Water Cooling Build Advice

I ordered a pc from digital storm last week with the help of a friend. I'm running the ultimate version of the Intel Core i9-13900K (5.7 GHz Turbo) (32-Thread) (24-Core) 3.0 GHz (Raptor Lake) and the Geforce RTX 4090 GPU (apologies if I got the lingo wrong, basically the processor and the graphics card I think I'm referring to in case I was confusing on that end). I spent well over 6k and figured I'd do whatever it takes at this point to ensure I'm creating a top notch system that will last me a long time, I would like some help/opinion(s) from some of the pros to help solidify my options before it progresses to the later stages in the process.

My build is at stage 1 (payment processed), and I've been doing some research on the CPU/GPU and found out they run really hot by nature. Now initially I purchased the Lumos case but I got to thinking weather or not the Lumos case with the Hydrolux Pro Exotic water cooling system (CPU only) was sufficient enough for my current build. I was either thinking of updating the Lumos tower for the Velox tower seeing as it sounds like the Velox tower would have a better airflow setup due to its larger size in comparison to the Lumos tower, or if I should be looking at water-cooling the RTX 4090 as well. I was also interested in the acrylic option and couldn't find anything useful on google on acrylic vs the standard flexible tubing the Hydrolux Pro Exotic option comes with

My questions are:
1.) Does choosing Lumos vs Velox tower matter with keeping my system cooler? And ultimately should I switch from Lumos to Velox?

2.) Should I opt for the water cooling option to include the GPU as well or is what I have currently sufficient enough? Will changing from Lumos to Velox make a difference in this situation IE: if I switched from Lumos to Velox, can I get away with just water-cooling the processor? dunno if that makes sense, let me know if you need clarification.

3.) I was leaning towards choosing the acrylic route for the water cooling, right now I have the standard flexible tubes, are there any reason to switch to acrylic for reasons other than the aesthetics? Also any thoughts on copper tubing?


Money at this point isn't really an issue, I just want the best setup possible at this point since I've come this far. Please advise and thank you in advance!

Edited by NoeleoN - 30 Oct 2022 at 6:32pm

Oh wow thank you for such a thorough response, a lot of it went over my head as im very new to computer lingo or just computers in general. I dont see a hydrolux ds, but i do see hydrolux pro, is that the same? It shows its their brand. And from what i gather , definitely go for water cooling on both cpu and gpu and go with the velox as opposed to lumos? Stay away from acrylic and go with flexible tubes?

My preference is to agree with my friend that a 13900K is unnecessary for gaming and will merely add extra expense and heat to your situation. I'm no expert on custom cooling, but I have 35+ years experience with gaming computers. IMHO, custom cooling is not a very good idea for a rookie. It requires maintenance of fluid levels you must fill yourself. Most systems may not develop problems, but when one does leak, it can be a very bad day. A newbie either has to learn very very fast, or ship his rig back to DS for repairs. If that sounds good, go for it. Keep your fingers crossed, just sayin'.

The 13600K as mentioned will game on for years, and costs $480 less. It's lower thermal demands will be easily met by either an all-in-one liquid cooler, or a Noctua NH-D15 air cooler. The latter never leaks, but cools fantastically. I had a Noctua that was still going all-out when I retired the rig after 8 years.

The Velox case is just an inch longer and 2 inches taller than a Lumos. The glass panels on the Lumos do not meet at the seams, there is mesh at each intersection that allows the case ample ventilation. That said, the Velox has the better airflow, and will mount the GPU with the fans facing upward to move heat upward and out of the case.

I'm just agreeing that you have choices that do not involve potential hassles a custom loop can bring to the table. If this is a gaming rig, the strength of the 13600K will meet the needs of a top-notch system. Entirely up to you.   

Edited by db188 - 31 Oct 2022 at 12:44pm

hopefully we were able to give you some options to refine your DS build.  GL with the system!  

congrats!  be sure to post some pics of your new pc when you get it, so we can all be envious.

Hey NoeleoN...congrats on the nice new rig!   I learned a long time ago not to trust shipping if you don't have to.

I have bought 5 DS rigs since 2012, and every time including last year I went and picked up the rig at DS myself. You live much farther away than I do, but if I had to drive 5-6 hrs each way to do a "Local PickUp" at DS... I would absolutely do that drive just to avoid shipping delays and or damage nightmares. We hear about shipping damage done to these high quality DS computers in transit a lot here, so if you were to want to pick it up yourself...all you have to do is advise DS Sales "Please DO Not Ship" you want to do a "Local PickUp" and be told when it is ready so you can tell DS when you will be there. They will have it all carefully padded and boxed, ready to go, and usually their sensible DS guys will roll it out to your vehicle on a cart and put it in the car for ya...all to make sure no damage occurs on their watch. If it were me, would be well worth a whole day lost traveling to get it back to your home days or a week earlier, without any dropped box shipping damage issues.   There are lots of options like that you won't see listed as a choice, but many things are possible with DS if you ask.   Just my 2 cents..lol.

i'd keep them in this thread .