Wet and chilly P/A reservoir

[wasabi]

Intro
This is a reservoir for watercooling that is meant to double as the radiator - it is a long tube about 6cm diameter with grilled edges. Near each end is an inlet or outlet connector. You can pick from blue or black colour, and the ends are transparent which can be quite handy for seeing the water move through it.

There are various lengths available right up to 1m long

for the full product range at overclock.co.uk go here



The P/A bit stands for passive/active, so to be honest it is more like a radiator than a reservoir. There are two reasons I say this.
Firstly, the main design function of one seems to be to disperse heat passively.
Second, they are IMO pretty rubbish functionality-wise as an actual reservoir.

There are a couple of different fitting types available, but I went with 10mm OD barbs to match up with my swiftech 3/8inch (effectively same scale) waterblock.

Performance
My 550mm reservoir (called WAC from here for short) keeps my P4 2.4 -mildly overclocked to 2.6- at stock voltage at around 30 degrees, plus or minus about 1 degree c depending on load. That is using 10mm ID tubing thorugh the whole loop and a very quiet hydor l30 pump. Given that the WAC is basically wedged between my case and the edge of the desk, i.e. not ideal for heat dissipation, I'm very pleased with it. I suspect I could have got away with a shorter WAC, like a 350 mm or 450, but I wanted upgrade potential.

Noise
The main attraction for me - the WAC is basically silent. No fans is what I was after. If you put your ear right up against it you can just about hear water moving through it. The Hydor l30 pump is very quiet too once you get the bubbles out of the loop and it set on a bit of foam to stop vibration. In this respect I'd recommend a mains powered pump over a molex one as its easier to test the whole thing and de-bubble it almost in-situ. I use a shaver adapter to plug the 2 pin Euro plug in, which fits through a slot oin the back with a sqeeze, avoiding a separate cable hole.


Practicality / putting it together
This is where it is let down a bit. The reason I don't like to call it a reservoir is that you can't easily fill it. I ended up having to use a T fitting for water top-ups, so I found it easier initially to fill it by unscrewing one if the barbs and pouring it in that way. The T adapter route was taking literally hours. The biggest improvement I could suggest for whatever sucessor they come up with would be for a proper filler mechanism. As it stands you need a T fitting or 2nd reservoir in the loop.
Positioning it can also be a bit fiddly. It does say it can be mounted horizontally or vertically, but I had problems getting air out of the system when mounted vertically. I also wasn't too convinced by the flimsy mounting clips they provide. In the end I found the best solution was to wiggle it at one end then the other while near horizontal to get air out, then finally prop one end up slightly (the return from block end) with a housebrick.

Conclusion
Confession time - this is my first watercooling setup so inexperience could play a large part in getting bubbles out of system and frustration with T fitting as filler. But overall...
Very effective, very quiet, bit of a pain to set up and mount. Good cheap alternative to zalman reserator with more flexibility, but a bit more work needed to get it working right.

[DR]

Whats the build quality like on this puppy?

[daniel_owen_uk]

They do it in silver too.

The build quality is pretty damn good, and whilst I dont think its a scratch on the reserator (I own WACC, m8 owns Reserator), its a very good rad.

The fitments are a little poor, it is supposed to be wall mounted, but the attachments are fidly, and the cap that screws down, has the screw next to the wall so its tough to get in once its on the wall.

But all in all I like mine, the size makes filling and bleeding about a 3 second job, and the inlets/outlets leave for many different configs.

My performance stats won't really match as I have an active rad in loop as well as passive res.

[megah0]

Practicality / putting it together
This is where it is let down a bit. The reason I don't like to call it a reservoir is that you can't easily fill it. I ended up having to use a T fitting for water top-ups, so I found it easier initially to fill it by unscrewing one if the barbs and pouring it in that way. The T adapter route was taking literally hours. The biggest improvement I could suggest for whatever sucessor they come up with would be for a proper filler mechanism. As it stands you need a T fitting or 2nd reservoir in the loop.
Positioning it can also be a bit fiddly. It does say it can be mounted horizontally or vertically, but I had problems getting air out of the system when mounted vertically. I also wasn't too convinced by the flimsy mounting clips they provide. In the end I found the best solution was to wiggle it at one end then the other while near horizontal to get air out, then finally prop one end up slightly (the return from block end) with a housebrick.

Or just remove the screws holding the uppermost lid on and pour your coolant in, agree with the mounting options, the bracket is fairly poor.

Whats the build quality like on this puppy?

Pretty good, I have the 350mm black version, the lids screw in securely although the method of attaching it to your case could be better.

Its basically an extruded aluminium tube with fins on the inside and outside.

[daniel_owen_uk]

If mounted vertically, then its dead easy to fill (didn't read that bit 1st time round).

You just remove the top cap and pour liquid in, leave the top off for a minute or two and its air free.

Obviously applying good watercooling technique (res highest point in system etc).

[wasabi]

The lack of a manual meant I wasn't too clear on whether the end bits are meant to be screwed off at all - they don't look like it is a deliberate design feature. Given that my WACC unit is the 55cm high version, the dodgy clips meant I wasn't going to risk mounting vertically anyway, thus my need for a T connector and main gripe.

Build quality is great though. What I'll probably do when I get a free Saturday is build some sort of vertical mounting stand - maybe mould the bottom bit into a large lump of concrete...

Still glad I bought it though - the silence is great and I've got greater flexibility in parts than with the reserator - and saved some money.