Zirconium Question: Concerned About The Fan Exhaust, So Change/Add Fans?

Rel Fexive · 11 Oct 2022 at 22:24

As a preface, I have very little practical knowledge on this subject and I'm no kind of expert on PC construction!

I am considering getting a Zirconium type PC, but have a concern about the exhaust for the liquid cooling fans being on the right side of the Lian Li O11 Dynamic XL case. Because of the shape of my desk I have to place my PC to my left with the monitor, keyboard, etc. in front of me, so I am worried that I will feel a noticeable current of air running across my desk and my hands when the fans speed up. Does anyone have any experience of the kind of cooling fans this build uses and how much of an air current one might feel?

An alternative suggestion made to me would be to have the liquid cooling fans set to be an intake and have extra fans added to the top of the case as an exhaust instead. What kind of fans would people recommend using in such a build so they can light up and (presumably) be controlled in the same way as the existing cooling fans would be? I would assume Lian Li fans would be the logical type to choose because of the case.

All suggestions welcome!

lsg1r · 12 Oct 2022 at 00:13

I've got a Lian Li O11 Evo (bit smaller but same principle as the XL) and it also sits on my left.

Yes you would feel the air coming out of the side, how much depends on the fan speed etc, but at max it would be noticeable.
Based on the picture (no guarantee you'd get these) the fans look like the below lian li fans.

Lian Li BR120 Digital RGB PWM 120mm Triple Fan Pack with Remote Fan Controller - Black

Order Lian Li BR120 Digital RGB PWM 120mm Triple Fan Pack with Remote Fan Controller - Black now online and benefit from fast delivery.

www.overclockers.co.uk

My Personal setup has the rad on the side pulling air in from outside along with bottom fans pulling air in and the rear and top fans pushing air out... the zirconium doesn't look to have any additional cooling fans, which not only do I find strange but for a pc that was originally priced over £4000 unacceptable (sorry OCUK, it's just wrong).

As to fans for the alternative suggestion, honestly you can basically pick any 120mm fans you like, although for convenience and compatibility with software/control boxes most of us would pick the same brand. I'm personally using non rgb noctua chromax. Most do pick lian li for lian li cases but it's as much down to the way they connect together as the way they look.

Just a side note... for the money I'd argue the storage is a little stingy as well.

Rel Fexive · 12 Oct 2022 at 10:26

Thanks for the suggestions. I'll look at other fan options like you suggest; it did seem odd that those were the only fans but I assumed they knew what they were building.

I was definitely going to pick larger & additional options than the defaults (a 1tb M.2 primary and a 2tb M.2 secondary) so storage shouldn't be a problem.

Rel Fexive · 12 Oct 2022 at 11:13

lsg1r said:
My Personal setup has the rad on the side pulling air in from outside along with bottom fans pulling air in and the rear and top fans pushing air out... the zirconium doesn't look to have any additional cooling fans, which not only do I find strange but for a pc that was originally priced over £4000 unacceptable (sorry OCUK, it's just wrong).

As to fans for the alternative suggestion, honestly you can basically pick any 120mm fans you like, although for convenience and compatibility with software/control boxes most of us would pick the same brand. I'm personally using non rgb noctua chromax. Most do pick lian li for lian li cases but it's as much down to the way they connect together as the way they look.

So you use fans such as, say, the Noctua NF-A12x25 PWM Chromax Black? I assume these plug into the motherboard somewhere (like I said, I'm not very knowledgeable!) to be speed controlled as they are PWM fans. How many do you have in your setup - three top & bottom and one at the rear?

mickyflinn · 12 Oct 2022 at 11:28

Rel Fexive said:
So you use fans such as, say, the Noctua NF-A12x25 PWM Chromax Black? I assume these plug into the motherboard somewhere (like I said, I'm not very knowledgeable!) to be speed controlled as they are PWM fans. How many do you have in your setup - three top & bottom and one at the rear?

Yes you use a 4 pin header on your motherboard , your safe to run 3 fans of one header with a 3 way splitter unless the fans have already have a daisy chain connector then no need for a splitter

lsg1r · 12 Oct 2022 at 12:33

Rel Fexive said:
So you use fans such as, say, the Noctua NF-A12x25 PWM Chromax Black? I assume these plug into the motherboard somewhere (like I said, I'm not very knowledgeable!) to be speed controlled as they are PWM fans. How many do you have in your setup - three top & bottom and one at the rear?

