Zalman's fanless WC rig reviewed: Reserator1

wim · Post by **wim** » Sun Aug 15, 2004 8:17 pm

Tibors wrote:The Reserator contains a large volume of water. No amount of stretching of the tubes can "absorb" the extra volume if all this water is heated. So this pressure is released by the air escaping through that little hole.

zalman recommend filling it around 80% of the way to the top, or around 2 litres worth of water. if you use this data and go through the calculations you find that you can expect a volume increase of about 3 mL, that's the size of a few peas. not sure how you came to conclude that no amount of stretching of the tubes can accomodate this extra volume, it seems well within the bounds of the tubes stretching to me.
regardless, water may be essentially incompressible, but if you are leaving 20% pocket of air at the top of the reserator, then even if it was a sealed system this little pocket of air would easily decrease in volume to accomodate.

the little hole has got to be for something else...!
maybe to let all the little organisms in so you can grow a friendly little mould community in there?

Uberapan · Post by **Uberapan** » Mon Aug 16, 2004 12:40 am

You just wrote what I was going to.

There is no chance that the water expansion can damage it, since according to the manual you are supposed to fill it up to 75-80%. Air is easily compressed. It seems strange to open it up to outside contamination just to accomodate people who fill it up to 100%.

As for the torrent cpu stats, it depends on your connection. The computer is on a 10/10 mbit connection, and can easily have several hundered connections open. On my old 512/512 line torrents took almost no CPU at all. For reference, I was using Bittornado.

Linus · Post by **Linus** » Fri Aug 27, 2004 5:58 am

Anyone know the power consumption of the Reserator water pump? I guess it's an Eheim 300, but I can't find wattage numbers anywhere. Any of you with a Reserator and a Kill-A-Watt willing to take a reading for me?

nutball · Post by **nutball** » Fri Aug 27, 2004 6:55 am

Linus wrote:Anyone know the power consumption of the Reserator water pump? I guess it's an Eheim 300, but I can't find wattage numbers anywhere. Any of you with a Reserator and a Kill-A-Watt willing to take a reading for me?

It's rated at 5 watts according to this page:

http://www.shop-coralgarden.co.uk/produ ... cts_id=348

Post by **Rusty075** » Fri Aug 27, 2004 9:53 am

On their spec's Zalman lists it at 5 watts as well.

Edwood · Post by **Edwood** » Fri Aug 27, 2004 11:07 am

wim wrote:
Tibors wrote:The Reserator contains a large volume of water. No amount of stretching of the tubes can "absorb" the extra volume if all this water is heated. So this pressure is released by the air escaping through that little hole.
zalman recommend filling it around 80% of the way to the top, or around 2 litres worth of water. if you use this data and go through the calculations you find that you can expect a volume increase of about 3 mL, that's the size of a few peas. not sure how you came to conclude that no amount of stretching of the tubes can accomodate this extra volume, it seems well within the bounds of the tubes stretching to me.
regardless, water may be essentially incompressible, but if you are leaving 20% pocket of air at the top of the reserator, then even if it was a sealed system this little pocket of air would easily decrease in volume to accomodate.

the little hole has got to be for something else...!
maybe to let all the little organisms in so you can grow a friendly little mould community in there?

You can always plug that hole.

-Ed

Post by **Rusty075** » Fri Aug 27, 2004 11:58 am

Ever try to twist the lid off of a vacuum-sealed pickle jar?

Or try to twist the lid of a positively pressurized jar?

That's my bet as to why the hole is there.

Without it, the air inside would become pressurized. Multiply the force a soda bottle cap by about 20 times to get an idea of what the force would be on the huge lid of the reserator. It's pretty hard to twist off as-is, even without the air pressure working against you.

acaurora · Post by **acaurora** » Fri Aug 27, 2004 12:31 pm

and Russ' bottom plate came off EASILY for him. I had an even HARDER TIME with mine, and ended up damaging the tile in my bathroom and getting skin torn off my arms trying to get the bottom plate off. The top plate isn't so hard. But the bottom, better have some "big guns" to get them off -_-;;

Post by **Rusty075** » Fri Aug 27, 2004 12:37 pm

acaurora · Post by **acaurora** » Fri Aug 27, 2004 12:50 pm

Hey I do work out a lot, and I used to work for Target in the overnight backroom, so we HAD to lift a lot of stuff. That gets you into shape ~.~

Post by **Ralf Hutter** » Sat Aug 28, 2004 4:55 am

Rusty075 wrote:<Insert standard joke about acaurora having the strength of a 12 year old girl, here>

How do you know that he's not a 12 yr old girl?

Edward Ng · Post by **Edward Ng** » Sat Aug 28, 2004 6:05 am

acaurora · Post by **acaurora** » Sat Aug 28, 2004 11:45 am

... . . .

madpoet · Post by **madpoet** » Mon Aug 30, 2004 2:56 pm

Just ordered this system and the VGA waterblock before I realized it didn't fit the 6800. ekotan, if you're still around... any idea what the screw sizes are that did fit?

