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Zalman Reserator
Author: JonnyGuru
Date Posted:03/10/2005 13:46.43
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Bottom Line:
SLCentral reviewed the Zalman Reserator 1, could this be the best cooling device on the market? Maybe, at $200 it mabe expensive but JonnyGuru still gave it 10 out of 10.
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There were problems....
My first mistake was
thinking I could make a truly noises computer. I was naive. My first problem
was using a fanless power supply. Initially, I had used the ePower Lion
450. Don't get me wrong as I still think fanless power supplies are great.
But without any other fans in the case, the air is just
dead and
it takes no time at all for the inside of the case to get really hot. The
video card and RAM didn't need active cooling, but because there was no air-flow
inside the case, I started getting lock ups and artifacts and the problem
certainly wasn't
the CPU temperature because despite the ambient temperature of the case
being somewhere near that of the sun, the CPU was cruising along at a
mere 47C, which is a good 5C cooler than it ever ran with active cooling
(previous HSF was a Coolermaster Heatpipe.)
Because of the odd
layout of the Lian-Li PC50, installing the "exhaust fan" (which is at the
TOP of the case in the PC50) wasn't a hot idea either (pun not intended.)
The lock ups and artifacts went away, but the fan had to run at a noisy RPM
(80MM fans just suck in general. Pun intended this time.) Also, the fan couldn't
help in keeping the PSU cool too, so the PSU overheated, it's fan kicked
in, and I had a PC that was actually LOUDER than before I installed
the Reserator.
I ripped the power
supply and exhaust fan out of the case. I reached for a power supply I had
laying around that I never had a use for.. before now. It's a very vanilla
Ultra V-Series 500W, but it seemed to be the best candidate for this job.
With the Asus board
I had to use (because of the reference holes for the heatsink)
I needed
a power supply with a single 12V rail. Because Asus Socket A boards
don't use the 2x2 12V connector, I couldn't use a dual 12V rail power
supply. Well.. technically I could, but that would
leave me with a completely unused 12V rail.
The V-Series had a big ol' 120MM fan that barely spun, so it was very
quiet.. but still managed to move a lot
of air. And because it was a 500W (it's kind of a cheap power supply, so
to be fair I'll say it's more like a good 400W power supply) it had more
than enough power, so I'd never really tax it with this build and it would
never really get too hot.
I'm very happy to say
that, once I put the side panels back on, I couldn't hear the 120MM on the
V-Series power supply at all. There were no artifacts or lock ups at all,
so apparently it moved enough air to where I did not need any additional
fans! Yeah! A quiet PC!
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