But will it be quiet?

Hi All,

I just ordered the following.

Does anyone have a feel for how noisy it will be? It's going to be under my desk in a home office I share with my wife and her silent laptop. We never hear my current desktop.

Thanks for any insights you might have..



Chassis Model: Digital Storm Lumos
Processor: Intel Core i9-13900K (5.7 GHz Turbo) (32-Thread) (24-Core) 3.0 GHz (Raptor Lake)
Motherboard: ASUS Prime Z790-P D5 (Wi-Fi) (Intel Z790 Chipset) (Up to 3x PCI-E Devices) (No SLI) (DDR5)
System Memory: 64GB DDR5 6000MHz Kingston FURY Beast RGB
Power Supply: 750W Digital Storm Performance Series (80 Plus Gold)
Storage Set 1: 1x SSD M.2 (2TB Samsung 980 PRO) (NVM Express)
Storage Set 2: - No Thanks
Storage Set 3: - No Thanks
RAID Config: - No Thanks
RAID Card: - No Thanks
Optical Drive: External USB - DVD/CD 8x Multi-Drive (Writes and Reads DVDs, CDs)
Internet Access: High Speed Network Port (Supports High-Speed Cable / DSL / Network Connections)
Graphics Card(s): 1x GeForce RTX 4060 8GB (VR Ready)
Sound Card: Integrated Motherboard Audio
Add On Card: - No Thanks
Extreme Cooling: H20: Stage 3: Digital Storm Vortex Liquid CPU Cooler (Triple Fan) (Fully Sealed + No Maintenance)
HydroLux Tubing Style: - Not Applicable, I do not have a custom HydroLux liquid cooling system selected
HydroLux Fluid Color: - Not Applicable, I do not have a custom HydroLux liquid cooling system selected
Cable Management: Premium Cable Management (Strategically Routed & Organized for Airflow)
Software Control: - No Thanks
Internal Lighting: - No Thanks
Chassis Fans: Standard Factory Chassis Fans
CPU Boost: Turbo Boost Technology

I have a Velox rather than a Lumos, so I'm not 100% sure that the same tricks will make it quiet. However, this is what I did to make my Velox super quiet:

• I have a Noctua DH-15S air cooler. It's really quiet.

• I selected a video card that is known for being quiet. My first card was an RTX 3090 Founders Edition. My second card is a MSI Suprim X 4090. I'm sure there are plenty of other cards that are quiet too. Just do some research, and find a card in your price range that is known for being quiet.

• Rather than using the stock DS case fans, I asked them to install Noctua fans. You'll pay a little extra for those, but they are very quiet.

• After all that I still had some significant noise from the power supply fan. That was a bummer, but then my power supply failed, and I replaced it with a Corsair AX1600i power supply. That one is super quiet, and the fan usually doesn't even turn on.

• Finally, I adjusted my case fan curves to only run at 800 RPM when the CPU temperature is below 70C. They ramp up to full speed as the CPU temperature changes from 70C to 80C. Forturnately the CPU temperature never exceeds 70C, so the case fans always run at 800 RPM. I selected 800 RPM, because it has a pleasing tone, and isn't loud at all.

The end result is a whisper quiet machine even when playing games at ultra quality on an ultrawide 38" display. I'm shocked at how quiet it is. Hopefully you can make these changes with the Lumus too. :)

I actually think DS could market a machine like this for people like me who strongly desire a quiet office. I hope you see this post DS. (hint hint)

Edited by JamesAstro - 17 Jul 2023 at 9:51pm

Ahh, I would never ever debate configurations with THE Guru Cretae but the Noctua has been proven to be just as good thermally as  an AIO and with less hardware. I'll take it any day for any cpu including the 13900KS. That said, it is huge and makes working on the mobo RAM modules impossible so....

