Components and Design
The Nautilus500 external water cooling system consists of a waterblock (with pre-attached tubing), waterblock mounting hardware for both AMD and Intel CPUs, PCI pass-thru bracket with wiring, Corsair coolant additive, and the external cooling unit (pump. reservoir, radiator, and fan).
Nautilus500 Waterblock
The Nautilus500 waterblock appears very similar to the original Delphi cold plate used in the HydroCool 200. The new waterblock is slightly thicker, features a gloss-black painted surface (instead of Nickel plating), and has 3/8″ barb fittings (instead of 1/4′).
The base comes protected by a clear plastic film (which obviously should be removed before installation) and exhibits a mirror smooth surface finish that appears flat.
Corsair includes mounting hardware for the waterblock that is designed to work with AMD Athlon64 (socket 754, 939, 940), Intel LGA 775, and Intel socket 478.
Unique to this mounting system is a foam rubber pad that is compressed between the waterblock and mounting plate during installation. The foam pad provides the waterblock mounting force instead of coil springs or spring metal clips.
Tubing and Quick-Disconnect fittings
The tubing supplied with the Nautilus500 kit is a thin-wall, PVC (vinyl) tubing measuring 3/8′ ID x 1/2″ OD. Two 4′ pieces of tubing are pre-attached (with Oetiker clamps) to the waterblock.
Once the waterblock is mounted and the tubes are routed out the back of the PC enclosure, they can be cut to length and the male Quick-disconnect fittings installed with the provided clamps.
The Quick-Disconnects are industry standard CPC brand fittings and incorporate internal check valves so that the liquid coolant is contained when the tubes are disconnected.
PCI Slot Bracket
The PCI slot bracket provides an easy means for routing the tubing and wiring out of the computer case to the external Nautilus500 cooling unit.
In addition to two large slots for the tubing to pass thru, the PCI bracket contains a 4-pin connector for attaching the wiring harness. The sleeved cable sends 12V power from the PC to the external cooling unit to run the pump and fan. The two 3-pin connectors can be attached to spare fan headers on the motherboard for monitoring the pump (white wire) and fan (green wire) speed.