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!

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?

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.

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.

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.

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.

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!