Thanks,
MP

Delphis · Post by **Delphis** » Wed Sep 15, 2004 11:00 am

Did you ever find a way to mount the Zalman waterblock onto the 6800? If so, I'd love to hear how.

If not, does anyone have a recommendation on how to quietly cool a 6800 GT? I know that BFG has the watercooled Ultra, but I can't find any of those available at the moment, and I'm reluctant to pony up for one.

Thanks.

acaurora · Post by **acaurora** » Wed Sep 15, 2004 11:17 am

You have to use the screws from the Koolance GPU waterblock. I am still testing at the moment, I don't think I'm going to use the Zalman one, the whole using clamps to secure the pipes worries me. Koolance's uses the traditional screw-on fittings like those for the Reserator that I"m more accustomed to and familiar with.

Edward Ng · Post by **Edward Ng** » Wed Sep 15, 2004 11:45 am

Delphis...

WELCOME TO SPCR!!!

Anyhow, if you utilize our forum's search function, do a search for NV-68, and it should bring up a couple threads; in one of them, I have posted images of Danger Den's NV-68 GPU cooler, which is for 6800/6800GT/6800Ultra. I also have performance data from it in my Circuit Analysis thread.

I hope you enjoy the community here!

Delphis · Post by **Delphis** » Wed Sep 15, 2004 11:58 am

Thanks for both of your replies so quickly! This forum rules. My PC is in my master bedroom, which is 20x24 and it is currently much to loud!!! (and too slow, I might add).

So, I am going to mail order a new case, Athlon 64 3400 and other associated components like memory, case, and other stuff to bring it current and QUIET! I have looked through much of the forum already and reviewd a myriad of articles. At the moment, I'm leaning towards the following:

Case: ?
CPU: Athlon 64 3400 (socket 754)
Mboard: ?
Memory 1gig of ?
Video: 6800 GT
Disks: I have a 60gig WD, which is ok. But will consider others if quieter.
Media: would like to get one of those all-in-one floppy-CD-DVD-MM-USB-Firewire units.
Cooling: Considering the Zalman Reserator (looks cool and by all reports works great).

I realize there are a lot of blanks to fill in, thus the research... =)

Thanks again for a cool community.

acaurora · Post by **acaurora** » Wed Sep 15, 2004 12:04 pm

Motherboard - Abit AV8
Case: Sonata or 3700BQE, both by antec.
RAM: 1 GB Corsair XMS Pro DDR PC3200 (512 MB sticks x 2).
Don't forget your PSU, that makes a difference to:
PSU: Seasonic Super Silencer Revision A3, 400W.

If you need any more help, we're here to assist.

I must insist that what these are RECOMMENDED. There are other perfectly good choices out there as well, should these products not be available in your area.

Edward Ng · Post by **Edward Ng** » Wed Sep 15, 2004 12:09 pm

I heartily second most of Alex's recommendations, with the exception of the RAM...

I've had wonderful experience with OCZ and GeIL memories as well. Mushkin seems quite good too, but I've not personally owned any.

Not that there's anything wrong with Corsair, but paying the going price of platinum for gold seems like somewhat of a rip-off; OCZ and GeIL high end memory, in terms of my analogy, have just as much luster and gleam as the Corsair stuff.

-Ed

EDIT: Dude the Caviar must go! It must! With the components we're talking about, the WD will suddenly become devastatingly obvious and ear-wreckingly obnoxious. Do yourself a favor, and do everything in your power to fit a quiet replacement for the Caviar into your budget. I implore you this...

Delphis · Post by **Delphis** » Wed Sep 15, 2004 12:19 pm

Hard Disk: Such as? I need some hard recommendations to work with. I want to order these parts today! Thanks!

zds · Post by **zds** » Wed Sep 15, 2004 12:32 pm

acaurora wrote:Motherboard - Abit AV8
PSU: Seasonic Super Silencer Revision A3, 400W.

I personally favor Epox, since I have had problems with Abit quality, but for a silent PC, almost any modern motherboard should go, as long as it works and lets you fine-tune voltages and clock speeds.

For PSU I can heartly recommend the Nexus NX-3000. I have used such a piece for a year now, and it really is both reliable and ultra quiet - no wonder it has sat amongst the top entries of the SPCR recommendations list since it was announced.

And yes, as others said, definitely go for the more silent hard drive. That Caviar will drive you crazy. If you are short of bucks, leave the Reserator out ant buy Samsung or Seagate hard drive and decent air cooling for CPU, and you will be much happier.

Reserator is magnicifient, I love it, but compared to hi-end air cooling it costs three times more and gives only slight advantage, so I recommend it only when your other parts are already below whisper-levels :-).

