Water-cooling has gotten very easy to setup these days, especially with the explosion of turnkey solutions from various manufacturers. The benefits of water-cooling are simple to grasp; they run relatively silent for the same performance (and often better) when compared to extreme air coolers, and are significantly cheaper than phase-change solutions. When properly installed, they are extremely reliable and require minimal maintenance.

On the flip side, even the easiest to assemble water-cooling kit is typically more complicated than most traditional heatsinks. Still, compared to many kits of pre-2004, things have gotten much easier as some kits are as close to plug-and-play as we can get. Some elbow grease is still required, but the real work such as pump and radiator placement is done for you. In some kits, we see PC cases with preassembled water-cooling kits, and in other scenarios, external water-cooling kits that sit outside of the case.

Corsair is no stranger to water-cooling, having already released two kits prior to the Nautilus 500 External Cooling Kit. Unlike the HydroCool and Corsair COOL, the Nautilus500 has been developed primarily in-house and features their QuickInstall design that is an industry first as far as water-cooling goes. What is that exactly? Read on and find out.

Corsair Nautilus500 External Cooling Kit

The Corsair Nautilus500 External Cooling Kit arrived in a large rectangular box with every key component individually wrapped and place in its own compartment. We were a bit surprised how small the box was, since we're typically accustomed to larger boxes when water-cooling kits are shipped to us.

The base Nautilus500 unit is a little larger than your typical 120mm radiator. This makes it much smaller than some other external units as it measures 8.25" (W) x 9.25" (L) x 3.75" (H). Filled with liquid, it's only a couple pounds making the weight a non-issue if it rests on top of a case.

The front of the Nautilus is curved and features a LED light and Corsair branding. The "500" in Nautilus500 is the total heat dissipation capability (500 Watts), which is more than enough for current generation components. The LED is merely a power indicator. There are no special colour codes to illustrate various states of the Nautilus, though I suppose if you see no light, yet the PC is on, you probably have a serious problem.

The chassis is made of plastic, and currently black is the only colour offered. The top of the unit has a fan opening for air to be exhausted through the top after passing through the radiator. There is a silver mesh screen to protect fingers and small objects from getting caught in the fan.

The 12V fan used in the Nautilus is rated at a maximum of 74.4CFM when spinning at 1800rpm. We do not have specs on the low speed airflow, but we do know the fan spins at 1300rpm in that mode. When facing the Nautilus head on, there is a reservoir cap that resides just to the left of the fan opening. We'll get into how the fan is powered in a moment.

On the bottom of the Nautilus500 is an opening for air to enter and pass through the radiator. The radiator is aluminum based, which explains why the unit is so light. Inside the chassis is the main pump with a 13.05 foot head pressure rating and a maximum flow of 1.54 GPM.

It's not exactly clear in the pictures above, but there are four posts, or legs so to speak that the unit stands on. Each post has a small foam pad to stabilize and balance the Nautilus on top of the case. We do think that Corsair should consider including some Velcro pads as those found in Koolance products to minimize the chances of the unit being knocked off the top of the case.

On the back of the Nautilus are the key connection points to the PC. Starting from the left, we have the fan speed switch. For those new to water-cooling, high and low speed should be sufficient, but experienced users will no doubt wish there were a few in between options.

Forget about modifying some sort of rheostat and putting it in between the PSU and the Nautilus here as well. The reason is there is only one source of power for the entire unit, so reducing the voltage to the fan will also reduce the power to the pump. Speaking of which, the second connection from the left is the four pin power connection. When the Nautilus is hooked up and the power cable is connected to the PC, the Nautilus will automatically turn on once you turn the PC on.

Finally we have the Fluid Out and Fluid In connections. Each connection features quick disconnects which will self seal when a hose is removed for whatever reason.

Block and Accessories

Keeping the beginner in mind, Corsair ships the Nautilus500 kit with the hoses pre-attached to the CPU water block. Each hose measures four feet in length with a 1/2" outer diameter and 3/8" inner diameter. The hose length may be long for some of you, so feel free to cut them if needed. However, be very careful since you're only starting with four feet already. If you do cut the hose, be sure to cut them as straight as possible. We found that a sharp utility knife often works much better than scissors.

Each hose is attached to the block via metal grip clamps. Our unit was well sealed and in good condition, but we do suggest giving it a quick look in case the tube is cut. The CPU block is well polished and very flat, with no need for lapping. In the future, there will be GPU blocks made available that will be compatible with the kit, but since Corsair does not use any proprietary tubing, you should be able to use an existing block if you have one.

While Corsair did develop the Nautilus500 from the ground up, they licensed Delphi's Micro-Channel Technology for the CPU block. A search on Google didn't exactly return a lot of results from Delphi themselves, but the illustration below does show a bit of how the technology works.

The raised fins inside the water block channels the liquid flow through the water block. This increases the surface area inside the block as well as channeling water flow through the block. Since moving water is always better than stagnant, and based on our test results this seems to be a valid technology.

The Nautilus500 kit is fully compatible with all modern Intel and AMD CPUs, specifically Intel Socket 478 and LGA775 and AMD Socket 754, 939 and 940. We mentioned Corsair's QuickInstall design at the start of the review, and basically what that means is the Nautilus500 is designed to be easy and quick to install. We'll actually time this ourselves, but Corsair's internal tests start at 15 minutes and get lower as the person becomes more experienced with the unit.

This installation speed is possible due to the fact that the Nautilus500 does not require motherboard removal to install the unit, including LGA775 motherboards. No water cooling kit, internal or external we've tested up until now can make that claim. The left picture above shows the nylon standoffs for LGA775 installation, which are clipped into the motherboard to secure the water block. The next picture are the various attachment clamps for the different CPUs.

Note that motherboard removal may be required to remove an existing setup prior to installing the Nautilus. The Nautilus is designed that for Athlon boards, you can move the kit around or change coolers without removing the motherboard. For LGA775, the kit will allow you to easily change CPUs, but if you want to go back to air cooling for whatever reason, you will need to remove the board to disconnect those nylon standoffs. Moving the Nautilus to another case or PC is also not obstacle free, but we'll explain this topic shortly.

A small tube of thermal paste, a couple quick grip clamps and two self sealing hose barbs are also included. We're assuming the paste is Arctic Silver branded since the container looks familiar.

Next up is the PCI backplate and power cable. The PCI backplate connects to the main power, and also has a pump and fan monitor that plugs into the motherboard. The power cable (right image) connects to the PCI plate and into the Nautilus500.

Finally we have the coolant. The purpose of the coolant is to prevent bacteria and other cooties from pitching up a tent and making themselves at home inside the Nautilus. Since the water block is copper based, the coolant will also keep it from reacting chemically with the radiator. You will need to supply your own distilled water (it only costs around a dollar for a couple liters) which we highly recommend you use. Tap water is a major no-no and even filtered bottle water is going to corrode and leave nasty deposits inside your system.

Corsair includes very well written instructions with colour pictures and all, printed on letter sized sheets. While this may not look as pretty as a nicely bound booklet, the pictures are very clear and the text is easy to read. At this time, instructions are only in English, but there are plans for French, German and Spanish in the future.

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