Advice re system for photo editing, primarily in Adobe Lightroom

Frank002 · August 2023

Is there any reason I need a water cooler for this system (listed below in text)?

Would you suggest any modifications?

Text:

CPU: (1) Intel Core i9-13900K Raptor Lake 3.0GHz Twenty Four-Core LGA 1700 Boxed Processor - Heatsink Not Included ($566.98 EACH)

Motherboard: (1) ASUS Z790-Plus TUF Gaming WiFi D5 Intel LGA 1700 ATX Motherboard ($249.99 EACH)

RAM: (1) G.Skill Trident Z5 RGB 64GB (2 x 32GB) DDR5-6400 PC5-51200 CL32 Dual Channel Desktop Memory Kit F5-6400J3239G32GX2-TZ5RK - Black ($229.99 EACH)

Case: (1) Lian Li O11 Dynamic XL ROG Tempered Glass eATX Full Tower Computer Case - Black ($219.99 EACH)

Power Supply: (1) PowerSpec 1050W Power Supply 80 Plus Gold Certified Fully Modular ATX Power Supply ($179.99 EACH)

Video Card: (1) ASUS NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 TUF Triple Fan Overclocked 12GB GDDR6X PCIe 4.0 Graphics Card ($679.99 EACH)

M.2 / NVMe SSD: (1) Crucial T700 4TB TLC NAND Flash PCIe Gen 5 x4 NVMe M.2 Internal SSD w/ Heatsink ($529.99 EACH)

Optical Drive: (1) LG GH24NSC0B 24x Internal DVD Rewritable SATA Drive ($19.99 EACH)

Heatsink: (1) DeepCool AK400 Performance CPU Cooler - Black ($34.99 EACH)

Operating System: (1) Microsoft Windows 11 Professional 64-bit OEI DVD - English ($149.99 EACH)

Case Fans: (1) Lian Li Uni Fan SL120 V2 Fluid Dynamic Bearing 120mm Case Fan - White 3 Pack ($89.99 EACH)

Total: $2,951.88

Julia_V · August 2023

Hi Frank,

I think having a water cooler would work really well for this system. The reason being, the i9-13900K runs really hot, and draws a lot of power. I see that the case you are using is going to be the O11 XL as well, and that case works exceptionally well with a 360MM All-in-One cooler. You can either top mount it or side mount it. I would recommend the DeepCool 360mm LS720 cooler, or any of the Corsair/NZXT 360mm coolers.

You can also look into some of our bundles: https://www.microcenter.com/site/content/intel-bundle-and-save.aspx

Frank002 · August 2023

Julia,

Thanks for your response. Based on a bad experience with a water cooler in the past, I don't like them. Is there a heatsink/fan combination that would serve more than adequately for this setup?

magarity · August 2023

What is this prior bad experience?

Note that like air coolers, all AIO coolers are not created equally. There's a real reason in quality as to why the expensive ones have 6 year or longer warranties while the cheap ones have 2 or 3 year warranties.

Whether you get an air cooler or an AIO liquid cooler, resist the urge to cheap out on protecting that expensive, and hot, CPU. The 13900k needs something like the Noctua NH D15 if you go with air.

Frank002 · August 2023

https://community.microcenter.com/discussion/comment/51367#Comment_51367

Thank you very much for that input. FYI, the bad experience was my first watercooler, which was in what had been a very high-end system, which died In 2017, with leaks, after five years. Since 1982, I have owned dozens of desktops/workstations and my experience with fans has been much, much better than that. (Of course, going back very far in time, the there were not separate heatsink fans with the processors.)

I didn't build the system myself. Although I'm not certain, I assume that I replaced it with the exact same cooler. The replacement was a CORSAIR Hydro Series H55.

magarity · August 2023

Well be prepared to budget around $100 for an air cooler that can keep up with that CPU. That case's details will have max size of tower cooler can fit so make sure to factor that in.

Advice re system for photo editing, primarily in Adobe Lightroom

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