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Zalman Reserator 3 pictured ahead of CES

Published on 21st November 2012 by Gareth Halfacree

Zalman's Reserator 3 is a serious departure from the company's original Reserator, packing a claimed 400W of heat dissipation into a compact sealed-loop cooler.

Zalman appears to be teasing the enthusiast community at present: as well as an impending fan-free CPU cooler, the company has carefully leaked details of an upcoming sealed-loop watercooler, the Reserator 3.

A significant departure from the company's original Reserator design, which was a large passively-cooled aluminium tube that acted as both reservoir and radiator, the Reserator 3 combines a waterblock and pump with a high-density aluminium-fin circular 120mm radiator. As with other sealed-loop systems, the deisgn is simple: connect the waterblock to the CPU and the fan-equipped radiator to a fan mount and you're ready to go.

According to details picked up by Sweclockers but not yet made official by Zalman itself, the Reserator 3 will be capable of dissipating up to 400W of heat. That's a significant performance promise, and something that should have overclockers interested in the device.

Further details obtained by the site include an overall weight of 850g, a pulse-width modulation (PWM) duty cycle of 30-100 per cent that can run the fan at between 900 and 2,000 revolutions per minute, and support for Intel Socket LGA 1155, 1156, 1366, and 2011, along with AMD's AM2, AM2+, AM3, AM3+, FM1 and FM2 socket types. Blue LEDs are included in both the fan and the waterblock-cum-pump.

More details are expected when Zalman officially announces the Reserator 3 as part of its presentations at the Consumer Electronics Show in January.

21 Comments

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TheStockBroker 21st November 2012, 11:46

400w....

That's not even possible?

steveo_mcg 21st November 2012, 11:48

Why?

(Not an attack, just interested to see why you think it can't dissipate that kind of heat)

Marvin-HHGTTG 21st November 2012, 12:30

400W is possible, but it depends upon the Delta-T they've chosen. If it's 400W at 50°C delta T with 2000rpm, then it's not impressive at all. It does also depend upon the flow rate.

Check the graphs at the bottom of this page for how "proper" 120x3 radiators do with a 10°C delta T and the watts dissipated. The flow rates are probably higher in these examples too, so the 0.4GPM graph is probably most representative. What can be seen is that 120x3 radiators at that flow rate get about 350-400W dissipated at 2000rpm. Assuming that a 120x3 performs 3 times better than a single 120 (which it probably doesn't quite), then Zalman are looking at a pretty large Delta T for 400W...

SchizoFrog 21st November 2012, 12:36

Well it certainly looks good. I wonder if the will bring out a 120x2 version and then all we need is price.

lacuna 21st November 2012, 12:38

My original reserator is still working fine cooling a 3.00ghz P4 and 7950GT (AGP). Its actually been connected for more than 5 years now and I haven't opened it up since fitting it. Thats pretty impressive reliability I think.

B1GBUD 21st November 2012, 13:03

I think it's mad for Zalman to continue the Reserator moniker given how poor their previous XT model performed. The sticking flow rate indicators that would throw the system into an alarm was hopeless, even after replacing the part, mine still had problems. I have to switch mine to manual upon booting up as auto would cause the fan and flow rate to drop to alarm inducing speeds. Even after a de-gunking and fresh coolant.

Hopefully these prove to be more reliable. Their fanless Reserator 2 was excellent (it cooled a Pentium D 945 @ 4ghz + 8800GTX just nicely) and I've only just recently passed it on to a friend.

Any clue as to what coolant will be used? as their blue additive gunked up worse than Porkin's home furnishings. ;)

Edit: shame no 775 socket support :(

Shirty 21st November 2012, 13:28

I have a Reserator 1 V2 in sat in my cupboard doing nothing, but it happily cooled my old GTX580 heavily OC'd. Is this the sort of thing that people still want to own? The thing with Zalman is that their engineering is usually epic, but the products themselves are often a let down.

dyzophoria 21st November 2012, 13:59

that's one sexy cooling system

gcwebbyuk 21st November 2012, 14:11

I really liked my Reserator - it had a real industrial look to it. I ended up plumbing in an extra radiator for some extra cooling : http://forums.bit-tech.net/showthread.php?t=187355

Dave Lister 21st November 2012, 21:18

[QUOTE=waterblock-cum-pump[/QUOTE]

It's interesting that they don't use water like regular water cooling systems !

MrGumby 21st November 2012, 21:35

It's interesting that they don't use water like regular water cooling systems !

I lol'd

Snips 21st November 2012, 21:42

I think it looks ace but I have been known to pick up the occasional bint.

ChaosDefinesOrder 21st November 2012, 21:51

Personally, I think the interesting thing here is that the radiator assembly /appears/ to fit completely into the footprint of a 120 fan. For people with 120 fan mounts that are recessed in some way preventing the installation of standard 120 radiators, this is an improvement!

I only wish it came in a red LED variant...

xxxsonic1971 22nd November 2012, 00:05

The water in this is wetter i wonder??

lilgoth89 22nd November 2012, 02:06

i wonder if this could be compatible with GPU units ( like the h70 was with custom plates ) id love to see a proper gpu cooling setup similar to the artic cooling one ( albeit without the insane price cost )

Bindibadgi 22nd November 2012, 03:08

Quote:

Originally Posted by lacuna
My original reserator is still working fine cooling a 3.00ghz P4 and 7950GT (AGP). Its actually been connected for more than 5 years now and I haven't opened it up since fitting it. Thats pretty impressive reliability I think.

I hate to think what's grown inside

Wasn't the whole point of the reserators that they were external? I gotta admit the originals were a piece of art to have sitting on your desk/floor.

I ran one for a while waaay back maybe 10 years ago. The blocks were pants but the res/rad/pump was pretty pimp.

docodine 22nd November 2012, 05:03

it's nice that they've put their on twist on the CLC concept, you can tell just by looking at it that it's a zalman based on the shape of the fins

otherwise THIS IS NOT A RESORATOR, why couldn't they have come up with a new name instead of tarnish a known branding with what will likely end up being a sub-par product :(

lilgoth89 22nd November 2012, 07:59

acually the Resorator means combined radiator and reservoir...and by the look of it
thats a combined reservoir and radiator XD

and dont dismiss it before you see final cooling numbers..im sure the same thing was said when they demo'd the first tower coolers, the first all in one water coolers etc etc etc

l3v1ck 22nd November 2012, 13:47

Now I can't wait to see the Bit-Tech / Custom PC tests on that!

PingCrosby 22nd November 2012, 21:22

ooooooh, I like that

PingCrosby 22nd November 2012, 21:25

Mind you, stick a blue led on anything and I'm goo in your hands baby