Swiftech H2O 120 v Zalman Reserator1 v2

NinjaPaul · 16 Sep 2008 at 19:25

Hi

I was looking for some advice about these two watercooling kits.

my current system is using the h20 120 kit but I would like to watercool the gfx card as well and the zalman seems like a good quiet option.

Has anyone had experience with both of these systems and will the zalman be able to match the swiftechs cpu cooling?

Thanks.

Current system

Asus P5k premium wifi/ Intel Q6600 3.6ghz / 4GB Corsair dominator / Nvidia 8800gtx / 1tb samsung spinpoint raid 0

shadowscotland · 16 Sep 2008 at 20:37

if running a second loop with the Zalman cooling just the 8800gtx or the OC'ed quad and the h2O doing the rest - your fine. Res1 will not do both at full load out of the box.

Up the pump and change the block/tubing and your ok for normal use but not prime or F@H

Try and get a secondhand one (about 60% rrp) at that price they are a really good buy.
If buying new the £150+p&p will get you a better custom passive or active loop

TheCenturion · 16 Sep 2008 at 20:50

NinjaPaul said:
Hi

I was looking for some advice about these two watercooling kits.

my current system is using the h20 120 kit but I would like to watercool the gfx card as well and the zalman seems like a good quiet option.

Has anyone had experience with both of these systems and will the zalman be able to match the swiftechs cpu cooling?

Thanks.

Current system

Asus P5k premium wifi/ Intel Q6600 3.6ghz / 4GB Corsair dominator / Nvidia 8800gtx / 1tb samsung spinpoint raid 0

you could try just changing some components, that should help, you'd be able to cool the card

ZedPowered · 16 Sep 2008 at 23:06

upgrade the blocks and rad, i did this with an xspc kit and its made such a differance

Reality|Bites · 17 Sep 2008 at 15:01

So he upgrades the blocks and the rad. What's he left with from the original kit? The fans?

jrwagh333 · 17 Sep 2008 at 15:10

if you upgrade the block from your H20-120 Compact you'll need to buy a pump. As in the Compact kit the Block/Pump is built into the same unit

WJA96 · 18 Sep 2008 at 21:31

The Swiftech kit has a poor reputation for leaking at the pump/block join so that you get lovely UV reactive green stuff all over your motherboard.

The Zalman will need a proper waterblock to work properly though, the supplied one won't do an 8800GTX.

PaulyD · 19 Sep 2008 at 09:24

In which case then the idea of going for a "kit" is pretty useless if he needs to replace half of the bits.

Do some research, then go custom. Will lead to better temps (in 99% of cases!) and is a lot more satisfying

Ice Tea · 19 Sep 2008 at 10:02

Reserator was never designed for performance as it was designed for the sole purpose of silent cooling that just happens to use water to keep the temps below the thermal limit of CPU's at stock settings.

I've never understood why people **** off the Reserator as it does what it was designed for perfectly.

shadowscotland · 19 Sep 2008 at 11:25

Ice Tea said:
I've never understood why people **** off the Reserator as it does what it was designed for perfectly.

Couldn't agree more - but would add that as WJA96 said above it can be upgraded with new blocks and or pump to extend performance significanly. It's an expensive route but an underated and very quiet cooling alturnative.