Final words and conclusion
Final words and conclusion
The Zalman Reserator 3 MAX is definitely something new and interesting to aesthetics wise inside any chassis ( under the premise that you like the design). That much I'll give Zalman. Overall though the implementation however is fairly average. Now if you stick at default clock frequencies and do not overclock then the temperatures and noise levels will remain acceptable yet comparable with a good heatpipe cooler. So in that sense it is a decent replacement for your overall heatpipe cooler. The problem is that once you go outside realm of system defaults, this a processor overclock, that's where things start to disappoint very fast as the noise levels become an hinderance. Next to that the mounting system is very user unfriendly, really that just has to be improved. A Core I7 3770/4770 will run absolutely fine, but combined with a 1.2 Volts tweak the product a;ready becomes too noisy. Passing 1.30 Volts will make you realize why the industry have invented 240 and 280mm radiators. The temps reach close to 80 degrees C and the Zalman Reserator 3 MAX just turned onto a helicopter.
Stress
Whatever you fire off at the processor, Ivy bridge remains hard to cool once overclocked with added voltage. I do say overclocked with added voltage specifically here though as at normal voltages and default settings, it is such a sweet processor. At 1.30+ Volts CPU voltage tweaks however we do recommend you the 240/280mm product as things otherwise get too borderline.
Aesthetics & design
The overall looks remain nice as far as I am concerned. It definitely is something new and different. The all black/grey design is nice. Zalman will need to improve the installation procedure though, it is far from user friendly and is just too much fuzz for the average consumer to deal with. We like the simplicity, only one wire goes from the water-block to the motherboard, and then the fan just needs a FAN header on your mobo as well, that much Zalman did right.
Pricing
The price of the Zalman Reserator 3 MAX is not exactly cheap and sits above and beyond the more niche and high-end heatpipe coolers. Zalman is asking roughly 110 EURO incl VAT here in the Netherlands, and for that money you can purchase AIO cooling kits with way more radiator surface area that are a lot more silent as well.
Final words
The Zalman Reserator 3 MAX is an interesting cooler in the sense of its design, the actual benefits and implementation however are below par. So if you stick to a Core i7 processor and don't plan to overclock, then it's all good. The second you start to tweak and overclock the fan needs to jump up in RPM and becomes too noisy for my taste. The Zalman Reserator 3 MAX manages well with the tested Core i7 3770K Ivy Bridge processor we fired off at it, but as stated if you need 1.20 ~ 1.30 Volts we do recommend you to look into something with a little more reserve and capacity. Another point that Zalman needs to improve is the mounting-system, there's too many nuts bolts, screws and even a plastic cap that you need to install on the actual back-plate before you can start mounting the CPU block, onto which you have to screw a retention lip with no less then eight screws. If only they redesigned the backplate to something a little more user-friendly that would have been sufficient already.
Overall it is a lovely looking kit with interesting looks, at defaults it remains to be silent enough and offers fair cooling performance, but once you start tweaking even the slightest bit the product will get into problems fast. So if you plan to tweak and overclock a little, our advise is to stay away from the Zalman Reserator 3 MAX. if you keep your CPU at defaults, then it might be the product for you, the looks an aesthetics definitely are unique.
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