set just behind the edges to prevent them from shining directly into your eyes. The effect is aesthetically pleasing and not garish—the plastic and interior are lit up more like a classy art piece than the laser light shows seen on some gaming rigs.

On the front panel there are a DVD drive, a power button, two USB 3.0 ports, a headphone jack, a microphone jack, and an illuminated Digital Storm logo. The back panel hosts four more USB 3.0 ports, three USB 2.0 ports, an HDMI port, a DisplayPort, a USB BIOS Flashback port (a fail-safe way to update your BIOS), a DVI port, a VGA port, an Ethernet port, and audio and mic lines. The top and right panels each have a vent for the system's three 120mm fans (two on top and one on the right).

Inside the machine are a 250GB solid-state drive (SSD) and a 1TB hard drive, which pale in comparison to the Falcon Northwest Tiki's 400GB SSD and 6TB HDD. It also falls short of the storage capacity offered by the Maingear Drift (500GB SSD and 3TB HDD) and the Origin Chronos (X99) (1TB SSD and 3TB HDD). The Bolt 3 also integrates 802.11ac Wi-FI and Bluetooth 4.0 for wireless connectivity. There are two free internal SATA ports and one PCEi x16 slot for future expansion. Digital Storm provides a three-year limited warranty on the system.

Performance
Our review unit featured a 4GHz Intel i7-4790K quad-core processor overclocked to 4.8GHz, 16GB memory, and an Nvidia GeForce GTX 980Ti graphics card. The Bolt 3 was a great performer on the graphics and multimedia tests, and posted solid numbers across the board. The system scored 32,708 on the 3DMark Cloud Gate graphics test. That's a strong showing, though it lags behind the 44,953 scored by the Falcon Northwest Tiki and the Origin Chronos (X99)'s 47,574. The machine garnered 8,544 on the more demanding 3DMark Fire Strike Extreme test, on which the Origin Chronos (X99) and the Falcon Northwest Tiki scored 9,150 and 8,200 points, respectively.

The Bolt 3 excelled on the Heaven and Valley graphics tests, with frame rates of 113 frames per second (fps) and 122fps, respectively, at Ultra-quality settings. It beat out the pricier Falcon Northwest Tiki (105fps on Heaven; 112fps on Valley), and just about matched the Origin Chronos (X99) (116fps on Heaven; 123fps on Valley). Even boosted up to a 2,560-by-1,600 resolution, the Bolt 3 still produced smoothly playable scores of 64fps and 70fps on these tests.

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On the PCMark 8 Work Conventional test, the system scored 3,909, again beating the Falcon Northwest Tiki (3,593) and coming in under the Origin Chronos (Titan Z) (3,983) and the Origin Chronos (X99) (4,111). It finished our Handbrake test in 55 seconds, which falls in line with the Origin Chronos (Titan Z)'s 53 seconds, and is well ahead of the Maingear Drift's time of 1 minute 53 seconds. The Bolt 3 completed the PhotoShop CS6 test in 3:10, lagging behind the more expensive systems, like the Falcon Northwest Tiki (2:25) and the Maingear Drift (1:43). The Cinebench result is also strong at 926 points, though not quite matching the more expensive systems; it did, however, slightly outperform the Maingear Drift, which scored 919 points.

Conclusion
At a lower price than most systems in this category, the Digital Storm Bolt 3 is a strong performer with a stylish design. It's not quite as compact other SFF gaming desktops, so you may want to consider another option if space is extremely limited, but it looks good and runs quietly if the extra few inches are not a concern for you. If you're truly seeking top-end performance, and money isn't an issue, the Falcon Northwest Tiki is still the cream of the crop, but the Digital Storm Bolt 3 is a worthy and powerful SFF gaming desktop that's more affordable.