few questions regarding reserator

[Azul]

ok.. here is my plan, i want to cool a athlon xp 2400+, intel 1.6ghz, radeon x800xt and a radeon 9600xt with the reserator.. does it have enough cooling power for that, or will i need to add fan(s)? also i was thinking of running it outside my room (about 3-4ft) to hide the noise of the pump and fan if i have to put one on and get it away from my room (it gets damn hot in here) my other question is, would this require an additional pump?

[ATWindsor]

Difficult to say, the cooling power of the reserator is determined by the radiator, and how much can it take? I recently picture of a system where a reserator cooled nb, cpu, 2*6800 ultra and a PSU. So i would think you are fine-cooling-power-wise. (especially if ou don't run everything at 100% all the time, the huge amount of water acts as a heat reservoir, so even if peak load is more than the radiator can handle, you should be fine if average is within specs).

About the pump, depends on how much flow you get with your setup, to take a number out of my ass. Lets say you redce the flow from 300 l/h to 100 l/h on your setup. A water-temprature change of 10 degres is probably what I would tolerate as a maximum from the cool fresh water, to heated water comming back. (i have heard eheims are only rated for +35 degrees or lower). 100 l/h is 0.0277 litres a second. You use 4200 Joules (approx) to heat 1 litre 1 degree. 0.02777*10 (10 degrees) * 4200= 1166 joules/s= 1166 Watts. So that seems to be more than enough.

Be aware, my numbers are based on a huge part on speculation, so it's not the ultimate truth. If anyone has more certain numbers I can adjust my calculations.

AtW

[Azul]

oh.. one question i forgot, what size/style fittings do i need for the resorator's tubing?

[Slaugh]

oh.. one question i forgot, what size/style fittings do i need for the resorator's tubing?

The Reserator uses 3/8" ID tubes (12 x 8mm).

My Reserator does an amazing job to cool my Athlon64 3400+ and my X800XT PE with the Zalman waterblocks. Since you want to cool "2" systems with the same unit, I'm not sure... maybe you'll need a more powerful pump. The Reserator comes with 3 meter of silicone tubing. That's enough for a single system, but a little short if you want to cool 2 different systems... If the pump needs to be replaced, keep in mind that this pump is not a 12V DC pump, it's not connected to the power supply of your computer. ...Though, a pump relay switch like this one can be used to power the external pump with a normal power supply.

Nici removed the pump from his Reserator to put it outside. Take a look at this thread, it might be useful!

PS: I'm not a veteran in watercooling, so if I'm wrong, please tell me!

[eander315]

I would say it's probably sufficient to cool both PCs as long as you don't overclock them. You're going to need more tubing as the previous post mentioned, and you're probably going to need a bigger pump like the Eheim 1048 mounted externally, as the added resistance of more tubing and an additional water block might bring the stock pump to its knees. You could always give it a shot with the stock one though, as long as you're using very free-flowing water blocks on the second CPU and both video cards.

Adding a fan and maybe a fan shroud on the reserator would help, but I think I would try it without either of those things first to see if it works well enough.

[ATWindsor]

I would say it's probably sufficient to cool both PCs as long as you don't overclock them. You're going to need more tubing as the previous post mentioned, and you're probably going to need a bigger pump like the Eheim 1048 mounted externally, as the added resistance of more tubing and an additional water block might bring the stock pump to its knees. You could always give it a shot with the stock one though, as long as you're using very free-flowing water blocks on the second CPU and both video cards.

Adding a fan and maybe a fan shroud on the reserator would help, but I think I would try it without either of those things first to see if it works well enough.

How much flow do you loose in a system like that? Even if you are down to 100 l/h you should be fine according to my calculations. Do you really loose more then 2/3 of the flow in a system?

