The Core i9-13900KS is the new flagship member of Intel’s 13th Gen. ‘Raptor Lake’ processor lineup. It’s equipped with a total of 24 CPU cores - 8 Performance cores and 16 Efficiency cores clocking up to 6GHz and 4.3GHz respectively - with the 6GHz headline frequency being a key point in their marketing: it's the first time a retail consumer CPU has been sold with stock frequencies this high. Like the 12th Gen before it, this platform balances load between the P-Cores and E-Cores depending on the workload involved for higher performance or efficiency. Water Cooling will enable this system to maintain higher clocks for longer on a wider range of workloads as core temperature is a key variable in the algorithm that determines Turbo frequency.

NVIDIA’s RTX 4090 meanwhile is the launch flagship of the ‘Ada Lovelace’ RTX 40-series. It is NVIDIA’s best performing consumer GPU to date, handling 4K resolution gaming and ray-traced environments with ease and surpassing even the RTX 3090 in raw rasterization and frames per second. It also supports the full suite of NVIDIA technologies including the much-lauded DLSS 3.0, with almost assured support for what the green team’s tech wizards can some up with in the next few years.



MSI’s SUPRIM variant is the best of their best, incorporating a modest factory overclock and enhanced power delivery system. The standard version is equipped with a triple-fan cooling solution, but this system eschews that in favour of a full-coverage waterblock from EK.

A cursory glance at the specs might overlook MSI’s MAG Z790 Tomahawk, the motherboard opted for in this system. Sure, it’s a smidgen more affordable than some other options but it does help to keep costs low enough for the asking price. However, we’re not entirely sure it lives up to the billing suggests by the rest of the configuration. As good as it is, the motherboard lacks some troubleshooting features we’d like to see on a fully water-cooled setup. This includes, but isn’t limited to, a Debug display, which would make diagnosing any issues more straightforward. As it is, a small number of debug LEDs and POST beep-codes are all you can lean on should you encounter troubles.

One clear upgrade route is the RAM. Equipping a system with 32GB of DDR5 RAM is plenty for gaming solely, but content creators may instead want to opt for 48 or 64GB depending on budgets. 6000MHz RAM is also a very healthy speed for the majority of users, easily eclipsing the more common 4800MHz and 5600MHz DDR5 classes. Kingston’s Fury RGB RAM is well match to the lighting integrated into both fans

Of course, we’d be remiss in not mentioning Lian Li’s O11 Dynamic XL. A larger variant of the exceptionally well regarded O11D, the case leverages its sibling’s layout to display your system at its very best. This XL model also provides ample room for single and dual-loop water cooling, offering the very best of both worlds. A bottom-to-top air flow through two radiators should be ideal, but you’re still cooling two extremely toasty components alongside chipsets and RAM.



Solidigm is a less well known name in consumer PCs, but its P44 Pro NVMe SSD is a strong contender as the PCIe 4.0 generation of drives matures. It’s a 4 lane PCIe 4.0 drive with exceptional sequential read and write speeds rivalling strong competition such as Samsung’s 980 Pro.

The system is ably supported by a modular 1000W PSU, although that will feel a pinch should both the GPU and CPU be overclocked beyond their shipped factory overclock; it’s notable that the Hyper Liquid X139 maintains everything at a stock level. A PSU-specific 12+4-pin connector is provided rather than the less attractive NVIDIA adaptor.

And finally, the vast swathe of water cooling components are all picked from some of the very best available to consumers. EK is a market leader in water blocks and fittings, Corsair’s radiators are solid choices, and Mayhems coolant will help with the long-term health of the cooling loop. EK is also notable in that they design and manufacture waterblocks for major brand-named GPUs and motherboards, tailoring the base design to the unique layouts of each component where necessary.