Corsair Nautilus 500 External Water Cooling Kit

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FrgMstr

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Corsair Nautilus 500 External Water Cooling Kit - Can Corsair’s new all-in-one water cooling solution really keep your processor cool for under $160? We take it out for a spin to give you our test results and impressions.

"The Corsair Nautilus 500 is easily one of the best performing and user friendly water cooling products in its price range. The 500 was engineered with ease of use and the novice in mind while facilitating a good upgrade path."
 
Very informative article. The Corsair Nautilus 500 looks like a great starter kit for someone who would like to make the jump into water-cooling. (I know most of you would say build your own kit, but not everyone wants to do that right out of the gate). While the Nautilus clearly works better then the AMD stock heatsink it would have been nice to add a few extra heatsinks into the fray to see how the water-cooling kit compared to other socket AM2 heatsinks.
 
Excellent timing of this article.

Speaking of upgradability, how would one go to find parts to add cooling to the north/southbridge chip for the motherboard as well?

Ever since the fan on my A8N-SLI deluxe died and fried the chip I am paranoid about keeping that chip/hs properly cooled.
 
anyone know anything about the replacement for this?

There has been talk of a new improved one coming out.

corsair site just says stay tuned for new kit, not if its an upgrade, replacement or ???
sparks
 
One of the things that you might want to add to the article is the length of the tubes/power supply. I might be missing this but I didn't see this.

Secondly, how safe is it to run the PC without coolant while you are trying to get it filled? I would think this would cause some over heating problems.

Finally, I noticed that you used Arctic Silver 5 instead of the included white thermal grease, what quality is this grease. I can understand why you would prefer the Arctic Silver 5, but I think a lot of the people who get this kit would use the included grease, what kind of performance does it get with this stuff?
 
can it be used on my 939 and later on a C2D when i upgrade (perhaps later this year)?
 
It would have been nice to see it compared to a top notch air cooling solution. I've been thinking about getting something like an EXOS, or Nautilus for my CPU to get the heat out of the case, and possibly cut down on the case fan noise.

DO you think it would be any improvement over a Thermalright XP-90c with a generic 92mm fan.
 
I agree that it would be extremely beneficial to see it compared to other water cooling systems and some common HSF units.

Seems like a decent product though, especially for a buck fitty.

Cheers,
 
wow great product, finally something for those who fear doing water cooling. They designed this with the noobie in mind and glad they did. Now people can water cool their machine's with little work
 
I never looked at this kit before but I am rather surprised at the pump its using. For the price of the kit its pretty nice that they are including the Laing DDC pump, even if it is the 10w version. When I first got into watercooling I bought an exos2 as it seemed like an easy install with good performance. Looking back I think the Corsair solution is a much better choice for first time builders who dont want to DIY. The exos2 was pricey and had a rather weak pump, roughly 32gph vs. the Corsair's 92.4gph.
 
The Doc said:
Very informative article. The Corsair Nautilus 500 looks like a great starter kit for someone who would like to make the jump into water-cooling. (I know most of you would say build your own kit, but not everyone wants to do that right out of the gate). While the Nautilus clearly works better then the AMD stock heatsink it would have been nice to add a few extra heatsinks into the fray to see how the water-cooling kit compared to other socket AM2 heatsinks.
Click to expand...
I kept all the conditions the same as the conditions during the AM2 Heatsink Roundup. I used the same hardware, with the same thermal interface material, at the same ambient temperatures. You can pretty much directly compare the results from the two articles, and hopefully the next few articles to come. The ony extra factor to consider in this situation is the fact that the heatsinks are going to be IN your case most likley. that means you will need to take in to account the higher temperatures inside your case when comparing them to an external solution like the Nautilus 500 or an Exos for instance.
 
sooo this is probably the easiest way to get my new conroe build quieter and cooler? it doesnt say about compatibility with the new stuff just 775
 
Yacko said:
Secondly, how safe is it to run the PC without coolant while you are trying to get it filled? I would think this would cause some over heating problems.
Click to expand...

That's why we use the jumper trick on the 20 or 24 pin power connector. It turns on your power supply to run your fans and the pump without booting your computer. If you spill on your motherboard or components you can let it dry and wipe it with alcohol and experience no ill results.
 
