Corsair Nautilus 500 Water Cooler Review

Final Thoughts and Conclusions

Nathan Kirsch’s Thoughts:

Corsair wanted to launch a low cost water cooler at $159 and that is what Corsair did. I give Cosair a hand for bringing enthusiast technology to the mainstream consumer and I believe the mainstream market is ready to embrace water cooling. I have been saying for years that water cooling is the way to go if you don’t move around your computer a ton. With reduced noise levels and awesome temperatures water cooling is well worth the extra cost from my point of view. Decent water cooling was always over $200 and after burning the midnight oil burning over at Corsair the end result is the Nautilus 500.

On the outside the Nautilus 500 doesn’t look bad, but it doesn’t look like an artistic piece of work either. It is after all a water cooler and was never designed to be anything but. When it comes to the inside of the Nautilus 500 it is obvious after opening up the unit that Corsair had worked hard getting this product out at this low price point. While the inside is not pretty it is something that 90% of conumers are never going to see or be bothered by.

Corsair had an uphill battle on their hands hitting their price point as component pricing is high on water cooling components. Think about the math behind the Nautilus 500 for a second. The most expensive part in the unit is the Delphi water pump (~$40) followed by the radiator (~$22) and then the rest of the unit. By the time you add in packaging, marketing, shipping, employee cost, and retailer markup these units aren’t going to make Corsair the big bucks. Taking that into consideration we see this product truly as a mainstream watercooler that has a price point that will get the novice enthusiast into water cooling. At $159 you honestly do get a great kit that works better than the HydroCool 200EX, which was once a high end water cooler.

For General Computer Users:

The Corsiar Nautilus 500 was designed for you. The pretty box with all the great pictures scream “Buy Me!” on the retail shelf of the electronics store near you. When you go home and open the box you will find the product presentation very nice and an installation manual that is in full color (rare these days). The manual is very detailed and will walk to step-by-step through the installaion process. Installation will take 30-45 minutes and when you are done you will have a water cooled computer. Please note that you need to buy a bottle of distilled water as the kit does not come with this due to space/weight reasons. The Corsair Nautilus 500 is one of if not the simplest water cooling kit that Legit Reviews has seen to date.

The Corsiar Nautilus 500 DOES perform better than the HydroCool 200EX for less money. The Corsair Nautilus 500 DOES begin to bring water cooling to mainstream computer users. The Corsair Nautilus DOES leave room for modifications to be done to improve performance. The Corsair Nautilus 500 is something that I would suggest to other,s but they also need to be aware of the cost cutting that I noted in the areas of concern. If those issues do not bother you then this is a water cooling kit that you will enjoy.

You will see the Corsair Nautilus 500 mentioned a ton on Legit Reviews in the future as we are replacing our current HydroCool 200EX’s from our test bench and updating them with the Corsair Nautilus 500! While the Nautilus 500 doesn’t get the Editor’s Choice award that so many companies crave it is close and Corsair built one heck of a system for the price point they aimed at.

The Legit Bottom Line: The Corsair Nautilus 500 is a great water cooler that is ideal for those who want to move from air cooling to water cooling for the first time.