Reserator v2 video compatible cards

The alternative to direct air cooling

Moderators: NeilBlanchard, Ralf Hutter, sthayashi, Lawrence Lee

Post Reply
Mihnea1231
Posts: 10
Joined: Mon Mar 29, 2010 3:18 am
Location: Switzerland

Reserator v2 video compatible cards

Post by Mihnea1231 » Mon Mar 29, 2010 3:19 am

Hello

I jave just bought a watercooling system Reserator 1 v2.
I would like to know if exists on the market a compatible videocard, from witch i can remove the fan
and put the reserator's vga block, ZM-GWB3, on it. So could you give me models of videocards,
i want a new videocard, one whitch is still in production.

If there are none, is there another VGA block of zalman than i can connect to the Reserator and use with a
videocard with is in production, whitch i can buy ?

Ii necessary i can buy also a VGA RAM Block.

Actually i have a ATI SAPHIRE HD 4670, but i think it's not compatible, isn't it ?

So if there is a solution to connect my Reserator to a new videocard, even if i have to by other VGA blocks,
could you give me the name of the model of the videocard (and ther name of other VGA block if necessary)

Also , can you tel me if the reserator pump will make more noise if i connect the system to the video card ?
(I want to connect it to the cpu and the nord bridge as well)

Thank you.

ascl
Posts: 279
Joined: Tue May 05, 2009 1:15 am
Location: Sydney, Australia

Post by ascl » Mon Mar 29, 2010 1:02 pm

I am sure you have probably seen the compatibility list here:
http://www.zalman.co.kr/eng/product/Pro ... sp?idx=174

They are all pretty ancient cards unfortunately. Zalman doesn't have much in the way of newer stuff (that I can find anyway). It does seem like the mounting points allow for a lot of flexibility, so it is possible it will work with your current card. I would definitely give it a shot, just make sure you have enough heatsinks for the RAM and MOSFETs.

Running water through more devices shouldn't make the pump noisier but it will add restriction to the loop which will slow the flow a bit, and, of course, extra heat dumped into the loop is also going to affect performance.

If you find that the zalman doesn't fit your card, I would suggest a Swiftech MCW60, which has different mounting kits for a very wide range of cards. However, one thing you need to be aware of is the swiftech block is copper, and the zalman stuff is aluminium, and mixing these two metals is pretty bad due to galvanic corrosion. If you do mix copper and aluminium you will need to use some kind of corrosion inhibitor to slow the corrosion (anti-freeze will work).

What is the CPU you are trying to cool with this?

Mihnea1231
Posts: 10
Joined: Mon Mar 29, 2010 3:18 am
Location: Switzerland

Post by Mihnea1231 » Wed Mar 31, 2010 12:22 pm

Firstly thank you for your help

I am trying to cool an Intel Core 2 Duo 3 Ghz
I sicovered thath swiftnets accesories mount modern cards quite well.

How do i know with witch swiftnet' VGA blocks is reserator compatible ?
Is it the diameter of the water pipes or something like this ? Do i need extra meterial to connect there bloc to the pipes of the reserator ?

If i use the corrosion inhibitor, how much time can i keep the block before the corrosion grows to much ?

Thank you !

ascl
Posts: 279
Joined: Tue May 05, 2009 1:15 am
Location: Sydney, Australia

Post by ascl » Wed Mar 31, 2010 12:38 pm

I am not sure about the tubing size included with the zalman, however, the swiftech mcw60 block comes with a couple of different size barbs, one of which should work. Worst case you will be able to buy barbs that will fit (although I think the ones that come with it should work).
From their spec sheet:
The water-block ships with 1/2" and 3/8" barbs in the US, and an extra pair of 1/4" fittings for Europe, guaranteeing compatibility with any liquid cooling circuit.
Your next question is a good one, and one that I can't answer. Most people will tell you that mixing metals is bad (it is), but using anti-freeze will definitely slow the effects.

General Motors' standard antifreeze formulation (comprised of 0.15% nitrate, 0.045% silicate, 0.084% tolyltriazole, 0.98% borate, and 0.10% phosphate) exhibited a corrosion rate of 39 milligrams lost per square centimeter per week. Other antifreeze can be as low as 0.1 milligrams lost per square centimeter per week.

So the bottom line is, you *will* have corrosion. Its likely going to be slow (mixed metals are common in car engines), but it will eventually cause problems. How long I have no idea. Depends on too many factors.


