The Main Cooling Unit

The Reserator 2’s main cooling unit is relatively heavy (7 kg) and exhibits the same heavy duty, quality construction we have come to expect from Zalman.  The main cooling unit is divided into three parts that include a flow indicator and controls in the front section, a high efficiency, passive radiator in the middle, and a reservoir tank with submerged pump in the back section. 

 

Zalman Reserator 2 Fanless Water Cooling System Review - Cases and Cooling 61

 

 

Zalman Reserator 2 Fanless Water Cooling System Review - Cases and Cooling 62

Zalman Reserator 2 Fanless Water Cooling System Review - Cases and Cooling 63

 

Removing the three top covers exposes the internal components and reveals how the various pieces are connected together.  The black wire going across the top is the pump’s power cord.

 

Zalman Reserator 2 Fanless Water Cooling System Review - Cases and Cooling 64

 

 

Zalman Reserator 2 Fanless Water Cooling System Review - Cases and Cooling 65

Zalman Reserator 2 Fanless Water Cooling System Review - Cases and Cooling 66

 

The front tower section contains a small controller board and a flow indicator.  A system status LED and RESET button are mounted on the front panel above the flow indicator.  During normal operation both the system status LED and flow indicator glow blue.  The flow indicators internal paddle-wheel turns when water is flowing thru it, which provides visual feedback that water is flowing thru the system.  If the paddle-wheel stops turning (indicating no flow) an audible alarm sounds, the status LED blinks red, and power is turned off to the pump.  Pressing and holding the RESET button in at this point will cause the system to restart.  Unfortunately the Reserator 2 can not shutdown the PC if a problem is detected — there is no interface back to the PC’s Pwr-On switch.

 

Zalman Reserator 2 Fanless Water Cooling System Review - Cases and Cooling 67

Zalman Reserator 2 Fanless Water Cooling System Review - Cases and Cooling 68

Zalman Reserator 2 Fanless Water Cooling System Review - Cases and Cooling 69

 

 

Zalman Reserator 2 Fanless Water Cooling System Review - Cases and Cooling 70

 

Looking down into the top of the front tower section we can see the pump power cable, tube going down to the flow indicator, and the controller printed circuit board.

 

Zalman Reserator 2 Fanless Water Cooling System Review - Cases and Cooling 71

 

Two electric cords exit the base of the front tower section.  One cord provides power to the unit (for powering the pump) and the other cord connects to a spare 4-pin Molex connector inside the PC.  When the PC is turned on it sends a 12V signal to the Reserator 2 controller, which turns on the pump and LEDs.

 

« PreviousNext »