Installation
Corsair has done a good job of designing the Nautilus500 so it is easy to install. The basic installation involves:
- Mounting the waterblock
- Installing the PCI slot bracket in a spare PCI slot
- Connecting the wires inside the PC enclosure
- Positioning the external cooling unit
- Routing and cutting the tubing to length
- Attaching the tubes and electric cable to the external cooling unit
- Filling the system with coolant
Corsair claims the entire installation can be easily completed in 15 minutes. Unless you do this type of thing frequently and have your PC accessible and ready to go, that may be a bit of a stretch. It’s more important to take your time and do it right in my opinion than trying to beat the clock.
Overall the installation was quick and easy. The only minor delay I encountered was installing the waterblock onto my Athlon 64 processor. Corsair’s new mounting hardware is unlike anything I have used before and it took a couple of tries to get the hang of it.
When routing the tubing to the back wall of the PC enclosure be sure to make smooth bends so the tubing doesn’t kink. Pick a spare PCI slot opening to help facilitate this.
Note: Be careful the metal edge of the PCI bracket does not touch any exposed circuitry on an adjacent card. It was very close to the edge of my video card.
The Nautilus500 external cooling unit is 8.25′ wide, which also happens to be the width of the popular Lian Li aluminum enclosures. The external cooling unit can be located on top of the computer enclosure or to one side, depending on your preference.
Once all the parts are installed and everything is connected properly the reservoir needs to be filled with the supplied Corsair coolant and topped off with distilled water. I used a total of 700 ml coolant and distilled water.
