Zalman Reserator 1

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Hi All,
Thinking about my first foray into Watercooling (Mainly because im bored!). What does everyone think of the Reserator 1? I have the opportunity to pick one up quite cheap and try and tidy it up - the only damage being apparently white dried-on residue on the pump and the inside of the resevoir (old coolant apparently) and a clip at the top of the pump being partially eroded.
Is this an easily fixable problem or would it be quite difficult to repair?

Zalman%2520Reserator%25201%2520-%2520F.jpg
 
The white stuff will almost certainly just wash off. You might need to attack it with an old toothbrush in the worst cases. You've done the hard bit already - you've unscrewed it from the cylinder:D

The pump clip is just a metal plate, so that shouldn't be hard to bodge a fix for. I tend to take the pump out altogether and use the reserator as a big external reservoir with a 120mm radiator mounted inside the case. If you drive the fan on the radiator from the 4-pin CPU header then I find the fan only spins up under extreme load, making for a very quiet system indeed, but one that can handle the lkoad of an overclocked Q6600.

That looks like an original Blue reserator base, and the barbs are non-standard too, I think. It doesn't make much difference, but you need to be aware that the barbs are G3/8 threaded, not G1/4.

The reserator on it's own only really struggles with cooling quad-cores, so it's a worthwhile project.
 
OK Thanks for your advice :) I havent actually purchased yet, thought i'd get some opinions before parting with my cash. What is your personal recommendation for like, a first water cooling kit? I've got up to £200 to spend and i would ideally like to watercool as much as possible (CPU, GPU, NB? RAM?).
 
Well, there is obviously some scope for discussion about what your case is etc. but my own choice of kit would be something like;

Laing DDC Pump 10W (CPU only) or 18W (CPU/GPU/Northbridge)
XSPC Reservoir top
EK Supreme CPU block
G1/4 1/2" D-Tek High Flow Barbs
Swiftech MCW-30 Chipset Block for Northbridge and Southbridge (if you like)
Swiftech MCW-60 GPU block and Unisink to match graphics card
Choice of radiator to suit case and number of blocks - Thermochill PA120.1/2/3
2 G3/8" 1/2" Barbs for the radiator
Arctic Cooling 12025PWM Fans linked from the motherboard header.

And for tubing, XSPC or Tygon 3/8" ID tubing stretched over the 1/2" barbs so you don't need clips.
 
Sorry should have mentioned, i have a Coolermaster Cosmos 1010 (non "sport" / S Cosmos).
 
I would recommend only cooling NB CPU and GFX

Pointless WCing RAM, the blocks are very restrictive, and its not needed.

A 120.3 will fit in the roof (atleast i know it does in the "Sport" edition)
And i would definetly go for the ThermoChill 120.3

But going back to the reserator, unless your getting given it, i would steer well clear of it. A decent air cooled system would give near enought temps to the reserator.

Go out a build yourself a proper WC system, thats my main peice of advice!
 
Ive ben using a reserator 1 for the last couple of years. I currently have a e6600 running at 3191mhz and it only just tops about 35c under load, this is on the same loop as my graphics card which is also overclocked :P

The only down side is they are huge to compentate for no fans and are more effected by room temp than normal WC kits (no fans to keep the air moving over it). But their also totally silent. You can get a kit to fit fans to it which gives it huge cooling potention given the size of the radiator, but their hard to find.
 
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NasherUK said:
Ive ben using a reserator 1 for the last couple of years. I currently have a e6600 running at 3191mhz and it only just tops about 35c under load, this is on the same loop as my graphics card which is also overclocked :P
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Is that from the cores or the motherboard? I suspect the cores are higher than that. Also - what blocks are you using and what's the graphics card? I can cool a pair of GTXs or a Q6600, but they are nowhere near as low as you are getting, in fact, I'm looking at more like 60-70C at the cores under sustained load with a G0 Q6600. Also what temperature is your room? It has to be cold, surely?

NasherUK said:
The only down side is they are huge to compentate for no fans and are more effected by room temp than normal WC kits (no fans to keep the air moving over it). But their also totally silent. You can get a kit to fit fans to it which gives it huge cooling potention given the size of the radiator, but their hard to find.
Click to expand...

They all equilibrate eventually, you just get a better result at a lower delta with a forced ventilation system. I've got a fan unit, but it doesn't do anything in my experience. It just makes a lot of noise:(
 
Everytime a discussion starts about a Reserator it always descends into temps and if the Reserator is worse than a Aircooler and money would be better spent on a custom watercooler ?

A Reserator has NOTHING to do with any other Watercooler or Aircooler as it was soley designed for silent cooling ( that just happens to use water ) at stock settings to keep temps below the thermal throttle and it does this perfectly.So to say a Aircooler is better is crazy as an Aircooler makes noise and anybody trying to overclock on a passive system then expecting good temps is nuts as that would be like trying to enter and win your local half marathon while wearing household slippers and smoking a pipe :D :p :D


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Ice Tea said:
Everytime a discussion starts about a Reserator it always descends into temps and if the Reserator is worse than a Aircooler and money would be better spent on a custom watercooler ?

A Reserator has NOTHING to do with any other Watercooler or Aircooler as it was soley designed for silent cooling ( that just happens to use water ) at stock settings to keep temps below the thermal throttle and it does this perfectly.So to say a Aircooler is beter is crazy as an Aircooler makes noise and anybody trying to overclock on a passive system then expecting good temps is nuts as that would be like trying to enter and win your local half marathon while wearing household slippers and smoking a pipe :D :p :D


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OK Don, no more Sunny D for you this close to bedtime. :D

You're right though. You have to consider Reserators in a class of their own. In every way:D
 
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