ZimaCube Cooling Solution

Noctua 40mm x4

Noctua cooler

Fan splitter

80mm fans for had

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Thank you bossman. I noticed I had the PWM version for the 40x20mm fans in my cart. Would that matter with that fan splitter? Would be juicy to program PWM for the fans in BIOS tbh.

I chose not to use pwm fans on the front due to the control for them being awful.

System header plugs into one of the Noctua reducers from the 40mm fans then into the 5 way splitter. The run at a consistent and silent speed but move a lot of air.

The control in the BIOS you mean? Some form of curve would really be beneficial, don’t need them constantly running static if the CPU or HDDs are getting too hot.

Yes in the bios. I’m happy with the system fans running at 7v. It’s not loud and works perfectly.

The hdd fans have no control in the bios

Hey Gav. Could you please give any tips about removing the thermal paste on the cpu? I already ruined one motherboard, which probobly was due to me using an excessive amount of alcohol trying to get up that thick thermal paste it comes with. Luckly Icewhale sent me a new motherboard. Unfortunetly, it still had the old cooling solution so I am still having temps reach 85+ degrees at idle. I have impelement all your other cooling solutions so the cpu is the only one I am stuck at. Any additonal tips would be helpful.

I tend to use a plastic scraper and kitchen towel. Then a final wipe with isopropyl

Can you tell us more about mounting the L9X65?

Did you have to take out the motherboard?
How did you fit the bracket? Mine has transistors in the way for example

You do not need to remove the motherboard.

You need to buy 4x m3x20 screws in addition to the cooler. This will allow you to use the existing backplate.

You use the 4 blue standoffs from the cooler kit and orient the brackets front to back not side to side.

You should have no fouling.

hey, thx a lot :slight_smile: one question remains… the fan for the NVME bracket… is it another 80mm fan like those for the harddrive or a 120mm

The nvme fan is a low profile fan. Exactly the same model that’s on the cpu cooler.

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can you use low profile fans (15mm) for the hdds so as to not need the printed adapter?

You could but there generally louder

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Hey @Gav,

Im looking at a ZimaCube Pro (form factor is hard to beat) but I was wondering after the fan mods if you have used a (widely inaccurate) audio smart phone meter to see how audible the fans are from directly in from of the front and rear of the case?

Only ask as it will potentially be right next to me in my study, and my current setup is (a G8 Microserver) registers 30db, so looking to get close to the figure for my sanity.

Regards, Riff.

Hi @nihaopaul - similar to my question above to Gav, have you measured the fans with a sound meter perhaps? Just like to understand how much noise is generated by the unit once it’s been retrofitted.

Regards, Riff.

Sorry for the late reply. I have not measured with a meter.

I got mine yesterday, Its in a cabinet with the rest of my homelab. Lots of air, no HDDs yet just NVME drivers. Its LOUD, not for the desktop, sorry to say. I am a fan of IceWhale, but this is the truth. :smiley: