Upgrading Reserator 1

charliek · Post by **charliek** » Sun Aug 08, 2004 3:25 am

Adding a Reserator1 to my system to cool the CPU was a good move. It gave me my first foray into watercooling, and made the idea much less scary, it looks good and, as a bonus, keeps my A64 cool and quiet.

Now I've rocked the boat by putting a Geforce 6800 Ultra in my box, complete with it's two fans, heat and noise (it's a gainward 'Golden Sample').

My initial thoughts were to find a waterblock for it, and add it to my Reserator loop. (This nice nice looking example from Danger Den is a tad expensive)

The problems with doing that are that, even without overclocking, the 6800 is adding a lot of heat to the loop, and I'm not confident that the Reserator can cope with it. The large additional waterblock may also adversely affect the water flow in what is already a low-flow system.

The instructions for the Reserator give details of how to replace the pump with a more powerful external one, so that may well solve part of the problem. From there, I'm thinking that it should be fairly easy to add an additional external 'traditional' radiator-and-fan-assembly which, with the Reserator being demoted to the role of reservoir, should be able to cope with large amounts of heat.

Assuming that a decent pump and radiator, that are compatible with the Reserator's aluminium system and 12x8mm tubing, can be found, I think that it could easily be beefed up to cope with a lot of heat, and only require one fan on the radiator.

Any thoughts?

HammerSandwich · Post by **HammerSandwich** » Sun Aug 08, 2004 10:22 am

The DD block is low restriction, and Rusty075 did okay with 2 blocks in his Reserator review. But you'll have to address the potential corrosion issue if you do this. Using antifreeze will give you a much thicker coolant and the Res' little pump might not like that too well. Flow will definitely suffer.

I'd go for 2 separate loops before adding a pump, rad, and block to the Res' loop. Not only would you avoid the mixed-metals issue, but the Res will offer minimal cooling in a system with an active radiator. The rad/fan will keep the water temps so low that the Reserator just can't help much.

You might want to try adding airflow to the Res if you're willing to forego fanless operation in the first place. And you may want to Ebay the Res and get a more serious active WC setup.

charliek · Post by **charliek** » Mon Aug 09, 2004 1:54 am

HammerSandwich wrote:The DD block is low restriction, and Rusty075 did okay with 2 blocks in his Reserator review. But you'll have to address the potential corrosion issue if you do this.

I'd read elsewhere that the anodization of the Zalman kit would effecively eliminate any serious galvanic corrosion issues. Having said that, I've pretty much discounted the DD block on the basis of its price and the fact that it cools the GDDR3 RAM, which I suspect is unnecessary. So I could always go on the lookout for an aluminium block.

As I understand it, the radiators are generally made of brass, is that right? If so do they contribute to galvanic corrosion?

As for installing a second loop, I think that would be more complex and messy than I had in mind. I may replace the Reserator with a more beefy setup (and maybe overclock a bit), or continue to look for a way to augment it a little (I'm thinking of rigging up an external upgrade for it that would contain a small rad and quiet fan, a quiet powerful pump, and a relay to power it all up with the PC)

Qwertyiopisme · Post by **Qwertyiopisme** » Mon Aug 09, 2004 2:46 am

My home-made waterblock which is made out of a copper bar and some home made *brass* nipples with various other bits of copper and brass, without anti-corrosive stuff has AFAIK not corroded much at all, it is slightly discolored, but except for that is perfectly fine (only the brass is discolored, blackish color). Maybe the black stuff is only a thin layer that protects the rest of the part from corroding? It works fine in any case

.

Edwood · Post by **Edwood** » Mon Aug 09, 2004 9:34 am

You could always add another Reserator.

You could also keep them completely separate from each other. One for the GPU , the other for the CPU.

Or have them in series.

Not cheap, but would be pretty funny to have two Reserator towers flanking your PC.

You could also use a higher flow inline pump and ditch the existing pump.

-Ed

Downside · Post by **Downside** » Tue Aug 10, 2004 6:18 am

I'm in a similar situation, having just added a 6800GT to my system, replaceing my previously water cooled 9700pro.

Personally, before I spend too much time or money on additions to the cooling loop, I'm going to just add the 6800gt and see what my temps are.

I can always point a small fan at the reserator until I make additional changes if the temps get up high enough to cause concern.

I'm also looking for other water blocks, as the danger den unit is just a bit too expensive for my taste, although I imagine if I can't find an alternative I'll end up buying it.

HammerSandwich · Post by **HammerSandwich** » Tue Aug 10, 2004 9:43 am

Copper and brass are fine with each other but have potential corrosion problems with aluminum. Anodization is a huge help, but corrosion inhibitors are really needed. Any tiny flaws or nicks in the coating will lead to eventual trouble without them.

Putting 2 Reses in the same loop demands experimentation. The weak pumps would best be used in series, but the cooling should work better in parallel.

Using the Res like this reminds me of the fanless PSUs. They mostly work okay, but even a very little airflow would help without adding much noise.

HammerSandwich · Post by **HammerSandwich** » Tue Aug 10, 2004 9:45 am

BTW, as a GF3 owner, I want to add that I'm dazed when I see 6800 owners complain about the price of a waterblock.

charliek · Post by **charliek** » Tue Aug 10, 2004 1:33 pm

HammerSandwich wrote:BTW, as a GF3 owner, I want to add that I'm dazed when I see 6800 owners complain about the price of a waterblock.

