Making a Zalman Reserator 2 work with overclocked machine!

[cdyckes]

Having added a Zalman water block to the 8800GTX in my 3.2GHz overclocked Intel QX6700 quad-core machine, the water temperature was pushing 60 degrees C and the Reserator was next to useless.

I quickly designed and made a fan cooled base for it, and it now works brilliantly with the Reserator barely getting warm even with O/C on CPU and 8800GTX.

Feel free to copy, and let anyone else know of this simple cheap solution to make the thing work properly :-

(last picture shows simple heavy cardboard flaps on each side to direct all the airflow over the fins)

Unit dimensions are 400mm long x 200mm wide x 80mm high.

plan is at:-

Full size pics in my gallery at

http://www.pbase.com/cdyckes/misc&page=all

Enjoy!

 

[nukemaster]

Thats just sweet

How's the noise? Fan voltage?

 

[cdyckes]

I'm currently using two Akasa 120mm fans with Zalman speed controllers set on minimum. Nearly silent!

However, I've just ordered two Noctua NF-S12 800 RPM 120mm Quiet Case Fans which should give more airflow and be totally silent.

 

[cdyckes]

Received and fitted the Noctua 800rpm fans today and dispensed with the Zalman fan speed controllers (i.e. fans run direct on full 12v). Getting the same static temps as before, but in total silence.

Would probably suggest the Noctua 1200rpm version if you're a gamer, or have all 4 O/C cores running at 100% for long periods, but for me, silence is golden! All that speed, and almost no noise at all for 'real-world' work

Definitely a 'must have' upgrade, and makes an upgrade to the the new XT unnecesaary as you've effectively got the same level of fan cooling.

 

[nukemaster]

are the Noctua fans pushing as much air?

wonder if i should try some in my 900.

 

[cdyckes]

The Akasa 120mm is spec'd at 45CFM each and 18dBA (thiugh I suspect it's louder than this in practise). I found I had to run these on Zalman variable speed controllers set fairly low to get the noise down.

The Noctua 120mm's come in two varieties:- 800RPM (which I have) supposed to be 35CFM at 8dBA at 12V which is how I have two of them running, and I'm guessing I'm getting more air with less noise than the Akasas at their lowest speed. The second variant is a 1200RPM version that quoutes 48CFM and 17dbA which is much closer to the Akasa fans. Both can have a Low Noise Adapter (supplied) fitted to drop the voltage and thus speed and noise.

Have a look at

http://www.quietpc.com/gb-en-gbp/products/casefans

to see the specs on a UK site.

Hope this helps.

I've also swapped two more Akasa 120s out for two Noctua 800's in the 8 x 230Watt power amp shown in the gallery linked earlier. Totally inaudible now.

 

[nukemaster]

i wondered what that super overkill box was

lol the Zalman 80mm video card option fan and 92mm case fan are rated the same(on that site u linked). they are nowhere near the same. the 80mm is quiet(not silent) the 92 is a racket(needed 5 volts to be the same as the 80mm @ 12)....

 

[cdyckes]

Totally agree that some of the ratings are from fantasy land. In particular, the Zalman fans may have started the trend towards quieter fans, but they're downright noisy by modern standards and definitely need the variable speed controller to quieten the 92 and 120mm fans down.

OOI, I've had VERY good thermal and noise performance from a ZEROtherm GX810 VGA fan on an O/C 6800 Ultra in another machine, and that one's running a CNPS7700-CU 120mm Super Flower (with speed control 🙁 ).

Apart from when the 6 hard disks in the 3.2 O/C QX6700 (4 as 300GB RAID10 and another two as 500GB RAID1) start all seeking at the same time I've got a VERY quiet high spec machine now. At least I know the discs are doing something though

Rest of the system is two additional 500GB external Maxtors and a 2TB Terrastation Pro (1.5TB in RAID5) plus 2 Dell 2407FPW monitors. REALLY nice development machine.

 

[nukemaster]

damn u show off!!!!!

 

[cdyckes]

Thought I'd better respond to your list of kit