The manufacturer recommends installing the ZM-WB5 in such a way that the central (input) is below the output one:

It is only in this position that the water-block is filled up fully, which ensures the maximum efficiency, according to Zalman.

Then you only have to connect the Reserator’s main block and the water-block with pipes (you should have removed the fittings from the degas pipe and inserted them into the ends of the water-block pipes before that), connect the Reserator’s power cable, and start up your system case. As opposed to the Zalman Reserator 2, the pipes get filled almost immediately when you begin to degas the system, and there are no bubbles in them left after a few minutes of operation.

The position of the Reserator’s main block relative to the PC case is also specified in the manual.

So, for the system to operate with maximum efficiency, the Reserator XT must be placed on the system case or right next to it. I chose the latter variant for my tests:

I put the Reserator 2 on a box for it to be on the same level with the system case.

The Reserator XT always starts up in automatic mode, i.e. the speed of the fan and coolant depend on the temperature. I couldn’t find a way to make it start up in manual mode, so I always had to switch the operation mode with the central Auto/Manual button (I guess the system cannot be started in manual mode at all). The two other buttons change the indication between Celsius/Fahrenheit and disable the highlighting of the displays. If you hold the latter button pressed for 5 seconds, the system is reset if it has started to emit a warning signal (for example, when there is not enough coolant or when the temperature of the coolant has reached 60°C).

Above the three buttons there is a controller of the speed of the fan and water flow (in other words, of the pump performance). Below are three monitoring indicators:

The left, arrow-like, indicator shows the speed of the fan in thousands of rotations per minute. I think a digital indicator would be better, though. The same goes for the rightmost indicator that shows the current speed of the coolant in liters per minute. The large central display reports the temperature of the coolant (the top number) and the ambient temperature. It also shows an icon that indicates the operation mode (manual or automatic) of the Reserator XT.

The assembly and installation guide can be downloaded from the manufacturer’s website (a 1.29MB PDF file).