AtW

[nici]

Do what i did, mount the pump externally and do it from the start. That way it is much easier to replace it if it isnt enough. Though i think it will be. Also add a piece of tubing like i did, check the link Slaugh was kind enough to post, or click my signature

[ATWindsor]

Do what i did, mount the pump externally and do it from the start. That way it is much easier to replace it if it isnt enough. Though i think it will be. Also add a piece of tubing like i did, check the link Slaugh was kind enough to post, or click my signature

I must admit I'm abit sceptical to removing the pump, wont the water around it and the radiator itself damp the sound?

AtW

[nici]

Do what i did, mount the pump externally and do it from the start. That way it is much easier to replace it if it isnt enough. Though i think it will be. Also add a piece of tubing like i did, check the link Slaugh was kind enough to post, or click my signature

I must admit I'm abit sceptical to removing the pump, wont the water around it and the radiator itself damp the sound?

AtW

Nah, maybe to some extent. But as mentioned in several threads, depending on how loud your other components are and your ambient noise levels, you might hear a the reserator resonating, it gets very quiet with something soft under it though so removing the pumop might not be neccesary. The included pump is so quiet that i have to put my ear almost touching it to hear anything when its outside the reserator.
EDIT: The reserator itself is not really resonating, but it is vibrating a bit when the pump is mounted as astock so it makes noise when mounted on a table that isnt very sturdy. It was silent when on the cork-surface concrete floor, but the table it was on did resonate. So if you have a concrete table, you should be safe

The other option i thought about was to mount the pump internally but not directly onto the metal surface, but use a ~5cm piece of the silicone tubing to mount it a tiny bit upwards in the reservoir to isolate it. However i found it easier to mount it externally, considering how quiet it is. Its also much easier to replace the pump should i need to.. Still going strong though, after 5 months of 24/7 running Folding@Home.

Also im not that confident anymore that all the sound i heard and thought was resonating really was, i noticed later that the Logitech Z-2200 subwoofer made a hum whenever it was plugged in, the frequency was so low it was hard to point out where it was coming from.

Mounting it on something soft but firm enough to hold its weight might be enough, like sorbothane. I found the 5,25" blocks of AcoustiPack to be effective too, but they were definately not that sturdy..

With silence comes peace, with peace somes freedom. With freedom comes silence. (Poets of the Fall - Illusion & Dream)

[ATWindsor]

Nah, maybe to some extent. But as mentioned in several threads, depending on how loud your other components are and your ambient noise levels, you might hear a the reserator resonating, it gets very quiet with something soft under it though so removing the pumop might not be neccesary. The included pump is so quiet that i have to put my ear almost touching it to hear anything when its outside the reserator.
EDIT: The reserator itself is not really resonating, but it is vibrating a bit when the pump is mounted as astock so it makes noise when mounted on a table that isnt very sturdy. It was silent when on the cork-surface concrete floor, but the table it was on did resonate. So if you have a concrete table, you should be safe

Ah, very reassuring, as there is no way in hell I'm not putting it on the floor when i get one.

AtW

[eander315]

I don't know exact numbers for the head loss using a dual CPU, dual GPU setup, but depending on the CPU and GPU blocks, you could lose a fair amount of flow. Some blocks just aren't made to work well with low-head, low-flow pumps like the Eheim 300 in the Reserator. The Zalman block works well with low flow rates, as does the Swiftech MCW6000 series. The Zalman one is roughly the equivalent of the Swiftech MCW5000, if you'd like to compare (I don't have a link to that review, but it can be found with a little searching in google). I don't know much about GPU blocks, but I gather the Maze 4 is good for a situation like this. The straight-through Zalman ones might be better for flow rates, but at the expense of performance. I should mention that the curves for most water blocks are very steep as the flow rate decreases from .5 GPM. Slowing the flow rate past this number will net you exponential increases in temperature.

My Reserator used to be basically silent even in the dead of night with very low ambient noise. It was sitting directly on the wood floor next to my computer, and I had to get within 6 inches to hear it at all, and I usually put my ear against the Res to really hear the pump. Adding an external pump will require at least a small amount of work to keep that level of sound.

[Azul]

couldnt you just encase the pump and suspend it in elastic somehow? not sure how much one of them things heats up.. would be a bit of work, but theoretically very silent :}