Yacko said:
Secondly, how safe is it to run the PC without coolant while you are trying to get it filled? I would think this would cause some over heating problems.
Click to expand...
aburgard said:
That's why we use the jumper trick on the 20 or 24 pin power connector. It turns on your power supply to run your fans and the pump without booting your computer. If you spill on your motherboard or components you can let it dry and wipe it with alcohol and experience no ill results.
Click to expand...

Yacko: The other workaround is to power the pump using an external drive enclosure's power plug.
 
hiroler said:
sooo this is probably the easiest way to get my new conroe build quieter and cooler? it doesnt say about compatibility with the new stuff just 775
Click to expand...
Conroe is an LGA775 chip as far as i know.
 
aburgard said:
That's why we use the jumper trick on the 20 or 24 pin power connector. It turns on your power supply to run your fans and the pump without booting your computer. If you spill on your motherboard or components you can let it dry and wipe it with alcohol and experience no ill results.
Click to expand...

I totally agree with the way he did it, but what I was wondering about was the way they recommend you do it. And as most people know this little trick for things like testing power supplies, and for those who probably shouldn't be sticking paper clips any where, what could possibly happen here if we did it as the directions specified.

I guess I am just the kind of person that would follow directions (thats weird huh?) and wondering what might happen if I did in this case.
 
I didn't like how the article made no mention of leak testing. No matter if the hoses are preconnected from the factory or not, you should ALWAYS perform a proper leak test when dealing with a watercooling system. Especially seeing as a product like this is designed for people as in introductory water cooling setup they might not be familiar with the normal procedure. And sometimes reading through the whole directions isn't on the menu for techies who frequent places like [H]. Therefore I find it almost negligent to leave out mentioning leak testing (even if the tester didn't leak test himself).


Also, it would be nice to have the tester perform at LEAST three different mounts of the block to make sure there is repeatability. Some mounting mechanisms are a bit wishy washy, or you could just get a poor mount. Without testing multiple times you have no way to tell if your result is an outlier or not.

For a very basic cooling review this was pretty good, it still is no substitute for the type of in depth testing places like systemcooling and procooling do (or used to do). I understand though that most people aren't interested in that kind of depth.



P.S.

That pump orientation is concerning, you can run a real danger of running the pump dry when you fill it, which is why laing doesn't want those pump orientations. This could be an issue because if you damage the pump by running it dry it may make considerably more noise, and fail prematurely. Aluminum radiator = bad, even TT uses copper radiators in their el cheapo bigwater kit. Sure you can use a corrosion inhibitor, but why even bother?
 
Erasmus354 said:
I didn't like how the article made no mention of leak testing. No matter if the hoses are preconnected from the factory or not, you should ALWAYS perform a proper leak test when dealing with a watercooling system. Especially seeing as a product like this is designed for people as in introductory water cooling setup they might not be familiar with the normal procedure. And sometimes reading through the whole directions isn't on the menu for techies who frequent places like [H]. Therefore I find it almost negligent to leave out mentioning leak testing (even if the tester didn't leak test himself).


Also, it would be nice to have the tester perform at LEAST three different mounts of the block to make sure there is repeatability. Some mounting mechanisms are a bit wishy washy, or you could just get a poor mount. Without testing multiple times you have no way to tell if your result is an outlier or not.

For a very basic cooling review this was pretty good, it still is no substitute for the type of in depth testing places like systemcooling and procooling do (or used to do). I understand though that most people aren't interested in that kind of depth.



P.S.

That pump orientation is concerning, you can run a real danger of running the pump dry when you fill it, which is why laing doesn't want those pump orientations. This could be an issue because if you damage the pump by running it dry it may make considerably more noise, and fail prematurely. Aluminum radiator = bad, even TT uses copper radiators in their el cheapo bigwater kit. Sure you can use a corrosion inhibitor, but why even bother?
Click to expand...
You wound me Erasmus :eek:
Seriously though, I suppose i could/should have put a blurb in there about leak testing. It is clearly stated in the instructions and the connections to the waterblock are fully tested by Corsair. If someone is truly a noob to watercooling I would hope they would at least read the manual.
As for mounting multiple times; the block actually was mounted more than once. I will make sure to mention this in the future as you are not the first person to bring this up. I do however, think the results clearly show that the block is mounted correctly.
I wondered about the pump orientation myself but it is gravity fed from the reservoir and should not run dry even during filling. I happen to have a Koolance RP-1000, with the pump oriented in the same way, installed in my personal machine(see sig.). I had no problem filling it without running dry either.
I wont get into the Aluminum vs Copper radiator debate again, (i think you and I did this last summer didn't we?) but i have run a mixture of copper and aluminum parts for years now with no problems. I think Kyle and the leigons of Koolance/AC users(c'mon TN) will back me up here.
Thanks for the input Erasmus. I will try to integrate some of your suggestions into the next article. Any suggestions/criticism you guys have just helps me make the next article better so dont hold back :)
 