Yeah they're the ones I'm using, the swap version to be precise with the extra colour rubber corners and the 'gasket' seal. Ten in total, they're on my AIO as well, and they plug into into the motherboard headers via splitters (I found the DeepCool FH-04 splitter worked well for 'placement' with some double sided velcro if you end up doing it yourself)

My motherboard has 4 fan headers (+1 aio 'fan' header) and it's setup with 1 header for the 3x aio fans, 1 header for the top 3 fans, another header for the bottom 3 fans and and the last header deals with the rear fan.
Current arrangement is AIO on side pulls cool air in from outside, the bottom pulls air in the case and the top/rear are both set to exhaust so it's basically a ~~'top to bottom'~~ flow edit: man how could I miss this... it should be bottom to top.

Fan control for the fans is currently via the bios (I did have to change the default settings from dc to pwm... yeah no idea why it's set that way either) and Ive got msi afterburner installed to manage the fans on the gpu (for some reason mine don't ramp up with just the drivers...)

If you're looking at rgb fans then the process can be a little different depending on your choice of fans because you need to connect up the rgb side of things as well which usually requires extra cables and/or a control box.

EDIT: Just had a thought... if you're buying it from OCUK and looking to upgrade the storage, just have a chat with OCUK about getting extra fans installed as well before it's delivered... you'll need to pay for the fans but it should fall under the 'Labour Free Upgrade Service available upon request' part of the package (although I still feel you shouldn't be paying extra for more fans at that price...).

We can help you decide on fans before you buy if you want, you just need to decide on rgb or non rgb etc

Rel Fexive · 12 Oct 2022 at 14:30

I was told by one of the OCUK service people that I could make an order with extra fans and such in addition to the build and then phone them to ask them to add the fans to the build, so I guess that would work with whatever else needed adding too, like splitters or a fan hub or something.

I don't have a burning need for rgb beyond what seems to be part of that build already so that should make it easier to decide on what elements to include. If I'm looking at the right motherboard for that build it has five chassis fan headers and one aio pump header, plus cpu and cpu opt fan headers. That sounds sufficient (I think!). I can't tell if those Noctua fans can be linked together in sequence like a daisy chain or not (I've read that some fan sets can) so it might be that if I go with three top and bottom each set might need some kind of splitter as you said.

lsg1r · 12 Oct 2022 at 15:03

Rel Fexive said:
I was told by one of the OCUK service people that I could make an order with extra fans and such in addition to the build and then phone them to ask them to add the fans to the build, so I guess that would work with whatever else needed adding too, like splitters or a fan hub or something.

I don't have a burning need for rgb beyond what seems to be part of that build already so that should make it easier to decide on what elements to include. If I'm looking at the right motherboard for that build it has five chassis fan headers and one aio pump header, plus cpu and cpu opt fan headers. That sounds sufficient (I think!). I can't tell if those Noctua fans can be linked together in sequence like a daisy chain or not (I've read that some fan sets can) so it might be that if I go with three top and bottom each set might need some kind of splitter as you said.

The Noctua fans have a very short cable coming out of the fan itself (about 1-2cm at most) with a 'fan extension' socket which you plug the full length cable attached to it. Pro's and cons to this obviously.

You can get lots of different splitter/extension leads, one being a 'daisy chain style' (annoyingly these are a fraction too long to look neat, I tried them), another being a 3 way 'Y' splitter (too chunky) and then there's the 'control box' option as well.

My setup is basically taking the top and bottom noctua fans then using the 'full length cable' (I did buy some 60cm lengths) and neatly tying them up besides the fans on the side where the motherboard is, they then plug into the deepcool fh-04 box in the rear section... with the way the light enters the case can't even see the cables running beside the fans due to the shadows.

Rear fan is rotated to give the cable the shortest route and the side fans on the AIO are routed straight out through the rubber grommets and hidden.

In all honesty, after far too long cable managing lol, most of the excess cables can be hidden behind the motherboard tray in the rear compartment. It does help when everything is 'black' in my build though lol.

