Pre-Built iCUE 4000X i9-13900K RTX 4090

[Robbie158]

This is a brief review of a pre-built desktop order from PCS.

CORSAIR iCUE 4000X
Intel 24-Core Processor i9-13900K
ASUS Z790-P DDR5 PCIe 5.0 WiFi 6
32GB Corsair VENGEANCE DDR5 5600MHz
24GB NVIDIA GEFORCE RTX 4090
1TB SAMSUNG 980 PRO M.2
2TB SEAGATE BARRACUDA SATA-III 3.5"
CORSAIR 1000W RMx SERIES
Windows 11 Home

This is the second PC I've ordered from PC Specialist, and after it arrived I added an additional 32GB of identical RAM to bring the total to 64GB.

I've used the machine daily for a little over 2 weeks now and have been extremely happy with it. Overall experience with this order is 5 out of 5 stars.

Performance:
As you'd expect, the combination of a 13900K, 4090, and DDR5 memory is very high performance. I bought this machine to help identify where bottlenecks would occur in certain applications under various scenarios (e.g. efficient cores disabled in the CPU), and also to simply check out a few games and VR toys with everything maxed out. This is a Gainward Phantom series 4090. It's not possible for me to compare it to other OEMs, but I will say that this one runs relatively cool, quiet, and rips up everything put in front of it, which is probably characteristic of any card carrying that chipset. Only thing on my wish list is that the Gainward cards don't seem to offer hardware lighting channels, meaning I need to either start their software with Windows, or reconfigure the card's RGB (turn it off) each time the machine restarts. Everything else on this build is Corsair and supports hardware lighting configurations.

Footprint:
This is a standard Corsair Mid-ATX and I personally couldn't ask for anything more appropriate. I'm very happy with the port layout, design, and appearance. Reviewing fan noise is very subjective. For me I'm really happy with it, but I'm coming from an RTX laptop that pinned itself at 85 degC so anything was going to be quieter than that. When this desktop is bottlenecking one way or another, the GPU and case cooling is still much lower than for example, the ambient noise with a window open in my quiet neighbourhood. It's quiet enough that if the 3.5" HDD spins up, the hard drive is as loud as the case fans.

PC Specialist's part:
This was a pre-built, and the workmanship was good / acceptable. The internal photo shows the condition the system arrived in with zero interference from me, other than adding the additional 2x RAM and attaching the WiFi elements. Everything arrived in perfect condition. Inside the UK, I ordered the system Thursday night and it arrived Saturday morning, which was much faster than I anticipated even for a pre-built. Windows 11 was in the state you'd expect, everything accounted for in device manager, latest GPU driver installed, and zero bloatware whatsoever from what I could tell, just barebones OS with drivers.

Value:
In July of 2023, this system was £2582 (£3099 inc VAT) inclusive of the OS, standard 3 year warranty (1 year parts), and standard freight inside the UK. Adding up the raw cost of all the components at the time, I thought this was quite a good value, considering I decided I wanted a top spec PC Thursday night and had it for the weekend. It's almost always plausible to build from scratch and save money, but the total net difference here was only a couple hundred pounds at the time, and would have incurred longer lead times, more of my personal time, split warranties, et al.

Final thoughts:
I'm a really happy return customer. I've ordered spare parts from PCS, dealt with them during the pandemic, and have always been really satisfied. If I had one wish about the pre-builts, it would be that they were offered with or without the OS, because in my case I immediately formatted and downgraded to Windows 10. Having said that, this pre-built really had the overall feel of "everything you want, nothing you don't". The case, cooling system, and ancillaries are no nonsense, but it's a 13900K, the memory is 5600MHz, and the M.2 is 7000MB/R. It also came with a 1000W power supply when they might have cut corners for an 850 or something. So yeah, could've done without Win11 forced upon it, but as pre-builts go, this has to be one of the most well thought out values I've ever come across, which is why I sprung for it. Thanks again to PCS.

