Face-Off: The Kraken X61, Reserator 3 Max Dual, And NH-D15

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Compact liquid vs. big air gets even bigger as companies attempt to cope with higher CPU core counts. We pit our biggest air-cooling sample against two equally massive liquid coolers to see who has the best cooling, lowest noise and greatest value.

Zalman Reserator 3 Max Dual

Some cases don’t have a good place to hide the radiator, and some builders wouldn’t want to hide it anyway. Zalman designed the Reserator 3 Max to resemble its stylish air-only CPU coolers, and revised that design before doubling the cooling area in its dual-fan Reserator 3 Max Dual.

One of the most notable changes during the revision process is two 120mm fans with standard screw patterns, which replace the original design's proprietary center-mounted fan.

The Reserator 3 Max Dual fits most dual-120mm-fan case panels, and its socket support plate replaces the four-screw retention kit of most AMD desktop processors. The same support plate works with a different top bracket to secure LGA 775, 115x and 1366. The same Intel top bracket works directly with LGA 2011’s integrated support via custom-sized shoulder screws.

Shipped without any bracket installed, the pump head includes a finely machined copper base and pump. Installation step one is choosing from AMD or Intel top brackets and securing one of them with eight screws.

You probably noticed in the first photo that the Researator 3 Max Dual's fans aren’t butted against each other, and we’ve seen the same spacing strategy on some of Zalman’s cases. Everyone with standard fan spacing needs to add the included offset brackets which, thanks to mounting slots, also provide the enormous benefit of sliding the radiator up to 15mm away from the motherboard.

Also seen above (through a center hole of each half-radiator) are three mounting holes for Zalman’s original center-mounted fan.

Just four screws are required to attach the Reserator 3 Max Dual’s cooling head, which is, in turn, powered by a single 3-pin fan connector. A built-in splitter cable allows both fans to be driven by a single 4-pin PWM-style fan connector. The entire unit relies on motherboard fan controls to reduce operational noise under favorable thermal conditions.

Unlike the NZXT cooler that only has a lighted pump logo, Zalman also adds lighted fans to its Reserator 3 Max Dual.

Thomas Soderstrom
Thomas Soderstrom
Thomas Soderstrom is a Senior Staff Editor at Tom's Hardware US. He tests and reviews cases, cooling, memory and motherboards.
35 Comments Comment from the forums
  • tom10167
    Nice article, though the NH-D14 at only $75 seems like the best value.
    Reply
  • F0lterknecht
    Would have liked to see the numbers for push/pull on the AIOs :-(

    Take 4 reference coolers and you can stick 2 of them to the NH-D15 to keep the noise measurements fair ... .
    Reply
  • F0lterknecht
    I mean 4 fans ofc
    Reply
  • F0lterknecht
    I mean 4 fans ofc
    Reply
  • op8
    which is why I always use test bench style cases so you dont have to worry about warping during transport.
    Reply
  • Amdlova
    put another Fans on the noctua and blow away those water coolers. Noctua make good products. And you never will move your cage with this heavy weight 760T If wanna move something you will spend money on Alluminium (silver stone, lian li, etc).

    1 kg of cooler for 12kg of corsair monster.
    Reply
  • op8
    which is why I always use test bench style cases so you dont have to worry about warping during transport.
    Reply
  • Crashman
    14769014 said:
    put another Fans on the noctua and blow away those water coolers. Noctua make good products. And you never will move your cage with this heavy weight 760T If wanna move something you will spend money on Alluminium (silver stone, lian li, etc).

    1 kg of cooler for 12kg of corsair monster.

    It weighs less than the Aluminium case to which is was compared:
    http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/atx-pc-cases-caselabs-merlin-sm8-corsair-graphite-760t-thermaltake-urban-t81,3865.html

    Reply
  • middlemarkal
    where is the thermaltake ultimate ?
    Reply
  • envy14tpe
    Not a fan of liquid cooling but results like these are getting me to come around. However, the noise and price are the last two things that need to be fixed.

    I mean Corsair's top coolers, H100i or H105, are getting fans replaced which adds $$$. I'd rather put more money into the mobo or consider a custom loop at that point. Really wish the H100i was included in trial. None the less, keep up the great articles.
    Reply