Hey All,
Due to the high temps in the case I had installed a few Noctua NF-A6x25 fans (60mm) on the front of the case. I then used the included splitter cable to connect both fans and connected it to the available system fan header on the motherboard.
However, I had some odd system stability with these fans connected. After about 10 or 15 minutes the ZimaCube Pro would become unresponsive and I would have to manually reboot through the front panel power button. After I disconnected these new fans I have had zero stability issues since.
Has anyone else experienced issues like this? Do I need to do something in the BIOS?
Could you show the current condition of the device? It is currently suspected the devices may have a high power consumption, leading to insufficient power supply during full load operation, which affects stability. In addition, have you monitored the CPU temperature over the past few minutes? How is the effect?
These would have been two 12 volt Noctua fans connected through their supplied splitter. To your point maybe this was too much for this fan header. I could try just one of the fans to see if that stops the issue if you think it can handle one 12 volt fan.
Temps generally seemed fine and system was idle when it would go unresponsive.
In general small fans only draw 1-2 watts while spinning at a moderate speed… but I have not looked into what provides power to the headers.
One thing that might be worth thinking about is the path of air flow. The max heat generated by the CPU is only 55 Watt that is not much by todays standards. If the airflow is directed correctly and is not impeded, a single 60mm fan is probably enough to cool everything in the top compartment of a zimacube
As you experiment it might be valuable to create ductwork to move the air where it will do the most good. It is a fun project if you have 3d printer. If not you can do simple tests with folded paper or light weight card stock and tape.
You can check out some pictures from modern servers to see the time and effort that goes into ducting to ensure maximum cooling.
Another thing to consider is that fans are really good at moving a lot of air when there is limited resistance. As soon as their is resistance, their effectiveness drops dramatically. When there is resistance designers use blowers instead of fans.
One way to visualize this is again in server hardware. It is pretty common to see manufactures use two counter rotating fan inline. This is a step they can take to increase the pressure the fans can generate. This allow them to push again all the restriction that would otherwise stop a single fan from moving air.
I have just seen your post … I hope not too late → 2 hours ago I built something very similar (3 times NF-A4x20), because the temperature went a little too high (70°C+) …
I’m now curious how the whole thing works for me … so far (1h without much load) no problems
Thanks Icewhale for the NormGrid . The fans fit perfectly!
It seems to work … no problems so far here with the header and temperature. After testing all CPUs for half an hour it still seems to be ok …
Greetings Andi
→ 2 hours ago I built something very similar (3 times NF-A4x20), because the temperature went a little too high (70°C+) …