 

[B4zookaw]

13900K, on 120 aio????..... That's a no no in my book

 

[Scott]

Glad your experience has been good. I would definitely keep an eye on those temps if you're doing any multi-tasking though

 

[Robbie158]

Glad your experience has been good. I would definitely keep an eye on those temps if you're doing any multi-tasking though

No issues on my end with it. The package runs in the mid 70s and spikes to low-mid 80s during some benchmarks and the VR development I'm doing. Normal tasks and high end gaming have nice medians at or below that. A few alphas that are poorly optimised can run the CPU load unusually high, but I haven't had any issue with temps. Very happy with it.

Edit: this comment is inaccurate. See reply #7 below.

 

[SpyderTracks]

No issues on my end with it. The package runs in the mid 70s and spikes to low-mid 80s during some benchmarks and the VR development I'm doing. Normal tasks and high end gaming have nice medians at or below that. A few alphas that are poorly optimised can run the CPU load unusually high, but I haven't had any issue with temps. Very happy with it.

I don’t think that can be correct, I think you’ll find it’s throttling to maintain in operational temps. Absolutely no way it won’t be. You can test with Prime95 or Cinebench.

 

[Robbie158]

I don’t think that can be correct, I think you’ll find it’s throttling to maintain in operational temps. Absolutely no way it won’t be. You can test with Prime95 or Cinebench.

Thanks for the suggestion. Sounds like my actual experience of monitoring it day-to-day isn't sufficient evidence for this forum. In any case I'm very happy with the machine and the service from PCS. I'll leave it at that.

 

[Robbie158]

Update: the other contributors to this thread are all correct, and my responses above aren't well informed. Apologies for that, and thank you to the others who are trying to leave meaningful info in the forum.

In doing a google search for 13900k and aio 120, this post actually features toward the front, so it's worthwhile to clean it up. The FrostFlow 120 included in the original build triggers TJ throttling with all my various workflows, agnostic of e-core setting or any details of a specific application, etc. I made the mistake of monitoring somewhat filtered temperatures and max core frequency in isolation, and not TDP and throttling flags.

I had access to an H100i Corsair 240 AIO over the weekend, and the results were probably exactly what the more experienced of you would expect. In the few hours I had, I rendered some heavy particle systems with meshes in blender both GPU and CPU, did some alpha dev in VR, and looked up a couple recently released or pre-release video games that are notorious for being poorly optimised, and ran them with everything maxed out. With the H100i I saw no throttling, and temperatures more in-line with my overly optimistic post above.

In Cinebench and XTU, the power consumption was high enough to pin the CPU at 100degC with both cooling configurations. The idle temp is 10-12 degC lower with the H100i.

It's probably worth noting that for my particular workflow, the monitor on core speed, and even for the benchmark scores, I didn't notice an appreciable difference between the two. But clearly the package throttles with the FrostFlow 120 and clearly does not (outside of benchmarks) with the H100i.

For me, the system ran fine as configured by PCS, but I will be upgrading the AIO to the most sensible one for this case / memory, which is probably the H100i or a VIDA.

 

[Scott]

I would actually aim for the H150i. You would be asking a lot of the H100i to keep up with the chip. When properly pushed the 13900k can outrun the H150i in sustained loads and thermal throttle, even on a test bench.

There isn't too much of a difference in price so I think it's worthwhile considering the additional 40w dissipation you get from it. Be sure to do as good a job as you can with the TIM as well. I wouldn't recommend liquid metal as it is an incredibly thin application and with the known warping issues with the IHS you want a more viscous paste applied. The stock TIM with a new cooler would be OK, but you could do better with a higher quality if applied correctly.

 

[B4zookaw]

Unless you're planning on buying the upgrade through PCS, there are some better AIOs out there than Corsair's offering. Arctic Liquid Freezer, Deepcool LT720 or EK Nucleus CR360 all offer better performance and sometimes price too.

 

[Scott]

That's a good point. I went with the LT720, no complaints.

 

[SpyderTracks]

Unless you're planning on buying the upgrade through PCS, there are some better AIOs out there than Corsair's offering. Arctic Liquid Freezer, Deepcool LT720 or EK Nucleus CR360 all offer better performance and sometimes price too.

The Arctics are crazy good value, was really surprised how cheap they are considering top tier performance.

 

[Scott]

Corsair only has you over a barrel with their fan config. They're noticeably quieter than the other ones for me. I wasn't fussed with the PC being in a cupboard though, and the fans barely need to come on with the 7800X3D anyway