Of course, just because the Nautilus is built to be affordable and easy to install doesn't mean that it can't hold its own in the performance department. Corsair says the cooler can lower the temperature of AMD processors by close to 30%, a claim we'll have to put to the test.

The heart of the Nautilus500 is an external unit that houses the cooler's pump, radiator, and reservoir. This unit is a black plastic affair, so it's not the most attractive PC accessory, especially for the living room. However, the flat black finish is at least visually unobtrusive—until you turn the Nautilus on. When powered, the strip of translucent plastic on the left-hand side of the unit's face glows bright green. It's a nice visual cue to let you know that things are running, but some folks might find it a little gaudy.

At first, I thought there might be more to the translucent plastic than green lighting, but there isn't. Despite the fact that the strip is right next to the reservoir's fill cap, which would seem like a good location for a translucent window that allowed users to monitor the system's fluid level, it's just a green light. At least it's not ultra-bright, death-ray blue, I guess.

Flipping the Nautilus' external unit reveals a radiator nestled behind a gaping hole in the base. The radiator is slightly recessed, and plastic feet provide an additional inch or so of clearance for air flow. You'll want to be careful about poking around under the unit since the radiator isn't protected by any kind of grill, though.

The Nautilus500 moves air across the radiator's cooling fins with a 120mm fan that pushes up to 74.4CFM at its maximum speed of 1800 RPM. Users can also select a low fan speed setting that dramatically reduces the Nautilus' noise levels at the expense of cooling performance.

That fan speed switch can be found around the rear alongside the unit's power plug and its fluid intake and outlet ports. I'll get to the power in a minute, but first, take a moment to note the fittings on the fluid ports. The fittings are designed to stop fluid flow when hoses are unplugged, so it's easy to disconnect and reattach tubing without having to drain the system. They do tend to drip a little when the hoses are first removed, so you'll want to keep a bit of paper towel handy when disassembling the system.

Water gets pumped through the system by a DC pump that pushes 350 liters per hour. There's no high/low switch for the pump, which seems to run at full capacity at all times. Corsair says it's a low-noise design, though. We'll see just how loud it is in our noise level tests.

Interestingly, the Nautilus' CPU block is attached to the system's clear plastic tubing right out of the box. Ten feet of 0.5"-diameter tubing is included, with five feet running from each of the CPU block's hose barbs.

The tubing is secured with metal clamps that sit tight and secure, although it should be possible to pry them off with a set of pliers. Otherwise, the CPU block is a relatively demure affair, with a black finish hiding its copper construction. Corsair also points out that the block uses Delphi's microchannel surface technology, which improves cooling efficiency by increasing the surface area inside the CPU block to make greater contact with the liquid flowing through it.

Turning the CPU block on its side reveals a copper base that's polished nice and smooth. It's not quite a perfect mirror, but apart from some scuffing around the edges, our sample was free of blemishes and visible scratches.

Although Corsair doesn't bundle the Nautilus500 with additional cooling blocks, the company does sell GPU and north bridge blocks that can be added to the system. An SLI block is also on the way for dual-GPU rigs, although cooling additional components will obviously temper the Nautilus' effect on CPU temperatures. The Nautilus' tubing is rather stiff, as well, and I can imagine routing it from a system's processor to GPU to north bridge could get a little complicated within the confines of smaller ATX enclosures.

While you don't get extra cooling blocks, Corsair does bundle the Nautilus with everything you'll need for installation in systems with sockets 478, 754, 939, and 940, and LGA775. Corsair says a little gentle bending will adapt the existing mounting hardware to AM2, as well, but a proper AM2 bracket will be bundled with the Nautilus when the Socket AM2 becomes available.

In addition to socket mounting hardware, you also get a PCI slot cover with tubing cutouts and a power adapter. The Nautilus runs off power drawn from a four-pin Molex connector, and additional three-pin fan plugs are provided to allow the unit's fan and pump speed to be monitored by motherboard fan headers. Finally, Corsair includes a bottle of its anti-corrosive COOL liquid additive, which the company recommends only be combined with distilled water.