Corsair, already familiar in in the watercooling market for their COOL watercooling system, is bringing a new product the market geared up for easy installation and use.
The Nautilus 500 consists of an external unit which sits on top of the computer's case, along with a CPU waterblock and retention brackets. Installation of the waterblock doesn't require the removal of the motherboard, which will appeal to both watercooling newbies and those who just can't be bothered faffing about taking their board out. The ease of installation continues as the tubing between the waterblock and main unit is passed through a free slot in the back of the PC and then plugged into place. The unit is powered from a single Molex power connector.
Inside the main unit is a reservoir, a pump and a radiator which Corsair say can dissipate up to 500 watts of heat. Whether or not they're referring to the whole system, or just the radiator is unclear. Furthermore, factors such as the temperature difference between the water and the air will dictate how much heat is transferred. That aside however, according to Corsair's figures, the system is a pretty good cooler.
In Corsair's own tests, the Nautilus 500 was able to knock 14C off the load temperature of an Athlon 64 3700+ and 16C off a 3GHz Pentium 4 Prescott, while set to its quiet mode. Make it a bit noisier and you can take another one or two degrees celcius off the figures, but for the increased noise it's probably not worth it.
Given the reduced noise and increase cooling capabilities of the system, using a Nautilus 500 could give watercooling beginners a good cooling solution with which to have some overclocking fun. The Nautilus 500 will be on show at the 2006 International CES, where we'll be sure you get you more pics and a closer look.
