Last summer I reviewed Zalman's Reserator 1 Plus, a unique water cooling setup that combines the functions of a reservoir and radiator into one self-contained unit. The fanless system worked quite well, nearly equaling the performance of a high-end air cooling setup, but with only a fraction of the noise. In fact, the Reserator impressed me so much that I opted to leave it installed, and I'm happy to report it has operated flawlessly over the last 10 months, only requiring the occasional top-off to replace coolant lost to evaporation.

In that time I have observed that the cooling ability of the Reserator increases noticeably when it is placed in an area that gets good airflow. I located mine next to a return vent in my house, and in summer or winter months when the system is heating or cooling, the Reserator receives a good amount of circulating air. In the spring and fall however, the handler runs only infrequently, and during those months average water temperatures typically climb a few degrees. More than once I wondered if there wasn't some practical way to attach a fan to the Reserator fins. Well the folks at Zalman must have read my mind.

The ZM-RF1 Reserator fan kit can be added to either the original Reserator 1 or the Plus version, and is advertised to provide a significant boost to cooling performance. It will be very interesting to see if the ZM-RF1 improves the temps on our long-term Reserator test system.



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