Zalman makes watercooled case, LQ1000

Author: Richard Swinburne
Published: 11th June 2007
Comments (32) Stumble
The Zalman LQ1000: OMG YES PLEASE!

The Zalman LQ1000: OMG YES PLEASE!

We just quickly shoot through to the Zalman stand and something new caught our eye: a fully integrated watercooled case. As a producer of many things intensely thought out, well cooled and great looking, this new prototype case fits the bill entirely.

The main radiator is in the side of the case and is passively cooled, but there’s also a second one on the rear behind a 120mm exhaust fan to provide that bit of extra cooling.

Both pump and reservoir are integrated and the whole system uses thin, clear tubing we are used to seeing from European manufacturers like Aqua Computers.

The externals of the main casing are ribbed for a greater surface area (and inevitably your pleasure), but the front is smooth and clean. That clean look is complemented by a circular, red backlit flow meter, temperature gauge and fan speed indicator. Finally, the hard drives are mounted on vibration reducing rubber crossbars and the entire case, including internals, is covered in a fantastic looking black anodising.

You can have it set to either automatic or manual control modes, making it an easy calibration for those who are newer to water cooling or who just don't want to fiddle with it. We can’t wait until it arrives to the market, but like many Zalman cases we expect it to be expensive to match the technology and thought gone into it.

Do you love the look, or think it’s excessive? Let us know in the forums.







Quote aon`aTv.gsus666 11th June 2007, 15:09
Link points to the forum itself, not to this thread. :)

[ontopic]
Looking good but it'll be expensive just like the SilverStone one...
And I think the BT community wouldn't buy pre-watercooled cases, right? ;)
Quote ./^\.Ace./^\. 11th June 2007, 15:19
It makes sence to make a case like this one after there heatpipe cases I have one problem with tha case though if you look at the front there are only 3x 5.25" and only 1x 3.5" drive bay. I don't know about you but i have more stuff in the front of my PC then that
Quote airchie 11th June 2007, 15:29
That looks totally sweet IMO!

Any word on what kinda pump is in it?
Quote Bindibadgi 11th June 2007, 15:53
Nothing, sorry. It was a technical demonstration and I was literally just shooting through the booth on my way elsewhere when I noticed it.
Quote Hazchem 11th June 2007, 16:46
I love the side panel idea, but the dials on the front could look better I think, tasty case though!
Quote Anakha 11th June 2007, 16:57
TBH, I think that side rad could be a lot more dense. From the looks of it, it only passes across the side panel 3 times, with a lot of space for turning. That could easily be tightened, giving more heat transfer.
Quote Colossous 11th June 2007, 17:07
I cant see it being for the high performance water people tbh ?!!
Quote Bindibadgi 11th June 2007, 17:09
Quote:
Originally Posted by Colossous
I cant see it being for the high performance water people tbh ?!!

It's not. It's for cooling with silence.
Quote trig 11th June 2007, 17:30
did anyone else notice it uses both sides of the case to passively cool? nice.
Quote Buzzons 11th June 2007, 17:56
ai that is damn nice :)
Quote samkiller42 11th June 2007, 18:02
That is a nice looking case, although, its not as nice as a Lian li

Sam
Quote Bachy 11th June 2007, 19:00
I want this now! dont care how much it costs - it will be mine :D
Quote ./^\.Ace./^\. 11th June 2007, 19:02
Shure you get the cooling built right in but you lose any chance of having a window in the case and look at the front, there are like no drive bays. I need at least 4x 5.25" and 1x 3.5". even then if I wanted a LCD display infront then I would need 5x 5.25" drive bays.
Quote Fod 11th June 2007, 19:06
what? there are 3 drive bays... i only ever need two - what the hell do you need four for?

you can get LCDs that take up only 2 Drive bays, i'd hate to see what kinda LCD needs 5.

and windows are pointless :p
Quote DarkLord7854 11th June 2007, 19:32
I wonder if they include the blocks
Quote pendragon 11th June 2007, 19:34
wow... that's an impressive case! looks awesome too!
Quote zhangmaster12 11th June 2007, 20:05
ooooooo thats very nice!

i want one
Quote trig 11th June 2007, 20:12
Quote:
Originally Posted by DarkLord7854
I wonder if they include the blocks

and if so, what blocks are they?
Quote Andune 11th June 2007, 20:19
Hmm if they only could have hidden that 120mm radiator in the back inside the case it would look so much better. Dont like the lower part of the front either, otherwise it looks great.
Quote completemadness 11th June 2007, 20:21
/drool

this seems better then the heat pipe case due to the fact that motherboard spacing and component placement are not going to make much of a difference
Unlike their other range of cases which is only compatible with a very select number of motherboards and graphics cards
Quote ./^\.Ace./^\. 11th June 2007, 21:50
Quote:
Originally Posted by Fod
what? there are 3 drive bays... i only ever need two - what the hell do you need four for?

you can get LCDs that take up only 2 Drive bays, i'd hate to see what kinda LCD needs 5.

and windows are pointless :p
Well I need 4 for :D
  • My DVD drive
  • My CD-RW drive
  • My fan controler
  • My audio, card reader and extra USB ports
But I also want to put a 1 bay sized LCD for system info
So that equals 5x 5.25" drive bays :D
Also I like windows, I am not alone in thinking that they look cool in some PC's :D
Quote identikit 11th June 2007, 22:56
Is it me or is the PSUs power connector fubar'd?! Nice design idea, could have carried it out a bit better with regards to the front panel.
Quote DXR_13KE 12th June 2007, 01:07
very very sexy, but i bet it wont go far, as proven by the last design of passive cooling cases..... to expensive.....
Quote David_Fitzy 12th June 2007, 02:51
I don't like the look of the way the water pipe goes from the GPU to the case door, looks like a lot of flexing and strain put on the block every time you open/close the side panel.
Quote sam.g.taylor 12th June 2007, 03:16
Are there other cases like this available for the US market? What prices would I be looking at?

This is something that really interests me, as I am interested in silent H2O computing but don't have the time to figure out how to do it myself...
Quote The_Beast 12th June 2007, 03:34
Looks good but I wouldn't want to know the price
Quote Boon 12th June 2007, 10:50
Not that damn flow indicator again. Zalman has a bad habit of making great products but garnishing them with critical flaws. In the case of their coolers it has to be the poor fan noise at low voltage. With the water cooling systems it comes down to the annoying clicking flow indicator. I thought Zalman may have learnt from the first reserator but things got worse with Reserator 2 as you could no longer remove the flow indicator.

Anyway rant over. Here's hoping they actually pick up on it this time.
Quote LVMike 13th June 2007, 04:18
wouldn't surprise me if they were the same round blocks they used on the reserator. good idea but i hope it gets refined more before it comes to market.
Quote thermalnightmare47 13th June 2007, 12:29
i like it but i do agree with the front i don't like those gauges....digital would of been better for me though but again that is just me but if it had more bays it would totally be mine
Quote coniferous 14th June 2007, 19:15
Wow, i kinda hope this comes with a water cooled psu, or perhaps just a silent one.

Does anyone know when this is coming out? I hope its soon, because I'm thinking of building a new computer and i want to "take the plunge" into water cooling..
Quote Marco André 6th July 2007, 00:00
The tubes inside the door, are build of....
Quote Cthippo 6th July 2007, 00:11
I'm,... intrigued.

I could see getting into one of these, but for what it costs and the cost of the additional components I would need to purchase yto make it work (2 CPU + 2 GPU) I could actually build the system i want. On the other hand, that is a LOT of rad surface area, so it cvould be a nice start for a comp like mine. Does anyone know if it will take eATX mobos though?
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