Ctrl_Alt_Delete said:
You wound me Erasmus :eek:
Seriously though, I suppose i could/should have put a blurb in there about leak testing. It is clearly stated in the instructions and the connections to the waterblock are fully tested by Corsair. If someone is truly a noob to watercooling I would hope they would at least read the manual.
As for mounting multiple times; the block actually was mounted more than once. I will make sure to mention this in the future as you are not the first person to bring this up. I do however, think the results clearly show that the block is mounted correctly.
I wondered about the pump orientation myself but it is gravity fed from the reservoir and should not run dry even during filling. I happen to have a Koolance RP-1000, with the pump oriented in the same way, installed in my personal machine(see sig.). I had no problem filling it without running dry either.
I wont get into the Aluminum vs Copper radiator debate again, (i think you and I did this last summer didn't we?) but i have run a mixture of copper and aluminum parts for years now with no problems. I think Kyle and the leigons of Koolance/AC users(c'mon TN) will back me up here.
Thanks for the input Erasmus. I will try to integrate some of your suggestions into the next article. Any suggestions/criticism you guys have just helps me make the next article better so dont hold back :)
Click to expand...

Hey I wasn't trying to pick holes in you, merely pointing out a few hopefully constructive criticisms to apparently the new (and hopefully soon to be very busy) cooling editor at [H]. I think a very important thing about any waterblock or heatsink is the mounting and how effective it is at obtaining consistent good mounts. I agree that the review looks like it had a perfectly fine mount, however I was merely pointing out that you never really know for sure unless you test it.

I also agree that anyone doing watercooling *should* have the were-with-all to know that leak testing should be mandatory. I dont trust the connections even if they are tested by Corsair from the factory. Something can easily jostle loose during installation or shipping. I just felt it was something that could be mentioned in future reviews so that people considering first time watercooling are aware of any and all precautionary measures.

About the aluminum radiator, I never said it would be a corrosion problem. However any additives do reduce performance, and a copper radiator is better at transferring heat. My point was that copper radiators aren't much more expensive than aluminum radiators so I would have hoped to see a higher performing radiator. With corrosion concerns being secondary to performance concerns.


Keep up the good work man, I am sure your reviews will mature quickly! If you feel particularly adventuresome you could find a machinist to make a groove in your CPU like the Intel TTV and get even more accurate temperatures without relying upon on board temps.
 
Erasmus354 said:
Hey I wasn't trying to pick holes in you, merely pointing out a few hopefully constructive criticisms to apparently the new (and hopefully soon to be very busy) cooling editor at [H].
Click to expand...

Erasmus, thanks for the feedback and you have some very good points. They are appreciated.

As for being up to the level of other sites, honestly that is not what I think we want to do. I really see the forums as being the best place for the hardcore water cooling guys to get their information. The cooler stuff we will do will have more of a mass appeal. I will make sure we start linking our OC and Cooling forums a bit more in our articles to make sure the guys that want up to the minute mass feedback on new parts will know where to go.
 
Great article.

As a complete watercooling newbie (I'm still under the impression that water + electronics = bad no matter what), this article was very informative.

A friend and I have tossed around the idea of giving watercooling a try, and this looks like a good starter kit for us to get our feet wet (pun intentional). He's building a rig in the next few months and I already have one (mine will soon be a full Crossfire-enabled setup), so keeping my GPU's cool is going to be a priority.

Of course I do have to question whether an external watercooling setup is ideal in my case, as I have a huge Coolermaster Stacker 830 case to work in -- lots of room for an internal reservoir and pump.

Keep up the great work -- I look forward to reading more about watercooling.
 
