Zalman Reserator XT Any News?

Datamonkey

Datamonkey

Datamonkey

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Joined
21 Jan 2003
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Northamptonshire
Hey guys,

Anyone got any news on when these may hit retail.

Looking very nice.

Cannot link to where i have seen preview pics :(

So anyone else got any more info to share?
 
Ah, but for those of us under the thumb who need their SFF to look nice when WC'd, it's a gift.

I wouldn't buy one, though - I'd just find a way to squeeze the correct radiator-age inside my shoebox. :)
 
Ice Tea said:
Reserators have never been about performance they are built for quiet computing.
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Exactly. I love my Reserator v2. Silent. However it's no slouch either, can quite happily handle medium overclocks at decent temperatures. Obviously it's nothing *too* serious, but I love mine. :D

Would love to see some reviews with this new model vs. the older ones. :)
 
Blimey an old thread of mine revived.

I gave up waiting on this and bought the TT Kandalf LCS case a while back.

But if anyone has one or is getting one what it like :D
 
Datamonkey said:
Blimey an old thread of mine revived.

I gave up waiting on this and bought the TT Kandalf LCS case a while back.

But if anyone has one or is getting one what it like :D
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Aye my bro is probably going to get one. Apparently they will be in stock v.soon! :D :D

I'm sure he'll post up a mini-review when it arrives... think he's just saving up his pennies first. lol.
 
I got one and built a new system over the weekend.. (thanks OCUK for some of the parts, not the reserator, got that locally here in Finland).

Its pretty nice. Ignoring the looks etc, it's quiet, and it keeps the new Q6600 + X1950 Pro + RAM block on idle temps around 30c. Ok so far i've only taxed it as far as playing Civ IV for about 6hours, but as the temps only went up to mid 30c i'm not complaining. Comparable temps on the same with stock air cooling where idle low 50s, Civ IV high 50s.

I'l replace the graphics when next round of DX10 cards come out. I've got the exhaust air blowing directly into side of the case (side panel removed), and the GA-P35-DQ6 is nice and cool as a result.

Airflow noise is soft, background level. Auto function has basically left pump and fan on lowest speeds so far.

No overclocking done, and no Prime or anything that nasty.. simply because i don't do that sort of thing. I'l throw FarCry or Half life at it soon though.

For a sort of comparison, my old Reserator 1 cooling an A64 3000+, X800XTPE, K8VSE idled on mid 40s, and got up to 60s when playing CivIV, FarCry and HL2.

One comment.. Quad seems to run cool. I suspect that old system, 1 core.. too much work, had to run hard and fast when gaming so got hot. Quad, plenty of spare capacity. doesn't need to be taxed.. stays cool as a result.

Anyway. Hope this was of interest.
 
Hi and welcome to OCUK :)

What are your ambient temperatures? Thes figures mean nothing without it. You really need to run something CPU intensive to get the proper load temperature. As these games wont tax the CPU 100% and idle temps are pretty useless

The Quad maybe runs cool for you because of speed step and you looking at idle temps so much.

:)
 
Morning :)

Ambient temps range from 15c on cool mornings, to 25c when 2 PCs have been on all day, as measured by an internal digital room thermometer thingy.

Yesterday evening, room temp was 25c. The Reserator also showed a starting coolant temp of 25, and ambient temp of 25. This never changed at all for 3 hours (no heavy use). Again idle/Civ IV temps, and yes Speedstep is enabled, sat at 28c CPU and 32c GPU.

I will admit I was using the Gigabyte windows software and Catalyst to measure the temps so take the numbers with some salt, and I understand that as the computer is basically doing nothing, the temps should be low. I'l say again though, this Reserator keeps this machine cooler during idle than the older Reserator did to my older A64 based machine.

As mentioned I don't prime, simply because I don't. I honestly don't believe the Reserator series have been designed with performance OC in mind, more for the ability to silently cool a relatively powerful machine. However, in the interests of science i'l give Prime a go. (I will admit, I deliberately chose some components with the idea of having a little go at some OC'ing) I'l have to read the relavent stickies first to get the right testing/measuring software etc.

On the cool'n'quiet side, i'l now say that when there's background noise such as during the day, the system really blends in. Late at night, no traffic, no kids, no TV etc, the noise is more noticeable at the desk, 2-3m from the desk and the noise begins to blend into the background level.

Overall thoughts

For those interested in noise level, it's not as quiet as previous Reserators.. simply because you can't switch of the internal 14cm fan, lowest it seems to run at is about 1000rpm, and whilst the woosh of air is background during the day, it's noticeable during the night.

For those interested in cooling, It keeps an idle Q6600 cool ;) not much more I can say at this time and tor those interested in performance.. please hold whilst I muck about with Prime and wotnot...

Anyway. Here's complete specs. Reserator XT cools the CPU, GPU and GPU RAM at the moment.

Q6600 G0
GA-P35-DQ6
Crucial Ballistix 5300 (4GB)
Sapphire X1950 Pro
2x WD Raptor 36Gb - Raid (Vista 64 Ultimate)
2x WD 500GB - No RAID
Dell 2407WFP-HC
Lian Li Medium Tower, not sure the name, 3years old.
 
NotTheOne said:
...

For those interested in noise level, it's not as quiet as previous Reserators.. simply because you can't switch of the internal 14cm fan, lowest it seems to run at is about 1000rpm, and whilst the woosh of air is background during the day, it's noticeable during the night.


Oh well :o I was thinking of getting a reserator again - does anyone know how much more noise the reserator v2 makes over the v1?
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Some pictures.. though to be honest it's quite difficult to make what is, in essence, a large black box interesting :)

The complete setup. Yes, i also collect Lego, and yes that is a box of cotton buds that the subwoofer is sitting on, so that there is clearance for the tubes. The blue light is the flow meter, propeller type, so it's got an annoying flickering effect, (i think you can turn the light off though) and small round thing on the top is filler cap with tiny breathing hole.

I've now moved the case forward, and put the side on, though if i take it off the angled subwoofer still directs cooling air from the Reserator into the case if wanted.



Fan End of things.. As Nikebee said, should be possible to replace the fan though i'l not be trying. Black cable is power, connects to spare connector from the PSU. The cutout for the fan is quite restrictive, ie there's a lot of metal there that might be contributing to the woosh noise.



Inside the case.. a bit messy as i've yet to complete the cabling, Using an IDE DVD instead of a SATA, and not tidied the power connector to the Reserator yet.



And the dials. Shows (left to right) Fan Speed, ambient temp (bottom) & coolant temp (top) & level, fan speed. 'Volume' controls the pump and fan together when you've chosen manual mode. At the moment auto setting has everything on the lowest l/m, rpm.



One thing I couldn't take a picture of was inside.. looking through the box the coolant sits in a large cylinder in the center and air flows round it, pulled in from the sides. From what I can tell there's no solid connection to the sides of the Reserator, so cooling seems to be happening mainly by airflow caused by the fan, rather than heat transfer to the body.

Some other notes. Beeps if the pump or fans stops, if there's not enough coolant, and if coolant temp gets hot (according to the manual). First two have happened when I was first setting it up. Nice feature.

Whole thing is lighter than a Reserator 1, the quick release pipes are nice, but as you can see it's quite large.
 
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