I'm sure OCUK will do their best to fit them correctly and as neatly as possible but you might need to double check if you need to add splitters onto the order or they'll add them.

An alternative option for you is the new silent wings pro 4 from bequiet, annoyingly they came out after I'd got my Noctua but I'd have probably picked them if they were available at the time. I use some older bequiet fans in my other build and I'd say they're as good if not better than noctua.

SILENT WINGS PRO 4 | 120mm PWM silent high-end Fans from be quiet!

LEGENDARY SILENCE, EPIC PERFORMANCE AND FEATURES

www.bequiet.com

Rel Fexive · 12 Oct 2022 at 19:35

This all very helpful! So let's say I go for those bequiet! fans and get, what, seven of them? Three top, three bottom, one rear. What kind of cabling or hubs or whatever would I need to get to be able to get them all plugged in and working right? Assuming (correctly!) that I'll be leaving OCUK to do all the work setting it all up.

lsg1r · 12 Oct 2022 at 20:29

Rel Fexive said:
This all very helpful! So let's say I go for those bequiet! fans and get, what, seven of them? Three top, three bottom, one rear. What kind of cabling or hubs or whatever would I need to get to be able to get them all plugged in and working right? Assuming (correctly!) that I'll be leaving OCUK to do all the work setting it all up.

Assuming you don't want to get rid of the RGB fans on the AIO then yes you would need 7 fans if you wanted to fill all the locations, although some people don't always do the rear fan.

What I expect you'd get from OCUK would be the 3 way 'Y' splitter similar to the link below where you'd need one for the top 3 fans and another one for the bottom 3 fans, you should get something similar already with the AIO fans. The single rear fan would just be plugged in directly to the motherboard.

EK Water Blocks EK-Cable Y-Splitter 3-Fan PWM (10cm)

Order EK Water Blocks EK-Cable Y-Splitter 3-Fan PWM (10cm) now online and benefit from fast delivery.

www.overclockers.co.uk

Now I found those 'y' splitters a bit too chunky with my noctua but I was trying to plug them in on the connector right next to the fan (I was being a bit overkill with cable management lol) rather than at the end of a cable like on the bequiet. The benefit with them going on the end of the cable is the splitter will likely be mostly hidden behind the motherboard tray.

If you go with the noctua, I actually used 60cm cables instead of the supplied 30cm ones on a couple of the fans to allow easier placement of my DeepCool FH-04's. Both approaches are funamentally the same just done in a different way, in fact it's alternative option for the bequiet fans but OCUK don't seem to sell them...

FH-04 - DeepCool

- DeepCool was founded with the mission of providing professional, innovative, high-performance PC hardware and high-quality thermal solutions for enthusiasts across the world.

global.deepcool.com

Rel Fexive · 12 Oct 2022 at 22:54

That's really a great help, thanks. I'll have a look and see how it all stacks up, and let you know what I decide.

Rel Fexive · 17 Oct 2022 at 17:41

Well I have placed my order and phoned the customer service line to explain the fan arrangement I want; they made a special note of the requirements. So now we will see what we get when it arrives!

Rel Fexive · 2 Nov 2022 at 12:35

lsg1r said:
Assuming you don't want to get rid of the RGB fans on the AIO then yes you would need 7 fans if you wanted to fill all the locations, although some people don't always do the rear fan.

What I expect you'd get from OCUK would be the 3 way 'Y' splitter similar to the link below where you'd need one for the top 3 fans and another one for the bottom 3 fans, you should get something similar already with the AIO fans. The single rear fan would just be plugged in directly to the motherboard.

EK Water Blocks EK-Cable Y-Splitter 3-Fan PWM (10cm)

Order EK Water Blocks EK-Cable Y-Splitter 3-Fan PWM (10cm) now online and benefit from fast delivery.

www.overclockers.co.uk

Now I found those 'y' splitters a bit too chunky with my noctua but I was trying to plug them in on the connector right next to the fan (I was being a bit overkill with cable management lol) rather than at the end of a cable like on the bequiet. The benefit with them going on the end of the cable is the splitter will likely be mostly hidden behind the motherboard tray.

If you go with the noctua, I actually used 60cm cables instead of the supplied 30cm ones on a couple of the fans to allow easier placement of my DeepCool FH-04's. Both approaches are funamentally the same just done in a different way, in fact it's alternative option for the bequiet fans but OCUK don't seem to sell them...

FH-04 - DeepCool

- DeepCool was founded with the mission of providing professional, innovative, high-performance PC hardware and high-quality thermal solutions for enthusiasts across the world.

global.deepcool.com

My completed, brand new PC arrived at the end of last week, with the extra fans all set up, and it is working a treat! So thanks forall the help!

...the only problem I have encountered is that Steam games that won't start e.g. Aliens Fireteam Elite, Deep Rock Galactic. They just say they are running and then they stop. I'm trying to determine a fix for that but so far veridying the files and re-enabling Net 3.5 haven't worked. Next is un- and re-installing.

lsg1r · 2 Nov 2022 at 13:55

Rel Fexive said:
My completed, brand new PC arrived at the end of last week, with the extra fans all set up, and it is working a treat! So thanks forall the help!

...the only problem I have encountered is that Steam games that won't start e.g. Aliens Fireteam Elite, Deep Rock Galactic. They just say they are running and then they stop. I'm trying to determine a fix for that but so far veridying the files and re-enabling Net 3.5 haven't worked. Next is un- and re-installing.

Glad it all went well... enjoy

While I've not had an issue with these games or steam (don't have either lol) I've found I've had to download net 3.5 (and newer versions) on top of the default installed version for a few games, it's a bit like something is missing, same with dx9c in some cases.... so might be worth looking into.

I assume you've got all the latest drivers etc.

Rel Fexive · 2 Nov 2022 at 14:41

I have the latest everything, as far as I can tell. I activated Net 3.5 - which downloaded it - and that seemed to go okay. I've uninstalled the games and reinstalled them, verified the files, all that stuff. Still no joy so far. I'm reluctant to keep downloading and installing other games to try them as every attempt with another game could end up a waste of time.

lsg1r · 2 Nov 2022 at 15:13

Rel Fexive said:
I have the latest everything, as far as I can tell. I activated Net 3.5 - which downloaded it - and that seemed to go okay. I've uninstalled the games and reinstalled them, verified the files, all that stuff. Still no joy so far. I'm reluctant to keep downloading and installing other games to try them as every attempt with another game could end up a waste of time.

You could try a game from outside of steam...

Could grab warframe, it's free and has an installer outside of steam/epic, plus it's a game I play so if it doesn't work we might be able to troubleshoot a bit easier.

I'd also consider maybe giving ocuk a shout, a new install on what is essentially a 'gaming build' shouldn't really be having issues with games playing....

Rel Fexive · 2 Nov 2022 at 15:29

I'll definitely try with a game on another client. I can try Warframe too, as I have played that before (through Steam).

Otherwise, yeah, contacting OCUK is the next obvious step.

Rel Fexive · 13 Nov 2022 at 13:23

To continue this discussion, I have tried other Steam games, and also games on the new EA client and GOG Galaxy. So far, the only games that will not start are Aliens Fireteam Elite, Deep Rock Galactic. Left 4 Dead 2, Cyberpunk 2077, SW Battlefront II, these all work without issue. All the fixes I found for the two failing games have continued to have no effect. Time to see if OCUK have any suggestions.

Rel Fexive · 28 Nov 2022 at 21:16

So OCUK, understandably, just suggested I contact the developers of the games in question.

...But, in the end, installing a completely different game resulted in installing/checking the distributables and DirectX installation, which suddenly made those games work! Weird, but ultimately successful!

lsg1r · 28 Nov 2022 at 21:53

Rel Fexive said:
So OCUK, understandably, just suggested I contact the developers of the games in question.

...But, in the end, installing a completely different game resulted in installing/checking the distributables and DirectX installation, which suddenly made those games work! Weird, but ultimately successful!

Ah good old DirectX redistributable... I've had times when I've had to install dx9c separate to a game, even though directx etc is installed with the game....

The game likely needed some obscure .dll or something to work properly and it wasn't installed with the version of dx supplied by steam.

Glad it's fixed.