Zalman's Reserator 1

[Rys]

Zalman's reputation rose to new heights recently with the introduction of some innovative coolers that aim to soothe with silence. There was therefore no chance that I'd turn down a chance to look at their Reserator 1, a completely fanless watercooling system that takes cooling to new heights, literally.

It all depends on what you want. Do you want to overclock? Look elsewhere. Do you mind a wee bit of fan noise? Look elsewhere. Do you want is-my-PC-even-switched-on silence? Give Zalman your money now, they thoroughly deserve it.

The review quote doesn't do the Reserator justice, it's all in the photography and the results. For those, click here.

Rys

[megah0]

Thats quite interesting actually, Zalman have attempted silence before and it looks like they have suceeded this time. That might have an application as part of a HTPC setup, if only Zalman could make it a different colour....

[Butuz]

Mmmmm nice review. Not very often something gets a 10! Gotta admit i love the idea of utter silence, and with 2 of them you could have an utterly silent ninja dual CPU rig too!

/ wonders if there is any way he can modify his ceiling so that the reserator pokes up into the cold dark wet outside

/ wonders whether 2 reserators will fit into a near silent beer fridge

Oh the scope for silent cooling is immense.

Sod david, send that bad boy onto me Ryssseh baybeh!

Butuz

[Steve]

Nice that the review looks at the purpose of the Reserator - and now what people thought it should do.

When I saw it at CTS I was in awe of its looks, but it clearly wasn't designed for overclocking.

However, Zalman's new totally silent case - now that IS something to look out for!





As always, nice review Rys.

[r1zeek]

Don't see 10 very often but it is a very good kit.
The lack of any cooling over the fins does let it down a bit with it keeping CPU temps up, if some of the water passed through them (like the pipes in a radiator) it would reduce temps a bit, would need a powerful pump to move through it though.
As you said, its not meant for overclockers so I seems like an excellent kit for me (im always complaining about the noise )
Nice review mate, keep it up

[Butuz]

Problem is Kez that Zalman case cost some £800 odd doesnt it? Awesome bit of engineering mind.

Butuz

[DR]

www.quietpc.com

[iMc]

cant wait to see a Reserator 2.

[oxygen]

First post at Hexus... I was going to wait until the end of term at uni (2 weeks) but this artical made me change my mind...

3 Questions:

1: Surely the reservator can be used in SFF machines since only the waterblock actually needs to be inside the case?

2: Surely with a faster pump and active cooling (ie, a desk fan pointed at the thing) the reservator would be a damn good overclockers setup?

3: Surely those things should have been mentioned in the review?

I don't want to start of my posting like this but I'd really like to know the answers anyway. Of course, I could just be talking out of my arse...

Edit:
Oh, and I'd rather have the Hush PC rather than the Zalman... They both use heat pipes but the Hush is cheaper and looks better, although its cooling probably sucks by comparison.
www.hushtechnologies.net

[DR]

1. Yes, watch this space.

2. Nope - the alu is thick, and a faster pump may get the liquid away quicker but it would be insignificant. Not worth it at all.

3. As I said 1 - Watch this space. 2. Answered.

[iMc]

what if u put it in a beer fridge as mentioned by someone in another thread. im sure theres gonna a few articles on the web with peeps doin things like that.

[DR]

what if u put it in a beer fridge as mentioned by someone in another thread. im sure theres gonna a few articles on the web with peeps doin things like that.

Please remember not everyone wants to overclock. If you do then this kit probably isn't for you.

This system is targetted at silent computing, passive watercooling and does it very well.

[turkster]

Reading through the review I did not get the impression it was going to get 10. In fact i was quite shocked when I saw the score.

Not that I'm saying it was a bad review as it was very informative its just I wouldnt have thought it deserved 10.
Ok it was very quiet which is very good but it didnt perform much better than the stock cooler which, IMHO, is not good enough for somthing that costs £180 and introduces the inherent risks of water cooling to your system.

[iMc]

Indeed it is, but that doesnt mean that people won't want to find (crazy) ways of improving it!

Not that id dare to start hacking it apart or anything.

I want one, but cant really justify it. Shame

[Zak33]

I love engineering...and that is stunning

If you could make a PC room (like mine) with nothing except PC's in it......and therefore no reason to move it about a lot....just stunning

[Apex]

http://www.zalman.co.kr/magic/mboard...&order_da=desc