I would definitely try the zalman block first. You should be able to make it fit, and it will keep all the metals the same and avoid all of this.

Mihnea1231
Posts: 10
Joined: Mon Mar 29, 2010 3:18 am
Location: Switzerland

Post by Mihnea1231 » Thu Apr 01, 2010 12:16 am

Yes... i decided to go with a new VGA block from Zalman, with i did'n ordered yet..

My priority is NOT low temperature and performance for overcloking, but LOW NOISE.

Do you think Reserator can handle good enough the cooling of these components without any overclooking, just to keep working ?

-Intel core duo 3.0 ghz
-Norht bridge
-ATI Radeon HD3850 (don't have it yet i am planning to buy it since Zalman sell a -VGA block compatible for it)
-2 case noctua 120 fans on popsite side od the case, at 600 rpm (do you think i can turn them off ???????, or turn just one of them od ????)
-low heat power suppply with fan automatically triggered only when heat rise

Thanx

ascl
Posts: 279
Joined: Tue May 05, 2009 1:15 am
Location: Sydney, Australia

Post by ascl » Thu Apr 01, 2010 2:29 am

I think I read somewhere that the reservator can handle about 200 watts of heat (but I can't find a link, so lets take that with a grain of salt!).

Intel core duo 3Ghz (E8400) 65 watts
North Bridge 15 watts
Radeon 3850 105 watts


Not sure that graphics card is a good choice for you, due to the high power consumption (and hence heat), 4650 has a 48 watts.

But anyway, total of above is 185 watts... so it should work, just.

Regarding your fans... one will probably be enough given the majority of the heat is taken outside of the case... however, I think one of those fans on the radiator will make a bit difference, even at 600 rpm.

Mihnea1231
Posts: 10
Joined: Mon Mar 29, 2010 3:18 am
Location: Switzerland

Post by Mihnea1231 » Thu Apr 01, 2010 8:57 am

There is a problem with the ATI 4650, i'm not sure if it is compatible with the reserator . Is it ? Actally i have the

And about the fans, i didn't understand, you mean leave one fan on, but where ? in the case, to throuw the air aoutside, or outside mounted on the top of the reserator ? I currently have the 4670.

ascl
Posts: 279
Joined: Tue May 05, 2009 1:15 am
Location: Sydney, Australia

Post by ascl » Thu Apr 01, 2010 12:57 pm

Sure its not listed... but the GPU block seems very adjustable. You should pull the heat sink off the card and see if you can make the block fit.

I think you should have one fan in the case, as there needs to be some air movement to cool the hard drives, ram etc (not much, but some). Once you have everything connected to the reservator, if you find the temperatures are a little high, having a slow moving fan on the reservator will help reduce the temperature. Thats all I was saying! :)

~El~Jefe~
Friend of SPCR
Posts: 2887
Joined: Mon Feb 28, 2005 4:21 pm
Location: New York City zzzz
Contact:

Post by ~El~Jefe~ » Thu Apr 01, 2010 7:22 pm

reserator does more than 200 watts. It can do 300 fine and decent.

they make a universal vga block. I have not yet tried it. I am putting it on my 5770. I dont have enough time to see if or how it fits even yet! It has a lot of adjustability.

I also bought Enzotech ram heatsinks and mosfet heatsinks. They will probably do the job. After I accomplish this task, this probably will be the first silent solution for the 5770. I might need a slow moving nexus 120 above it or something like that. I hopefully wont and therefore make it truly silent... gota get through my schooling right now :)

ascl
Posts: 279
Joined: Tue May 05, 2009 1:15 am
Location: Sydney, Australia

Post by ascl » Thu Apr 01, 2010 7:55 pm

I hate relying on what people say is "enough" cooling etc (and this isn't a go at you Jefe, not at all, I appreciate your input here) its always only half the story! And yes, I did exactly the same thing in my first post... for want of better information. Most forums will tell you that you "need" X amount of rad for your CPU, without actually talking about fan speed (and hence noise), ambient temperature or what acceptable air/water delta's are. The reality is, if you are willing to live with a hot CPU and noisy fans you can cool a whole system with a single 120mm sized rad (and some powerful, noisy fans).

Saying a radiator can handle a certain amount of watts isn't really telling the whole story. More accurately we should say, with X amount of airflow and Y heat input, the air water delta will be Z. Of course, to make matters worse, most reviews of cooling stuff are amateurish and don't provide all the information we actually want.

