I'm pondering a Reserator XT...god help me :)

[Otto69]

I'm planning out my next computer which I hope to build in the next few weeks. It will be in my P128B case w/ Phantom 500 PSU and Noctua fans. I'm pretty set on a "Intel® Boxed Core(tm) 2 Duo Processor E6850" and am still hunting for a nice motherboard. I've decided that for the moment a 4 core doesn't give me anything I really need.

This will be a gaming and home work machine, but I want something that's both powerful AND quiet. REAL quiet. My apartment is very quiet. There's no TV or radio running normally, no forced air heating fan sounds, and outside is quiet too. Floor is linoleum tiles with no carpeting so it would reflect sound. I'm convinced that I can get air cooling quiet to work on my CPU of choice, with some effort. I am NOT convinced I can get a beefing gaming graphics card such as an 8800 GT??? quiet with air cooling. Soooo, I"m pondering liquid cooling. Say, a Reserator XT. IF I make that decision though, the question comes up (so why not cool the Northbridge and CPU with it as well?) Then of course the issue of noise comes up; the fan in the XT is not quiet, and they're using fin and tube radiators instead of crossflow radiators. The idea of building my own XT equivalent has crossed my mind, as has just saing screw it and swearing off computers for the rest of my life . Neither seems really viable.

So has anyone here actually used, seen, or heard an XT in action? One question I'm pondering is the viability of swapping in some real crossflow radiators on a new XT. Not cost efficient but... THe other thought I've had is trying to adapt cooler fans to the XT. Say a couple 120MM Noctuas to replace the single Zalman 140mm.

I suppose I could also just put a carboard box filled with foam over the XT but that would cover up it's good lucks.

Please help. Commiserate. Or even sell me a lightly used XT for experimentation

Thanks

[WR304]

From a low noise perspective the Reserator XT doesn't seem that convincing.

The original Zalman Reserator 1 is probably a better bet.

Have a look at these reviews:

http://www.3dgameman.com/content/view/10129/103/

http://www.bit-tech.net/hardware/2007/1 ... rator_xt/5

The 3dgameman.com video has a recording of the fan running.

[Otto69]

Admittedly the XT is noisy stock, though from that vide it's hard to make any kind of objective assessment. The best review I've found so far is here:

http://www.pcper.com/article.php?aid=46 ... ert&pid=12

..which seems to indicate that the XT's QUIETEST is about 33db, which is MORE noisy than I would want to put up with. I had to run the stock 104B TriCool rear fan at Medium, which supposedly is about 27db, and that was louder than I want. But I'm not sure how accurate that 33 db min above is, or how exactly it was measured.

But let's step back for a minute. Let's say I buy the XT, then remove the stock fan. Replace both radiators with cross flow radiators which would hopefully dissipate more heat than the fin and tube versions. Then I apply a quiet 120mm fan to each new radiator and re-assemble the XT. I would hope that such a mod would be quiet, and have better heat dissipation than the stock XT. Of course it would cost about $120-150 more depending on components chosen and would void the warranty.

I wonder if I could buy the replacement parts I'd need from Antec to build my own? Sure, I could laboriously build my own, but I'm perpetually short of time right. Short of money to, but I have a credit card for money, and not one for time.

The Reserator 1 or 2 can't dissipate enough heat.

[spookmineer]

If you only are going to watercool a video card, a reserator 1 or 2 is more then enough, even with an 8800 GTX.

[WR304]

I am NOT convinced I can get a beefing gaming graphics card such as an 8800 GT??? quiet with air cooling.

Are you definitely looking at an 8800GT?

It looks as though that card could be quite cool running and will come with a single slot cooler. That is based on internet rumours though.

With a E6850 CPU and 8800GT it would be easiest just to aircool them using the two quiet 120mm fans planned for the Reserator XT. It would save a lot of money and work just as well.

The only real point in going for a Zalman Reserator is for the fanless operation.

Based on anecdotal evidence you can run a Intel Core 2 Duo CPU and 8800GTX on a single Zalman Reserator 1 (capacity 2.5litres).

Paying £250.00+ for an actively cooled Reserator XT (capacity 1.25litres)
doesn't really make much sense when all you gain is some dials, a flow meter and a noisy fan.

EDIT 18/10/2007: There are some official details released about the 8800GT now:

viewtopic.php?t=44047

.

[~El~Jefe~]

the very design of it goes 100% against all that made the zalman reserator series great. having used and still use the blue tower, with only the gpu block upgraded from the original system, I can say that OPENNESS is the key to the reserator system.

does anyone notice that the XT is a glorified shuttle box water cooled setup? why is it in a box? everyone knows that one fan blowing lightly is nothing compared to a case with no walls in it just open to the room. (or else they havent tried that)

they put it in a crammed box that should be open. I can see the bling factor though. It would have been better if the entire thing was a wrap of aluminum tubes and a maybe a silent fan slowly blowing inthe middle. why trap heat inside a box!??!!!

the res2 owns it.

[bobkoure]

If you're going to go with fan-driven watercooling, why not a thermochill radiator? They're designed to work with low pressure axial fans. Yes, you then have to deal with separately buying a pump, water blocks, tubing, maybe a reservoir and then installing all this. But you can get all that cooled. And very quietly.