Review in Swedish of Zalman Reserator

The alternative to direct air cooling

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Dhurdahl
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Post by Dhurdahl » Fri Mar 26, 2004 11:41 am

wumpus wrote:
But still, even with the Zalman block it bests the results of Eheim 1048/Danger den RBX!

That is a _remarkable_ achievement!
I can't quite tell what is being compared here, in the other review?

Maybe Zalman Reserator vs. this?
Thats an compairision against a high perf 60db+ setup... :p
That sunon makes ALOT of noice esp when mounted directly to the radiator.

So it's not really a fair compair... aka quiet vs high performace

:D

halcyon
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Post by halcyon » Sat Mar 27, 2004 6:59 am

wumpus wrote:
I can't quite tell what is being compared here, in the other review?

http://www.sweclockers.com/html/recensi ... php?page=8
Now quoting the numbers from the second (98W) table:

Zalman WB2 + Reserator 1 = 43,6C
Asetek Antarctica + Hydor L20 II + Black Ice Pro + Sunon (LOUD!) = 36,8C
Cooler Master Aero 7 (4600 RPM, LOUD) = 50,3C
Cooler Master Aero 7 (1850 RPM, quiet) = 61,1C

So yes, it is possible to beat the Zalman Reserator, but only by using a louder pump (Hydor L20 II) combined with super noisy fan on the radiator (Delta on Black Ice Pro).

That's again a remarkable result for Zalman Reserator!

regards,
Halcyon

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Post by Edward Ng » Sat Mar 27, 2004 7:12 am


wumpus
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Post by wumpus » Sun Mar 28, 2004 6:27 pm

Ah thanks Edward for posting the english translation link to the review.

.. and maybe I'm a goofball for asking where I can find US vendors, then randomly stumbling over this Sharka page with the Reserator in stock?? It is $279, including the Zalman WB2 CPU water block.

Would there be any major advantages to going with a different (more efficient/effective) CPU water block to pair with the Reserator? Or is water itself kind of an equalizer, eg, it is so efficient at cooling that the differences between the CPU blocks aren't that significant?

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Post by PiSan » Sun Mar 28, 2004 6:54 pm

msmrodan wrote:perhaps the relatively low waterflow actually *helps* the cooling since the hot water coming from the cpu has time to circulate and rise inside the reservoir instead of being sucked right back into the pump..
Actually that's not true. There is a greater thermal transfer when there is a greater temperature difference. For instance 10°C water flowing over a 40°C CPU will absorb heat faster than 20°C water.

Therefore if you have a faster flowrate, you'll be keeping the temperature difference high and increasing the rate of thermal transfer.

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Post by marc999 » Thu Apr 01, 2004 8:34 am

Well I just finished reading the article and I'm a bit dissapointed. For some reason they decided to point a fan at the Reserator, so no wonder it preformed so well.
Besides, I tested the temperatures of the Zalman-cooler while there was a fan blowing at the reserator, and in that way really be sure how efficient it really is.

snutten
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Post by snutten » Mon Apr 26, 2004 3:54 am

halcyon wrote:marc99,

The results compare Eheim 1048 + Danger Den RBX + big & efficient radiator against Zalman Reserator (combined pump / radiator) + Zalman CPU block.

As you can see, even the double flow rate Eheim pump combined with one of the best waterblocks around loses to the average Zalman waterblock when combined with the low volume pump of the reserator.

Both at idle and load temps.

That is quite a feat.

In fact, those results are so incredible, that I have almost hard time believing them :)

regards,
Halcyon

PS I can read Swedish :)
I think you have misread the diagrams. It shows that the CPU temps are 8 degrees C higher using the Zalman Reserator and Zalman block than with the Eheim, a big radiator and DangerDen RBX block.

apocalypse80
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Post by apocalypse80 » Mon Apr 26, 2004 4:55 am

10 degrees worse than a good watercooling loop @ 100 Watts , even with a fan blowing over it , doesn't sound too promising.
However I'd also like some mention of what fans were used during testing , both on the reserator and the other rad.

A guy in another forum I frequent got a reserator and used it to cool an overclocked/overvolted Barton on a NF7-S.
His temperatures were on par with high end aircooling , but a lot worse than even average "regular" watercooling (at least 10 degrees).
Anyway he managed to get the cpu stable @ 2300 , so it isn't that bad.

He also plans to add a second block on it for his 9800pro , which should be interesting.

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Post by luminous » Mon Apr 26, 2004 5:36 am

PiSan wrote: wrote:
msmrodan wrote: wrote: perhaps the relatively low waterflow actually *helps* the cooling since the hot water coming from the cpu has time to circulate and rise inside the reservoir instead of being sucked right back into the pump..
Actually that's not true. There is a greater thermal transfer when there is a greater temperature difference. For instance 10°C water flowing over a 40°C CPU will absorb heat faster than 20°C water.

Therefore if you have a faster flowrate, you'll be keeping the temperature difference high and increasing the rate of thermal transfer.
I'm not sure thats the full picture. I would agree that the thermal transfer rate is greater when there is a bigger temperature difference. The problem, as I see it, is which thermal transfer interface is the most important? You will get better radiator performance with hotter water, but lower CPU performance.

If you increase the flow of water to the CPU block then the water temperature leading to the radiator will fall as there is now more water to dissapate the same amount of heat. This lower temperature will cause the radiator to not function as well, leading to higher water temperature flowing from the radiator to the CPU.

Somewhere along the line there will be a happy medium, but I've long since lost the ability to calculate where this optimum flow rate will be. Maybe someone who is better than me at technical stuff would like to go into more detail about what the likely optimum flow rate would be?

If you had infinite water flow through the system then the water temperature would be constant throughout. Would this be better than a lower flow rate that had hotter water going into the radiator and then cooler water flowing to the CPU?

Hmmmm, this is making my brain hurt - I think I'll stop now........
Last edited by luminous on Mon Apr 26, 2004 5:51 am, edited 1 time in total.

chylld
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Post by chylld » Mon Apr 26, 2004 5:50 am

luminous wrote:If you had infinite water flow through the system then the water temperature would be constant throughout. Would this be better than a lower flow rate that had hotter water going into the radiator and then cooler water flowing to the CPU?
not directly answering your question, but you don't need an infinite water flow. people who have used a tank of water buried in their backyard have even had problems with condensation, i.e. there was condensation forming on the waterblocks. :)

luminous
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Post by luminous » Mon Apr 26, 2004 5:54 am

Yeah, a huge tank of water burried in the ground would act as a massive heat reservoir. I remember someone telling me that temperatures underground generally don't fluctate and stay at a nice 12C over here.

That would work really well for cooling (condensation issues aside)

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Post by chylld » Mon Apr 26, 2004 3:22 pm

another good thing about that is that you can get a big noisy powerful pump and not have to worry about dampening/silencing it, since it'll be outside :) perhaps this is the true SPCR watercooling solution?

only thing is, you have to make modifications to your house...

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Post by Rusty075 » Mon Apr 26, 2004 4:26 pm

Surely ya'll are familiar with BladeRunner's "Bomb", right?

chylld
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Post by chylld » Mon Apr 26, 2004 5:13 pm

yeh that's the one i think :)

that guy's awesome, he's a true silent pc seeker that makes us look like we're just batting around about quietness.

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