Delphis · Post by **Delphis** » Wed Sep 15, 2004 12:44 pm

zds - Thanks for the reply. Money is not too much of an issue as long as the bucks are justified. I am looking at the following:

Case: ? Would like a case that has 2xUSB, audio mic and headphones, firewire. Antec P160? Or 3700 BQE?
CPU: Athlon 3400 Socket 754
Memory: Mushkin 184 Pin 1GB(512MBx2) DDR PC-3500 Level One Dual Pack - Retail
Video: eVga 6800 GT
Mboard: ASUS "K8N-E Deluxe" NVIDIA nForce3 Chipset Motherboard For AMD Socket 754 CPU -RETAIL
Disk: Seagate 200GB 7200RPM IDE Hard Drive, Model ST3200822A, OEM
Cooling: Reserator with CPU. Koolance 180-L06.
PSU: Something quiet with 480 watts (to run the vid card)
(Trying to order it all from one vendor. Newegg seems to have the best selection.)

Thanks!! You guys are a great source of help.

Edward Ng · Post by **Edward Ng** » Wed Sep 15, 2004 1:18 pm

Case: Keep searching the forums and look at the cases that have been reviewed by us; the Antec 3700BQE is a pretty good choice, among others...

Disk: I recommend either the Samsung SP1614N (if you can find it with a NIDEC bearing) or the Seagate ST3200822A

PSU: You won't need more than 350watts, but if you want to be absolutely beyond a doubt safe, the SeaSonic Super Tornado 400 is the choice for you. That, or an Enermax NoiseTaker 430. 480watts is definitely unnecessary. I'm running a Barton at 2640MHz and 2.156Volts along with a 6800GT at 440/1180 and I'm using a mere Fortron FSP300-60PN, which is only 300watts.

-Ed

Delphis · Post by **Delphis** » Wed Sep 15, 2004 4:00 pm

acaurora wrote:You have to use the screws from the Koolance GPU waterblock. I am still testing at the moment, I don't think I'm going to use the Zalman one, the whole using clamps to secure the pipes worries me. Koolance's uses the traditional screw-on fittings like those for the Reserator that I"m more accustomed to and familiar with.

Can you hook up the Koolance directly from the Researtor tubes? If I get the Koolance 190-L06, will I be able to use the Zalman tubing?

Thanks.

Mr_Smartepants · Post by **Mr_Smartepants** » Wed Sep 15, 2004 7:56 pm

pangit wrote:
ChrisH wrote:
Bluefront wrote:Interesting device.....but not for me. I do have a device here that would solve the problem of turning on the pump automatically when the computer starts. I bought it at Radio Shack a few years ago....don't think they sell it anymore.
A company called Bits Ltd. makes a power strip that does exactly what you described. It turns on other outlets when the the device on the control outlet turns on. Here is the link. The price is about $30. You can buy it directly from their site. Smarthome also carries it.
For UK readers you can get a similar device to this in Maplins, although I'm b******d if I can find it on their website. It looks like a normal power strip with 4/5 sockets, with a black control socket which controls the others.

In case any other UK readers are looking for this surge strip, it can be found on Maplins website here.

I'm very interested in upgrading to the Reserator but I'm waiting to see what Zalman comes up with in version 2.

icancam · Post by **icancam** » Wed Sep 15, 2004 8:25 pm

X-bitlabs review published today. They liked the CPU but not the GPU cooler.

http://www.xbitlabs.com/articles/other/ ... rator.html

acaurora · Post by **acaurora** » Wed Sep 15, 2004 9:40 pm

Whoever that asked about the GPU and the tubes - Look up the specs for the Zalman's ID/OD tubing and those for the fittings on the Koolance GPU block, I currently don't have access to those at the moment (@work).

I only recommended Corsair due to the fact that they were my 2nd choice after finding out my DFI LanParty wasn't compatible with my lovely blue Mushkins. Mushkin pwnz. OCZ/Geil, I haven't used yet, but my Dual Pack of Mushkin 3200 DDR 512s were rock solid for TWO YEARS!

PSU - Super Tornado or Super Silencer 400W. I'd prefer a Silencer with a L1A fanswap. You could also go with the Tornado, it generates a lower frequency noise, but I find my Silencer 460W w/L1A to be quieter.

Ed- You said 300W - How hot is it ?

juansolo · Post by **juansolo** » Wed Sep 15, 2004 9:55 pm

Delphis wrote:If not, does anyone have a recommendation on how to quietly cool a 6800 GT?

Not cheap but damn effective!

http://www.juansolo.demon.co.uk/PCBeard ... nt_800.jpg

nutball · Post by **nutball** » Wed Sep 15, 2004 10:54 pm

icancam wrote:X-bitlabs review published today. They liked the CPU but not the GPU cooler.

http://www.xbitlabs.com/articles/other/ ... rator.html

Ummm...

Xbitlabs wrote:The GPU temperature measurements confirm my above-said suspicions: the GPU water block doesnâ€™t suit well for its job. Those 80-90Â°C of the GPU temperature are not satisfactory, to put it mildly.

Xbitlabs wrote:Iâ€™d like to say about bad things first. The ZM-GWB1 kit should only be used with low-power graphics cards. The GPU temperature on cards of the GeForce FX 5900 Ultra class and hotter may become critical with the ZM-GWB1.

Ummm... *cough*bullshit*cough*