Originally posted by jvitiel That said, my current primary use case is just editing still photographs in PhotoShop so I'm guessing that I could back the CPU off to a 13700 but not sure. (I currently run an i3-7100 and it's an old dog but again want to accommodate future loads.) Any thoughts on using the 13700 for PhotoShop? (Merging multiple images into a single HDR image and running the AI based noise reduction routine are the biggest loads I encounter in Photoshop)

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@jvitiel In your situation where noise - and by association heat and power consumption - is a prime consideration I'd opt for the 13700kf over the 13900k. The 13900k is a niche processor in general in my opinion. Noctua is certainly the way to go with noise considerations in mind, but the 13900k is just on a whole other level of heat production for comparatively marginal gains for your use-case vs. the 13700kf. Thought it should probably be said that Intel's 13th Gen are just power hungry in general. Lastly, keep in mind that the kf has no integrated graphics, so if your GPU goes you're SOL until you can get a new GPU. As much as I loathe the kf line for that reason I still think the 13700kf would be better than the 13900k for your situation.

Originally posted by JamesAstro By the way, the Corsair iCUE Commander Pro is a great product for controlling fan curves. I would recommend getting that if you are concerned about controlling the sound level and fan speeds.

Thanks James,

I changed the config and swapped in the Noctua and a 13700KF so hopefully I'm good on the noise - but I will keep this in mind if the wife still thinks I'm noisy... :)

Thanks for the update!

I have a similar system on order. i7-13700KF, ASUS Maximus Hero, 4080, 64GB of RAM and two M.2 drives. I know the GPU and MOBO are larger than yours, but I went with the 1000W Digital Storm Performance power supply. I would suggest that you think of moving to 850W to give yourself some headroom for down the road.

I tend to run hardware into the ground so I try to overbuild it at the beginning to accommodate future growth/demand. Not being an expert, I chose the 13900 just to cover all bases/future needs.

Originally posted by mixeycray I tend to run hardware into the ground so I try to overbuild it at the beginning to accommodate future growth/demand. Not being an expert, I chose the 13900 just to cover all bases/future needs.

Me too. I prefer to overbuild my machines. If you overbuild the CPU, PSU, motherboard, case, and cooling, then you'll likely have that machine for 8 years or so. You can upgrade the GPU every 2 or 3 years to ensure that the latest games run well. Everything else can typically be left alone.

And when it's time to upgrade, just replace the whole thing.

Noctua fans are known for being extra quiet. If you're interested in getting them, I would contact DS directly, and see if they would be willing to substitute Noctua fans for the stock fans.

I ordered my DS machine about two years ago, and back then DS was willing to order the Noctua fans for me, and then install them.

Originally posted by John18 Originally posted by wheels Originally posted by JamesAstro Rather than using the stock DS case fans, I asked them to install Noctua fans. You'll pay a little extra for those, but they are very quiet. I don't mean to hijack this thread, but I can't seem where I can PM you to ask a question. I'm concerned about airflow. Are the Noctua fans you asked to replace the stock chassis fans that much better? Are they cooler and quieter? Also, how dis you get the replacement fans? Last year the Noctua fans were an available option on custom built machines. So the logical question is to ask if you already have your machine, if it is currently on order or what? If you have a Configuration for a machine that would also help. I have a Lumos and have a Noctua NH-D15 chromax.black in it. You need a case with that width for it to fit. The Noctua NH-D15 chromax.black is still an available option for the Lumos.

The Noctua NH-D15 is a CPU heatsink. It's still an option for Lumos and Lnyx. But what I was asking about was replacing the default chassis fans, which are 120mm with the 120mm Noctua chassis fans. JamesAstro mentioned he was able to get DS to do it for me. That's what I want too.

Here is the config I was interested in. Here is the same config, just in the Lumos case.

Edited by wheels - 04 Feb 2024 at 6:21pm

I have a 10 year old DS Gaming PC. It has 2 360 Rad in the water loop. They are both setup with Push/pull fans, and then there are 8 more chassis fans in it as well. It run pretty quiet for me when I was using it. Now it is just sitting in a corner gathering dust. LOL

My new one has 1 360 rad with push/pull on it, and 3 other fans also. It too is very quiet. See Sig.

Edited by PcKiller - 29 Feb 2024 at 5:59am