Assuming the Generalized Riemann Hypothesis, Bach has shown that one can calculate the residue of the Dedekind zeta function of a number field K by a clever use of the splitting of primes p < X, with an error asymptotically bounded by 8.33 log D_K/(\sqrt{X}\log X), where D_K is the absolute value of the discriminant of K. Guided by Weil's explicit formula and still assuming GRH, we make a different use of the splitting of primes and thereby improve Bach's constant to 2.33. This results in substantial speeding of one part of Buchmann's class group algorithm.