Great review guys, now I'm tempted to buy one :p

I'm glad to see more companies coming out with this easy watercooling solutions for the noobs. I don't lack the know how to do a watercooling setup if I put my mind to it, it's just the money (from the inevitable mistakes), and the time that stop me. Something like this would be great to get me started though. Glad to see such a informative review :)
 
I would also like to know of any easy way to add northbridge cooling. I am planning to upgrade to an e6600 on a p5w dh deluxe and I would like cooling on the northbridge as well as the processor. Any information would be appreciated.

MrBigglesworth said:
Excellent timing of this article.

Speaking of upgradability, how would one go to find parts to add cooling to the north/southbridge chip for the motherboard as well?

Ever since the fan on my A8N-SLI deluxe died and fried the chip I am paranoid about keeping that chip/hs properly cooled.
Click to expand...
 
same here on northbridge...the corsair site mentions additional blocks and thats it.
Not where this list is LOL

and like I said in a previous post....new water coolers to be released soon.
replacement for the 500 with better radiator and fan maybe???

after seeing a review on the new zalman with additional blocks...I would like a comparison of the two.

when will it be ready :)


sparks
 
The chances that all of you guys asking about chipset/gpu blocks have the same hardware are pretty slim. PM me with your machine specs and I can give you some suggestions on parts that will work for your individual machines/goals.
 
I just purchased one of these systems from FrozenCPU and am looking forward to installing it in my system. Hopefully I won't have any trouble routing tubing, as my P180 is pretty crowded with SLI already...

I did see a review (
Review link (Hopefully)
) that installed the Northbridge and the GPU water block option and found that the system still performed admirably, though they didn't push the envelope with overclocking and such. Their results were something like another 2 or 3 degrees temp increase on the CPU with a video card and northbridge in line.
 
If anyone can find a time frame for the release of these that would be great.

oRdchaos said:
I just purchased one of these systems from FrozenCPU and am looking forward to installing it in my system. Hopefully I won't have any trouble routing tubing, as my P180 is pretty crowded with SLI already...

I did see a review (http://www.thinkcomputers.org/v2/index.!!!!!!!!reviews&id=397) that installed the Northbridge and the GPU water block option and found that the system still performed admirably, though they didn't push the envelope with overclocking and such. Their results were something like another 2 or 3 degrees temp increase on the CPU with a video card and northbridge in line.
Click to expand...
 
oRdchaos can't wait to read your thoughts on this...I too have a p180.

make sure and take lots of pics :)


sparks
 
thyshallsmite said:
Heh, yeah sold it awhile ago through =p
Click to expand...
(In case you were wondering it was the N500 that sold me on your box).

I have two of these units. One on the box theyshallsmite sold me, and one on my AMD 4200+ x2 939 cpu.

In both cases I have been able to hit some impressive OC's, but more important to me is that fact that it feels safe. I look at some water kits and think, holy crap that could so easily have a leak.
 
Thanks for the linkage. It doesnt seem clear if this comes with any extra hosing though, so would you need to find some seperate or are you expected to cut up your existing hoses to accomodate the new sinks?
 
MrBigglesworth said:
Thanks for the linkage. It doesnt seem clear if this comes with any extra hosing though, so would you need to find some seperate or are you expected to cut up your existing hoses to accomodate the new sinks?
Click to expand...

I was wondering the same thing. I think they expect you to cut up your existing hoses.
 
Nice review Ctrl_Alt_Delete! Is this your first review with [H]?

Seeing a watercooling review from [H] is a good thing. What are the chances of a review of a configuration that must be assembled (ie. a nice AquaComputer or AlphaCool loop)?
 
R1ckCa1n said:
Nice review Ctrl_Alt_Delete! Is this your first review with [H]?

Seeing a watercooling review from [H] is a good thing. What are the chances of a review of a configuration that must be assembled (ie. a nice AquaComputer or AlphaCool loop)?
Click to expand...
Second actually. Thanks for the kind words. I would love to do a kit review. Kyle and I have tossed the idea around some already. Everyone that wants to see a kit review (i'm thinking one of Petra's or somthing) raise your hand. :)
 
The review does not talk at all about noise. Would have been nice to see a noise comparison between stock heatsink, and a koolance exos.
 
My hand is raised and the answer, so I don't start a flame war, is in your PM inbox ;)
 
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