Ideally you want to see something like this:
Image

As it allows you to see exactly what kind of air/water delta you can expect given a certain amount of heat input (and in the case of the reservator, with no active airflow).

However, the best I can find is this review:
http://www.xbitlabs.com/articles/cooler ... lus_8.html

Which states with "about" a 25c ambient, they cooled a 6800gt and a prescott overclocked to 4 GHz, and kept all the chips under air cooling temps at full load. According to a handy PSU calc, thats close to 200 watts there.

The review does not talk about air/water delta, which is unfortunate.

/rant off

TL;DR version: While I suspect 300 watts might push one of these, El Jefe's confidence is based on his experience... he is most likely correct :) Either way, your heat load should be fine.

philje123
Posts: 37
Joined: Wed Jan 30, 2008 9:30 am
Location: Lancaster

Post by philje123 » Tue Apr 06, 2010 7:21 am

Although not a totally fair comparison I currently have two Reserator Towers (Res. 1 and a 1 V2 with one standard pump in the 1 V2) cooling my PC:

Q6600 G0 stepping
8800GTX
XFX 780i SLI mobo with northbridge and southbridge waterblocks.

It handles them just fine even with gaming for several hours.

I did have just the CPU and GFX on a single Reserator at first and that managed to cool OK but not as good as having two of them even with the extra load.

Phil

~El~Jefe~
Friend of SPCR
Posts: 2887
Joined: Mon Feb 28, 2005 4:21 pm
Location: New York City zzzz
Contact:

Post by ~El~Jefe~ » Sat Apr 10, 2010 10:56 am

The reserator comfortably can hold way above 200 watts. I wouldnt say more than 300 if you dont have a fan on the reserator. It would look really ugly but you could do it. they have a fan hat too that you can get. It probably knocks off like 40-50 watts

gcwebbyuk
Posts: 218
Joined: Wed Dec 23, 2009 5:23 am
Location: East Sussex (UK)

Post by gcwebbyuk » Fri Apr 23, 2010 3:13 pm

The reserator isn't as bad as a lot of people seem to think.

I have set mine up today and am getting OK temps with the supplied CPU and GPU blocks on my Phenom 965 C2 and 4870.

Can't say wether the 4650 will work with the GPU block, but am pretty sure it will.

I am thinking of adding a 120mm radiator into the system to add a little extra cooling, but the system is perfectly workable as it is, and that's before the AS5 TIM has bedded in.

Mihnea1231
Posts: 10
Joined: Mon Mar 29, 2010 3:18 am
Location: Switzerland

Post by Mihnea1231 » Thu Apr 29, 2010 6:15 am

What vga adaptor block has you used for the 4870 ? The Zalman vga adaptor that comes with the reserator ?
Form wich manufactor excatly i your vcard ? Saphire ?
Thank you

gcwebbyuk
Posts: 218
Joined: Wed Dec 23, 2009 5:23 am
Location: East Sussex (UK)

Post by gcwebbyuk » Thu Apr 29, 2010 6:37 am

Standard ZM-GWB3, and am going to get the ZM-RWB1 too to cool the ram chips.

Graphics card is a Gigabyte.

Mihnea1231
Posts: 10
Joined: Mon Mar 29, 2010 3:18 am
Location: Switzerland

Post by Mihnea1231 » Mon May 03, 2010 4:15 am

Thanx and can you tell me the exact model of the videocard ? (because sometimes regarding the manufactar, a 4870 may be compatible or not with the zalman Waterblock. Is it Saphore, or another one ?

Thanx.

gcwebbyuk
Posts: 218
Joined: Wed Dec 23, 2009 5:23 am
Location: East Sussex (UK)

Post by gcwebbyuk » Tue May 04, 2010 8:08 am

the card is a gigabyte 4870 1gb version

Mihnea1231
Posts: 10
Joined: Mon Mar 29, 2010 3:18 am
Location: Switzerland

Post by Mihnea1231 » Wed May 05, 2010 11:56 pm

OK thanx (sory i didn't noticed Gigabyte is a manufacter brand :)

SO i am repeting this for orher user to read

CONLUSION :
the Standard ZM-GWB3 is compatible with the gigabyte 4870 1gb !

But , what about the ZM-RWB1 for cooling the ram chips ? Have you received it ? have you installed it yet ?

What do you use for the moment to cool the ram chips ?

