reserator 1 plus

Hi , I am new to the forums. I decided to join after reading aaronjb's post about his reserator mod. It looked really interesting and to be honest until reading it I assumed that all water cooling systems had such weak pumps (my first water cooling system). Any way, I dont plan to overclock, but I did want a quite system with reliable and effective cooling. I have a few questions that I could really use help with-
Is there any way to further improove on aaronjb's mod (without external pump)?
Is there a better pump I can get then the EHEIM 1000 that I can put inside the reserator ( I would rather not add extra clutter with an external pump).
Is the Aquabay radiator neccesary ? The post said it didnt make a difference, the pump seemed to be the key.
Does the increased pressure cause any problems, leaks etc?
Can I use the reserator to completely remove all fans from my system and rely soley on water blocks i.e vga (perhaps dual vga later), cpu, northbridge, vga ram and 4 hdd.
Suppose I leave the case fans in and and use the above water blocks, will the new pump be able to take it and the reserator be able to release all that heat?
Should I get wider tubes?The new Zalman coolant is odorless and I dont have any pets .
Lastly , despite all those water blocks and quick relaease can I finally move my reserator upto 2 meters above ground (as per pump specs)?

Quite a few questions for a first post, but I'm stuck with the reserator so buying a new system is not an option, I'm just trying to make the best of it .

Good luck...... It might cool your CPU. Use GOOD anti-corrosion stuff, your gonna need it. You still need air flow over the rest of the stuff, leave the case fans etc in place except the CPU HS fan you will be removing. Move the reserator as close to the case as you can. The longer the hose the worst the flow rate, but 2-3 feet isn't critical. You go to 12 ft above, then the pump will pump ZERO fluid.

That's exactly what I'm doing with my reserator, I have added two G1/4" capable holes into my reserator (hasn't arrived back from the engineers yet either) and plan in the near future add a more powerful Eheim pump to it too.

Thanks for the advice, really appreciate it.

Conumdrum said:

Good luck...... It might cool your CPU.

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Uhm.... doesnt sound too reassuring, I actually made a really stupid mistake and forgot to mention an important detail about my setup, its a dual cpu opteron 265 system, so thats two processor blocks . Gdonnelly, how many components are you cooling with your resorator. How well is it dissipating the heat. Given how cheap second hand resorators are (propbably due to their impracticality for overclockers) I was thinking about buying a second one, would actually be cheaper then buying a decent new watercooling system, plus there is allways the quite factor. Has anyone managed to acheived total passive system cooling ? I realize Zalman make a pc case with a bunch of heat pipes but I've got an eatx board so specialised cases like that are out of the question for me.

yb202 said:

Thanks for the advice, really appreciate it.
Uhm.... doesnt sound too reassuring, I actually made a really stupid mistake and forgot to mention an important detail about my setup, its a dual cpu opteron 265 system, so thats two processor blocks . Gdonnelly, how many components are you cooling with your resorator. How well is it dissipating the heat. Given how cheap second hand resorators are (propbably due to their impracticality for overclockers) I was thinking about buying a second one, would actually be cheaper then buying a decent new watercooling system, plus there is allways the quite factor. Has anyone managed to acheived total passive system cooling ? I realize Zalman make a pc case with a bunch of heat pipes but I've got an eatx board so specialised cases like that are out of the question for me.

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Just CPU and NB. My modded Zalman reserator will handle dual CPUs, NB chipset & dual VGA. Some guys are using dual pumps though. I modded the one that is attached (it had an annoying plastic tank on it and its now removed), it now works perfectly too.

My Zalman reserator is now ready for me to pickup (cost around $135) and I am quite eager to test it to see if it works better than original.

I wouldn't bother with an Aquabay (I was new to watercooling at the time, and didn't know any better). However, the Resorator is a great passive cooling system, provided that you don't overload it. My setup (without an additional raditor, though I later added a 1x120 BIX to the loop) - with an EHEIM 1000 l/hr pump and 1/2" tubing - did a fine job of cooling my overclocked X2, two OC'd 7900GT cards and the northbridge. As good as a passive setup? No way. Quieter and acceptible? You bet, particularly when ambient air temperature dropped in the winter.

My reccomendations:

1) Replace all barbs and tubing with 1/2";
2) Ditch the toxic, stinky stock anti-corrosion fluid for some Water Wetter;
3) Replace the stock pump with an Eheim 1000 l/hr pump (the largest that will fit in the resorator)

aaronjb said:

2) Ditch the toxic, stinky stock anti-corrosion fluid for some Water Wetter;

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Thanks for the reply, much appreciated. Good to get all this confirmation that the reserator is usable after all . Is water wetter safer than the standard Zalman coolant. The new coolant is odorless, although I have no idea what its composition is. I heard that water wetter cools very well, but it leaves a sticky residue and there were some complaints about it not doing too well against corrosion. I guess that depends on the system used and could be non related. Does the residue clog up the pipes? Do you have to clean them out every now and then? PS. can anyone tell me how much heat a standard reserator disipates? Thanks again.

Found an interesting site http://www.coolworksinc.com/iceprobe_aquarium_chiller.htm . Not sure how quite that fan is, too pricey for me anyway.

yb202 said:

Thanks for the reply, much appreciated. Good to get all this confirmation that the reserator is usable after all . Is water wetter safer than the standard Zalman coolant. The new coolant is odorless, although I have no idea what its composition is. I heard that water wetter cools very well, but it leaves a sticky residue and there were some complaints about it not doing too well against corrosion. I guess that depends on the system used and could be non related. Does the residue clog up the pipes? Do you have to clean them out every now and then? PS. can anyone tell me how much heat a standard reserator dissipates? Thanks again.

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Well, I have been using Fluid XP+ and none of my components have experienced any corrosion. I've given it a good clean and I'm now waiting for my Reserator to dry. No leaks and it tested brilliantly, far better than original too.

My Reserator is now up and running it is about 5ºC to 6ºC cooler and it now bleeds air extremely fast too.

Holy cow - what mods did you do to that Res? That's an original Resorator, right?

aaronjb said:

Holy cow - what mods did you do to that Res? That's an original Resorator, right?

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I'd love to know as well. Are those two pumps attached sequentially in the same reserator?

yb202 said:

I'd love to know as well. Are those two pumps attached sequentially in the same reserator?

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1/ Yes, it's the original Reserator. Just have to mod the base to accept G1/4" thread and then I can use inline quick disconnect couplers and G1/4" 3/8" or 1/2" fittings too.

2/ Yes, the two pumps are in sequence, but the other pump is in my PC case and not in the Reserator. And I must say that it beats the original Reserator hands down! It can now be used either as a Reserator (pump on) or Reservoir (pump off)

3/ Since removing the annoying plastic tank that was on the top of my other pump, it too is now flying along!