I can quite see why, but having paid out for this baby, it will be some time before SWMBO will tolerate any more expenditure.

I wouldn't mind so much if it was just the waterblock, but I a) I think that Danger Den have hyped the price just a tad, and b) I am concerned that it would lead to having to add an additional radiator, which would mean a new pump, which would mean... etc.

I'm wondering if the Reserator's anodization means that I can put a copper block in OK, given that I've got auto antifreeze in the solution which includes corrosion inhibitors. I'll have to read up a bit on galvanic corrosion, because I'm not sure about just how much of an issue it is in a distilled water loop of this size.

HammerSandwich · Post by **HammerSandwich** » Tue Aug 10, 2004 9:43 pm

charliek wrote:I'm wondering if the Reserator's anodization means that I can put a copper block in OK, given that I've got auto antifreeze in the solution which includes corrosion inhibitors.

That's probably okay. Keep an eye on it though, and replace the antifreeze regularly.

Post by **Rusty075** » Wed Aug 11, 2004 5:38 am

Hands down, the single simplest thing you can do to upgrade the Res is to replace the pump. Adding an external 1046/48, mounted on foam inside the case, probably would add no noticable noise to the system. (Your PSU fan and HDD are likely louder)

Adding a second Res tower to the system is an interesting idea, but that's alot of money to spend. (Although you could sell off the second CPU and VGA WB's and recoup some of that)

burcakb · Post by **burcakb** » Wed Aug 11, 2004 2:50 pm

What's wrong with Zalman's own VGA waterblock ZM-GWB1? (24$ here in Turkey)

As for the capacity of reserator, didn't someone (Copper I think) run 2 processors and attempted 3 on just one Reserator?

Edwood · Post by **Edwood** » Thu Aug 12, 2004 12:05 pm

Anyone try Innovatek's Radiator Tower?

If it's performance is better than two Reserators, it does cost less than two Reserators.

Although two Reserators would look pretty badass. Would start to look like a nuclear powered computer with it's two cooling towers.

-Ed

charliek · Post by **charliek** » Thu Aug 12, 2004 2:12 pm

burcakb wrote:What's wrong with Zalman's own VGA waterblock ZM-GWB1? (24$ here in Turkey)

As for the capacity of reserator, didn't someone (Copper I think) run 2 processors and attempted 3 on just one Reserator?

Currently I'm thinking that that may be the best solution for me. My only concerns are

a) that it should be able to handle the heat output of a GeForce 6800 Ultra and an AMD Athlon 64 3400+ going flat out for hours on end in an attempt to keep my lame ass alive in Doom 3. Or doing some work. Whatever. and

b) that the Zalman VGA block should be compatible with the GeForce 6800 Ultra (Zalman won't say, and others disagree), and that the RAM (and caps?) should be happy to be passively cooled (maybe one 120mm fan in the case, to keep internal pressure positive with the PSU fan)

nutball · Post by **nutball** » Mon Aug 23, 2004 12:03 am

I'm pondering investing in a Reserator, 'cos my quieting bug has now transformed itself into a silenting bug

I noticed that Eheim make a slightly bigger version of the 300 pump that's installed in the Res, which is supposed to pump twice as much water (600 thingmies per whatsit). The pump is physically slightly larger than the 300, but I'm wondering if it would be possible to use as a drop-in replacement.

turtleman · Post by **turtleman** » Mon Aug 23, 2004 1:28 pm

nutball wrote:I'm pondering investing in a Reserator, 'cos my quieting bug has now transformed itself into a silenting bug

I noticed that Eheim make a slightly bigger version of the 300 pump that's installed in the Res, which is supposed to pump twice as much water (600 thingmies per whatsit). The pump is physically slightly larger than the 300, but I'm wondering if it would be possible to use as a drop-in replacement.

Just ordered my Reserator from amazon, 208 no tax free shipping.. heck of a deal.. and if u don't like it, u can return it ;P

but yea, if we be able to change the pump, im 100% up to it..

Post by **Rusty075** » Mon Aug 23, 2004 1:59 pm

The 600 should fit in there no problem. The big difference is in the height, the 600 is more than an inch taller than the 300, but only .5" longer and .4" wider, and they use the same size tubing.

You won't be able the use the same attachment mechanism, however. Perhaps a dab of silicon adhesive between the pump and the baseplate? That would both anchor and dampen the pump.

You can also replace the internal pump with any external pump you want.

nutball · Post by **nutball** » Mon Aug 23, 2004 11:34 pm

Rusty075 wrote:The 600 should fit in there no problem. The big difference is in the height, the 600 is more than an inch taller than the 300, but only .5" longer and .4" wider, and they use the same size tubing.

You won't be able the use the same attachment mechanism, however. Perhaps a dab of silicon adhesive between the pump and the baseplate? That would both anchor and dampen the pump.

Sounds like a plan.

Looking at the specs it seems that the 600 has a significantly higher head than the 300 (1.3m v. 0.5m), so that might help a bit with my system configuration (my PC is suspended under a desk, so ~20cm from the floor).

You can also replace the internal pump with any external pump you want.

Yeah, I just like the idea of keeping it internal to the Res, neater that way, etc.

Edwood · Post by **Edwood** » Mon Aug 23, 2004 11:45 pm

Post pics if you can if you swap out the stock pump.

-Ed