Thanx

gcwebbyuk
Posts: 218
Joined: Wed Dec 23, 2009 5:23 am
Location: East Sussex (UK)

Post by gcwebbyuk » Thu May 06, 2010 12:38 am

Still waiting for someone to hold them in stock, but am 99.9% sure it will work?

At the moment I am using the passive coolers from the old GV1000 I used to use.

I am actually considering swapping to a 5770 as it should be slightly cooler, but then I am in the same boat as you - not sure what will fit.

I am guessing it will, as other coolers that fit the 4870 fit the 5770. :?:

~El~Jefe~
Friend of SPCR
Posts: 2887
Joined: Mon Feb 28, 2005 4:21 pm
Location: New York City zzzz
Contact:

Post by ~El~Jefe~ » Tue May 11, 2010 7:42 pm

dang. nice info!

I have the zalman block up in a box along with Enzotech ram heatsinks and Enzotech Mosfet heatsinks.

btw: vrm is not the real word for them, they are Mosfets. vrm is what they do sorta.

that aside, I have a lot of work this weekend on redo-ing my system and using the gwb3 zalman on the stock 5770. Should work well. I would take photos but I dont have a digital camera.

gcwebbyuk
Posts: 218
Joined: Wed Dec 23, 2009 5:23 am
Location: East Sussex (UK)

Post by gcwebbyuk » Tue May 11, 2010 9:14 pm

My asus 5770 arrives today, so am hoping it will fit.

Plenty of pics will be taken 8)

LEO454
Posts: 20
Joined: Sat May 08, 2010 12:38 am
Location: CA

Post by LEO454 » Tue May 11, 2010 10:14 pm

I really like the theory of the Reserator towers but would rather see them in copper/brass. I really like seeing Ascl's posts since he always links references as backup for the explanations. Good thread.

Can someone post some temperatures along with details on fans if used?

gcwebbyuk
Posts: 218
Joined: Wed Dec 23, 2009 5:23 am
Location: East Sussex (UK)

Post by gcwebbyuk » Wed May 12, 2010 4:16 am

OK a couple of images showing the card fitting - not very clear I am afraid as it's quite tight in my case with the resorator tubing, and I didn't want to drain and distmantle.

Old Gigabyte 4870 card reassembled, and new Assus EAH5770:
Image

Zalman RAMsinks fitted and a small blob of AS5:
Image

Fitted in the case:
Image

Think thats enough tinkering for a while now!
Image

ascl
Posts: 279
Joined: Tue May 05, 2009 1:15 am
Location: Sydney, Australia

Post by ascl » Wed May 12, 2010 4:18 am

Nice! Temps?

gcwebbyuk
Posts: 218
Joined: Wed Dec 23, 2009 5:23 am
Location: East Sussex (UK)

Post by gcwebbyuk » Wed May 12, 2010 4:23 am

Now some temp info - this was a very quick Furmark test:

4870 + Resorator: 30c
4870 + Stock Cooler: 58c

5770 + Stock Cooler: 77c
5770 + Resorator: 44c

So the 5770 runs a bit hotter than the 4870 (or I am guessing the temp sensor on the 4870 was faulty, as idle temps were sometimes the same as ambient!)

Now for some game playing to test it out!

ascl
Posts: 279
Joined: Tue May 05, 2009 1:15 am
Location: Sydney, Australia

Post by ascl » Wed May 12, 2010 4:24 am

Very nice! Not only 30c cooler, but QUIET! :D

gcwebbyuk
Posts: 218
Joined: Wed Dec 23, 2009 5:23 am
Location: East Sussex (UK)

Post by gcwebbyuk » Wed May 12, 2010 4:35 am

As the card is a little shorter and only uses one PCIE cable, I might get some better airflow to the top of the case (NB etc) as the 4870 used to almost cut the case in two with the power cables on it.

Silly (ish) question, but I have some spare RAMSinks as the 5770 only has 4modules. Although on the back of the card, you can see them too - should I attach the spare RAMsinks to the back as well?

widdlecat
Posts: 23
Joined: Sun May 02, 2010 12:35 pm
Location: missouri
Contact:

Post by widdlecat » Wed May 12, 2010 7:19 am

gcwebbyuk wrote: [...]Silly (ish) question, but I have some spare RAMSinks as the 5770 only has 4modules. Although on the back of the card, you can see them too - should I attach the spare RAMsinks to the back as well?
I'm pretty sure that would be a yes. I have passive cooled 5750s and they have RAMsinks on the back as well as front.

Post Reply