MaximumPC 2008 12

9292 ||MAMAMAMAMAMAXIMXIMXIMXIMXIMXIMXIMXIMUUUUUUUUMMMMPPPPPPCCCC||DECDEC 08 08 ||www.maximumpc.comwww.maximumpc.com

IN THE LAB^

REVIEWS OF THE LATEST HARDWARE AND SOFTWARE

W

e were apprehensive when we fi rst

saw Zalman’s Z-Machine LQ1000

case. From the outside, the chassis

looks like a combination of the company’s Fa-

tal1ty FC-ZE1 case (reviewed February 2007)

and its Reserator XT external water cooler

(reviewed December 2007). But this case isn’t

simply a slapped-together hybrid of two prod-

ucts. Zalman packs a number of improvements

into the LQ1000.

The LQ1000 abandons the frustrating

billion-screw design of its predecessor, the

FC-ZE1, for a thumb-screwed side panel. The

case’s drive bays use the same tool-free design

as the FC-ZE1, but the mounting mechanisms

for the case’s four 5.25-inch bays are all tool-

free as well.

A monstrous 10x14.25-inch reservoir at-

taches to the inside of the case’s side panel. It

uses 3/8-inch tubing that connects to a 79.25

gallon-per-hour pump attached to the bottom

of the chassis. Zalman supplies one of its own

water blocks, the ZM-WB5, for your CPU, and it’s

compatible with both Intel and AMD systems.

The water-cooling loop’s performance

crushes that of a stock cooler and even outpaces

that of our top air cooler, Thermaltake’s DuOrb.

However, we dislike the lack of tubing

between the pump’s outfl ow and the water

block’s input. It’s an extremely short run that

doesn’t leave much room for

tube routing. Similarly, the inside

of the case is tight. An 8800 GTX

videocard brushes up against the

hard drive bays.

On the case we received, the

connector for the front-panel pow-

er button was mislabeled as “HD

LED,” and the connection didn’t work. Also, the

side panel holding the motherboard tray didn’t

line up against the panel covering the drive bays,

letting a sliver of light sneak through the case. It’s

a minor fl aw, but frustrating if you plan to pack

the inside of the case with swanky lights.

While this is certainly one of the better

water-cooling chassis we’ve tested, it’s not

perfect. Zalman has made some improvements

to its previous designs, but the LQ1000 could

stand a bit more polish. –D A V I D M U R P H Y

Zalman Z-Machine LQ1000

A good fusion of water and chassis, just not good enough!

VERDICT

$700, http://www.zalmanusa.com

7

Powerful water-

cooling; great fusion

of liquid elements into

the chassis.

Design frustrates; no

performance difference

in cooler’s low and high

operations.

RED BEAN PASTE

ZALMAN Z-MACHINE LQ1000

THERMAL PASTE

Zalman’s Z-Machine LQ1000 provides an impressive water-cooling package.

LQ1000 (low) LQ 1000 (high) Stock Cooler

Idle (C) 27.7 28.5 38.5

100% Burn (C) 47 45 66.8

Best scores are bolded. Idle temperatures were measured after an hour of inactivity; load tempera-tures were measured after an hour’s worth of CPU Burn-In (four instances). Test system consists of

a stock-clock Q6700 processor on an EVGA 680i motherboard.

BENCHMARKS